Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon #1 : Gotta Protect ‘Em All! (Spoiler-Free EARLY Review!)

The living legend Larry Hama returns to his first major title Iron Fist, drawing Danny into a new challenge that promises to reshape the Iron Fist mythos forever. The first issue wastes no time getting right to the meat, thrusting us into a wild adventure within moments of flipping into over the cover. We ain’t dropping spoilers this go round but suffice to say Hama makes some fantastic “casting choices” obviously including Danny’s BFF Luke Cage but also some great martial arts based villains you wouldn’t have readily expected. He also doesn’t change much while adding plenty leaning on the world established by previous runs from Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker to craft a new direction with familiar flavors. All in all this is prime Hama writing a solid action tale that gets you involved right away.

David Wachter, Neeraj Menon and Travis Lanham do a fantastic job on art duties as well. Capturing a proper  balance of the more modern Marvel quirk humor elements with old school action similar to titles like ’90s Punisher, Shadowmasters or Daredevil. The panels are light and fun when they need to be light and fun but also bold and grim when playtime is over. This is a great opening shot for the mini and the team shows why they were the right fit for the job.