"The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven: Part 5"

Editor's Note: Immortal Iron Fist #12 arrives in stores tomorrow, January 16.

This issue of Immortal Iron Fist sees the hidden political machinations of K'un-Lun finally revealed to Danny Rand, at the same time as Xao and Hydra make their move on the Heroes for Hire and the fighting tournament of the titular Seven Capital Cities continues. In flashback, the rift between Danny's father and Davos deepens as we see yet another fight between the pair erodes their fragile friendship.

I have to admit to feeling somewhat ambivalent about this issue. Whilst a lot happens - we see the seeds of discontent in the ancient city of K'un-Lun begin to blossom into a full-blown rebellion, Davos is taught a lesson by the mysterious Prince of Orphans, and Hydra prepare to move their plans into the final stages - it doesn't feel like the compelling payoff that it should. Part of the problem is that no single part of the issue's story gets a huge amount of time dedicated to it before the writers move on to the next section, and it feels like Fraction and Brubaker are ticking off plot points that need to be addressed in order for their story to move on rather than letting the plot develop naturally and organically. Another problem is that these are story strands that have been building and building for quite some time, and instead of concentrating on a couple of elements and giving them a chance to breathe, the various parts of the story feel as though they're fighting for attention.

However, it's refreshing to find yourself complaining about too much content and compression in a mainstream superhero comic these days, and the other side of the argument is that Fraction and Brubaker's carefully-constructed plot is finally coming together, and the next couple of issues should provide an excellent cap for the arc now that all of the groundwork is complete. There are still plenty of fun smaller moments, too - there are enough witty throwaway lines to keep readers amused, and the issue's main fight sequence is a great combination of writing and art which is too short to be truly memorable, but effective enough that it makes you sit up and take notice. David Aja's artwork is a big part of this: it's as strong here as ever, with dynamic layouts and some lovely touches of detail, beautifully enhanced by Matt Hollingsworth's colours.

Sadly, though, Aja's work only makes up 9 pages of the issue. Six pages are flashbacks, illustrated by Kano, who brings a strong sense of storytelling and energy to his artwork, even if it's a little rough around the edges. The remaining 7 pages are drawn by Javier Pulido, a guest-artist who - for the first time in the book's twelve issues - is called upon to illustrate the present-day segments alongside Aja. I don't want to berate Pulido too much, because the job of fill-in artist is a thankless one: more often than not, the art has to be produced at short notice, and you're never going to be able to match up so precisely to the regular artist's style that fans of the book won't see the seams. Luckily, Pulido doesn't try to ape Aja here, but his flatter, more simplistic, and more stylised pages (with their elongated bodies and barren linework) just don't gel with Aja's more detailed and realistic pages.

Most readers will probably find themselves so preoccupied with Aja's absence for these pages that they won't appreciate Pulido's art on its own merits here. Still, at least the book's creators have seen fit to utilise Aja's artwork for the more important sections of the story, depicting the issue's fight scene and its significant and revelatory closing pages. I don't know why Aja hasn't been able to draw as much of the issue has he usually does - perhaps he's a slower worker than it seemed from the book’s reasonably regular schedule, or perhaps something else has come up - so I won't suggest that Marvel should have waited for him to complete his pages before publishing this issue. However, his absence definitely detracts from the book, and it's unfortunate that it comes at a time when the writers have also underperformed (by their own admittedly high standards), burdened with the need to convey a lot of information to the reader in quite a short space of time in order to set up the arc's finale.

Every great series has to have the occasional less-than-great issue, and Immortal Iron Fist #12 is just that: it's not a bad comic by any means, but there doesn't seem to be as much concern for story or unbridled imagination present in this issue as usual. The spark that has been apparent in other issues of the book doesn't seem to be burning as brightly here, and the result is a more predictable and less dazzling comic than we've come to expect from this creative team.

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