Dave Wallace:
Paul Brian McCoy:
"Men of a Certain Deadly Persuasion"
Writers: Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction
Artists: Howard Chaykin, Dan Brereton, Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic, Edgar Delgado (colours)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Review: The first Immortal Iron Fist annual is a change of pace from the modern day kung-fu antics of the regular book, seeing Danny Rand take a detour from the martial arts tournament of the main book to go on a fact-finding mission to France. There, he visits an old adventuring chum of the previous Iron Fist, Orson Randall, in an attempt to learn more about him.
Dave Wallace: When I first heard about the concept for this annual, I was quite excited. Orson Randall was far and away the most successful part of Brubaker and Fraction's first Iron Fist arc, and his early exit from the book left fans wanting to see more. However, I think that this book is quite a good argument in favour of keeping enigmatic and mysterious characters enigmatic and mysterious - because it feels as though the longer stories about Orson that we see here don't quite live up to the glimpses of his life that we've seen so far, and take away from his mystique, weakening the character as a result.
Paul Brian McCoy: I was also excited to get some more info on Orson's background, and to tell the truth, I really enjoyed the fleshing out of the character that we get with the annual. One of the things that I liked the most about his previous appearances was the idea of the "lost" history of the Iron Fist, and stories like this one are exactly what I was hoping for. I don’t think it weakens the character at all. His story, along with that of his allies, the Confederates of the Curious, is a swashbuckling, globe-trotting adventure that I’d like to see even more of. Did you see Barko kicking tail during that fight scene!? That was awesome!
Dave: Yes, there were some enjoyable concepts at play here, and the annual definitely provides enough in terms of action and adventure that it’s a fun enough read. However, I was a little disappointed that it didn’t live up to the set-up which is provided by Iron Fist #9. At the end of that book, Danny is sent on a quest to find Ernst Erskine in order to learn crucial information about Orson Randall that will help him in his martial arts tournament - but here, that's rejected in favour of a few seemingly random glimpses of Randall's past adventures.
Paul: I really saw this story as the secret origin of the new Iron Fist Library, and I’m sure it will play a huge part in the stories to come. I didn’t see the goal from the end of Iron Fist #9 being rejected or the glimpses being random. His mission was to find the library where he could find out about Orson as well as discover the secrets of his rivals in the tournament (amongst other secrets).
Dave: I guess you could be right – maybe the significance of this story remains to be seen. I’m sure Brubaker and Fraction will keep coming back to this library as a key source of research for Danny, but I just didn’t get a sense of its importance here.
Paul: Well, we learn the source of the Rand fortune (and discover that Danny’s father, Wendell, was Orson’s teenage ward), we gain more insight into the sources of Xao, The Lightning Lord of Nepal’s (along with his Nine-fold Daughters’) hostilities with the Iron Fist legacy, and we see that Hydra is, apparently, a traditional enemy of the Iron Fist with a history going back some time. I don’t know if the inclusion of Hydra is a new addition to the mythology, as I’ve only really read a couple of old Claremont/Byrne issues devoted to the character before this series began (I was a Shang Chi fan, myself), but this annual does a good job of establishing and broadening the history of the character. And the history is really the main focus of this series, so far.
Dave: Yes, that’s true. If nothing else, Fraction and Brubaker have really established the idea that the legacy of the Iron Fist is more than just a title – there’s a whole history that comes along with it, and I’ll be really interested to see them explore it further as the book goes on.
The flashbacks to Orson’s adventures that we see here are enjoyable enough, in a heroically swashbuckling sort of way, with a fast pace and quick-fire barrage of imaginative ideas that feels similar to the approach taken in Matt Fraction's Casanova. In fact, some of the off-beat concepts could have been plucked straight from that book ("Super Lightning Lord! Electric Demon of Manaslu!"), and if there's one thing you can say about Fraction's work, it's that it's never dull. However, the lack of any real relevance to Danny's quest makes it feel like an unnecessary diversion from what has been quite a streamlined, focused storyline, and I found myself wanting to get to the point of the stories more quickly. If Fraction and Brubaker wanted to tell more stories about Orson Randall, I would have rather this annual tell a stand-alone story about him than try to tie it into the modern-day events of the Iron Fist title, because it doesn't integrate well with the story being told there.
Paul: Fraction is quickly becoming my favorite working writer, and this title is one of the few that I finish every month and say out loud, “Damn! That was good!”
Seriously.
My cats are getting a little worried about my state of mind.
Brubaker’s no slouch either, by the way.
As for the focus of the story, again, I respectfully disagree. This is exactly the kind of story I think an annual should be. It ties into the main storyline without sidetracking what’s going on in the monthly. Stand-alone stories in annuals have bugged me since childhood as they’re kind of pointless. For me, the best annuals are those that pull narrative threads from the main series and provide a spotlight story that enriches the tapestry of the series, and this one does that wonderfully.
Dave: I can see your point on that, but I felt like this story was building and building, leading towards a destination but never quite reaching it. Still, I guess that, as an annual, it can’t contain too much in the way of important plot developments in case readers of the regular series don’t pick it up. Maybe I shouldn’t have looked at it in the light of the main title quite so much – but since I read it immediately after Iron Fist #9 (Marvel chose to release them in the same week, after all), that was still fresh in my mind.
Paul: You make a good point there, too. I was rushing around, trying to get at least some of my reading done before getting to some boring responsibilities, and I read this before I read the regular issue of Iron Fist. That could be a big reason for the difference in how we responded to the story. Taking that into consideration, Issue #9 did build a lot of tension and make it seem that there was a rush to find Ernst and the library, but the annual is structured at a very relaxed pace. One would think that given the stakes, spending the day sitting around having a nice meal and drinks, telling stories about the past wouldn’t be high on their agenda. But then again, Ernst and the others have lived a long time, so maybe this would be exactly the way they’d want to move into their big finish.
Dave: You’re absolutely right: it’s probably as much the change of pace as the plot itself that detracted from this story, for me. I think that releasing both books on the same day probably took away a little something from this annual – and it will have certainly spoiled some of the story of Immortal Iron Fist #9 for those who chose to read the annual first. I’m not sure if releasing two consecutive parts of a story on the same day and not labeling them as such is the best approach to take. Still, I won’t complain about twice as much Iron Fist as usual.
Paul: Yeah, keep ‘em coming, gang! I mean that. I hear a lot of talk around the inter-tubes about Captain America being the best book Marvel is putting out, and while I agree that it is one of the best (it’s in my top three), I really think Immortal Iron Fist can go toe-to-toe with it (also in my top three – Thunderbolts would round out that list). Brubaker’s work on both series is extremely solid, and Cap is some definitive work with that title. But here, you also get the controlled chaos that is Matt Fraction. I didn’t know how that would work originally, but they complement each other perfectly. This book has everything one could want from a comic. Hell, it’s got everything one could want from a story in any medium.
Dave: I have to say, I was wary of the collaboration at first, as co-written books can sometimes feel bland or uneven, especially if the writers don’t mesh well. However, Immortal Iron Fist has proved that Brubaker and Fraction are perfectly matched, with Brubaker’s canny plotting and characterization and Fraction’s inventive imagination and great dialogue complementing each other brilliantly. However, I got the impression – and I may be wrong here – that Fraction dominated the proceedings in this annual, and there isn’t enough of Brubaker’s calming influence to rein him back in. As you say, Iron Fist is currently one of the most consistently excellent series that Marvel is putting out at the moment, and the fact that I can’t help but judge this annual against that high standard could account for my slight disappointment.
Another reason for my lukewarm reaction to the issue is that I’m not really a big fan of some of the art styles we see here. Howard Chaykin might be a well-known and celebrated name in the industry, but the flat, two-dimensional look of his artwork really doesn’t do anything for me. Not only does his take on Danny Rand seem inconsistent with his look in the main title, it seems to vary from panel to panel here too, especially in terms of his facial characteristics. There’s also a sketchy, unfinished feel to his linework that makes the whole thing feel a little rushed. What's more, he telegraphs a minor plot twist way in advance, giving the game away in one of the earlier panels of the story when a more subtle artist might have been able to make the betrayal of a supporting character slightly more ambiguous. The main Iron Fist book has done a great job of integrating the guest-artist flashbacks with David Aja's central story, but without a strong artist like Aja to anchor this annual, the book falls down.
Paul: This is another reason that I enjoyed the annual so much. I’ve been a fan of Chaykin’s work since I was first exposed to American Flagg (back in 1983, at the tender age of 15) and then tracked down all of his previous work that I could find. Granted, his leading men all look the same with just different haircuts and colors (as do his leading ladies), and he can rely on cheesecake art when working from his own scripts. But here, as in his recent work over at the Distinguished Competition on Hawkgirl and at Marvel on the now defunct Blade, the emphasis is on the settings as much as (if not more than) it is on the characters themselves.
I mean, take a look at the detail work in those rugs, or the designs in the wallpaper, or on the teacup. Check out the wood grain in the hardwood floors and the structural details in the wheelchairs, the tables and chairs, and the art hanging on the walls. It’s beautiful work. And Delgado’s colors are rich and textured, providing depth and shading that help Chaykin’s linework distinguish itself. And his lighting effects are very subtle and realistic, especially the sunlight coming through the window while Danny and Ernst talk, and from the bedside lamp on the final page.
Dave: For all those good qualities, though, you have wonky perspective in places, a Danny Rand who looks more like Johnny Bravo, and some very obvious storytelling which lacks the subtlety required for some of the plot points to function. If Chaykin is putting emphasis on the settings as much as the characters, I’d maybe have liked to see a little more attention on the characters as the core of the story.
Paul: Fair enough.
Hah! Johnny Bravo! I knew that outfit reminded me of someone!
Dave: For the flashbacks, Dan Brereton’s colourful artwork fares slightly better, adding some flash and excitement to the retellings of Orson Randall’s past adventures and coping well with the more fantastical, magical elements. The style isn't particularly to my tastes, but I'm happy to see a variety of approaches used in the book to stop things from getting repetitive. Only Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic really convinces me, though, with an atmospheric, painted approach, illustrating a particularly convincing fight sequence which features one of the most visually striking renditions of the power of the Iron Fist that I've seen. I'd have liked to see her do more work on this book, but she makes the most of the limited space that she has to work with.
Paul: I really didn’t like the painted work by Brereton when I saw the preview pages, and once I had the book in my hands I still wasn’t impressed. At first. It was a little too bulky and simplified for my tastes (I’m all about the delicate linework or crazy abstract multimedia work), but as the issue went on, I started noticing the expressiveness of the faces and really began to warm up to the pulp feel and could easily see this artwork on the cover of thirties pulp magazines.
And you’re right. Djurdjevic’s work is excellent. It also faithfully captures the pulp nature of Orson’s adventures and her use of color (blues and purples are central during quieter dramatic moments, while red, keying off of the use of the Iron Fist, dominates during the fight sequence, and green takes over in the light of the portal) is striking.
Dave: It’s unfortunate that we picked this Immortal Iron Fist Annual to review together because I’ve been enjoying the rest of the series hugely and was looking forward to a chance to rave about yet another strong issue. However, the lack of the kind of restraint and focus that Brubaker and Fraction have showed on the core Iron Fist book hurts this issue a little. The recent Immortal Iron Fist #7 did a great job of telling a strong stand-alone story which had ties to Brubaker and Fraction’s wider canvas but worked perfectly well in its own right. A shame, then, to see them not quite pull off a similar effort here.
Paul: Don’t worry, I think I’ve raved enough for both of us. I think this is another consistently strong effort by the entire team of writers and artists. Immortal Iron Fist may consistently be the strongest title Marvel is publishing, and I’ve yet to be disappointed with an installment. I highly recommend the series as a whole, and this annual, in particular.
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