khaosworks | Less talking. More kicking.

Comic book recommendation of the week: The Immortal Iron Fist #8

Now, I don't know if you've been reading this regular dose of awesome from Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and David Aja, but if you harbour any affection for kung fu movies, you've got to pick this up. Brubaker has taken Iron Fist and very effectively expanded his mythology while still staying true to what has gone before. And upped the kung fu quotient several hundred percent. This is what Iron Fist would be like if directed by John Woo and Lau Kar-Leung, or the closest thing to it you'll find in American comics today. And honestly, when you get pretty much a kick in the face every issue, what's there not to like?

The first six issues had Danny Rand meet Orson Randall, the Iron Fist of World War I, discover that there had been sixty-six Iron Fists before him, and that his role as an immortal weapon is part of a larger game being played by K'un Lun, the mystical city that turns out to be just one of Seven Capital Cities of Heaven. The story also has my single favourite page of the last year, one that makes me smile every time I look at it; pay attention to the Hydra soldiers realizing they are well and truly fucked.

"... Did he just kick Frank through a friggin' TRAIN?!"

Anyway, #8 starts the next arc and picks up with Danny in K'un Lun. Turns out that every eighty-eight years, the Seven Capital Cities have this martial arts tournament that decides the winning city's place in the celestial clockwork, and the Iron Fist is K'un Lun's champion. Orson Randall refused to participate the last time, and kinda screwed things up, so Danny can't really shirk his responsibility now. This issue is worth picking up just to see Fat Cobra, another immortal weapon and the Tortoise champion (Danny's the Dragon), do this to 100 Shaolin Terror Priests (yes, you heard me):

And shout it out as he does so.

Next month: Danny vs. Fat Cobra. Seriously, if you haven't glommed on to this one yet, pick up the hardcover of The Immortal Iron Fist: The Last Iron Fist Story and then go on from there. Less talking, more kicking.