Written by Fred Van Lente
Illustrated by Wellington Alves & Pere Perez
When Danny Rand transformed his multinational corporation into a non-profit foundation, he thought he had left fighting behind — but with so many innocents wrongly convicted, the battle never ends! Their first case is Luke Cage and Danny Rand’s former secretary Jennie Royce, imprisoned for a murder she didn’t commit…or did she? And Iron Fist isn’t fighting alone — he’s got a new partner with him: Victor Alvarez, the all-new Power Man, he of the exploding punches — and exploding temper! Can Danny train his new charge well enough to face returning foil El Aguila as well as new threats Don Pagliacci, the Commedia Dell’Morte, and the beautiful, deadly Noir? That’s right, Marvel’s original mismatched action duo begins a new era of greatness right here!
The first issue of this mini-series was a pleasant surprise chock full of action, comedy and nuance that Fred Van Lente specializes in oh so well. Does #2 continue that trend? Click on down to find out!
The story picks up right where last issue left off, with the neophyte Power Man stuck in the thrall of the Commedia Dell’Morte with an epee to the neck. He is rescued by page 2 by his trust teacher Iron Fist of course, and Van Lente uses this first extended battle scene to introduce this macabre, “big in Europe” villain team. It seems their use of classic villain archetypes was very much intentional, making their existence as cultural cliches very much the crux of their sinister behavior. This scene also manages to succinctly present us with their modus operandi: to track down one of their own after their kidnapping by the now very dead Crime-Buster. Of course, the arrival of the NYPD puts an end to the fight and provides the dastardly rogues with their moment to sneak away, which allows the rest of the exposition heavy issue to play out.
This seems to be the “fill in the blanks” issue as we’re given, often hilariously, details about Victor’s home life and schooling (at the, I kid you not, Alison Blaire School for Performing Arts), as well as Crime-Buster’s connection to the highly suspicious Penance Corporation (as well as one of their formerly mutated executives, El Aguila) and the true identity of the mysterious Noir. All of this leading up to the stage being set for the continuation of the story next issue and the introduction of Van Lente’s zaniest and most laugh out loud funny villains in recent memory (giving entirely new meaning to the term “pokerface” in the process.)
The art is a bit of a mixed bag, although I will admit I did not notice the change in artist for the ten pages in the middle of the book that Perez handled. I think the reason the artist change proceeded so smoothly is because of the scenes selected for each artist to work on. While Alves handled the darkened, highly violent fight scene and ominous foreshadowing final scene, Perez handled Danny and Victor in the very fluorescent feeling of their every day lives. His dampened tones and conventional composition work with the relatively cut and dry nature of office buildings and schools and it helps make the shift less noticeable. While Alves, with his Hitch-esque compositions and rough, momentum filled pencils is certainly the idea artist for this book, they managed to make the (what I can only hope is) temporary fill in slot fit seamlessly within the whole package.
Overall, this comic is damn fun. It’s taking an innovative new take on a classic concept, is inserting some actual, obvious growth into its two protagonists and is creating some legitimately impressive and hilariously innovative antagonists for them. I get the feeling that this mini-series may be a secret testing of the waters for an ongoing for these characters, and given what I’ve seen I can heartily endorse such a move.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy
