Iron Fist the Living Weapon #1

By Kaare Andrews

Iron Fist has been a character that has flirted with being a heavy hitter in the Marvel Universe, but never really broke out of his side character status. He’s had his own series before and has had his famous team up with Power Man, but never became someone that got a lot of recognition. Kaare Andrews steps in and tries to fix that problem with the Marvel Now re-launch of Iron fist the Living Weapon.

This issue focuses mainly on Danny Rand the person and not his superhero alter ego Iron Fist. Andrews does a wonderful job of bringing out the human side of Danny and making him a likable character. One of Andrews’ greatest strengths is that he puts a lot of himself into his books; Spiderman Reign is a perfect example of this. Kaare also excels at making Danny say a lot without speaking. While he is the narrator of this issue, Rand doesn’t actually say much, the supporting characters do a lot of the talking. Andrews starts this title off well and hopefully this good start will continue as the series moves forward.

Andrews also does the art for this book, which is serviceable, but the weak part of the issue. Kaare has a unique style that at times can make people look odd and disproportionate. There are several flashback scenes in the first issue that are colored oddly and resemble a Sunday morning comic in the newspaper, which can be a bit of a turn off. That being said, Andrews does take chances with some panels in this issue that do pay off. He is not afraid to use heavy reds and blacks or even a plain, all black and white panel which gives it a great contrasting look.

 Iron Fist the Living Weapon is off to a pretty solid start so far and Kaare Andrews is solely responsible. The art could use some stability, but Andrews writes and draws with a lot of passion so he will no doubt rectify this once he gets into a groove. Iron Fist is a character that is in need of some publicity and with this comic and his Netflix series in the work, that’s exactly what he’ll get.