Customer Reviews

The Immortal Iron Fist Omnibus

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If you were familiar with Iron Fist before reading Ed Brubaker's new take, you probably thought of him as another second-rate 70's throwback who exists mostly to provide a supporting role to more important characters like Daredevil. I wasn't really interested in him before reading this Omnibus, but Ed Brubaker's writing is always phenomenal so I gave it a shot. It was worth it!

Iron Fist has been successfully contemporized. He no longer looks silly (thanks to David Aja's sleek designs), and he inhabits an interesting world. Iron Fist was always about martial arts, but now he has been given a place in a grand epic. As it turns out, there have been many Iron Fists throughout time - men and a woman of various nationalities, all given superhuman abilities in order to fight evil. The story is told with brilliant flashbacks, much like the first Highlander film. This makes Danny Rand's role as Iron Fist seem so much more important than just a typical superhero. The stories in this omnibus are broken up into several arcs, with the first involving Rand and his predecessor proving the most interesting. There are a couple of issues in-between arcs that solely tell the tales of past Iron Fists. These are fun and unique, but they interrupt the flow of the book as a whole.

Other highlights include a meeting between Iron Fist and Daredevil (which connects to Brubaker's run on Daredevil, of course) and a retelling of Danny Rand's origin. I was slightly disappointed that the origin story stops before everything is resolved, leaving a few pages of text to explain what happens next. David Aja's art is fantastic across the board, but several issues are drawn by other artists and sometimes they have a real budget look. Still, if you want engaging, unique stories that take place within the Marvel universe, you can't do much better than this Omnibus.

This collects Brubaker's and Fraction's run on The Immortal Iron Fist. They took Iron Fist and created a modern twist on a kung-fu movie. The story weaves Iron Fist with the larger Marvel universe (Civil War, Heroes for Hire) for a bit, but mainly focuses on a complex mythology featuring all the past Iron Fists in history. The main plot is about Danny, his father, and Orson Wendell (the previous Iron Fist) and their relationship with the mystic city of K'un-L'un. It takes Danny back to his home to participate in a tournament with the other Immortal Weapons, but with larger events taking place, including a revolution of the old ways.

The art by Aja is very kinetic and well suited for the kung-fu action. The coloring is dark and moody, giving a weight to the story. It reminds me a lot of the art in by Alex Maleev in Bendis' Daredevil.

The only complaint I can have is the placement of the Annual and the Orson Randall and The Green Mist of Death stories in the omnibus. They follow the plotting of the story, but they ruin the pacing. Also, the "framing" artwork in the Annual is terrible.

Other than the two minor quibbles, this is a fantastic read. It's a surprisingly complex story with plenty of action and enough comedy to keep the reader entertained. Brubaker, Fraction, and Aja leave after this collection, leaving Duane Swierczynski to continue to the story. Having read those issues, I can say that the title continues being just as great. I hope there's an Omnibus vol. 2 in the future.

This deluxe omnibus edition contains the critically acclaimed relaunch of the Iron Fist character led by amazingly talented writers Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction and by spanish artist extraordinaire David Aja. It collects Immortal Iron Fist #1-16 (divided into two subsequent, related arcs: "The Last Iron Fist Story" and "The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven"), Civil War: Choosing Sides, Annual #1, Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death, and The Origin of Danny Rand.

I think there's no other way to express how I felt upon reading this book than to say that I was completely blown away. Iron Fist, a fairly unknown character of the 70's, one that many would see as being nothing beyond a gimmick inspired by the kung-fu pop influence over that decade, is gifted with one of the best comics series of the last years.

Firstly, it seems to me that, in order to enjoy this book, there is no need for deep previous knowledge of the Iron Fist character and his mythology. While the story packs a few surprises regarding the story of the Iron Fist legacy, it never punishes new readers. I, for instance, while always fascinated with the concept of the character, didn't know much more than the basic about him. Besides, the first issue shows us a glimpse of Danny Rand's (Iron Fist's not-so-secret identity) origin story, and for those willing to know more this omnibus also handily contains "The Origin of Danny Rand" story, which presents the comic that gave birth to the character.

About the story, there isn't really much I can say without spoiling a little bit of the plot. So let's just say that, as of the beginning of this series, Iron Fist is returning from a kind of self-imposed retirement: having abandoned his costume and his battles for some time in order to fight the fight of others, Danny feels it's time to carry his own burdens again, to reembrace the legacy he has left behind. This is shown in the "Choosing Sides" one-shot special, a cool story featuring Daredevil and Iron Fist published during the "Civil War" mega-crossover. This story, also present in this omnibus, is kind of the spiritual predecessor to the main series, and I really recommend reading it first. Besides, it makes more sense, chronologically speaking.

And now we come to the aspect of this book that freaked me out the most: David Aja's art. Right from the very start I realized I was in for a delightful visual journey. The beautiful flashback scene that fills the first couple of pages is followed by a wondrous double-page spread showing Iron Fist fighting against a horde of Hydra terrorists over a rooftop under the crashing rain, a scene that made me shiver in awe of Aja's artistic mastery. And that was just the beggining. Aja really took his time to craft innovative page breakdowns, and used at all times various techniques to tell the best story possible from a visual point of view. The fighting scenes (along with all others, by the way) are intense and fluid, and the characters seem to pop from the pages. What is more, Aja's general depiction of Iron Fist and his redesign of Danny Rand's costume are simply superb, and the very cover pattern design he came up with is awesomely elegant.

What brings me to the only fault I found with the series (other than the fact that it came to an end - I really wanted it to go on forever): the art inconsistency in the last issues. Probably due to Aja's attention to details and elaborate drawings, he just couldn't keep up with deadlines for some of the latter issues. That led Marvel to bring in other artists in order to help the regular artist completing them in time. That situation reached its pinnacle in issue 15, the last of the second arc of the story, where Aja's art is nowhere to be seen. Don't take me wrong: the fill-in artists are great and deliver an explosive and satisfying conclusion. But there is no denial that the series would have greatly benefited from having Aja draw its finale. Fortunately, he came back to pencil and ink the wonderful issue 16, the very last brought to life by this genious creative team of Brubaker-Fraction-Aja. But these are all minor qualms, that detract nothing from the overall experience.

Finally, a couple words about the extras: this book comes packed with a detailed encyclopedia-like entry on Iron Fist, covering all his story up until to the end of the stories contained in the omnibus, alternate covers, excerpts from the original script for the first issue, sketches from the artists, some comments by David Aja on the character designs he created or updated and a cool e-mail exchange between the creators. Very nice, but, considering the deluxe treatment of this edition, I couldn' help but feel that the publishers could have added some more extras, like an interview with the creators (something they did, for example with the Captain America Omnibus #1 by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting). But, again, these are minor quibbles: there is some cool extra stuff packed here.

To sum it all up, I can't recommend this book enough. The combination of great writing and great art resulted in one artistic work that has right off the bat exerted some kind of mesmerization over me. Maybe that's because because of my real life fascination over kung fu, but I don't think that alone would be enough to grab my attention (and this book obviously has some kind of pert, crazy [but ultimately respectful] humor underlying the martial arts-related themes - don't expect to see anyone delivering burning dove chops in real life any time soon). What I truly believe is that this book has something to please everyone, be it the dynamic and intelligent script, the character development, the action, the kung-fu, the humor, the martial arts-related mysticism, the mithology, the noir tone, the gorgeous artwork etc, the psychotic AT-AT spider nightmares... Simply put, this is one of my all-time favorite comic series, one that was initially met with suspicion but that ended up becoming like unto a thing of greatness.

This omnibus feels like the spiritual rebirth of 70s kung fu movies (with a bit of the newer ones with better crafted stories) and serial adventures that inspired Star Wars and Indiana Jones. They all mix so well here. There are secret pasts, secret plots, cheesy-but-awesome roving gangs of never-do-wells and adventurers, stories within stories, kung fu masters, a very Enter the Dragon-esque tournament, subplots galore, and they all intricately and seamlessly weave into one of the greatest comic book stories I've ever read.

Is it worth it? It's really hard to swallow the price of this omnibus, but considering the length, considering the quality of story telling, the quality of the art (most of the time; it falters in a couple, maybe three issues of the 18 or so included) it's great value for money. Though if you are on the fence, I'd highly recommend first going to a local bookstore or comic shop and browsing through the first issue of The Immortal Iron Fist.

Let me begin by saying this is a very thick book. We are talking about 500+ pages of high quality paper and hard cover wraping, big heavy stuff. Just wanted to clarify this cause I was blown away by it when I finally got it on my hands. The book itself is beautifull and people get this amazed look on their faces when they see it.

Now, about the comic itself, you can't ask for anything better. In many ways the plot is a pretty straight foward super heroe arc but with some really nice twists and turns that set it appart frome the batmans, supermans, ironmans and all the mans out there. Iron fist is its own heroe and its very refreshing to read his tale. The narrative is brilliant (Im starting to regard Brubaker as one of the finest by now), the art is beatifull and the design, althoug Im not a fan of the costume, its solid and fits the bill. Still, the Iron Fist on the cover is the coolest design Imo.

I'm not done with the book yet, doing 1 strip a night so far, but I'm loving every minute of it. The action isn't over the top (which is a + in my book), its very classy if you ask me, and the story begins in media res so you get to know the characters bit by bit. It gives the book a strong pull because you just want to know what happened before and whats going to happend next.

Bottom line, awsome images, great style, lovely writing, cool character on an impressive book.

First off, I'm a long time Marvel Comics reader although I was never well versed in the details of Iron Fist. I'm more of a Hulk & Spider-Man die-hard fan who branched out into the Avengers, FF, & X-Men titles once in a while. After hearing much of the hype about Brubaker & Fraction's Iron Fist saga the last few years, I decided to give this book a try and see what all the fuss & hype was about.

To be honest, I did not like this story much at all. While Brubaker has taken a character I was originally not a giant fan of and turned them into a must-read with Captain America, and his X-Men run was enjoyable, this Iron Fist saga (for me at lest) fell far below expectations and the hype generated for this collection.

I found it difficult to keep the multitude of characters, names, and plotlines straight. For example the main character is the present-day Marvel Universe Iron Fist, Danny Rand. Danny's father who wanted to be an Iron Fist (but never made the cut) is named Wendell Rand. The previous Iron Fist is Orson Randall. Maybe it's just me, but with the stylistic, dark, moody artwork it was tough to keep straight Orson Randall, from Wendell Rand, from Danny Rand and back and forth with the similar names & appearances. Adding to the frustration was the non-linear storytelling method whereby most of the backstory on all the supporting characters occurs via flashbacks. Another problem for me was that, while this is very much an Iron Fist story, at times the bulk of the story revolves around the mystical city of K'un L'un where Iron Fist comes from & K'un L'un's participation in an 88-year tournament pitting K'un L'un's champion (Iron Fist) against six other mystical city's champions. A great deal of the story focused on this tournament and a civil war uprising in K'un L'un. Lastly, I felt that while very complete and thorough, this storyline would have read much better had it been trimmed & shortened somewhat. While the Iron Fist Annual and the Orson Randall: Green Mist comics were included, and expanded upon plot points in the main Iron Fist series, I found they slowed down the overall storyline. My experience reading this book was that I was plodding through it waiting for the climax/payoff rather than enjoying the experience as the story unfolded.

Don't get me wrong, I get why a lot of folks like it. The moody, stylistic, dark artwork and the feeling that you have stepped into a larger legacy with the Iron Fist character & mystical city of K'un L'un as the backstory unfolds are all adequately done. What wasn't accomplished was in getting me to actually care what happens to the characters. The personal connection & interest just wasn't there for me. Again, I've never been a huge fan of Iron Fist, and only periphially knew of the character in the larger Marvel Universe so that may be part of my struggle with this book.

The positive for this collection is that the extras included are well presented. If you are a fan of DVD-style "making of" content you will be pleased. Included are original script & pitch pages, original concept sketches, creator commentary and more. Also the book itself is well designed and a beauty of a presentation from cover-to-cover. The covers are very sturdy both front & back, the binding is excellent, and the art reproduction & coloring from the original comics is a treat for the eyes.

I hope others enjoy it, but this book was just not my cup of tea.

Okay, so everyone else loves this book. It's why I bought it, on all the hype!

However, let me say this... It may not be your thing either. I knew nothing about Iron Fist previously, I just picked it up and started reading. I was very confused by all the backstory that I was unaware of; and when we are reading the story of two different Iron Fists in the same issue and I was unable to tell that was happening until issue 3 or so, and it became confusing as to what their relationship was (I don't think there was one in the end even tho it felt like there should be one).

The art made it hard to distinguish the two iron fists in the first arc, from one another. And in the end I just gave up.

Also, the action is all mystical kung fu stuff. Definitely not something I've ever liked my heroes to have. Claws, iron suits or batarangs...cool...glowing fists and kung fu action across multiple pages....no thanks.

Can't say I've read anything else by Ed Brubaker, but I love Matt Fraction's other modern works.