Immortal Iron Fist #17

I was really nervous when I saw this in my pull today.  I think I even said something to the guy behind the counter.  Fraction and Aja created an amazing story with their Seven Capitol Cities of Heaven arc and I didn't want that magic to leave.

I'm glad to say that the new team has yet to disappoint.  The new villain is exactly what I wanted to see.  He's just mysterious enough to keep me interested, but he's got a very clear purpose, to Kill the Iron Fist!!!  Sometimes simple is good.

I'm very glad to see that the Flashbacks are kept intact and effortlessly weaved throughout the modern day stories.  If Swierczynski can keep that up, I'll definitely be happy.  I definitely enjoyed Danny's birthday scenes.  All the stuff with the old Heroes for Hire was amazing.  The scene with Misty was quite well done.  We got a great look into their very conflicted relationship with Luke Cage being the annoying wingman. 

The introduction of Patrick Easton was one of my favorite parts of the issue.  Its always fun to see a super type have to try and explain whats going on to a normal guy.  Plus, the normal guy is a slick businessman that sort of reminds me of 80's guy from Futurama (ok, maybe he's not that slick, but I can hope right?)

My only real complaint so far is the art.  I don't like Foreman's odd choice of shading.  There's a couple shots of Danny that just bothered me.  The page where he starts walking out into town has an establishing shot of him pulling off his tie where he looks to be about 20 feet tall.  The next page where the Fist Killer first approaches him there's the really strange facial shot of danny where half of his face is missing.  Maybe this was a stylistic choice, but I'm just not feeling it.  The cramped panels during the fight sequence really didn't jive well with me either.

Hopefully, the art issues clear up and the storytelling stays this consistent.  We might just have another great run of Iron Fist on our hands.