“The ending panel rocked!”  Those are four words that can easily sum up just how I felt after putting this book down.  In the last few months, I’ve been feeling like the Immortal Iron Fist has been meandering.  What was promoted to me as a giant kung-fu battle royale has instead morphed into a story of intrigue, deceit, and revolution.  Which, I guess, is okay, right? And that’s the question on reader’s minds.  Is it okay that this book has changed so much since it first started?  At the end of this issue I can finally, say that yes, yes it’s just fine and dandy.

This issue continues the three parallel storylines that have been coming together since the tournament began.  We find out more of Wendell Rand’s history, we see Jeryn continuing to work for Xao as he tries to destroy Ku’Lun, and Danny is busy dealing with issues within the Heavenly City, namely the betrayal of the leaders of his clan.  And in this issue we see these stories come together, to finally climax into that, “Oh hell, yes!” moment.  Brubaker and Fraction have done what they tend to do best: construct an intricate story that’s going to lead us somewhere.  It may feel like a while, but we’re getting somewhere and next issue’s payoff should more than make up for slow pacing of this particular storyline. 

In thinking abou the art I just have to ask, what the hell happened to David Aja?  He drew the first six issues, but in this issue, we only see him for three pages!  Three!  Nothing against the other artists on this book, whose work has continued to improve with each issue, but this book was so gorgeous with Aja.  I think the coloring in this issues really helped Zonjic’s pencils, and Kano’s work has gotten tighter as he’s been on the book longer.  His pencils in the last panel are so freaking great

So this issue leaves me hopeful.  It leaves me hopeful for some awesome kung-fu action next issue, and it leaves me feeling good about the prospect of finally getting to see the rest of the tournament after this storyline.  I love this book for it’s kung-fu goodness, and that’s what it’ll hopefully bring with next issue.