First off, I’d like to say something about the recent grumbling from your LCSs and comic buyers alike about this week’s deluge of Marvel books. The House of Ideas is getting all they can out of the last week of June and for that, I’m sorry. You see, it looks like Joe Quesada found out today was my birthday and decided to release all my favorite books as a present. Sure, it’s a really expensive present that I have to pay for, sure, but still. Thor: Ages of Thunder – Reign of Blood comes out today and any book that has an army of skeletons summoned by a jilted goddess that Thor has to defeat with the EVILEST roll call of draft animals since Santa went crazy- well, I say too much. In any case, sorry for the mass of comics and next year I promise to have my birthday on a day that won’t mess with the shipping schedule.
Speaking of birthdays, the final issue of Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction’s Immortal Iron Fist hits shelves today, bringing us a very apropo tale of the end of Danny Rand’s momentous 33rd year. Yep, try and deny it all he wants, but the Immortal Iron Fist turns 33 this issue as the writers and artist team that took a guy in some yellow slippers into one of the hottest and consistantly awesome books Marvel has the joy of putting out month after month. It’s a big issue in a lot of ways, so let us pay a some homage to the little title that could, the character who’s grown within his own legacy and the co-writer that done about the same thing at the House of Ideas.
First, the comic. Like millions of Marvelites, I thrill to every issue of the Immortal Iron Fist, with its beautiful rich pictures by David Aja and compelling stories from Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction. Taking a lightweight character from the ’70s, they struck gold with tales of ancient secrets of not only K’un L’un but of Danny Rand himself and the legacy that came before him, connecting him to a bigger tapestry or lore and legend. Also, two men kicked each other so hard that a building exploded. There is something in these last sixteen issues for everyone, from high action to personal drama to a small army of crane warrior women who know kung-fu. It’s fun, it’s compelling and hell, it’s funny at times. It recognizes the Michael Bay-ness of it all and goes for broke in a fearless fashion that keeps the reader’s jaw dropped for what’s going to happen next. Looking at the character, it’s easy to see the style of story to be told (Hong Kong action movie) but they certainly strayed from the path when talking about Orson Randall for adventure pulp fiction, Wu Ao-Shi for something of a fairy tale and Bei Bang-Wen for a parable of faith and trust. It’d be very easy to take yourself seriously in such a title, but the asides ot the audience have been well loved and at least well quoted at my store (Nothing like a clerk at the counter of a comic shop taking a moment to shout out ‘We’re DOOOOMED!”). Not only did we have a good time reading the book, we really watched the character grow into his own; seeing him turn 33 really feels like he’s grown up a bit, reached the modern age and … well, has a dangerous time ahead.
Last year on this very day, Mr. Matt Fraction (G-Money for short) also celebrated an anniversary: his fourth year in the comic biz. Now into year five, we bid a fond adieu to his first Marvel title and welcome him to the world of the Uncanny X-Men, a flagship if ever there was one. Looking at how both he and Brubaker worked with Iron Fist, I can’t say that this all-new, all-different (no really, this time for sure) take on Marvel’s Merry Mutants won’t be exciting. And if there ever was a book that needed to change with the times yet stay true to the roots that keep the title grounded, the X-Men need it now. Reading his last year’s look back, he seems to have a lot of end goals, places where he could let go of Punisher: War Journal or knowing that there’s a year of the Order settled (and what a shame it was that we lost that book) and “Ed and I have a ball with IRON FIST and have at least through the early twenties sketched out in our heads” with the very important caveat “assuming, of course, that these books are allowed to run their course.” Was Iron Fist allowed to run its course under Brubaker and Fraction or did they simply grow and move on to the next year of their co-writership on the Uncanny X-Men? Only the Bullpen knows for sure.
Another hallmark of a Marvel character is the abilty to astound you with tales to astonish and yet charm you with stories of people you know. Peter Parker’s made quite a pretty penny taking the history of his Uncle Ben’s wisdom with him as he grows up from gawky teen to twenty-something everyman. Reed Richards has taken a cosmic ray experiment gone wrong and built not only a family, but a legacy. Tony Stark took his technology that was being used against innocent people and turned it not only into a way to save his own life but, to borrow a line from a popular movie, to “protect the people he put in harm’s way”. All Marvel characters have a way to honor the heart of their own origins while moving forward with us into new eras and events. Iron Fist got to not only keep his kung-fu roots but become a better man in the process, honoring his legacy by being a hero, perhaps for hire. I think it’s cool to see a storyteller come into their own just as much as the character they put on the map and wish both Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker all the best on the Uncanny X-Men, hoping they survive the experience. Thanks guys for a book that quite literally kicks ass.
And Danny Rand? Well, he’s going to have a lot to survive himself. Keep reading, folks.
January 17th, 2011 at 11:57 am
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