Immortal Iron Fist #15 Review

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #15
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Khari Evans

One thing I must note is that the final cover for this issue looks far better than the already spectacular one on the left. The colouring and after effects add so much more to the image than that preview version.

This issue is very similar to Immortal Iron Fist #7, which featured the Pirate Queen user of the Iron Fist, in that it is very heavy on the narrative, which befits the flashback story they are trying to tell here.

However, I feel they go a little overboard with it. There's almost no dialogue in this issue and it is almost completely narrative. In comparison issue seven had a nice balance of dialogue and narrative and it meshed well together. I just felt like I was going through the paces reading text box after text box and occasionally glancing at images instead of being drawn in to the story with a combination of the text and imagery.

This is not to say that this was a bad issue. On the contrary, I very much enjoyed. However, it is a flawed reading experience at the same time.

It's a rather simple story. Bei Bang-Wen, the Iron Fist user during the Second Opium War in 1860, is supposed to die in battle, miraculously survives and is taken prisoner by the British. He is somehow cut off from his chi and K'un-Lun and eventually meets another warrior like himself that was captured and somehow cut off from his powers, which are connected to Shiva.

They organize an escape and make way for his new friend's exiled emperor. There, they find him already dead and eaten by Tiger Jani. His emperor dead and no purpose or great sin to atone for, Vivatma's prana realigns and he is empowered once more. He battles Tiger Jani
and kills her, but not before she critically wounds Bei.

Vivatma helps Bei realign his own chi and the surge of power heals his wounds. This marks the end of Bei's journeys as the Iron Fist. He returns to K'un-Lun, relinguishes the power and settles down with a wife and has children.

It's a simple story, but well told. However, as outlined above, I just couldn't get drawn into it like I should have. Too much narrative distracts from the actual story instead of helping it along.

Verdict - Check It

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