MARVEL MASTERWORKS: IRON FIST VOL. 1 (Marvel, 2011; Hardcover)
Collects
Marvel
Premiere
Nos. 15-25 and Iron
Fist Nos.
1, 2 (cover
dates May, 1974- December, 1975)
Writers:
Roy Thomas, Doug Moench, Tony Isabella, Chris Claremont, and Len
Wein
Artists:
Pencilers- Gil Kane, Larry Hama, Arvell Jones, John Byrne, and
Pat Broderick; Inkers- Dick Giordano, Dan Green, Vince
Colletta, Bob McLeod, and others
I
had no knowledge of, or interest in, Iron Fist growing up. None. I
bought the old Marvel Visionaries: Gil Kane trade paperback,
and it reprinted Marvel
Premiere #15,
Iron Fist's first appearance. I was so blown away by the quality of
that story that I hunted down Essential Iron Fist Vol.
1 and was even more blown away. So much so that I was primed
and ready for a full color collection. Years later, this book was
released. Even more years later, I rotated this through my backlog
and read it. I think that it takes mystical K'Un-Lun less time to
appear again than it did for all of this to occur.
Marvel
Premiere was one of Marvel's “tryout” books. Lots of new
1970s concepts were tried out in these rather than being launched
with an endless stream of new #1s and cancelled and relaunched
titles. Iron Fist enjoyed a long run in Marvel Premiere,
lasting eleven issues before being spun off in his own magazine. The
launch of his solo series came smack dab in the middle of an ongoing
storyline. In this book it reads just fine. I can see where folks who
bought it off of the spinner racks would be confused, though. Wait,
isn't this the first issue?
Like many Bronze Age titles, this series was handed off like a baton to a number of comic book journeymen. To the writers' credit, things never became disjointed and continuity was maintained throughout. No egotistical crybabies trying to undo what another writer had just done, trying to put their “stamp” on it, just moving the story forward from one issue to the next. If one didn't read the credits, one wouldn't notice a huge difference in the writing until Chris Claremont came aboard. His distinct voice was already fully formed, even in his salad days. Thomas, Claremont, Isabella, Moench...these guys were all students of the artform, growing up with it and have a genuine love for it.
The
artwork is a mixed bag. Gil Kane starts things off strong. Kane is a
master, one of the best artists of his day. The only reason that
modern fans are unaware of him is that he jumped around too much and
didn't have a defining “run” on any title. Larry Hama did a few
issues after Kane's one and only issue. Yes, that would be the same
Larry Hama who helped Hasbro co-create the G.I. Joe characters
of the '80s and wrote all but 6 of the 155 issues of the original
title. He started out as an artist but made his mark as a writer.
Arvell Jones and Pat Broderick are those artists who did solid work
but whom nobody calls a favorite. If you flip through your collection
of '70s and '80s comics you likely own many issues that they drew.
I
enjoyed seeing Iron Fist fight Batroc the Leaper. I am always a
sucker for the shared universe aspect, where one hero's villains wind
up in another one's title and they fight. Most of the better villains
and battles occur in the next volume in this series. There is tons of
high octane, bone crushing martial arts action here, though. Iron
Fist is very much a product of it's time but holds up extremely
well some 40 years later.
Chris
Claremont takes the reins with Marvel Premiere #23, where he
introduces a villain named Warhawk. Warhawk was some kind of
shell-shocked Viet Nam veteran who saw the world as a war that was
still continuing, much like the Punisher. While the Punisher was more
of a zeitgeist antihero, Warhawk was a villain plain and simple,
shooting at civilians and whatnot.
 |
| John Byrne's first published Marvel work. |
John Byrne comes aboard with issue 25. This marks the dawn of the collaboration between Claremont and Byrne which would be continued in Marvel Team-Up and reach artistic heights in Uncanny X-Men just two years later. This is like John Lennon meeting Paul McCartney, and the two began writing songs together. This is also when the series kicks into high gear. Claremont and Byrne never met a subplot they didn't like, and they would throw interludes in while putting seemingly endless new developments into motion. Things always got tidied up. It was a blast reading this stuff for the first time, and was equally thrilling on the re-read. While this book is great, the issues collected in volume 2 are even better.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 4.75 out of 5.
The
OCD zone- Marvel Masterworks are my poison of choice.
While the line has certainly had some missteps and mistakes over the
years, it has been pretty much perfect since 2007-2008. When it comes
to earlier printings I would advise folks to avoid them for the most
part and buy the softcovers. They often boast superior restoration to
the existing hardcovers and use the same upgrades found in the
Omnibus hardcovers. For Masterworks of this book's
vintage, rest assured that this is the definitive Blu-Ray edition of
your favorites.
DVD-style
Extras included in this book: Introduction
By Roy Thomas (2 pages).
Creator
Biographies by John Rhett Thomas (4 pages).
Linework
and Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. Think of the post-2007
Masterworks as definitive Blu-Ray editions.
Paper
rating: 5 out of 5. Thick coated semi-glossy stock which smells
nice.
Binding
rating: 5 out of 5. Rounded book casing and smyth sewn binding
(six stitches per signature) allow this book to lay completely flat
as Godzilla intended.
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