Immortal Iron Fist #1-27

You know what I like doing? I like hording runs of complete (or near complete) series and then binge read them, kind of like how someone will burn through a whole season of something on Netflix. With Marvel Unlimited, I was able to binge read the entire Immortal Iron Fist series.

I must admit that I don’t necessarily know everything about the character. But in this short series, which ran roughly two and a half years, I was able to jump right in at full speed.

There is a lot that happens in this series, ranging from Daniel Rand having to literally fight off corporate raiders that are part Hydra, to fighting with the other immortal weapons in a tournament of celestial proportions, to finally even going to hell. All the while, there are side bars chronicling the life and death of Orson Randall (the previous Iron Fist), Daniel’s father Wendell taking the Rand family on an expedition to find K’un-L’un, and single issue stories about the various other people to wield the Iron Fist. We even explore Daniel’s personal life, whether it be how he runs his business or his relationship with Misty Knight.

The resulting series works so well, whether it be written by the series’ original team of Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, to the later issues by Duane Swierczynski. It is a real testament to his abilities as a writer, as he keeps the tone and pace set by Brubaker and Fraction. On the art side, the series went back and forth from David Aja and Travel Foreman seamlessly. The resulting series was just great.

The Mighty Thor/Journey Into Mystery: Everything Burns And I Need Your Help

I’ll admit; I probably should have been reading Kieron Gillen’s Journey Into Mystery to have a better understanding of what was going on. This volume collects the series’ final arc, which was a cross over with The Mighty Thor. It’s up to Kid Loki and Thor to save everyone, and tie up the loose ends of Gillen’s run on Journey and Matt Fraction’s on The Mighty Thor.

Unfortunately, I picked this up completely cold. There is a lot of stuff going on that required tons and tons of Googleing to figure out. What happened–or at least what I think happened–was that Kid Loki has been feuding with the spirit of his older self all this time. And as a result, he’s somehow freed the fire demon Surtur. So it is up to him and his older brother Thor to save the universe.

There’s a lot of deception, trickery and flat-out lying between all the characters, as well as allusions to some of the previous plot lines in Journey Into Mystery. All of this really confused me to the point that I still don’t have a clue as to what exactly happened. So I’m going to ask you my reader pals what happened.

What I do feel comfortable talking about was how much I liked Alan Davis’ art on the Thor parts of this. He’s such a great–and underutilized–artist.

But getting back to this, I’m going to say that it’s pretty forgettable unless you have been following the Journey series. If you were a faithful reader of that series, I will give it a hearty recommendation. And if you knew what happened in this, please let me know!

FF #1-2

I know it’s really too late to announce something like this, but FF is really the best new series of 2012. It’s Matt Fraction’s take on a back-up Fantastic Four and it has amazing art by Mike Allred. Really, why aren’t you reading this?

The premise is pretty straight forward; in the recently relaunched Fantastic Four is going on a short-term journey into another dimension and they need someone to look after the Future Foundation (Marvel Universe’s brightest bunch of genius youngsters) and any other fantastic problems in the interim.

Each of the members is picked by a member of the real Fantastic Four, and most powerful scenes are the ones where Mister Fantastic is trying to recruit the recently returned to the living Scott “Ant-Man” Lang to be his substitute, hitting on the fact that Lang is really unsure if he is up to the task. This is in comparison to She-Hulk and Medusa, who have previously helped out.

The new member of the team is Darla Deering, a pink haired woman who Johnny Storm had hooked up with and coerced into helping out. Although she has no powers, she is wearing the Thing’s robotic armor from when he lost his powers.

In the second issue, the team has its first public outing as they fight a large monster under the control of Mole Man, a sort of tribute to the first issue of the original Fantastic Four. It ends with the new team saving the day and dealing with various Human Torches from other realities appearing.

It’s a lot of fun and well written, like most of Fraction’s books. But what I really love is that Allred (and his wife Laura who is a super colorist) has created a dynamic and bright world. Really, this is something that has been missing from super hero comics and it works especially well on this. I would love to see the Allreds on Daredevil.

But yes, this is highly recommendeded  It’s one of the most fun Fantastic Four stories I’ve read in some time, and it doesn’t even feature the proper characters! How cool is that?

Comic Con ruminations

Assorted Walking Dead merchandise at San Diego Comic Con 2011. Photo courtesy SupahCute.com on http://www.flickr.com/supahcute

So apparently there was a San Diego Comic Con this weekend. Did I miss anything important?

Usually I wind up geeking out in front of the computer, constantly refreshing the web browser to find all the latest gossip. So here’s a recap of SDCC, with what I’m excited about.

• Matt Fraction’s new Defenders book—This is going to be cool. I’m a fan of Fraction’s writing, and this team up of Namor, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Red She Hulk and Silver Surfer just seems like a can’t miss. Did I mention it’s going to be drawn by Terry Dodson?
• EC Comics—Everyone’s favorite horror comics from the 1950s are going to be reprinted by Fantagraphics next year. I can’t wait to get to read some vintage Wally Wood.
• More Marvel Television—Sometimes it’s just as much fun to watch comics on the television show. I’m really looking forward to Hulk and the Agents of SMASH, a cartoon show featuring Hulk, She Hulk, Red Hulk and Skaar going around, smashing things and helmed by Paul Dini. I also can’t wait for aka Jessica Jones, an adaptation of Alias.
• Hawk and Dove Teasers—Yes, I love Rob Liefeld and I love DC’s characters Hawk and Dove. Some of the newly released art has already been adapted into wallpaper for my computer.
• New Marvel Universe toys—Everyone may have been excited about the return of the Marvel Legends toy line from Hasbro, but I’m still enjoying the smaller Marvel Universe figures, especially the She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch and Punisher. However, the Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure Armin Zola figure is amazing. And while we’re at it, some of the new He-Man and Thundercats stuff makes me very nostalgic.

So what was your favorite part of SDCC?