Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #1 (Marvel)

CREDIT: Marvel Comics

Rating: 3.5/5 – A Singular Artist’s Vision of The Living Weapon and his Origin.
by ComicSpectrum EiC Bob Bretall.

This book was something special.  Kaare Andrews does the whole thing; as he says on the letters page:

Don’t just write it.  Don’t just draw it. DO EVERYTHING. Plot. Script. Pencil. Ink. Color. Logo. Get your hands on the whole of it.

Well, he lets Joe Caramagna do the letters bit everything else is Andrews.  As is befitting the All-New Marvel NOW, we get a new take on Danny Rand, Iron Fist.  A new take on the man.  A new take on his origin.  I’m not very sure I particularly like this take, but I cannot deny the level of craft that Andrews puts on the page.  Andrews art is stylistically similar to what we’ve seen from him before.  He has enough of a unique style that you will either really like the visuals or they won’t click with you.  Personally, the art was the highlight of this issue for me from a pure craftsmanship level.

The story was not as much in my wheelhouse as the art.  The Danny Rand we get here is dull and lifeless.  He’s been through a lot and it has worn on him.  I can see why Andrews is going this route in his character study, layering on ennui for dramatic effect, but it’s really not something that leapt off the page at me as compelling reading.  He has a hollow haunted look when he’s doing everyday tasks, when he’s with a beautiful woman, etc.  You get the picture.  I can see someone reading this book and thinking this is a masterpiece handling of the character, I’m just not that person.  I was really not in the mood for the deconstruction-“path of discovery”-rebuilding take on Iron Fist, but it’s a perfectly valid take whether I was in the mood for it or not.  We have a hero who is “broken” and this series will be about, I assume, him getting “fixed”.

Andrews has a slightly skewed take on Danny Rand’s younger self’s road to K’un Lun too.  His Dad comes off more bat-shit crazy than I remember, and his Mother a bit less valiant.  Again, a different take but not necessarily bad.  If you are reading Iron Fist for the first time, this will serve as a great “my version” of the character and his origin.  In the end, this was a very well put together comic that I just didn’t care for.  It’s well worth reading, I’ll be curious to hear from people about their feelings on Andrews take on Iron Fist.  I suspect there will be a lot of people raving that this is perfect and others decrying it as terrible.

Reviewed by: Bob Bretall
(bob@comicspectrum.com)
https://comicspectrum.com/ Covering the full spectrum of comics culture

Follow ComicSpectrum: