"The Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay"
Writers: Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction
Artists: Travel Foreman, Leandro Fernandez, Khari Evans (p), Derek Fridolfs, Francisco Paronzini, Leandro Fernandez, Victor Olazaba (i), Dan Brown (colours)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
There's a scene in Kill Bill 2 in which David Carradine's titular character sits by a campfire and tells Uma Thurman's Bride a cautionary tale about the powerful martial arts master, Pai Mei. It's not the most original story in the world, but it's charmingly told, with a quiet confidence in Carradine's perfectly-paced narration which completely draws the viewer in, conveying the events concisely but precisely and making the scene completely enrapturing even though the main plot of the movie grinds to a complete halt whilst Bill takes the time to tell his story. The reason I mention this is that that Immortal Iron Fist #7 is a similarly satisfying tale, seeing Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction take a break from the story of Danny Rand to step back in time and fill out the backstory of Wu Ao-Shi, the first female Iron Fist, who was briefly glimpsed in one of the duo's earlier issues.
Brubaker and Fraction use this story to show how the mantle of Iron Fist is far more significant than a simple superhero codename, giving the title now held by Danny Rand an added feeling of legitimacy with the frequent allusions to the eternal, timeless nature of K'un Lun and its residents, a demonstration of the sheer power of Shou-Lao, and an exploration of how it affects the bearer. However, "The Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay" is a character-based piece first and foremost, and it's with the depiction of Wu Ao-Shi that the book really shines. Her journey from wilful child, to martial arts student, to young lover, to champion of the people would be far less resonant if it was being told be less accomplished writers, and although Brubaker and Fraction use extensive narrative captions in this issue, it doesn't work against the story to make the characters feel more removed or detached from the reader. Whether it's her determined battle with a monstrous dragon, her lightning-quick attack on a room full of pirates, her spirited single-handed defence of an entire bay of ships, or the quieter moments which depict the touching relationship that she shares with her simple fisherman husband, every moment of Wu Ao-Shi's story is made compelling under Brubaker and Fraction's pen, as the writers add character nuances through their characters' dialogue and maintain a constant sense of drama and tension which helps to keep the momentum of the book from slowing. It's a hugely enjoyable story, and a great lesson in how to pack a huge amount of character detail and plot into the scant 22 pages that the American format dictates.
The book's artwork is uniformly excellent, and - despite the presence of three separate pencillers - it feels incredibly consistent. This is probably down to the excellent colouring job which is provided by Dan Brown, uniting the three artists under a singular tone, using subtle, delicately realistic shades which help to reinforce this as a historical swashbuckler of a story rather than a garishly modern superhero explosion of pop-art and primary colours. When it comes to the pencillers, I have to admit to only being familiar with the work of Travel Foreman (who has provided stunning work in previous issues of Immortal Iron Fist), but all three of them share a command of character and form which makes the book look realistic and unexaggerated, and the high level of detail that they bring to the costumes and backgrounds helps to reinforce the historical setting. There's also a common ability to encapsulate whole scenes or actions in a single image, and that's important when it comes to a story which is as compressed and fast-moving as this one. Although I was personally particularly taken with Khari Evans' work, which closes the book, all three of these pencillers provide excellent work which should mark them out as names to look out for in future.
Some people were concerned that turning Iron Fist into a "legacy" hero would undermine Danny Rand's uniqueness and distract focus from the book's central character, but this issue should go a long way to convince them that that isn't necessarily a bad thing; and if retconning a whole legion of sixty-five previous Iron Fists means that we'll get more issues like this one, I'm very happy with the idea. Frankly, I could read a whole separate anthology title of these kinds of stories - but in the absence of that book, hopefully we'll at least continue to get some regular glimpses of the past Iron Fists between arcs on the regular title. I'm as keen as anyone to get back to Danny and the epic martial arts tournament that was set up by the end of the book's last issue, but these done-in-one stories make for the perfect breather in-between arcs, adding a real sense of history to the concept of Iron Fist and allowing Brubaker and Fraction to have some fun with superhero conventions and swashbuckling action in an appealingly different historical setting. Highly recommended.
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