Panelology is a weekly podcast about comics. We talk about current books, what we're looking forward to, and how to get into reading comics in the first place.

Iron Fist: The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven (Marvel Comics, 2006; Iron Fist #8-14, Annual #1)

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post to bring you a Panelology Public Service Announcement:

DANNY RAND IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE AN IMBECILE.

If you have been lead to believe that Danny Rand is an imbecile, please turn off the Netflix series and proceed immediately to your nearest Local Comic Shop. Or, if you do not have a Local Comic Shop, your nearest brick-and-mortar book retailer.  Or Amazon.  Once you have navigated appropriately, purchase either Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja, and company’s Immortal Iron Fist or (if you are looking for more of a kung fu revenge flick vibe) Kaare Andrews’s Iron Fist: The Living Weapon.

This concludes this Panelology Public Service Announcement.  Please stay tuned for any late-breaking developments.  We now return you to your blog post, already in progress.

  • Danny prepares to compete against other mystical cities’ Iron Fist-style champions in a centennial, celestial fight club.
  • And he works to stop a terrestrial madman attempting to destroy K’un-Lun.
  • And he helps his former master, The Thunderer, plot a coup against his adoptive brother, the corrupt Yu-Ti of K’un-Lun.
  • Huh, he's a busy guy.  He must be pretty clever and competent in order to actually pull all this off.  Good thing he's not an imbecile; that would make this pretty hard.
  • Plus, in flashback-land, Danny’s father trains alongside the Thunderer’s son as each vies to be the next Iron Fist.
  • There's a lot of stuff going on! But it’s pretty much the perfect intersection of Brubaker’s character-building talents, Fraction’s humor, and their shared abilities to craft characters’ voices.
  • That complexity is also the reason for the gigantic art team:  different periods in time have their own artists to keep everything clean, clear, and comprehensible.

This is excellent Iron Fist.  If you like Iron Fist but haven’t read this, please read this.  Start with Brubaker, Fraction, and Aja’s first volume.

Collected in

  • The Immortal Iron Fist, Vol. 1: The Last Iron Fist Story (#8-14, Annual #1)
  • The Immortal Iron Fist: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1 (#1-16, Annual #1,  Immortal Iron Fist: Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death #1; Immortal Iron Fist: The Origin of Danny Rand #1; material from Civil War: Choosing Sides #1)

Credits

Writers: Matt Fraction & Ed Brubaker | Artists: David Aja (8-13) with Roy Allan Martinez (8-9), Scott Koblish (9), Kano (10-13), Javier Pulido (12), Tonci Zonjic (13); Tonci Zonjic (14) with Clay Man (14), Kano (14), Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic (14); Howard Chayken (Annual 1), Dan Brereton (Annual 1), Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic (Annual 1) | Inker: Stefano Gaudiano (14) | Colorists: Matt Hollingsworth (8-14) with June Chung (8-9), David Aja (10), Kano (10), Javier Rodriguez (11-14), Paul Mounts (14); Edgar Delgado (Annual 1), Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic (Annual 1) | Letterer: Artmonkeys Studios | Covers: David Aja, Dan Brereton, Jelena Kevic Djurdjevic, Travel Foreman, Kaare Andrews | Assistant Editor: Alejandro Arbona | Editor: Warren Simons

Green Lantern: No Fear (DC Comics, 2005; Green Lantern #1-6)

Nailbiter: Bound by Blood & The Bloody Truth (Image Comics, 2014; Nailbiter #21-30)