Broken Frontier

The legacy of the Iron Fist is long and storied. The current man to bear the name is a well-known hero but now enemies want to make sure he is the last to bear the legacy.

Writers Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction team up to try to bring another one of Marvel’s B-list heroes to superstar status. Iron Fist has long been a staple character, mostly known for his team-up series with Power Man, Luke Cage. Now the character swings out solo – will his star rise or fall?

Opening in the middle of the action, we find Danny Rand, A.K.A. Iron Fist battling a horde of Hydra soldiers. As he fights he reflects on the path that not only brought him into the battle with Hydra, but also the path that took him to becoming Iron Fist... and the man who put him on that path in the first place. Going back in time a little ways, we see Rand’s conscience getting the better of him during a corporate deal with a Chinese company. In order to bolster his assertion that these are "bad guys," Iron Fist decides to do a little snooping around. What he finds is that Hydra is targeting the Rand Corporation but for what reason? Iron Fist may not live to find out. Meanwhile, half a world away, there is a man who once played a large role in Danny’s life... what role will he play now?

There has been an upsurge recently in the new fusion of noir elements with superhero action. Readers have been seeing it with Brian Michael Bendis’s Daredevil run, as well as Brubaker’s following run on that same title. Now Brubaker and Fraction bring the same writing style to Iron Fist and add a new element to the mix – martial arts action and mysticism. While the fusion style works, some of the story elements do not. The inner monologue feels a bit overused here – it comes off as a shade pretentious and over the top. Hopefully Brubaker and Fraction will be able to pare this back in the coming issues in favor of more dialogue. The other problem is that the reader can see the "surprise" ending coming from virtually the first page. Unlike the character of Iron Fist, Brubaker and Fraction telegraph their punches. This is not to say that The Immortal Iron Fist is a bad comic – far from it. The mix of noir and martial arts is different from what has gone before and the writers really delve well into Iron Fist’s psyche, looking at why he chooses to pursue this life and what it might ultimately cost him.

Brubaker and Fraction also could not have asked for a better artist than David Aja to aid them in fusing the various story elements. Aja’s work is very reminiscent of Alex Maleev’s, with the exception of being perhaps just a little less scratchy. The rough edges and dark, rain drenched scenes set the tone for the entire story and what is to come. Aja also handles the fight scenes well, giving them plenty of dynamic action, while at the same time never skimping on the facial expressions or personalities of the characters.

The creative team on this series is poised to bring Iron Fist to the head of the class. This issue presents a solid story with a hero who, under the pens of Brubaker and Fraction, has unrevealed depth. For a mix of noir, superhero action, martial arts, and just a hint of magic look no further than The Immortal Iron Fist #1.