CAPTAIN AMERICA versus MASTER MAN
(Marvel)
Where: Reborn #2 When: October 2009
Why: Ed Brubaker How: Bryan Hitch & Butch Guice

The Story So Far...
With the superhero factions split by an ideology of freedom and rights, it seemed appropriate for Captain America to lead them against his former comrade and newly appointed Director of SHIELD, Tony Stark. With the registration of powered individuals being enforced with extreme prejudice by Stark's SHIELD, it made perfect sense to take the fight to the other side as hard and true as they would any other force who threatened these basic principles. It made sense to enter into a Civil War with former friends, allies, and loved ones -- until the fighting filled the very streets that were tainted by a battle that killed hundreds, and it was time to surrender to a greater good.

By giving himself to Tony Stark -- Captain America seemingly confirmed the fear and suspicion that had seen him branded a rebel and traitor. He had appeased the establishment enough to declare an effective ceasefire to the superhero Civil War, but sacrificed himself in the process. His legend would appear to have one final passifying role to play, however, when, grandstanded infront of an audience of citizens and reporters, Captain America was gunned down and killed...

To the world, sniper fire by Red Skull's right-hand assassin, Crossbones, was responsible for killing the hero. In truth, it was a blow dealt by Sharon Carter -- Cap's former lover, ally, and an Agent of SHIELD. A blow dealt under influence from the Red Skull's brainwashing, with a far more devious plan in tact. For Captain America would not simply be murdered before the world's eyes, but rather, displaced in time and space, allowing the Skull and his co-conspirators opportunity to pluck Steve Rogers into their grasp at any moment.

Thus; the great Captain America is thrown from the turmoil of one war, to the nightmare of those wars he had already fought, his consciousness shunted from one time to another, reliving the horrors, but unable to act. In the theatre of 1944, the Captain awakens beside soldiers he knows will die, in a battle against another of the Red Skull's right-hand men, with the future so far away.

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Master Man 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Capt. America 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Draw 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Master Man 5 (Marathon)
Agility: Capt. America 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Capt. America 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Capt. America 2 (Projectiles)


- With a frail body unable to support the willing spirit it contained, Steve Rogers was deemed a fitting candidate for an experimental Super-Soldier Serum devised by defected German scientist, Abrham Erskine. Operation: Rebirth was a success and the once feeble Steve Rogers was transformed into the ultimate man, nimble and strong, brilliant and adept. The Super-Soldier came with a price, however. Dr. Erskine was murdered by a double-agent during the experiment, before his serum could be shared. Thus; Steve Rogers is forced to walk alone as Captain America, the sentinel of liberty, America's finest fighting hero in the Second World War!

Alongside the finest soldiers the Allied Powers could muster, Captain America led many successful missions, a dynamo beyond human imagining. Even though he started alone, the Captain would eventually find equals and employ the aid of a boy sidekick -- the deceptively skilled Bucky Barnes! Together, they joined the likes of Sub-Mariner and Human Torch in forming the allied super-powers known as The Invaders! Their battles against the Red Skull, Baron Blood, and the many powered menaces of Hitler's Nazi Party, would make them the stuff of legends!

Possessing enhanced physical attributes as a result of the Super-Soldier serum, extensive training in hand-to-hand combat, and an invincible vibranium compound shield, the Captain would even continue his fight into the decades that followed the Second World War! After being frozen in suspended animation and floating lifelessly in arctic waters, Captain America was discovered by the Avengers! Thawed out in the modern day, he continues to fight for truth, justice, and the American way, an uncompromising ultimate man who stands with gods!

- A frail American Bundist and Nazi sympathiser; Wilhelm Lohmer threw himself upon the scientific mercy of the Nazi Party in an experiment using an alternate version of the Super-Soldier Serum created by scientist, Dr. Abraham Erskine. The results embued him with powers far surpassing those of his US counterpart, Captain America, granting him super-human strength, speed, endurance, and flight. The powers proved temporary, initially, but were later made a permanent part of his arsenal as he became the Aryan Übermensch, Master Man.

Master Man regularly battled the allied heroes of The Invaders throughout the Second World War, and returned to terrorize their surviving members in the modern age, having been placed in suspended animation by Baron Strucker in the mid-forties, along with his female counterpart, Warrior Woman.

Additional: Since his retroactive introduction in 1975, Master Man has become a relatively regular fixture of Marvel's fictional Second World War setting. Another Ed Brubaker flashback, in Captain America #5, Captain America and The Invaders were successful in defeating Master Man and the Red Skull. At present, this is the only other battle between the two characters featured on the site.

History: Captain America (1-0-0)
The Math: Captain America Ranking: Captain America (#7)

The Fight...
In 1944, the mind of a Captain America who has lived more than half a century beyond this point awakens. Trapped within his own body he relives an experience he remembers well. On a hill, there is a castle, and in this keep, the Red Skull attempts to enlist the occult influence of demons in the name of his Fuehrer and the Nazi agenda. With hard fighting soldiers at his front and back, the Captain knows they will win this fight. Even if Master Man -- Hitler's favourite ubermensch -- will succeed in dealing death to the side of right.

Even as he remembers, gunfire ricochets off his shield. He dives toward to his men, warning them of an incoming attack. They spill back and the Master Man leaps into the air, defying gravity with designs to destroy Captain America.

The human missile is sorely mistaken if he believes himself an unstoppable force. Like a clash of ideologies, star and swastika collide, Captain America's invincible shield against Master Man's invulnerable chest. The Captain's strategy to cut his opponent off eventuates with spectacular success, a mortal man taking the wind out of a superhuman monster! The blow sends them hurtling toward the castle backdrop, Master Man's body absorbs the impact.

Calling upon fantastic enhanced strength and agility, not to mention months of training and determination, Captain America repells off the face of the broken keep wall, leveraging Master Man's body out of the hole it made, and over his. The gymnastic maneuver positions him above the fall, once more, with speed enough to prevent Master Man any chance of reply

The two figures plummet downward, courtesy of gravity and an impressive move on the Captain's part. As he falls with shield pressed against Master Man's body, he considers the weight of knowing what is going to happen. When he lands atop Master Man, who crushes a bystanding vehicle, he considers the expertise of a Reed Richards or Tony Stark, who might make better sense of his time travelling predicament.

Master Man lies unconscious, for a moment or more, we cannot know for sure. The battle will play out as it always had, without the pondered influence of a Captain America from this time's future, to victory none the less. The world begins to fade from the confused Captain's conscious perception, and once more, he becomes displaced in time...

The Hammer...
This fight may have ended with a potentially inconclusive result, but we certainly saw Master Man in a state resembling defeat, and Captain America himself told us how the fight ends at the beginning, any way. Hey! If you can't trust Captain America, who can you trust? Thus, I give you our winner.

The time travelling theme of Reborn certainly fits the nature of this post, which is being written in November 2010 as part of a backlog series. It has been my feeling that the stories and battles of 2009 were simply too good to ignore. 2009 was also the first year this humble Comic Book Fight Club had the opportunity to reflect the year itself, with featured fights running concurrent to the comics themselves. The freshness of these reviews is obviously long past, but the desire to crown a 2009 champion from 2009 reviews is still relevant.

It would be difficult to talk about a project like Reborn without acknowledging developments that have come since. At the time, it was comparable to Flash: Rebirth, another secondary 'event comic' that bolstered the presence of a once absent hero. Ultimately, the specifics of Reborn were far closer to Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne, which is only now [in 2010] concluding a similar tale of an iconic hero displaced in time. For Batman, it was his Final Crisis trist with Darkseid that created the circumstances for an apparent death, and his shunt into time. By inevitable comparison, the Batman tale proved superior in origin and conclusion, a more satisfyingly conceived tale, simpler in it's details despite an apparently convoluted series of circumstances.

Despite his acclaim, I have found myself very critical of Ed Brubaker's work in the past. Unfortunately, that criticism remains a throughline on this site, where Reborn ultimately felt underwritten in it's execution, and ill considered in it's specifics. Where Grant Morrison has taken superhero comics into a new era by revelling in the absurdity of their aged and justified design, Brubaker appears much less confident, creating an understated tone that's appropriate to portions of the tale, (the WWII sequence featured), but clashes awkwardly with vital mechanics and characters that should have more energy around them. Bryan Hitch's pencils and the inks and colours they're oft associated with contribute to some of the uncertainty of this direction. For a story of this nature, a greater sense of adventure and embellishment might have been appreciated.

By running concurrent to Brubaker's similarly plodding revamp of the WWII-era Marvel Universe [The Marvels Project], scenes that retell Cap's famed beginning seem like even more unnecessary interruptions. A fight with Master Man is a fun action sequence for five opening pages, but with yet nine more dedicated to the origin, and several pages to an unremarkable fight scene between the Dark Avengers and Cap's allies, the issue feels bloated with air.
With Chris Evans set to star in Captain America: The Fist Avenger mid-2011, it's hard not to be a little suspicious of Reborn's preoccupation with restating Captain America's origins. Some similiarities between the design Evans will wear, and the part-Golden Age, part-Ultimate outfit worn in Reborn, are noteable. Might this have been part of Marvel's efforts to return the honus of redefining characters for the screen to the comics? I guess we might never know. The only alternative seems to be aspirations of a definitive work -- a functional honor I can't see Reborn claiming beyond it's monthly readers, and not just for negative reasons.

While I would've preferred an indulgence more in keeping with Brian Bendis' work on New Avengers; Brubaker's Captain America finally crawls out of an isolated corner, to rejoin the Marvel Universe. As a means to an end, Reborn succeeds in inititating the necessary stages to bring us to Marvel's Heroic Age, which might even justify the visual tone of Reborn as a juxtaposition, if not it's slow script.
I'm personally uncomfortable with some of the details, like whose body was where, and why Red Skull and Arnim Zola would go to such absurd lengths to displace and reclaim bodies, fake deaths, and other devices handled bettern in the Batman version, but at the end of the day, as a book that restores Marvel's iconic conscience, it is something new, and something necessary.

It wasn't bold and indulgent, but the invitation of Dark Reign into this book, and the appreciable build-up to Siege, is also a nice thing to see. Captain America's death was a small and personal affair, chiefly contained within that isolated run of Captain America. It seems like balance to have everyone involved in his return. Of course, it's connection to Dark Reign and Siege inherently defines it as a piece of the puzzle, and a less apt example of Marvel's fictional Second World War than the Brubaker's sister series, The Marvels Project. Earlier, more direct accounts of Captain America's origin exist, but if film-going audiences need Bryan Hitch to be tricked into absorbing the comics shared universe, then maybe I shouldn't be so critical. Let's wait and see how successful it is, though.

At the end of the day, I think modern audiences have come to accept certain things that may or may not make a good comic book. Reborn #2 contains maybe threads connecting it to other characters and realms of Marvel Comics, but doesn't contain too many contexts or plotlines. I find it hard not to be cynical about this cult of personality and acceptance of quantity over quality, but I don't want that to overwhelm the fact that there are enjoyable facets to this comic.

I chose to feature the fight between Cap and MM over the bigger battle between Dark Avengers and Avengers because, at the end of the day, it's one of the most enjoyable sequences in the comic. Master Man might actually be a creation of the modern age, but he is a reflection of our on-going relationship with history in this medium. The rest of the book might not feel savvy, but in that opening fight, I feel Brubaker and Hitch embue the smart things about comics. It's a simpler version of the colourful indulgence with which I believe [Grant] Morrison paints, and it is good. Just as it's been good to see both series embracing their legacy components, Bucky Barnes (Captain America) and Dick Grayson (Batman).

At the end of the day, Reborn is a series that amounts to 'Captain America is back', and that's really all you need to know. I would recommend investigating further before making a purchase, but would also suggest that it might slot neatly into holiday shopping if arranged with other stories.

Civil War, Death of Captain America, Siege, and their many spin-offs and tie-ins come together to form a saga that has shaped the Marvel Universe. Reborn interacts with each in a different way, and may be worth consideration in that context.

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 4

Captain America: Reborn is available in a single collected volume. By using Amazon purchase links provided, you help give back to the site. The Infinite Wars Amazon Shop contains collected editions of most issues reviewed in the five years of Infinite Wars spotlight reviews. You can find more info on all of the competition in the Secret Archives. Cheers!

THE HAND versus KINGPIN
Return of the King: Prologue:
On The Costa Da Morte (Marvel)
Where: Daredevil #116 When: May 2009
Why: Ed Brubaker How: David Aja

The Story So Far...
In New York City, Wilson Fisk was once the all-powerful Kingpin of crime, but when a plot to take down his arch-nemesis resulted in his own incarceration alongside his enemy, everything changed. Amidst the crumbling of his empire, the Kingpin grasped at his fading connections, whilst watching Daredevil leave prison, only to unwittingly battle his beloved wife.

An embittered Vanessa Fisk had orchestrated events to pit her husband and his nemesis against one another in mortal combat, but when the pair failed to kill each other, Daredevil was able unravel her schemes, following clues to Spain. Face to face with his Vanessa on her deathbed, Daredevil was forced out of moral obligation to use his skills as a lawyer to free her husband from prison.

Murdock arranged freedom for his nemesis on the condition that he relinquish his criminal empire and leave the country for good. Though this final act of peace was to honor Vanessa Fisk's memory, it was inevitably short lived. Wilson Fisk found for himself a new life in Spain, where he and Vanessa had shared fond memories, but the sins of the past are not so easily forgotten for a Kingpin.

Discovered in Spain by Lady Bullseye and the Hand, Fisk returns to the humble abode of a new surrogate family, only to find them dead. Unsurprised by their grim fate, he meets his enemies with an accepting fury, and powerful fist.

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Kingpin 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Kingpin 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Kingpin 2 (Average)
Stamina: Kingpin 4 (Athlete)
Agility: Kingpin 2 (Average)
Fighting Ability: Kingpin 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy Power: Kingpin 1 (None)


- In sixteenth century Japan, a swordsman named Kagenobu Yoshioka, growing frustrated with increasing foreign influence and corruption within his government, transformed his fighting school into a nationalistic training ground for samurai dedicated to restoring Japanese pride. This group became known as The Hand.
The samurai forces were quickly betrayed by one of their own, allowing a reclusive ninja cult to infiltrate their number and assume control.

This new incarnation of The Hand was dedicated to their own empowerment, offering their services as mercenaries for their own gain.
Utilizing dark powers granted by a demonic beast worshipped by the cult, the endless hordes of highly skilled ninja become a powerful army unto themselves. Their dark magics allow not only endless hordes of ninja who turn dust upon death, but also the resurrection of recently deceased as pawns under their influence. During the Second World War, the Hand spawned a terrorist branch called HYDRA, dedicated to political readjustments in Japan.

Prominent figures recruited as assassins for the Hand include: Elektra, Wolverine, Psylocke, Revanche, The Gorgon, Echo, and Lady Bullseye.
Most recently the ninja have been led in America by Lady Bullseye, who killed and recruited Black Tarantula and White Tiger, while pursuing Daredevil and Kingpin.

- A childhood of ridicule for being overweight galvanized a young Wilson Fisk's resolve to possess power over his fellow men. As a young man he began a gang and trained himself to utilize his size and strength as an advantage. These skills made the transition from street bully to mobster an easy one. Fisk was recruited as a bodyguard by New York crime boss, Don Rigoletto, and eventually killed him.

Fisk quickly ushered in a new era of organized crime in New York City, amassing a great fortune, as he enforced his rule as the new Kingpin of crime.
Along the way he earned for himself powerful criminal rivals, as well as more expansive threats, such as the international terrorist organization, HYDRA, and their mysterious ninja army, the Hand. The Kingpin also found bitter personal enemies in costumed vigilantes such as; Daredevil, Spider-man, and Punisher.

Fisk combats his nemesis with his own expansive army of thugs, henchmen, and superhuman assassins. Among those who have served as his deadly minions; Bullseye, Elektra, Nuke, Typhoid Mary, Jack O'Lantern, Shocker, and Puma.
Though rarely required to enter battle himself, the Kingpin is a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant, capable of utilizing his fantastic size and strength to tremendous advantage. He is also deceptively quick, for a man of his bulk.

Math: Kingpin (Avg) Ranking: Kingpin (#462)

What Went Down...
Arriving home from the night time rain, the Kingpin's dreaded expectations are confirmed. The lives of a kind woman and an innocent child, the price of the Kingpin's love. Still present, the Hand ninja stand lit by lightning, swords drawn ready to engage the fading Wilson Fisk, who is again becoming a Kingpin.

The ninja scatter like skittles as the Kingpin throws himself at their number.
The bulky man moves with incredible speed and strength, swatting great numbers of the ninja with a single swing of his fist. Their weapons give them an advantage, but the Kingpin has a passionate resolve to end their lives, and the pent-up bloodlust of a crime boss who was swept away by overwhelming peace.

Steel tips run red with blood, as shuriken fly, and swords slash.
Though the ninja suffer the physical dominance of a raging bull, Wilson Fisk is fighting on borrowed time. Powerful and skilled, though he may be, the sheer number of ninja weighs down upon him until the fateful blow is struck.

Fated, a single ninja escapes the mighty Kingpin's grasp, and with unforgiving precision, the blade is driven deep into his flesh. The wound causes pause in the Kingpin's rage as he begins to fall and accept the cure to his plague of death.

Another ninja leaps through the air to drive a second sword into his back.
A wobble becomes a stagger and the Kingpin does as he never has before, and drops to his knees. Before him lies the body of the woman he had allowed himself to love. Marta, was her name. Paralyzed, he whispers her name, while the red clad assassins bare down around him like a ring of fire.

With as many ninja scattered around the room as there are standing, Lady Bullseye emerges from the shadows. If her goal had been to kill the Kingpin, then she no doubt would have already done so, herself. Instead, she merely confronts the defeated man, provoking his captive audience to escape boyish naivity, and accept that he must return to New York City to face Daredevil.

The Hammer...
Despite clobbering his fair share of ninja, I'm afraid the Kingpin must concede defeat to The Hand. I feel compelled to grant Lady Bullseye an assist stat, if only for her directorial role and final interjection. It's a highly debatable interpretation, but we'll live.

A harsh assessment of a title like Daredevil might accuse it of having an inglorious sense of expectation. You could almost read a sense of it all taking for granted an assumed sense of instant credibility in a title that's offered superhero readers a trendy deadpan alternative to more colourful books.

Giving an entire issue to the Kingpin's narrated journey into peaceful, brooding self-fulfilment is the kind of poseur-pandering given we've come to expect from a title like this, but there's just one thing keeping the cynical wolves at bay -- it's actually quite logical, quite enjoyable, and quite good.

Over the course of his run on the title, Ed Brubaker has taken DD from the dazzling heights of the lead character's incarceration, to the much less inspiring grind of grey-toned superheroics and emotional squabbles. With an end in sight, it seems the parabola is back on the upswing, finally giving us a reason to talk about the book again for the first time in two years. It started with an unlikely boost, the introduction of Lady Bullseye -- female counterpart to Daredevil's most famous nemesis with a Kill Bill origin, and sexier wasteline than the original.

Since then, we've learnt that Andy Diggle is next in line to take over the revered title, making Return of the Kingpin a nice little full circle footnote to Brubaker's run. Just as Brian Bendis left Brubaker holding the gun with his departing story, The Murdock Papers, so to does Brubaker promise an intriguing hook for Diggle to rationalize as he comes aboard for a newly reverted issue #500.

What that hook might be is just one of the intrigues driving Brubaker's swansong which sees the unlikely team-up of Kingpin and Daredevil in the first official issue of the arc-proper [#117]. If their agreement is telegraphing anything, it's that Kingpin doesn't plan to live through the affair. A promise that could regrettably be only as good as the writers that follow, but an interesting end, none the less.

To the issue at hand, marked as "Part 1" on the cover, but as "Prologue" in the interiors, there can mostly be good things said. As a prologue, revealing Kingpin's time away from the United States is not only a great piece of the puzzle to have, but also does well to frame his state of mind in the current story. Sentimentality and romance have long been underlying traits of the Wilson Fisk character, making his acceptance of a new life in Spain a natural twist for the character.

Michael Lark's absence from the book goes unnoticed.
As with his pencils on Iron Fist, David Aja makes for a convincingly seamless stand-in. Whether or not this proves critical acclaim is a colourist away, depends on whether or not you attribute the value of layouts to the penciller. Jose Villarrubia deserves considerable credit for the evocative nature of his colours, borrowing from the Matt Hollingsworth palette for standard scenes, while a warm sepia array takes over for lighter moments in the Kingpin's domestic new life.

At times, the narration gets a little obvious, and a little silly with how carried away with itself it gets. Wilson Fisk has always been a man of imposing stature and intelligence, and his insights veer a little too far from a raw and exposed glimpse at his personality, hitting the edge of adolescent writing.

As a stand-alone issue, it's a pretty darn good story, if a little bit obvious.
On a site like this, the action is a given. As the black and white panel might suggest, fight scenes play with the format. Panels not featured utilize isolated imagery relevant to the action, showing much less than is actually occurring. This communicates the Kingpin's perspective well, but might be a little bit too vague for it's own good, at times. You'd be hard pressed to resist the next issue, however.

The Fight: 4 The Issue: 5.5
Winner: The Hand (w/ Lady Bullseye)

Return of the King still has a few months to go, but if you're keen, you can pre-order the trade paperback collection through Amazon. By using purchase links provided on the site, you help sponsor future entries on the Infinite Wars. You'll find plenty more in the Amazonian Gift Shoppe, including collected editions of most stories featured previously in the Secret Archives.

BATMAN versus JOKER
Dead Reckoning: Part Five (DC)
Where: Detective Comics #781 When: June 2003
Why: Ed Brubaker How: Tommy Castillo

The Story So Far...
When a mysterious gunman makes an attempt on the life of retired police commissioner, Jim Gordon; it begins a race to unveil the identity of a killer who carries a Two-Face style coin marred on both sides, and a grudge against Gotham's heroes and villains.

When Penguin narrowly avoids a hanging death; Batman becomes involved in uncovering the legacy of a secret plot hatched by those deep within the fraternity of his oldest foes. A plot that inadvertently inducted an innocent citizen, Paul Sloan, into a new generation of criminally insane villains in Gotham City.

With the truth finally revealed, the last piece of Batman's puzzle lies with his greatest opponent! Travelling to Antarctica, Batman attempts to protect the life of the Joker, whilst learning the final chapter in the birth of Charlatan.

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Batman 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Batman 5 (Professor)
Speed: Batman 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Draw 5 (Marathon)
Agility: Batman 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting Ability: Batman 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy Power: Batman 4 (Arsenal)


- After witnessing the street murder of his parents, the young Bruce Wayne's destiny was forever shaped to be one dedicated to an ideal. Having spent his formative years studying the various sciences, martial arts, and crime fighting techniques, Bruce is ultimately inspired to become the one-man war on the criminal element in Gotham City: Batman.

Perhaps Batman's greatest power is the millions inherited from his industrialist parents, and the various facilities that came with that. They prove crucial in the design and construction of his many weapons, which are typically non-lethal, and have a variety of uses.

Complimented by his keenly strategic mind is Batman's expertise in the martial arts. He is extensively trained in multiple fighting styles, and commonly regarded to be one of the greatest hand-to-hand fighters in the world. He is also extremely proficient in general urban warfare.

- It has been claimed that he was the victim of one very bad day, which ended with a fall into a vat of chemicals that bleached his skin, dyed his hair, and twisted his face into a permanent grin. The truth of his name and origins remain unknown, but as the Joker, he is one of the most feared killers in Gotham City.

Joker is known to have an aptitude for creating and working with toxins and other chemicals, favouring trademark concoctions that induce uncontrolled laughter, facial distortion, and often, death. Joker is also a proficient strategist, who is said to regularly reinvent his identity as a part of his vendetta against Batman.
The Joker, though not a skilled fighter, is shown to have an inhuman capacity for pain tolerance and recovery.

Additional: While Batman has one of the most impressive lists of nemesis, few characters reach the status of Joker as his arch-villain. Joker's rivalry with Batman has arguably produced the definitive vision of the classic comic book supervillain, defined by; false deaths, personal attacks (deaths), trap and baits, and a continuing relationship unlikely to be resolved.

Their familiarity is built on what must be one of the most visited confrontations in the genre. Despite this, only the atmospheric prose issue of Grant Morrison's Batman has been recorded in the Infinite Wars [Batman #663]. This will be built upon during the month of July, coninciding with the release of The Dark Knight.

History: Batman (1-0-0)
Math: Batman Ranking: Batman (#2)

What Went Down...
In the bilstering cold of the antarctic storm; Batman begins his interrogation of the Joker, lured into a confrontation with the clown prince of crime. He offers Batman the full story behind the mysterious Charlatan, in exchange for a fighting chance freed from his shackles. Batman has complied before Joker even knows it, removing his shackles after tackling him to the ground.

Joker reaches for a dumbell, whilst recounting the circumstances of actor Paul Sloan's recruitment into a plan to deceive Batman with a fake Harvey Dent.
Batman sidesteps Joker's attempt to use the weight as a weapon, using his momentum to vault the clown prince effortlessly through the air.

The villain continues his tale, revealing Sloan's zealous dedication to recreating the Two-Face persona, whilst also perusing larger weights in the frozen gym. He attacks once more, this time with a much larger weight, which Batman uses to pin Joker's throat with, giving him a moment to reflect on the past.

With the identity of a false Two-Face retroactively revealed, Batman is shocked to learn it was Joker who tipped him off to the violent heist! Joker bursts into hysterics over his sabotage of the villain team-up, revealing more of the mystery, while slipping a shiv from his sleeve.

Batman exerts little energy in again proving himself Joker's physical superior. An arm wrench makes disarming the killer easy, and a flag post provides a convenient pacifier for his murderous intent.

Finally the Joker's tale arrives at the fate of Paul Sloan, a man whose indulgance in his criminal persona garnered the attentions of the real Two-Face. Batman learns of the arduous torture Sloan suffered at Harvey Dent's hands, and the grosse mutilation that was dealt.

When Batman chastises his nemesis for involving "civilians," Joker declares the loss of such distinction, bursting into macabre laughter whilst making another lunging attack. His attempts to choke the dark knight are curbed with a characteristic speed, but this time the chalfaced killer lands on his feet!

He springs into an athletic kick, which Batman anticipates, and defends against with a driving elbow into the Joker's swinging knee. The surprisingly durable villain goes down hard, but goes down smiling. Batman takes his arm in a grapevine and asks a final question - a question that reveals Joker's true intentions to distract the dark knight from events unfolding in Gotham!

It is a brief triumph for the Joker, who quickly finds himself shackled once more.

The Hammer...
Despite playing directly into his opponent's plans, it's a fairly comprehensive victory for the Batman!

One would imagine this will be but the first of many, largely due to our focus on the Joker, whose combative relationship is not typically defined by the exchange of fists. I suppose this is somewhat topical for Infinite Wars readers, given the likelihood of an appearance by the clown prince of crime in the upcoming Mortal Kombat versus DC Universe.

The meagre fighting qualities of Batman villains has been something on my mind, as you might have seen in our previous entry, featuring Poison Ivy in battle with the more proficient, Catwoman [Batman #611]. While this certainly leads to aspertions of what is and isn't suitable for a comic book fighting game, that's not what I think this review highlights.

In passing, I've mentioned this period of Detective Comics with great fondness, and I suppose it's nice to finally put some images to the 'name.'
While this particular issue lacks the gritty hyper realism of others reviewed [ie; #796], it does highlight the key components that make Batman the thinking man's hero! Afterall, Batman is the premiere superhero detective, borne of the transition from cops and mysterymen [The Shadow, The Phantom, Dick Tracy...], to the post-Superman boom of American superhero comics!

Though not terribly complex; Dead Reckoning is a fine example of what I desire from a solid Batman story. It possess the necessary tropes of an accessible superhero story, featuring not one, but a small army of Batman's famous rogues, suitably emroiled in the mystery that is the arc of the story.
It's elements like this that appear to finally be infiltrating the mainstream depiction of the hero, as explored in the Nolan/Goyer script, The Dark Knight.

Particularly as chief antagonist in the film; the Joker's maniacal rampages arguably lend themselves to elements of the classic film thriller better than any other. Theories explored in Grant Morrison's various works endeavour to implicitly describe Joker's many different interpretations as part of a larger plot that compliments the fact that Batman is constantly a responsive foil to his crimes. This, in it's very basic structure, makes Joker the perfect cat-and-mouse antagonist of a feature thriller, and is something I think we can expect of their shifting roles in The Dark Knight.

Though probably not designed as such in his inception, Joker has become analagous to the potential madness in everyone, especially Batman.
In many ways he reflects Batman's image in a double-negative, right down to simple motiffs of: a penchant for bright colours, indulgence in more public theatrics, and of course, meticulously calculated chaos.

This is probably where you and I might deviate in our interpretation of the Joker. Like Batman, he is one of the most diversely displayed characters in popular fiction, and as such, many have their own version of an ideal Joker.

I suppose in the most general sense I have a problem with the contemporary use of words like 'random' and phrases like 'doesn't make sense.' These are vague attributes often grafted to the Joker, who, I feel, works best with a very specific core logic to any of his many operations. That's not to say there's a consistent methodology in his execution of crimes, but that the logics behind them are always there to be understood, and that the constant is the Joker himself.

I, personally, believe this to be true of the definitive Joker, and most Joker stories. I suppose it's inherent in writers to, even unwittingly, abide by a logicset that translates the language of idea, to story. Joker's story may be an ever-changing anthology, but it is, on any given day, at it's best when defined by a core set of rules, which is perhaps the irony of Joker's chaos theorum when pitted against the dark knight detective.

It is also, at least in practise, the reason Joker will always lose. If Batman's grand purpose is his dedication to the endless struggle against injustice -- Joker's is simply to be caught, and therefore constantly defined by Batman.
That, however, leads only to further discussion, and examples perhaps best left to later in the month!

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 6

Fans of the animated series will appreciate Tommy Castillo's pencils and the cast of villains arranged to include Penguin, Riddler, Scarecrow, and Killer Moth! Unfortunately, it doesn't appear DC have collected the arc, so you'll have to rummage through the back issue bins to find this gem! Or, if you don't fancy the sound of hard work, why not check out one of the other Batman classics on sale in the Infinite Wars Amazonian Gift Shoppe? Stories reviewed in the Secret Archives are arranged in the store, plus many others! Better still, by using purchase links provided, you help fund our grim and gritty war on passive exchanges! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

THE INVADERS versus THE NAZI PARTY
Out of Time: Part 5 (Marvel)
Where: Captain America #5 When: May 2005
Why: Ed Brubaker How: Michael Lark

The Story So Far...
The mysterious murder of Red Skull serves as a bizarre precursor to the unravelling of history within the memories of Steve Rogers; known to the world as Captain America!

Cap finds himself distracted by the pursuit of truth as he begins suffering flashbacks to key events in his long history, each changed ever so slightly. The distractions prove so severe they nearly cost the hero his life, when Crossbones emerges to attack after the Captain investigates the desecrated graves of his allies from the Second World War.

Nick Fury: Director of SHIELD uncovers clues that lead to a rogue Soviet General, Aleksander Lukin. Cap's history folds back on him once more when Lukin is revealed as director of an international company called Kronas Industries. Named after a Russian village destroyed by the Red Skull, Cap recalls the battle to save it, accompanied by Lukin's mentor, Colonel Vasily Karpov...

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Master Man 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Red Skull 5 (Genius)
Speed: Sub-Mariner 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Sub-Mariner 5 (Marathon)
Agility: Captain America 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting Ability: Captain America 6 (Warrior)
Energy Power: Human Torch 6 (Mass Destruction)


- The Invaders are: Captain America, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Toro, Bucky.

The Invaders were the premiere superhuman line of defense of the Allied Nations during the Second World War. Their membership was captained by the combined forces of; Captain America, Namor, the Sub-Mariner, the Human Torch, Toro, Bucky, and several other recruits, such as Union Jack, Whizzer, Spitfire, and Blazing Skull.

The Invaders were chiefly positioned to defend the world from the threat of the Nazi Party and their many superpowered machinations and allies. This struggle against tyranny would extend to the modern era, with many of the Invaders roster enduring through time by means of science, magic, and mutation.
Their legacy endures into the modern age, where the team is reunited on occasion to undertaker varying missions, such as; the liberation of Mazikhandar.

- The National Socialist German Workers Party, better known as the Nazi Party, was founded in the shadow of the first World War, in 1919. The party was built on the principle of philosophically uniting Germany free of social, economical, or ethnic division. Criteria for this homogeny was dependent on interpretations of the perfect Aryan race, and diffentiated from other movements by emphasising inclusion of the social middle classes.

A young German corporal, Adolf Hitler, was ordered to investigate the group, entering into political debate during his stay. This led to his invitation into the Party, and eventual ascension as it's iconic leader in 1933, appointed by Chancellor Paul von Hindenburg.

Hitler's fascinations were diverse and bizarre, including experimentation with elements scientific and occult. Attempts to recreate the famed Super-Soldier serum developed by Dr. Abraham Erskine for the United States of America resulted in Master Man: a frail American of German descent who was embued with powers far exceeding his American counterpart; Captain America. Master Man, Red Skull, and Warrior Woman represent the Third Reich's superhuman champions.

The Math: The Invaders Ranking: Captain America (#8)

What Went Down...
In the dying months of 1942 the Nazis had burrowed deep into the Soviet landscape, accompanied by Hilfswillige; Russian soldiers forced or willing to fight for the Nazi movement. Stalin's forces had plans to trap their enemies in the frost of a Russian winter, but word of a German super-weapon draws the intervention of the Invaders, who join the Russians to investigate.

The Invaders descend on Kronas, a northern village held by the Nazis.
Their scout, the diminutive teen, Bucky Barnes, leads the charge, evading defensive measures armed with but a knife. He swiftly and silently eliminates the frontline of the Nazi guard, clearing the way for his companions.

A trigger-happy Russian alerts the camp to the incursion, raising the alarm to not only the Nazi soldiers, but also their dormant super-soldier: Master Man!

On the ground, Captain America gives the order to Karpov and his men to protect the villagers, launching a personal assault against the Nazi soldiers. Like a one man army, Captain America successfully fronts a group of five soldiers, armed only with his shield and determination!

Meanwhile, in the skies above, the supermen do battle!
Sub-Mariner meets Master Man in aerial combat, appearing evenly matched with the Nazi super-soldier. The Human Torch and Toro do their best to tip the balance, but their flames threaten the Atlantean more than Master Man.

Bucky joins the Captain as he maneuvers his way across the compound in search of the German secret weapon. A congregation of Nazi guards makes finding the weapon easy, and despite their impressive numbers, Cap is able to defend the duo with his shield, leaving Bucky free to blow the machine gunners away with a grenade!

The young soldier proves hasty in his approach when a crackling, green energy bolt blasts through the wall of the village hut, leaving Bucky to narrowly avoid death, saved only by the intervention of his seasoned mentor!

Captain America and Bucky have but mere moments to survey the carnage wrought by the strange energy beam, before the onslaught of successive blasts begin to reach out like tendrils of death! The beams zig-zag across the battlefield, destroying poperty and soldier indescriminately!

Through the burning wreckage Cap spies his arch-nemesis, the Red Skull, manning the controls of the Nazi super weapon. He points the barrel with little regard for the lives of Americans, Russians, or even his own German soldiers!

The spreading flames threaten to ravage the small village, forcing the Torch and Toro to abandon their battle with Master Man to attempt to curb the damage. They do their best to absorb flames and melt the snow to rain, but it provides little relief. Leaving the super weapon to self-destruct, the Red Skull makes an escape with the Master Man, knowing full well that the Invaders will stay to fight the losing battle to save Kronas.

The Hammer...
This was such a tough one to call I was forced to convene with the judges! I was about ready to call this a draw, and maybe it's just July Fourth patriotism, but I've been forced to declade the Invaders the victors, by points! [Namor, Human Torch, and Toro only pick-up the assist!]

Those scoring along at home might like to note: while Master Man and Red Skull escaped after the former fought Sub-Mariner (and co.) to a stalemate; they were the representing exceptions of the Nazi Party, who suffered mass casualties in the exchange.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is good housekeeping!

Those of you displaced in time will be happy to join us in our indulgence of the July 4 pseudo-meme! While the Infinite Wars bares no special affinity for apple pie, we would be remiss to pass up the opportunity to discuss the thorough whacking of Germans. Nazis, I mean.

One has to exercise a little self-awareness and acknowledge that, on most outings with Ed Brubaker, we've had a consistent underlying theme of negativity. While I'm reluctant to retract any previously described acronyms or reactionary redefinition - I do feel compelled to balance the scales!
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Lazy Brubaker Syndrome; not to be confused with "IBS"]

Blogging boffins have flocked to Brubaker's work on Captain America, declaring it one of the most significant Marvel comics of the decade for it's contrivances, and it's sense of lasting consequence. While the reinvigoration of Cap's blood feud with the Red Skull has benefitted from the tempered urbana of it's presentation, it's the 'inconsequential' superheroics that have inspired my joy!

Flashbacks to WWII add a sense of disorientation and context to certain key components of Brubaker's stories, but ultimately, the deviation as it's seen in this issue is pure indulgence of the superhero medium -- and I love it!

Credit where credit's due: as is the case with early issues in most Brubaker series, the economy of story remains bouyant. Relevant insights delivered are mostly present to give weight to certain key characters in the story. Included is the vaguely Magneto-esque birth of Aleksander Lukin, punctuated by a single panel at the end of the conflict, while other beats deliberately emphasise the history of Captain America's relationships with Bucky and Red Skull (at the expense of any elaboration on Sub-Mariner or the Torches).

Recent history has taught us to resent this kind of revisionist history, but the number of writers making competent and measured efforts is growing! Geoff Johns remains the master of the clean-up, but Brubaker deserves a lot of credit for his many flashbacks that allude to a more grounded and belieable War-era history for Captain America. The sad truth for many of these characters is that their past does not reflect what we like to think of them in the modern era.

As someone who has not enjoyed Steve Epting's critically acclaimed work, it was a joy to read an issue dedicated to secondary artist, Michael Lark! The artist; whose contributions defined the worming flashbacks of the first year; provides his trademarked style of curiously squared and sometimes incomplete lines, which cast the illusion of reality far more efficiently than you might imagine.

Full credit goes to colorist, Frank D'Armata, whose allergy-inducing palette for present day scenes have been a major contributor to [my] depreciation of Epting's series pencils. Muted blues and greys have a softed gradient in the flashbacks, making them much less aggravating, and benefit from the clean juxtaposition of Russia's snowy whites. D'Armata shines with bold colour pops in scenes depicting the red of the Red Skull bursting amidst the glowing flames of Kronas' misfortune.

As with many golden age reboots there's nothing especially retro about the artistic presentation of these stories. Even so, there's a certain timeless quality to the pages, in spite of the prevelance of the Larks of today's popular comics.
It works! Especially when one remembers these are the beginnings of the golden age revival for Bucky: a character who, until this story, had enjoyed the rare honor of being a superhero left dead for decades. It makes for a solid start, leading in to an era of Bucky Barnes as the new Captain America, something we're disappointed to have been unable to feature on the site.

I can't tell you anything about this issue that you won't be able to see for yourself. I can, however, enjoy documenting a scene that might have been lost amidst the headline-grabbing exploits of a series that may have enjoyed acclaim for everything but the strengths of what it really brings. I just wish Brubaker could maintain the kind of energy these first storyarcs bring. Aquela é a vida da maneira é!

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 5

Something missing from your Fourth of July? Don't get caught out next year! Remember Captain America's last great adventures with a trade paperback from Amazon! By using purchase links provided on the site, you help sponsor the future of the Infinite Wars, which is the patriotic thing to do! Check out the entire range of reviewed and recommended reads in the Infinite Wars Gift Shoppe!

TIGER'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER
versus STEEL PHOENIX
The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven: Part 4 (Marvel)
Where: Immortal Iron Fist #11 When: January 2008 Why: Matt Fraction & Ed Brubaker How: David Aja

The Story so far...
In the ancient hidden city of K'un-Lun, it's denizens prepare themselves for the undying tradition of the Tournament of the seven Heavenly Cities, held every eighty-eight years when their planes align; thus sucking Daniel Rand into a plot of intrigue and mystery centuries in the making!

At the source of Iron Fist's plight is Davos, the villain once known as the Steel Serpent. An exile of K'un-Lun, Davos is resurrected by one of the enemy cities, K'un-Zi, in an effort to destroy the long thought dead sixty-fifth inheritent to the Iron Fist mantle; a drug-addled vagabond and survivor of the First World War, Orson Randall.

Randall teams with his successor, Danny Rand, in an effort to prepare him properly for the ancient tournament. In battle, Orson Randall falls, but not before passing on the power of his chi to Danny Rand, who uses it to successfully oppose Davos who himself has consumed the spiritual energies of his benefactor's daughters, the girls of Crane Mother. Davos has also forged an alliance with Hydra, and with plans to destroy the legacy of the Iron Fist and K'un-Lun, the Steel Serpent redeclares himself the Steel Phoenix; champion of K'un-Zi!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Steel Phoenix 4 (Steroid Abuser)
Intelligence: Draw 3 (Straight A)
Speed: Tiger's Beautiful Daughter 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Steel Phoenix 5 (Marathon)
Agility: Tiger's Beautiful Daughter 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting Ability: Steel Phoenix 6 (Warrior)
Energy Power: Tiger's Beautiful Daughter 2 (Projectile)

- Born in the mystic hidden city of K'un-Lun; Davos is the destined son of proud warrior, Lei Kung the Thunderer. As his father was before him, Davos is trained in the martial arts disciplines kept secret by the citizens of the Heavenly City for millenia, making him one of the deadliest hand-to-hand fighters in the world.
Ultimately Davos' arsenal is undermined by his jealousy for outsider rival, Daniel Rand, who becomes the preferred student of his father. This leads the warrior down a path of darkness, earning him the name of Steel Serpent, when he fails to prove himself worthy of the legendary Iron Fist.

Davos is able to escape death by the mystic intervention of the Anomoly Gem.
Resurrected in the service of Crane Mother, of K'un-Zi, Davos becomes more powerful than ever when he consumes the fighting spirit of Crane Mother's daughters. His chi mastery not only drastically increases his physical strength, but also enables him to unlock many new fighting techniques, part of his arsenal as a warrior of K'un-Zi and the rechristened, Steel Phoenix.

- Tiger's Beautiful Daughter is one of the immortal warriors chosen to represent one of the Seven Heavenly Cities in the ancient tournament held to determine the rotation of each secret city's presence on Earth. She is anything but modest, content to fight with her face guarded, while much of her body remains exposed.
Her weapons of choice are tiě shān, or, steel fighting fans.

The Math: Steel Phoenix Ranking: Draw (NR)

What Went Down...
The two fighters enter the arena with adjudicating elder, Son of Oprhans, who grants Davos opportunity to reveal his newest tattoo markings, unveiling himself as Steel Phoenix of his newly adopted city, K'un-Zi.

The bad blood inspired by Davos' treachery is immediately evident as Tiger's Beautiful Daughter shows no intimidation, mocking the consumption of the Crane Mother's harlot daughters. Though redubbed phoenix, Davos responds with a wicked tongue befitting of a serpent.

The verbal exchange is quickly replaced by the confrontation of these two martial arts warriors. Their opening blows, though impressive, fail to meet in a stalemate of acrobatics. Tiger's Beautiful Daughter fares the best, her evasive technique allowing for an agile recovery that embarasses the self-declared Phoenix.

TBD's blows punish Davos with brutal efficiency. The fighting fans slice through the exposed mid-section of the K'un-Zi fighter, before spraying his blood from an equally unprepared bicep, which could've been far better served with an offense!

Davos takes his lumps, retaliating against his opponent's physicality with an unforgiving shot to the brow. The punch fails to do any specific damage to impair the sight of the boastful warrior woman, who makes Davos pay for his missed opportunity with a toss her fan: which slices his hand off at the wrist!

Tiger's Beautiful Daughter berates Steel Phoenix for his disgraces, boiling him down to little more than a bullying child. Clutching his bloody stump, Davos swears bitter revenge, promising to make TBD pay for her transgressions.
It does not take long for the bill to arrive...

Having summoned his powerful chi, the Steel Phoenix rises from the ashes of combat, manifesting for himself a glowing replacement hand! With the energies swirling, he unleashes the devestating attack of the steel phoenix blow!

The strength of the Steel Phoenix' blow sends Tiger's Beautiful Daughter airborne across the arena grounds. Davos, burning with energy, lets out a roar of gloating as TBD struggles to yield in a pool of her own blood. Still seething with rage, the Steel Phoenix denies mercy, driving his fist into the base of his opponent's skull in an ordinarily lethal blow! Davos wins.

The Hammer...
Fullfilling the requisites of a martial arts movie villain, Steel Phoenix wins with what probably should've been a "fatality!"
As morbid as it sounds, I'm almost disappointed to report that, unless I'm mistaken, Tiger's Beautiful Daughter actually survived to appear, albeit heavily bandaged, in the following issue.

Now, if I were to attempt to incite some sort of controversy with a single turn of phrase, I'd say that yes, the Infinite Wars absolutely advocates violence against women, but that's just because we advocate violence in superhero comics in general [Discussed; Superman/Batman #15].
It just doesn't feel honest to have this character - who is already the instrument of communication for the depths of threat present - to walk away from that, even with the vagaries of "immortal" being thrown around. Speaking of immortal...

Top 25 Martial Artists
#1 Batman (DC)
#2 Wolverine (Marvel)
#3 Daredevil (Marvel)
#4 Ryu (Capcom)
#5 Catwoman (DC)
#6 Green Arrow (DC)
#7 Iron Fist (Marvel)
#8 Deadpool (Marvel)
#9 Dhalsim (Capcom)
#10 Red Robin (DC)
#11 Robin (DC)
#12 Elektra (Marvel)
#13 Kitty Pryde (Marvel)
#14 Nightwing (DC)
#15 Hellcat (Marvel)
#16 Batroc (Marvel)
#17 Guile (Capcom)
#18 R. Mika (Capcom)
#19 Ken Masters (Capcom)
#20 Sagat (Capcom)
#21 Bullseye (Marvel)
#22 Ronin (Marvel)
#23 Deathstroke (DC)
#24 Black Canary (DC)
#25 Fei Long (Capcom)As with most things that reference history, there's bound to be some common ground - some overlap. Still, it's hard to flick through the pages of The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, and not think of Mortal Kombat. Now, before you get the wrong idea, I don't actually think of that as an insult! I mean, sure, you need only look at mine, or anyone else's reviews of MK comics to know how dreadful their efforts have been, but that's just the point: this is a Mortal Kombat comic done very well!

This is anything but outright plagiarism, with a very thick Marvel B-story running behind the shennanigans of the martial arts tournament epic. In the background, the culmination of economic espionage has seen Hydra come closer to entering K'un-Lun for destructive means. Tied up in the mission of rescue and protection are Luke Cage, and the gals from Nightwing Restoratons!

Still, for all the unmistakable trimmings of a Marvel superhero story, there's no two ways about it: When I read this comic, I'm thinking about Mortal Kombat, and everything it could be with the right creative team!

Tiger's Beautiful Daughter screams Kitana to any fan of the beat 'em up video game franchise, recalling the purple garbed ninja's trademark veiled face and steel fighting fans. The same steely determination one would expect from the Edenian princess of the video game lore also remains.
Of course, really, what Matt Fraction [and Ed Brubaker] have successfully done is return Iron Fist to his martial arts genre roots, layering in various tropes commonly associated with: classic Hong Kong cinema; flamboyant history, myth and legend; and, of course, maybe even some of the genre mish-mash that's come out of Western sources, like, Mortal Kombat.

Also lying just beyond these pages are more of those inescapable pulp keynotes, this time branching from Iron Fist's true world origins as a character sharing historical inspiration with Amazing Man; a Bill Everett character thirty years Iron Fist's senior. Those ties quickly inspire further incorpoation, with the Orson Randall character bringing in many of the cues associated with characters like The Phantom and The Shadow, who were each part of a time when the Orient was regularly glamorized for it's mystery and mythological intrigue.

All of these things help to build something exciting and expected of a contemporary take on the character, who got his start in the 1970s as part of the phenomenon of a martial arts boom, in part sponsored by the likes of Bruce Lee.

As both a superhero and martial arts fanatic, I loved this comic.
After the initial issues I had become fairly complacent with my interest in this series. As much as I love and want to see the Iron Fist character remain bouyant within the Marvel Universe, on a strapped budget, it was hard to find enthusiasm for what was shaping up to be another greytoned, stoicly competent read with Brubaker on the cover. Ironically, Brubaker himself cites his involvement on the title as gradually dwindling, perhaps explaining the joy of more recent shifts, not necessarily evident in Brubaker's other, more urban works.

Regardless of the means to the ends, I'm really pleased to see something like this coming from Marvel. Not just that, but to be hearing it's praises sung, because as much as it is a superhero comic, this is something very different for mainstream readers. It's long been my dream to produce martial arts comics, and a result like this, so legitimate, almost makes it feel like a possibility!

As already alluded, Matt Hollingsworth's presence is felt, and it's with mixed feelings. The colourist who famously contributed to the gritty tone of Daredevil during both Alex Maleev and Michael Lark's stays on the book, becomes a little familiar for my tastes. I'm frustrated because as familiar as it's all getting, much like the stagnance of some Brubaker scripts, it's undeniably suitable.

Tipping the work over the scales is an exciting flashback sequence detailing the trevails of Davos' attempts to overcome the shadow of Daniel Rand, eventual sixty-sixth successor to the Iron Fist mantle. Pencilled by the ultra smooth Kano [not to be confused with the Mortal Kombat baddy!], the pages almost taken on the quality of a whole other comic, good for those who, like me, really felt like that was a bonus to the book, but not so much for those happily dwelling in the issue's grainy stoicism.

I want to come back to Iron Fist!
After dragging my heels through recent entries on the Infinite Wars, I'm reinvigorated, excited all over again largely by, of all characters, Steel Serpent!
Somewhere between the fascinations of characters like Black Adam and Batroc the Leaper; Steel Serpent is an otherwise forgettable villain from Iron Fist's past, revamped for the modern age with a wonderful surrender to the material.
I don't doubt if you haven't already, you might be finding yourself intrigued by the presence of this villain, and I hope very much to be able to bring you more of this martial arts menace's escapades, both new and old!

For now, we wrap things up, getting a good start to the week!
I can't help but notice our already humble traffic has slipped over the past few weeks, and while I do what I can to ensure more of the same great comics discussion and insight, take up this challenge: Find someone online or in person that you chat to about comics, and throw http://secretearths.blogspot.com/ down in front of them as a challenge to wax superheroes, and superhero smackdown!

EDIT: I neglected to mention that the top twenty-five martial artists included earlier in the update is representative of characters cumulative status in the Infinite Wars rankings. Though deductions can be derived, this is not a full proof information method of characters and their abilities. Links provided offer greater insight into source materials, and character histories.

The Fight: 5.5 The Issue: 6.5

"The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven" is still wrapping up, so if you don't think you can wait for the Trade Paperback, then head out to a good comics retailer where you'll find the latest back issues on the shelf! Want to know when more's coming? Keep an eye on the Infinite Wars on Wednesdays when we run down what's hot on stands from the Shipping List! Not quite convinced? What to jump into Iron Fist in a more mature format? Hey, by preordering with Amazon using the purchase links provided, you help support the Infinite Wars and future entries! Links are provided here, and in the brand new Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: Amazonian Gift Shop! Mmm, balmy!