Swierczy Annotates: Immortal Iron Fist #19

Okay, so we're going to try the annotation thing. Got my copy of Immortal Iron Fist #19 cracked open; let's see what jumps out at me.

(Obligatory Spoiler Warning: This annotation might give away some plot points. So read the issue first. Seriously. It'll make this so much cooler.)

Pages 1-3
The Thunderer's Army vs. the Ch'i-Lin in 1878.
Just want to note, for the record, how much I love Russ Heath. I first encountered his stuff in the pages of the Warren horror comics, and never dreamed I'd have the chance to work with him. That is all. Please pardon the gushing. (But c'mon; look at that Ch'iLin running through the snow on page 3! How freakin' cool is that?)

Page 4
Danny takes a call.
Part of the genius of Travel Foreman is his small, intricate, action-packed panels. At the bottom of this page Travel added an extra panel or two to show Danny on his way to Harlem, and I had to recalibrate the captions. But that was totally fine with me, because the sequence is so much better for it.

Page 6
Danny's students turn on each other.
As originally conceived in my beatsheet, this was going to be about the students attacking Danny and Luke Cage. Who couldn't really fight back because... well, their attackers were kids. But my editor, Warren Simons, wasn't totally sold on it; at the end of the day, he argued, it was still a bunch of kids attacking two of the toughest MFs in New York City. So I brooded for a while, and came up with what you see here. This is what a good editor does: forces you to come up with something better.

Page 8
Enter the Weapons.
In my very first draft of my very first Iron Fist script (#17), I had the Immortal Weapons (Fat Cobra, Bride of Nine Spiders, et al) at Danny's birthday party. I wanted to reassure longtime IF fans that I was definitely keeping the Weapons around. But Warren suggested we wait on revealing them, and I'm so glad we did.

Also: those terse descriptions are a tip o' the mask to Matt Fraction.

Pages 9-10
Ch'i-Lin vs. Danny and the Weapons vs. the Students
I try to give Travel an action-packed spread whenever possible, because he's so damned good at them.

Page 14
Zhou talks his master.
I based this page on some conversations I've had with some of my previous bosses. (Seriously.)

Page 15, Panel 2
Danny talks to Ernst.
Finally... at long last... Iron Fist fans everywhere can enjoy a topless shot of the very hirsute Ernst Erskine. (As Simon and Garfunkel once said: "I'm just tryin' to keep the customer satisfied.") I was also dying to bring Ernst back for a little cameo; I don't think he has much time left on earth.

Page 17, Panel 2
Orson escapes the Ch'i-Lin.
Some readers have asked if Orson started using heroin because of the Ch'i-Lin; I think it was for a bunch of reasons... including the Ch'i-Lin. Check out the nice detail Travel includes in the second panel here: the very, very faint imprint of the dragon on Orson's chest, like it's ready to vanish for good.

Page 18, Panel 9
Searching Zhou's apartment.
Another great Travel extra here: one of Dog Brother's dogs, sniffing around. Not scripted; wish I'd thought of it.

Page 19
Nadine and Danny.
In my beatsheet, I had Nadine sneaking up on Danny with a needle. But that seemed a bit implausible, even though I love me a good needle scene. So I went with coffee. I'm a big fan of using ordinary household objects (dental floss, paperclips, coffee) as murder weapons.

Page 20, Panel 3
Nadine.
Very nice bit of lettering here.

Page 20, Panel 7
Zhou and Nadine.
When my wife is being sweet-yet-sarcastic, she calls me "my love." So yes, I partially based the Iron Fist Slayer on my wife.