Customer Reviews

Immortal Iron Fist, Vol. 3: The Book of Iron Fist (v. 3)

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This volume collects several single issue stories that have appeared in the Iron Fist book. Issues #7 and #15 were stories of two of the previous Iron Fists chronicled in the Book of the Iron Fist that our current incarnation has acquired. #7 is actually my favorite single issue of the series, and it nearly brought tears to my eyes near the end. #15 was an okay story, but not great. A bit plodding actually. Issue #16 was a single issue story that more or less bridges the gap from Volume 2 and the next story, which will surely be reprinted in volume 4. It was a pretty good issue. Orson Randall and The Green Mist of Death I thought was decent, but not as good as the Orson Randall story told in the Iron Fist Annual (collected in Volume 2). And The Origin of Danny Rand is a re-telling of Iron Fist's origin, and is more or less filler. If you love this series, I would reccomend reading this volume, but if you don't care about the single issue stories or about Danny's past or legend, then you could always skip it.

If you want to know more history of the Immortal Iron Fist, this is the graphic novel to read. I didn't like it as much as volumes 1 and 2 of the series. (Brubaker's stories are the best, in my opinion). Still, it was very interesting and insightful. I highly reccomend it.

The blurb says that there have been sixty-six men and women to carry the mantle of The Immortal Iron Fist throughout the ages...This is the story of four of them - Wu Ao-Shi, the Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay; Bei Bang-Wen, power-mad Iron Fist of the year 1860; Orson Randall, the Golden Age Iron Fist; and Danny Rand, the Iron Fist of today ... written by Brubaker and Fraction, so how wrong can you get?

Well if you came into this book without much background, you will be disappointed. The four stories are not connected except by dint of them being Immortal Iron Fists with the glowing fist thing. The stories are episodic and the artwork is too varied for my taste. Completely standalone stories. And not interesting tales either.

The first tale about a martial artist who marries a fisherman is sadly one-dimensional. The second tale I can't even remember. The third tale is a complete disaster with Orson Randall running around trying to save his sidekick from a green mist. The Danny Rand story has him trying to persuade Luke Cage to join him in a multi-billion corporation. Would Luke Cage ever say no?

This is a truly shallow comic.