Review of New Avengers #26

The Phoenix has been to Earth in the past and years ago it selected an Iron Fist as an avatar. How did the unstoppable Phoenix Force fare when using the Iron First as a vessel.

Issue: New Avengers #26

Name: Legacy of Fire!

Published: 2012 by Marvel Comics

Blurb:

Creators:

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Mike Deodato

Colorist: Rain Beredo

Letterer: Joe Caramagna

Characters:

The Good: Chan Kong-Sang, Yu Ti, Leonardo Da Vinci, Lei Kung, Fongji, Dragon Shao Lao

The Undecided: Phoenix Force

My Reading:

This issue starts with Chan Kong-Sang of K’un Lun traveling to speak with and enlist Leaonardo Da Vinci to help his master, Yu Ti, through the prophecy of the bird of fire. Back in Tibet, Fongji is handed over to Master Lei Kung to train in in the ways of Iron Fist because she has bee foretold to be the next with the Iron Fist title. She must learn to control her emotion so she can control the fire bird.

Meanwhile, now that Leonardo is in K’un Lun, he sets about building a machine to try to locate the fire bird before in arrives. The girl and Lei Kung train and practice day after day and eventually she is able to utilize a small part of the Phoenix Force and exceed the lessons the master has been teaching her, knocking him on his ass.

As preparations continue, Yu Ti and Fongji peer into the Scrying Vessel of Bo-Ling where Yu sees that it is time for the right of passage. She is to battle the dragon Shao Lao in the ritual of the Iron Fist to see if she is worthy of the power of the Dragon Fire.

2 Days later, Fongji not only has survived the encounter but she has gained the Dragon Fire. And it’s just in time as the machine Leonardo built has spotted the Fire Bird and it is on its way.

What did I learn:

• The power of the Iron Fist comes from the Dragon’s Fire.
• The Phoenix Force seems to like redheads.

My Thoughts:

I know next to nothing about Iron Fist except that a lot of people don’t really like the rendition that was put forth in the first season on Netflix. Apparently though, the character or at least the title has been around for a while. With that said it’s been made clear that Iron Fist has encountered the Phoenix Force in the past but we still are not sure what happened.

The inclusion of Leonardo da Vinci is pretty cool but I’m still kinda at a loss trying to figure out all these characters I know very little about. This isn’t really an origin story but more of a history lesson and it just feels a bit wrong in the middle of all the other action packed issues in the Avengers Vs. X-Men story arc. So while I like the mystysicm, the story explanation and the art, I’m not sold on this issue too much, and like I said in my previous post on New Avengers #25, I had hoped to gain a better understanding in this issue. That didn’t happen.

My Rating: B-

This comic can be found on Marvel Unlimited, Comixology or at your local comic book shop.

Daily Ramble 280 | Comics – Modern Marvel – New Avengers #26