Review: Immortal Weapons 4
The Immortal Weapons limited series is a pretty great idea; by detailing standalone biographies of the godly karate masters in Immortal Iron Fist, you're giving Immortal oblivious idiots like me a chance to get acquainted to Danny Rand's universe of chi and karate mistresses dressed as scantily as any other Mortal Kombat heroine. The series started well enough with its historical account of Fat Cobra, then lost its footing a bit with the Bride of 9 Spiders story, and Dog Brother #1 garnered a near-universal meh. Issue 4 of 5, Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, was released Wednesday. Does the issue bring honor to the series, or has the limited run taken one swift kick too many?
Like with Dog Brother before her, the reader gets a coming of age tale, not of a downtrod orphan but of a pall privileged princess with an inexplicable sense of bloodlust. Unfortunately, that's as much characterization as you can ask for; King Tiger's limited, vapid interactions would leave any girl with daddy issues, and Li Hua's fiancé is so quickly cast aside, it's nearly a spoiler just to point out that she has one, as there's nothing else to say about him. I wouldn't expect side characters in a one-shot to be particularly profound, but when there's hardly three faces in the narrative and they're all as paper thin as the faceless townspeople, Swierczynski is exhibiting authorial negligence.
But hey, the cover's pretty! How's the art inside? To be positive, Evans does a fair job of matching the quality of the prose, the attention isn't spent very much on depth. The artist specializes in unvaried facial shots, never bothering to pencil in any notable backgrounds. Should the scene call for a view of the populace, we get loose, indistinct figures. The brief fnal act of the issue sees a slight change with a full-on celebration of T&A. Oh Goody.
The art of the Immortal Iron Fist second feature suffers from other basics in form, making lumpy body masses from the two very distinct body types of Danny and Jada. Though this short feature is skimpy on the punches and kicks that built up the episodes before, it's the only place in the whole 40 pages where you'll find any heart.
A simple Oriental Amazon story with creativity nowhere to be found, Immortal Weapons 4 is another disappointing addition to an interesting thought which just lost steam. If the nondescript faces and writing are an attempt to mystify the character of Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, this effect simply fails. Prince of Orphans is set to close up the series, and with a more interesting focus, the team can still manage to pull out an interesting issue. Not to be superstitious (but questionably sexist), the two male-based issues far exceeded the quality of the feminine tales, leaving a fair level of potential for the finale.
Another not-so-great-addition, fortunately without enough weight to drag down the whole series. 2/5.
Rubber Justice
Posted to Review on 6 November 2009
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