Thread by @ironfist_ebooks, #HeartOfTheDragon Issue 1 is the beginning of a six-part story and it [...]

#HeartOfTheDragon Issue 1 is the beginning of a six-part story and it opens as such. The credits page here makes excellent use of the PREVIOUSLY ON: section, serving much like the Star Wars opening crawl, giving you exactly the information you need going into page 1. Efficient.

I do wonder how many readers pay attention to credits pages, however. In the olden days, credits pages were often accompanied by a splash page which made new readers more likely to recognise the value of the catch-up text. But now, if comics make use of it, it could get missed.

However, even without that text, this book recognises its tight page count and gives readers everything they need to know with ruthless efficiency. Perhaps too much, as personality gets lost amongst the expository dialogue. Narration would've been perfect here.
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This does prove to be a problem throughout the issue as it often feels like dialogue is Hama talking to us rather than characters talking to each other. Everybody (except for Pei, naturally) speaks with the same dramatic formality and sesquipedalian tendencies.
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On one hand it is a good sign for Iron Fist moving forward that this book does focus on furthering ideas and characters introduced in previous books, but on the other there are noticeable moments of apparent miscontinuity. Pei is presented as a little too young.
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Once the plot is in motion the pacing never holds up. We're thrown into a story already in motion, with Danny having to catch up just as we are (a decent way of delivering that exposition, to be fair) and this puts Wachter's incredible action artwork on display.
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The first big fight makes it clear that this is a martial arts book, as written and drawn by two people experienced in that area, and it ends on this pretty great joke which should be familiar to those who've seen The Phantom Menace (and probably other things).
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This panel highlights how passive a protagonist Danny is in this story as he is contained to the corner of this panel whilst Dog Brother pops out and speaks directly to us about what Danny must do. Again it's too efficient. No room for character or conversation.
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This shows where the focus of the comic lies, action and plot (which are both good and interesting, mind). It doesn't explain who Dog Brother is or what the dragons actually mean to the characters or their world. It's barely more than a race for the macguffins.
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I'm trying not to criticise the comic for what it isn't and rather engage with it for what it is, but it is easy to imagine a version without the undead hordes, where Danny (and the reader) explores The Under City before seeing Dog Brother fighting Taskmaster.
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I don't want to think too much about "fixing" the book because not only is this Part 1 of 6 (so there's a lot I don't know) but also because that's not how analysis works. It's not finding what you dislike and rewriting it. That's workshopping. Which is for writers, not readers.

Moving onto a very interesting action scene with a dangerous spike-pit stepping-post location. Interesting locations are the easiest way to take your action scene to the next level. Obstacles are a third party in a fight working against both hero and villain.
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With the introduction of Taskmaster we also have the introduction of the mystery of this storyline. How did he get to The Under City? How did he slay a dragon? Who is he working for? Why do they want to collect all the dragon hearts? WHAT ABOUT GORK?? SAVE GORK.
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Here's where the efficiency starts to work in the book's favour. On the second page we were shown three panels of Gork being cute. So now we have the whole fight against Taskmaster to remember him and hopefully begin to worry before Danny points it out to us.
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Here's a small section of the four-page fight scene which takes the time to show Danny's acrobatic skills. Whilst Hama's dialogue may lack flavour, Wachter's willingness to expand moments into multiple panels is rich with it. Most comics don't think to do this.
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I want to display these two pages in full for reference. They come juuust over halfway through the page count and do mark a significant turning point in the story. I don't have the physical copy yet so I can only hope they fall on a page turn for maximum effect.
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The red outline around the most urgent panel. The dramatic irony of YES YOU SHOULD BE HIDING PLEASE HIDE PROPERLY. The hope we feel that it may be Danny in that elevator versus the gut dread of knowing it won't be. This is an excellent exercise in tension.
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Plus, this is an excellent use of the medium to arrange the panels so that we know Pei is running toward the elevator despite a camera angle in panel 2 which couldn't possibly convey that. Just *chef's kiss* artwork. I imagine THIS is where the page turn comes.
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As Lady Bullseye is introduced we start to think forward, wondering what other mercenaries could be involved. Luke and Pei are shown to have different fighting styles, showing personality through action if not dialogue, and the location is interesting once more.
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Sure, the undead horde can enter through the windows, but they can also leave the same way when our heroes are united once more. The safety we feel is amplified as the previously established Quan Yin makes a surprise appearance creating one helluva cliffhanger.
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The pace doesn't stop for anything as we get further efficient exposition that not only have the villains progressed their plans off-page (did we really expect/want to see all seven dragons get their hearts torn out?) but also a powerful ally has been fridged!
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Does it count as fridging if nobody's emotional narrative is furthered? Does a falling tree make a sound if nobody hears it? Either way the reader's supposed to go "oh no! we're an ally down! now I'm afraid!" but we already know what the villains are capable of.
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Lastl, before my wrap up, for all the efficient exposition it's never properly explained who Quan Yin is beyond her being the proverbial Mother of Mercy (it took me this second read-through to understand the wordplay). I hope this gets explored in a later issue.
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So what is this story so far? It's a statement that Danny's story is still ongoing, just like how we saw the rebuilding of K'un-Lun in 2019's Contagion. Supporting characters aren't being abandoned. Concepts are being expanded upon. Old readers are being fed.
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It's a self contained story and relatively easy jumping on point for new readers. This is a big fantasy world with lots going on, but all you gotta know is there's a mysterious plot to slay the dragons and everybody is powerless to do anything except our hero.
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This is a martial arts fantasy book which is unlike anything else Marvel is currently putting out. We don't care about your Kings in Black or your standard superheroics. This is Iron Fist, baby. We do things differently around these parts. Here be dragons.
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