This deluxe edition contains bus the critically acclaimed revival of the Iron Fist character run by incredibly talented writers Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction and David Aja Spanish artist extraordinary. Collects Immortal Iron Fist # 1-16 (divided into two arcs later related: "The Last Iron Fist Story" and "The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven"), the Civil War: taking sides, Annual # 1, Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death, and The Origin of Danny Rand.
I think there is another way of expressing what I felt when reading this book to say that I was truly amazed. Iron Fist, a relatively unknown character of the '70s, one that many see as nothing more than a trick inspired by the influence of kung-fu pop over that decade, is endowed with one of the best comic book series recent years.
First, I think, in order to enjoy this book, there is need for a deep prior knowledge of the characteristics of the Iron Fist and mythology. While the history of packs some surprises regarding the history of theIron Fist legacy, never punishes the new readers. I, for example, while always fascinated with the concept of the character, did not know much more than basic about it. In addition, the first issue shows us a vision of identity is not-so-secret (Iron Fist Danny Rand's) origin story, and for those who want to know more about this bus also conveniently contains "The Origin of Danny Rand" History , featuring the comic that gave rise to the character.
On the history, there really is not much I can say without spoiling some plot. So let's say that from the beginning of this series, Iron Fist is coming off a kind of self-imposed retirement: having abandoned his suit and battles for some time in order to fight the fight of others, Danny feels it is time to take his own load again for reembrace the legacy he has left behind. This is shown in the "Choosing sides" one-shot special, a fresh story with Daredevil and Iron Fist published during the "Civil War" mega-crossover. This story is also present on this bus is a kind of spiritual predecessor to the main series, and I highly recommend reading first. In addition, it makes sense, chronologically speaking.
Now we have the appearance of this book that really scared me: the art of David Aja. From the beginning I realized I was in a very nice visual journey. The beautiful flashback scene that fills the front pages is followed by a prodigious double-page spread showing Iron Fist fighting a horde of terrorists Hydra on a roof in the rain crashing, a scene that made me tremble in fear master Aja art. And that was just the beginning. Aja really took the time to develop innovative troubleshooting page, and is used at all times the various techniques to tell the best story possible from a visual standpoint. The fight scenes (along with everyone else, by the way) are intense and fluid, the characters seem to pop from the pages. Moreover, the overall representation of Iron Fist Aja and his new costume design Danny Rand are simply superb, and the same pattern of cover design came up with is surprisingly elegant.
Which brings me to the only fault I found with the series (other than the fact that came to an end - I really wanted to make it last forever): the inconsistency of art in recent issues. Probably because of the attention to detail and drawings made Aja, he simply could not keep up with the deadlines for some of the ultimate questions. That led to Marvel bring other artists to help the artist complete regular time. This situation reached its pinnacle in the 15 edition, the last of the second story arc, where Aja's art anywhere. Do not misunderstand me: the filling of the artists are great and deliver an explosive and satisfying conclusion. But there is no denying that the series has benefited greatly from having Aja draw to an end. Luckily, he returned to pen and ink wonderful item 16, the latter bringing to life of this collective creative genius of Brubaker-fraction-Aja. But these are all minor repairs, nothing that detract from the overall experience.
Finally, a couple of words about the extras: This book is packed with detailed free-entry as the Iron Fist, which covers its entire history until the end of the stories contained in the bus, covered with alternate, fragments original screenplay for the first question, sketch artists, some comments from David Aja in the character designs he created or updated and cooling exchange e-mail between the creators. Very nice, but given the deluxe treatment of this issue, I could not help feeling that the editors could have added some extras like an interview with the creators (something they did, for example, the Bus Captain America # 1 Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting). But again, these are minor quibbles: there are some extra things fresh packaged here.
To sum it all up, I can not recommend this book enough. The combination of good writing and great art resulted in an artistic work that is right off the bat that exerts some sort of fascination for me. Maybe it's because because of my fascination with real life through kung fu, but I think that would be enough to grab my attention (and this book clearly has a kind of brazen, [crazy, but humor ] ultimately respectful of the martial arts underlying issues - do not expect to see anyone burning the delivery of the Dove chops in real life in the short term). What we really believe is that this book has something to please everyone, either the dynamic and intelligent script, character development, action, kung-fu, humor, mysticism, martial arts-related mythology, pitch black, the wonderful designs etc, nightmares, psychotic spider AT-AT ... In short, this is one of my favorite series of comic time, which was greeted with suspicion at first, but eventually became something like greatness.
