Danny Rand is no longer the Iron Fist but he still knows kung-fu whether in or out of costume. In the new Iron Fist series by writer Alyssa Wong, artist Michael YG, and color artist Jay David Ramos, Danny met his would-be successor during an unplanned team up in a battle against demonic forces.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR IRON FIST (2022) #1! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

A lot of hype went into this issue because of the new character’s ethnicity. Several folks had clamored for an Asian or Asian-American to be cast into the role of Danny Rand in Netflix’s Iron Fist series. Most, if not all, of those who asked for this change weren’t Iron Fist fans at all so their interest in changing the character’s race is baffling, to say the least. His comic book counterpart wasn’t affected until last year’s deplorable Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon mini-series changed all that. A depowered Danny Rand, who acted out of character, meant there was no Iron Fist to defend K’un-Lun.

This means that there was an opening for a new Iron Fist.

Enter: Lin Lie a.k.a. Sword Master

Marvel decided to hand off the reins to the Iron Fist to Lin Lie after his sword broke in Death of Doctor Strange: White Fox One-Shot. But shards of the sword embedded themselves into his hands, giving him his powers but also causing him pain, something that was annoyingly explained repeatedly in the issue as you can see in the images below.

Ok, we get it. The shards are in your hands and they are causing you a lot of pain. Mentioning it once or twice would have been enough. This is one of those gripes that I have with this issue. Editor Mark Paniccia and assistant editor Danny Khazem should have caught this and asked Wong to revise her script.

Despite this, Wong’s script is generally quite good. Longtime Iron Fist readers and those who were curious enough about a new Iron Fist #1 on the stands, needed the exposition to give us a backstory as to how Sword Master came into the picture and became the Living Weapon. There were some discussions around the dinner table with Lin Lie and his adoptive family in K’un-Lun, however, that could have been used to tell us about other things that we needed to know given that many of us are still in the dark about Lin Lie.

Lin is a likable character, someone who seems to be a good guy but, in Danny’s words, “in way over (his) head.” He looks like someone who needs a lot of mentoring, though, and his refusal to learn from his predecessor is a head-scratcher. If I were him, I’d have approached Danny from the start and I would not have kept this a secret from him. Unless, of course, we’ll learn later on why he wanted to be left alone in the first place.

The art by Michael YG was good and very good in most places. I like how he illustrated Lin Lie and I loved his depiction of K’un-Lun. It looks like a real location and one that is believable. His splash page when Shou-Lao rescued Lin from death was stunning!

But I am not too enamored with his drawing of Danny. He looks like a kid especially when he’s side-by-side with Lin. The two of them look like college buddies hanging out and then suddenly breaking out into a fight. And Danny’s hairdo was just bothersome to me. I know it’s not like he can’t change his ‘do or something, but if this wasn’t an Iron Fist comic I wouldn’t know who that was. Add the fact that he’s extra skinny here and it’s just Danny like I’ve never seen him before. I expect YG will get used to drawing Danny more as the series goes along and I hope he captures the essence of the character eventually.

A special shoutout to fellow Filipino Jay David Ramos whose colors over YG’s art were spot on! The series focuses on a young superhero and the light tones are exactly what the series needs. It’s in stark contrast to the colors that Andy Troy used on Mike Perkins’ work during their stint on Iron Fist in 2017. Ramos’ color palette of bright colors perfectly suits the tone of the series and it is a perfect complement to YG’s youthful style.

Now for some of the issues I have with this issue (pun intended). Being an Iron Fist fan for decades, many will think that I’m just an old guy not wanting any changes to the character and someone who’s not open to change. That’s not true at all…mostly.

When you follow a character for so long and you see the trajectory of his superhero life, you want succeeding writers to build on the stories that came before. It saddens me when writers fail to do that and they set off in a direction that is far from what was set in place for the character. Iron Fist rarely has a solo title so we fans are starved for content that adds to and builds upon what was just recently done with him and expands on the mythology.

What Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon did was so unpardonable that you want to remove that bad taste in your mouth with a story about Danny that either erases it from existence or fixes it in a satisfying and organic way.

Can you now see why Wong had a daunting task set before her and how high the expectations were from Iron Fist fans like us?

Heart of the Dragon set up Wong’s current run and she was clearly behind the eight ball when she took the assignment. It wasn’t her fault that the previous run ruined Iron Fist and created a negative backlash from fans and non-fans alike, but this was what Marvel handed to her. Moreover, she was told to replace Danny with an Asian character who had no history with Iron Fist and was supposed to have his own arc that feels like it was sabotaged when he was steered by the powers that be to take on the mantle.

That’s how Lin felt to me in this issue. He was detached and disconnected and his story felt like someone else’s story that’s being forced into the Iron Fist mythos. His story feels like it’s still part of his Sword Master identity and that he’s just trying to get by until he becomes Sword Master again.

Wong also had to return Danny’s honor to him after it was taken away in the previous series and give him the respect that he deserved for being the first Iron Fist that we have come to know. Since the new series was announced in October, fans had been waiting with bated breath how she would treat Danny in February. Based on the first issue, I’d say she did pretty well in terms of respecting the previous mantle-holder of the Iron Fist legacy.

Then, there’s the matter of the chi of Shou-Lao being passed around like it was a hot potato. From the Netflix series to Moon Knight taking the power from Iron Fist in The Avengers title and She-Hulk subsequently getting it a few issues later, the iron fist power looks like something that’s easy to obtain when it is quite the opposite. Throughout K’un-Lun’s history, there have been only 67 Iron Fists (including Pei) and each one had to earn it. In fact, when Davos stole it from Danny (way back in Marvel Team-Up #63-64), he was consumed by the power because he wasn’t worthy.

The iron fist is like Thor’s hammer. Only those who earned it honorably are bestowed the right to wield the power that Shou-Lao the Undying gives. For Shou-Lao himself to hand off the iron fist to a foreigner who didn’t earn it as the others did feels a lot like a shortcut to the process. But that’s how Wong gave Lin Lie the iron fist and with Shou-Lao itself giving it away like that was just too simple and easy. Any writer could have done the same and it didn’t look like there was a lot of thought put into how Lin Lie would become the latest in a long line of Iron Fists.

Wong needed to hit the ground running in the first issue and it was quite underwhelming. She didn’t fail at the job, mind you. I give her mad props for his treatment of Danny and the dialogue between the two protagonists was fun, light-hearted, and enjoyable. It’s almost exactly how I thought the two would interact. It’s why I rated the issue with a passing score of six out of 10.

But to whom much is given, much is required. As a fan, I require more from Wong in the coming issues because she’s been tasked with a huge responsibility–the transition from one Iron Fist to the next. I sincerely hope that she lives up to the challenge set before her and that she crushes it before the series is over.