Written and Drawn by Kaare Kyle Andrews
Published by Marvel Comics
There has been an absolute tidal wave of new titles being put out by Marvel lately. With Silver Surfer coming out a couple of weeks ago and The Amazing Spider-Man coming out soon, Iron Fist has flown in relatively under the radar of most people. I’m going into this series completely unaware of any history or back-story that the character may have, so if you’re really familiar with the character, please bear with me! If you’re like me and have zero clue about his origin and what he’s all about, well, hopefully after reading this you’ll have a better idea of whether or not you’d like to check it out!
This story begins with a dialogue between Daniel Rand, a.k.a. the Iron Fist, and a random woman he’s on a date with, Brenda. She’s asking him about his past, and like most of the street level heroes in any comic book universe, it’s filled with nothing but tragedy. While on a hiking expedition with his family, it becomes blatantly obvious that Daniel’s father, Wendell has led them into an inescapably dangerous situation. He’s looking for the lost city of K’un Lun for some unknown reason and he’s become so obsessed with finding it that it’s driven him absolutely mad. After the family is pinned down by an avalanche on the snowy mountain side, we flash forward once again to present time where we find that the Iron Fist is being threatened by a pack of ninjas. Does it sound like a cliché kung-fu movie? It should because this book is definitely a throwback to the classic genre.
Normally I would split my review of the writing and the art into two different sections, but since Kaare Andrews is taking up both for this book, I’ll talk about them together.
As I said before, this is definitely a nod to the classic kung-fu genre. Kaare’s art delivers a very vintage feel to the tone of the story and shows us what the world looks like in Daniel’s eyes, and then from the eyes of the Iron Fist. I know what you’re thinking. They’re the same person, but they aren’t. We haven’t been given much explanation as to how he became the Iron Fist, but I’m betting that Daniel died on the mountainside that day with his family and the Iron Fist is what walked out. It’s a lot like Bruce’s fateful night in Crime Alley. As a number one issue I wish we’d been given more in terms of the plot and why these things are happening to the Fist, but I’m sure in the issues to come that we’ll be given an explanation as to why someone wants him dead. That being said, it was really cool to get a glimpse as to just how badass of a character Iron Fist can be after we see him dispatch an entire pack of ninjas without breaking a sweat.
I really wish we’d been given more in terms of what’s going on in the plot of this story, but this gives me just enough to stick around for an issue or two if no other reason than to get a bit of background on the character. I’m a big fan of the kung-fu genre, and if you’re reading this review it would be my guess than you are too. This book has plenty of great action even if it’s a bit light on story so you should definitely give it a look! It’s not perfect but it has a ton of potential!
3.5 out of 5 nerds
Irwin Fletcher
I'm an LA journalist who really lives for his profession. I have also published work as Jane Doe in various mags and newspapers across the globe. I normally write articles that can cause trouble but now I write for FTN because Nerds are never angry, so I feel safe.
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