Iron Fist in Heart of the Dragon #1

Iron Fist in Heart of the Dragon #1

Marvel Comics 2021

Written by Larry Hama

Illustrated by DAvid Wachter

Coloured by Neeraj Menon

Lettered by VC’s Travis Lanham

AN IRON FIST EPIC FROM LEGENDARY CREATOR LARRY HAMA!

Someone is killing the ancient dragons that power the HEAVENLY CITIES, and only IRON FIST and the DEADLY WEAPONS can stop them…if they can discover who they are in time! Zombie armies, mystical portals, dragon hearts, some of the Marvel Universe’s deadliest fighters all converge in one action-packed extravaganza, and the fate of all worlds hangs in the balance!

Larry Hama is one of those writers we all know and love and his work on the Joe’s is literally legendary so seeing he was taking a crack at Iron Fist I knew I had to jump all over it. If this is what we are going to see throughout then we’re in for a crackin good time. Right off the bat I noticed this is coming out in the midst of King in Black and it has nothing to do with it which makes me happier than you could possibly know. Now if someone could just convince Larry to write an ongoing monthly with Danny, throw him a boatload of cash, then Make Mine Marvel might just be a real thing once again.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is perfectly presented. One of the things about this that I am enjoying already is that this is completely new reader friendly. Sure it helps to understand what’s going on in the Marvel Universe but everything we really need to know is given at some point in time within the story. The character development we see is outrageously good here. We know these characters, how they act and behave and yet we still get to see moments, with Pei especially, that surprise and bring a smile to our face is utterly priceless. The pacing we see is superb and as it takes us through the pages setting up the story, the cast of characters--heroes and villains--you know that this is going to be something that takes us to the corners of heaven and hell.

With how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge alongside those that seemingly come from nowhere it shows us the mind of master storytelling. Then there’s also how well everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow which is utterly marvellous as well.

This issue opens up with what I consider an old fashioned splash-page and I love it! The linework we see is great and the comic book style feels a little more tweaked and elevated than the norm so it keeps the eye on the page and the mind interested. There is some absolutely beautiful detail work that we see through the varying weights and techniques and the imagination that it’s able to capture, ignite and just transport you to this place. The composition within the panels means that even without backgrounds being utilised the space feels full so overall it’s has this great cohesive look. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is superb! How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is utterly magnificent. The dragon, the masked figure with it that’s the most rememberable moment that you’ll get.

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This is brilliantly done all around. This is the kind of work that makes you want to see the creative team never stop doing this character. It is so easy to bond with this book and that’s dangerous in a limited run but it is very much worth every moment of experiencing it that’s for sure.