Essential Iron Fist

[Roquefort Raider]

Is it alright if I start a thread just to say how happy I am with a book?

Iron Fist seemed like a very odd choice for the Essential treatment, because despite showcasing an early Claremont-Byrne collaboration, it didn't seem to me that there would be much demand for the character (upcoming film notwithstanding).

But am I glad that Marvel went through with it. That series is just full of creative energy. I know that John Byrne derides readers who claim to distinguish which series he had an interest in from which ones he just did for money, but as far as my naive opinion goes I'd say that the then-young mister Byrne had a LOT of enthusiasm when he worked on Iron Fist. The fight scenes are beautifully choregraphed, the backgrounds are richly detailed, and it's easy to see how, following such a start, Byrne became a superstar in the 80s.

The script is also pretty good, despite a somewhat awkward start (probably due to a frequent switch of writers). This romance between Iron Fist and Misty Knight is pretty convincing; the villains are kind of low-grade but also believable, and many of the plots have echoes in today's books. The ending of the Chaka storyline (Chaka being a yakuza-type criminal who wants to kill a super-hero to show who's king of the hill) predated B. Michael Bendis' "king of New York" storyline by more than two decades and had a more satisfying solution (more satisfying in that the bad guy did not admit to his criminal activities even after being beaten up by the hero). That's not to say that I think Bendis was influenced by that story; I mean to say that stories back then could be on par with the good stuff of today.

I don't know if that volume will ever be reprinted, but it certainly deserves to be widely read.

Cheers!

- Ben

[Greg Hatcher]

This one is actually my favorite of all the Essentials I've gotten so far, just barely edging out TOMB OF DRACULA... so far this is the only one that lost none of its luster going back and reading the stories as an adult. I love all my Essentials but most of them, I find, there's a little bit of rose-colored nostalgia prettying up the memory of what they were like when I read them in their original form decades ago; looking at them again now, I still have all the affection for them I did when I was young, but nevertheless there's definitely a feeling that you can see the zipper on the monster suit. Iron Fist didn't have that. (I imagine -- I hope -- Howard the Duck won't either, but I haven't gotten that one yet.)

Of course, I also fully expect the Defenders to knock Iron Fist out of first place when that one comes out. If not volume one, then certainly volume two when it gets to the Gerber stuff.

[matewan1990]

Next to the Conan Essential, I think this one is the best. The Tomb of Draculas are great and I'd rank them at third in the entire run. I've not seen the Luke Cage Essential yet, but I'd say it's going to rank high on my list. Defenders will be right up there, too. I love these Essentials! I wish they'd do the Byrne issues of Marvel Team-Up and the Perez issues of Marvel Two-In-One. Those are classics.

[TheHistorian]

This allowed me to go out and rebuild a complete Iron Fist run with minimal effort (that is, not having to pay an arm and a leg for issues 14 and 15). After finishing the Essential, I've been reading the single issues of PM&IF. This is the one series I remember really enjoying when I was younger. The later issues certainly aren't great comics, but I like that there is a complete story arc to the character (and I ignore that "it was an imposter" crap from years later).

[Roquefort Raider]

(and I ignore that "it was an imposter" crap from years later).

I didn't catch the resurrection of Iron Fist. So when he "died" he was actually an imposter?

Oh no... Not again...

It's strange because there was an easy way out for a writer wanting to bring back Iron Fist. After all, just before his demise, he had been busy pumping his own life-force in the body of a kid who turned into a glowing and floating light ball. It would have been simple to use a bit of comics hocus-pokus to say that the Fist's life force eventually managed to reincoroprate itself as the body it remembered.

And Greg, your saying that "I still have all the affection for them I did when I was young, but nevertheless there's definitely a feeling that you can see the zipper on the monster suit" is spot-on. That's exactly how I feel about the few FF and Avengers Essentials I've read.

Cheers!

- Ben

[TheHistorian]

I didn't catch the resurrection of Iron Fist. So when he "died" he was actually an imposter?

Depends on your definition of "actually", but y'know, basically yeah.

I only read about it. After PM&IF 125, I think the next two new Marvel books I bought were Marvels and 1602. It just wasn't my cup of tea anymore.

[Lone Ranger]

Well, I just stopped into 3 different comic shops today and they each had just about every Essential titles except for Iron Fist.

I had the same problem when I was looking for Essential Ant-Man.

I don't know if that means it's selling or nobody bothered ordering it.

[Slam_Bradley]

Well, I just stopped into 3 different comic shops today and they each had just about every Essential titles except for Iron Fist.

I had the same problem when I was looking for Essential Ant-Man.

I don't know if that means it's selling or nobody bothered ordering it.


I think it may be selling. I buy my Essentials on E-bay (usually for $8-10 apiece). The only two that I haven't been able to get for my price are Essential Iron Fist and Essential Tomb of Dracula, vo. 3. I've gotten all the books released since those two, but not them.

[Shellhead]

This one is actually my favorite of all the Essentials I've gotten so far, just barely edging out TOMB OF DRACULA... so far this is the only one that lost none of its luster going back and reading the stories as an adult. I love all my Essentials but most of them, I find, there's a little bit of rose-colored nostalgia prettying up the memory of what they were like when I read them in their original form decades ago; looking at them again now, I still have all the affection for them I did when I was young, but nevertheless there's definitely a feeling that you can see the zipper on the monster suit. Iron Fist didn't have that. (I imagine -- I hope -- Howard the Duck won't either, but I haven't gotten that one yet.)

Of course, I also fully expect the Defenders to knock Iron Fist out of first place when that one comes out. If not volume one, then certainly volume two when it gets to the Gerber stuff.

I agree with nearly every word in this post, except that I can't stand Howard the Duck, and I also think that the Essential Conan was even better than Essential Iron Fist. Sometimes the black and white rendition of the Essential format can hurt, but both the intricate pencils of Barry Windsor-Smith and the clean bold lines of early John Byrne looked great in black and white.

[Huh?]

I love all my Essentials but most of them, I find, there's a little bit of rose-colored nostalgia prettying up the memory of what they were like when I read them in their original form decades ago; looking at them again now, I still have all the affection for them I did when I was young, but nevertheless there's definitely a feeling that you can see the zipper on the monster suit. Iron Fist didn't have that. (I imagine -- I hope -- Howard the Duck won't either, but I haven't gotten that one yet.)I loved the Howard the Duck Essential. I found it to be just as good as anything written today, and the humor was still funny IMO.