Or – “Return From Hell, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200…”
Danny Rand has discovered the secret of the hidden Eighth City of Heaven with his pals in the Immortal Weapons, and has discovered the fate of the original Iron Fist. Now, as he flees the city, he’ll be forced to make choices that will test his resolve and his alliances, all in the hopes of saving the lives of people who may NOT be innocent at all…
Previously, on Immortal Iron Fist: Daniel Rand and the Immortal Weapons traveled through a hidden dimensional gate to find the lost Eighth City of heaven, leaving behind former supervillain Davos (aka Steel Serpent, Steel Phoenix, and ‘Big Bald D-Bag’) to cover their six. Turns out that the Eighth city is a prison, designed to hold monsters of great power, and the weapons were forced to use all their resources to so much as survive the experience. Worst of all, the evil overlord (LASER LIGHT!) of the whole shmageggi is none other than Quan Yaozu, the original bearer of the power and title of the Iron Fist. Danny puts together an escape plan, and flees the city with his fellows and all the inmates, not realizing that Steel Phoenix stands on the other side of the gateway armed with an assault rifle and bad intentions…Â
Flashback: The Thunderer, father of Steel Phoenix meets with his son secretly in the night. They talk about the “enemies” of the former August Personage in Jade, innocents who stood int he way of power, thrown into the Eighth City to rot with the worst and the baddest. They discuss what must be done, and Davos realizes that he could free the innocents trapped in the lost city. “No, my son,” says Lei Kung, sadly. “There is something ELSE I need you to do.” In the present, Dog Brother #1, Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter, Prince of Orphans, Iron Fist, Fat Cobra, and Creepy-Ass Fangy Spider-Chickie (no, seriously, that’s her name… as far as I can remember) work their way out of the hellish city, realizing that they’ll have to split their forces to make good their exit. While Bride of Nine Spiders, Fat Cobra and Dog Brother fight off the soldiers of hell, it’s up to Prince, Fist and Daughter (attorneys at law) to combine their powers to open the gateway to K’un Lun. The wounded weapons barely manage to open the exit, only to find themselves suddenly bum-rushed by Quan Yaozu and an army of things from beyond. Turns out this was the evil despot’s plan all along, and now they’ve provided him with his way out of hell…
Quan takes Iron Fist captive and forces Danny to lead the way back to reality, where they find… Davos with a gun. Danny takes down his old rival, only to find that Lei Kung has realized this whole thing could happen, and sent Davos to make sure that the first Iron Fist couldn’t escape to ruin the shaky new peaceful status quo. Davos shoots the original Fist, and Danny quickly drops him with a kickinnaface. Quan realizes that Iron Fist has nothing to gain by helping him, and asks what the hell he was thinking. Danny tells him that it’s time that the truth is heard, and that his people need to accept what happened. “If they can’t,” Danny says, “then maybe the city doesn’t deserve to go on. Danny leaves Lei Kun and Quan Yaozu to figure it all out, and returns to New York after weeks of absence. Nobody in the city seems to answer his calls, and when he reaches the office of Rand Industries finds them abandoned and empty, implying bad things have happened to the Rand family fortunes…Â
Next issue is the last issue of Immortal Iron Fist… sort of. The book will continue as a series of one-shots featuring the Immortal Weapons, and is supposed to be relaunched soon after that mini concludes. Still, this issue is an odd one, and hard to process for me. I like the intrigue and political maneuvering, but a relative lack of character depth (at least for anyone who isn’t Iron Fist) leads to a lack of practical consequences for Danny and for the reader. There’s never a sense of heavy tension that they might fail, and Davos’ near-betrayal isn’t really a surprise. It’s nice to see Danny win over his opponent, and I like the idea of the original Iron Fist returning to a city of lies to show them the truth, but the writing feels very remote, and the practical upshot of the moment is muted by that. The art, by Travel Foreman, is okay, evocative of 90’s era Jae Lee, with huge pools of black and sharp angles everywhere. Overall, it’s a good issue, but not a great one, and the upcoming “cancellation” makes me leery of what might be coming next. Immortal Iron Fist #26 earns a not-too-shabby 3 out of 5 stars, and I hope that the next adventure for Danny Rand keeps him in the public eye.
3 Comments
As much as I loved the Mortal Kombat type tournament that introduced the Immortal Weapons, I didn’t really like Mortal Kombat III. Which is basicaly what the 8th City storyline is, just give Quan Yaozu a giant hammer and he’s Shao-Kang double.
Think about it, in the first tournament they fight to win and unltimately save their real (in the weapons case the mystical city) in the third to survive in a hostile environment after Earthreal is merged with the hellish Outerworld (in their case the 8th city), even Quan’s goal is similar to Shao-Kang rule/destroy K’un Lun (or Earthrealm for Kang).
I expected Davos to have orders to kill the weapons to lock all the prisoners in and the happy ending felt sort of wrong. The original Iron Fist had been there for centuries right? And one good gesture from Danny changed his mind?
The cover says this is issue #26…
‘Cause it is…
Sometimes I have stupid fingers.