Iron Fist - Heart of the Dragon #1
- WRITER
- Larry Hama
- Artist
- David Wachter
- Letterer
- VC's Travis Lanham
- Cover Artist
- Emilio Lopez, Monica Mu, Khary Randolph, Kim Jacinto, David Aja, Sebastian Cheng, Philip Tan, Billy Tan
- Publisher
- Marvel Comics
- Price
- 3.99
- Release Date
- 2021-01-20
- Colorist
- Neeraj Menon
While the television future of Marvel's Netflix heroes remains unknown, Iron Fist returns to star in a new comic book miniseries Heart of the Dragon. Teaming up legendary Marvel Comics writer Larry Hama with fan-favorite artist David Wachter, the six-issue miniseries has the superhero martial artist discover the dragons that empower the immortal weapons and their respective heavenly cities are under attack. In this strong debut, the creative team effortlessly blends martial-arts action with crowd-pleasing elements of the Marvel Universe to thrilling effect.
While hanging out with fellow Hero for Hire Luke Cage and his daughter Danielle, Danny Rand returns to a mythical Undercity to investigate a strange disturbance. Finding himself taking on familiar foes that are threatening the legendary dragons for a nefarious scheme, Iron Fist learns that nowhere appears safe from this insidious plot as even Rand Tower comes under attack from dark forces. With the Eight Heavenly Cities under attack, Iron Fist's next, epic adventure has only just begun, with the rest of the Immortal Weapons poised to play a major role across the remainder of the miniseries and loads of martial-arts high jinks to put the warriors' skills to a fiery test.
Hama has a strong grasp on Iron Fist, bringing back a greater sense of fun and freewheeling spirit to the character after more recent takes on the character have taken a more self-serious, raw depiction of the master martial artist. Hama had previously worked with Iron Fist, both in his solo title and paired with Luke Cage, and he slides back to writing both characters like no time has passed at all, even with the lifestyle changes to both men since he last wrote the two. And Hama weaves in plenty of entertaining elements into this debut issue, from zombie ninja warriors to operatic action set pieces that has Danny remind everyone why exactly he is one of the most formidable fighters in the Marvel Universe.
With color artist Neeraj Menon, Wachter's work really talks off when the action kicks in, from the shadowy Undercity to a penthouse fight sequence in Rand Tower. With a character like Iron Fist, there's a greater sense of scrutiny on the fight scenes and, fortunately, the art delivers on those expectations with cinematic staging and kinetic energy popping right off the panel. Menon's color palette gives the visuals a particular timeless quality that works best when the visuals lean more into their superhero potential than the fantasy elements. And even in the more dialogue-driven sequences, the artwork remains engaging, with Luke and Danielle Cage stealing the show on every page both of them appear in; the three of them practically making the case for an ensemble team-up book.
With a comic book career spanning decades, Hama continues to prove he is still perfectly capable of swinging for the fences, delivering entertaining tales starring Marvel's icons that manage the tricky balance of feeling timeless and yet fitting right into the modern canon of comic titles currently being published. Working well with David Wachter, Heart of the Dragon is off to an impressive start that will not only thrill Iron Fist fans but provide a strong case one why the character and his enduring friendship with Luke Cage is one of the strongest in the entire Marvel Universe. A genuinely thrilling read, Heart of the Dragon #1 is packed with fan-pleasing moments from cover-to-cover that hits all the right notes with its Heroes for Hire leads.