Reforged

Maybe it's because you saying things like, "You women."

Volume 1 of Kaare Andrews' Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, left Danny Rand with two broken hands, K'un-Lun burned to the ground, and a little girl with a baby dragon on the run from a now partially cybernetic Davos.

Volume 2, which covers the second half of the series and is subtitled "Redemption" is, as you'd expect, Danny trying to get his shit together and stop a catastrophe. In some cave in a snowy mountain range, Sparrow and a crazy old inventor named Fooh try to get Danny back on his feet and with a little fight in him. Meanwhile, the strange hybrid of his father and The One, the killer robot Danny beat to officially become the Iron Fist, have reopened to Rand skyscraper, and are rebuilding it into. . .something.

In keeping with the first six issues, Andrews continues to play the "everything you knew is wrong" card, as Fooh tells Danny he's not only the only Iron Fist ever to rely solely on his fists, but that he only defeated The One because Yu-Ti had it programmed to lose. Because Yu-Ti figured Danny as Iron Fist was a controllable outcome. I assume because he knew Danny would choose to leave K'un-Lun to pursue Harold Meachum, and thus couldn't be any sort of problem for Yu-Ti's plans.

Except going back to Danny's earliest adventures, through his Heroes for Hire years with Luke Cage, and into Immortal Iron Fist, Danny has repeatedly returned to K'un-Lun and fucked things up for Yu-Ti. Culminating in Danny helping Lei Kung and Sparrow oust Yu-Ti from his seat. Which would seem to suggest either Danny was more of a wildcard than Fooh is giving him credit for, or that Yu-Ti was kind of a dumbass. Or we're meant to believe all that was some Thanatos Gambit where, every time Yu-Ti appeared to be thwarted, he was actually winning, and no, sorry, not buying that nonsense.

More effective is issue 8, where Danny (possibly) travels to some level of Hell to free his mother. Which actually involves letting the memory of her go. Letting go of his anger that the archers of K'un-Lun didn't save her, too, the anger at himself for not protecting her, etc., etc. Andrews colors the issue in stark black-and-white, reserving color for the sound effects and the steampunk gauntlets Danny is wearing to reinforce his arms.

Issues 9 through 11 are an extended battle in and around the Rand skyscraper as Danny and Sparrow try to stop The One/Wendell Rand. Like Danny, he's had trouble letting go. Unlike Danny, he's prepared to go to ludicrous lengths to "fix" things. Andrews also continues the character regression of Davos. He's not even the arrogant, entitled guy he's been in the past. Now, he's more of a craven opportunist, bailing out at the first sign of trouble, but still expecting people to rally around him for it.

I guess it's a contrast to Danny. Fooh says Danny never earned or deserved the power he's had, whether financial or the chi of Shou-Lao. So now Danny is trying to do one or the other, I assume "deserve." He's got the Iron Fist, so use it for more than revenge (which, you know, he's done plenty of times protecting the innocent, but I guess we chalk those up to Danny doing that as an excuse to exercise his rage.)

Davos wasn't handed power or wealth like Danny, but because of who his father was, he's always thought it was his by right. He hasn't deserved it, and certainly hasn't earned it, but still persists in thinking he has.

Anyway, Danny channels the chi of all the surviving people of K'un-Lun into a weapon potent enough to defeat a God of Order. Becoming one with them, instead of holding himself apart. Which, for all my grousing about the writing, Andrews draws as pretty, even if it doesn't last. Andrews pulls the bait-n-switch of, "the hero's got it! No, no, nevermind, he doesn't," at least a couple times during the battle. Enough to where it feels like perfectly good chances to wrap things up are missed to marginal gain. There is a nice bit where Andrews has close-ups on Wendell-One's face as it shouts threats, then switches to a profile shot of the god leaning in, and Wendell-One is a little blot with a speech balloon whose words you can't read. Emblematic of the arrogance, of how blinded by his insane goal Wendell-One is.

The last issue is set-up for a status quo I don't think much of anyone used. Sparrow leads the survivors back home, but leaves Ping Mei with Danny, as he's now the Thunderer to her Iron Fist (although he still has the Iron Fist, too.) The dragon gets revived, but Danny's attempts to open his hear to the reporter with mysterious skills goes poorly. Danny's trying to move forward, but not everyone is ready to go along on his fantastic voyage.