Best Comics you’ve Never Heard of: the Immortal Iron Fist
So we all love “Hawkeye.” We just do. It’s a brilliant series with gorgeous art and smart story building. The problem, however, is that it comes out so sporadically. How can someone be expected to wait for months to get their fix of Eisner Award winning beauty? Well, why haven’t you gone back and read Matt Fraction and David Aja’s previous collaboration, “Immortal Iron Fist?” Chances are, because you’ve never heard of it.
Way back in the day, back when Matt Fraction was just a new flavor on the Marvel palate, he, Ed Brubaker and David Aja launched a third-tier hero into a solo book. That hero is 70’s kung-fu homage Iron Fist. The definition of “bridesmaid, never a bride,” Iron Fist never quite hit with readers in a solo sense; always just being support. Brubaker and Fraction saw so much more. They saw a hero rich in a mostly unrevealed history just begging to be told. And the first story does just that.
The Iron Fist legacy has been earned by different mortals for generations, but two have never existed at the same time. At least that’s what current Fist, Danny Rand, thinks. But when his power gets used by another person it’s clear-there is second living Iron Fist. And he only reveals himself when classic Fist villain Steel Serpent reemerges ready to take down not just the Fist legacy, but Rand’s life and the mystical city of K’un L’un, where the Iron Fist legacy originates. Rand has to keep everything in tact as his life goes insane. He will learn what it means to be the Iron Fist (thanks to fantastic and thrilling flashbacks) in a long line of champions.
Much like how they raised Hawkeye to a level never expected of the character, the same can be said for their take on Iron Fist. It’s a completely unexpected series that plays the long game. Through even a writer change to Duane Swierczynski the tone stays consistent and plot continues seamlessly. Fraction and Aja clearly know how to work well together. Everything you love about the unique storytelling of “Hawkeye” got its start in “Immortal Iron Fist.” Aja is a master storyteller with his pictures, emphasizing its gritty kung-fu nature.
The “Immortal Iron Fist” series was phenomenal. Pick up this forgotten diamond to keep you excited between new issues of “Hawkeye.”
