Danny Rand lost his access to the chi of the thousand-year-old dragon of K’un-Lun during the adventure narrated in the previous volume, thus closing volume 5 of the collection. Panini Comics discovers what is behind the curtain to introduce us to the new Iron Fist.
Lin Lie, Master of Swords
Considering that the last two known Iron Fists have been of Western origin, Daniel Rand and Orson Randall, it’s refreshing to have a new turn of events and see a Shanghai native holding the post. Throughout the history of K’un Lun, and his main weapon, it is nothing new, but if we talk about Marvel since the creation of the character, we are witnessing an important milestone. Lin Lie is the new holder of the power of the chi of Shou-Lao although apparently we have a situation that exceeds what until now had been the usual norm, that previous step of defeating the dragon to become Iron Fist. We also find ourselves with an important handicap, Lin Lie has severe injuries to his hands, caused by embedded fragments of Fu Xi’s sword, belonging to his ancestors.
It is precisely this limitation that has allowed him to access the power of Iron Fist, without the dragon’s egg having even hatched. Shou-Lao is attached to the young man in another way, one that doesn’t include having his immortal heart ripped out. Like all principles, they can lead to a complex period in which we must adapt to the new role that has been conferred on us. For Lin Lie it will not be different, although to face Chiyou, the Dark Destroyer, he will have a lot of help, from the new generation of fighters from K’un-Lun to Danny Rand and Luke Cage, going through another pair of immortal weapons, one of those introduced to us by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and David Aja during their remembered stage in The Immortal Iron Fist.
The difficult steps of learning
The main character in this volume already had his own story to tell before getting here. His appearance as Sword Master already gave him an origin that he is now going to combine with his new occupation. The road to excellence involves falling down and getting up many times, doubts about our capabilities, lack of skill in handling a tool that we have just started to use. But time and dedication make us experts, they make us gain confidence in ourselves, they lead us to personal development. And for this we have educators, who not only teach us but must motivate us to bring out our best version, the one who becomes devoted to what they do, the one who does not settle and constantly seeks to improve.
Lin Lie is not alone in his work, he has friends to lean on, enemies who are close to him and teachers who are going to push him into the void so that he ends up flying alone as the benchmark he is for the city he represents. The supporting cast with which the series begins is most interesting and allows many interrelationships between what was the boy’s past, his present and what awaits him in the future. We are facing a very continuous restart of the Iron Fist myth, but very entertaining at the same time, more irreverent, more in tune with today’s youth, although any youth has been the same in its time.
Authorship completely of oriental origin
To carry all this out, which is not little. The creative team has its origins in the Far East. As has been done in the other quintessential martial arts series at Marvel, Shang-Chi. The scripts have fallen into the hands of Alyssa Wong, born in Arizona of Chinese and Filipino descent. The winner of the Nebula, Locus or World Fantasy awards, for her fantasy novels, she has been collaborating with Marvel since 2019, currently dealing with the titles of Massacre (Deadpool) and Star Wars: Doctor Aphra. His writing is agile and rich in detail. He brings a great summary of Lin Lie’s lore and gives Sparrow Yu-Ti or Mei Min, future Thunderer of K’un-Lun a good push.
For the pencils we mainly had Michael Yg with the help of Sean Chen in numbers 2 and 3. Yg, also an American of Chinese origin. He manages to endow his drawings, with a clean and fine line, with the intensity necessary for combat with punches and kicks. Highlighting the level of threat that he achieves simply through facial expressions.
To be practically his first foray into the world of “mainstream” comics, we can predict a promising future for him. Chen is an old acquaintance within Marvel. Not in vain has he been at La Casa de las Ideas since the late 1990s, his stage in Iron Man being well remembered. His presence is almost testimonial but his style and Yg’s match perfectly. We will closely follow the future of this new Iron Fist as the fun seems guaranteed. Although we all know that sooner or later Danny Rand will be the bearer of Shou-Lao’s chi again.
Iron Fist 1: The Shards of the Holy Sword
Title: : Iron Fist 1: The Shards of the Holy Sword
URL : Milcomics
Author : Alyssa Wong, Michael YG
Format : Paperback
Publication date : 2023-02-09
ISBN : 9788411018784
Description : Danny Rand no longer wields his legendary power. He’s just a guy who knows a lot about kung-fu. So who will take Danny’s place…as Iron Fist? A new heroic legacy begins, as a young warrior turns to the martial arts masters of K’un-Lun for help and gets much more than he bargained for. Can this lost soul balance his chi, curry favor with Shou-Lao, and join a long line of champions? The world better have that hope, because a dark god is rising, and all hope of stopping it lies with the new Iron Fist!
Jesus Salvador Gomez
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