Broken Frontier

One week ago, the latest in a long line of collaborative efforts from Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray reached stores with Marvel Comics’ Daughters Of The Dragon #1. Taking center stage in this new six-issue miniseries are second-string femmes fatales Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, former supporting cast members of Luke Cage and Danny Rand, better known as Power Man and Iron Fist.

With a track record that includes recent hits such as Hawkman and Jonah Hex, it seems a bit odd that Palmiotti and Gray set their sights on Ms. Wing and Knight for their newest project, not exactly the most well-known characters in the Marvel Universe. However, Palmiotti explains that reader’s unfamiliarity with Colleen and Misty is the reason why they revived the characters:  “We were looking to pitch Marvel a character or characters that were not part of their big company crossovers,” the Daughters Of The Dragon co-writer says. “That was getting more and more difficult by the minute, so we did some research. That said, these two have been some of my favorites to come out of Marvel in a long time and I really do prefer to work on the female characters.

“Misty and Colleen, I think, are so much more interesting than most of the marvel characters being written right now and real flesh and blood. The spandex crowd have gotten enough attention… these ladies were in need their own book.”

A fine lady herself, BF reviewer Tonya Crawford has been won over by the debut issue, not only because of the writing, but also because of the funky vibes newcomer Khari Evans delivers on pencils. His depiction of the leading ladies and their adventures did make the book carry a parental advisory label, even though it’s not listed as a Marvel Max comic. “Khari draws the girls like full blown sex machines so there is a ton of T&A in every issue…a ton,” Palmiotti adds. “Also, the book is violent as hell. We would have gone further if we were under the Max umbrella, but for now we are pushing the envelope like hell. There is nothing left to the imagination.” (Have a look at the four preview pages of Daughters Of The Dragon #2 below for some proof – ed.)

The violence Palmiotti pointed at is another aspect why this book is worthy of the attention it’s getting here at BF. Because of the relatively high amount of bloodshed in the book, the writers are able to put not only Misty and Colleen, but their evil counterparts as well, in situations we haven’t seen them in before. Who would’ve thought that B-list villains with lame names like 8-Ball, Whirlwind, Humbug and Freezer wouldn’t shy away from cutting of a few heads? As Palmiotti explains, that’s all Justin Gray: “That’s [his] brilliance at work. He found the most obscure super villains and we put them to use. They really are a fun bunch and much more interesting than you would think.”

Indeed, Palmiotti, Gray and Evans are having loads of fun putting these second-tier folks in the spotlight. Yet, Palmiotti put in plain words that Daughter Of The Dragon isn’t cast in the same mold as Nextwave, the upcoming Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen ongoing that revives another bunch of forgotten characters. “For us, it’s a chance to give some real background and flush out the personalities of two of marvels most twisted ladies. Nextwave is a marketing thing, and consists of a bunch of characters that really need reviving.” He does add though that the series might fit another trend currently seen at the House of Ideas: the whole idea of making the Marvel Universe darker and grimmer than before. “Yeah, I would put these two girls in a Punisher book way before I’d put them in a Spider-Man title!”

May those words inspire you to pick up Daughters Of The Dragon.

If your store still has a copy of the first issue, you’re one lucky bastard. If not, you’ll have to wait for issue two to hit on February 22.

“Have your retailer hold one for you… trust me, you will thank me,” is all Palmiotti had to add to that.