Editor's Note: Immortal Iron Fist #27 arrives in stores tomorrow, June 24.

"The Fall of the House of Rand"

Here's a funny story. Back in March, Marvel originally solicited this issue of Immortal Iron Fist as the "landmark FINAL ISSUE" of the series. Then they removed the "landmark FINAL ISSUE" part and Ed Brubaker himself noted on Twitter that it was a typo and the series wasn't ending.

Well, either Brubaker didn't know what he was talking about, someone was playing him for a sucker, or he was just working damage control on a title he hadn't been writing for nearly a year.

Regardless of what was going on with Brubaker, the description of this issue has been changed back on the Marvel site and it is, once again, the "landmark FINAL ISSUE."

After this, and after a series of one-shots highlighting each of the Immortal Weapons, Iron Fist will then start working for Norman Osborn, alongside Luke Cage, as some sort of variation on Thunderbolts. What the f**kin' f**k?

No, seriously.

What the f**kin' f**k?

I'm going to try not to prejudge Thunderbolts #136 for a couple of reasons. It's a special 48-page issue due out in September and it's being written by Rick Remender. Remender does good work, and he doesn't seem to be taking over Thunderbolts. Instead, he's only writing this special issue involving Danny and Luke as Thunderbolts for Hire or something. It could be good. Who knows?

Sure, it flies in the face of every single bit of established characterization of both characters, but we don't know the details yet. From the glowy-eyes they've got on the cover, maybe they're possessed or under mind-control or got stuck with the tab at Red Lobster or something. We just don't know.

I don't even know if they'll be staying in Thunderbolts after the one issue.

We just don't know.

In the meantime, the Immortal Weapons specials look good, and Swierczynski will be writing Iron Fist back-ups for each of them. Plus, we're getting issue #27 here to serve as a capstone to this volume of Immortal Iron Fist.

Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna talk about this issue now.

My first impulse was to give it a score of three bullets, meaning it's an average quality issue; nothing special, but nothing too terribly bad, either. But honestly, after reading it a couple of times and then considering where Marvel is taking the character in the future, I just can't give it good marks.

I'm going to be spoiling a couple of things here, so either skip the rest of this or keep reading but don't send me an angry e-mail. You got your stupid warning.

So, like the title of the story says, this is all about the end of Rand Inc. But really, more than anything, it feels like Conclusion via Editorial Mandate. Rand Inc. has collapsed while Danny's been in Hell, apparently due to a number of factors that mostly happened off-panel. And the reasons are just vague enough for us to be able to skirt over them with a brief nod, checking them off and saying, "Okay, that takes care of that."

Swierczynski does try to add some emotional weight to the proceedings, focusing a little on Danny's guilt over ruining his father's company and offsetting that with flashbacks to Wendell Rand's own distractions, but it's too little, too late.

The way this comic is wrapping up is emotionally unsatisfying and remarkably abrupt. Suddenly, Danny's company is bankrupt or taken over or something not really specified, and he is moving in with longtime girlfriend Misty Knight in Harlem. All the money he has left, he wants poured into his dojo, The School of Thunder, rather than putting any of it back into the market where he might actually build up some financial cushioning for down the line.

It's a ham-handed and clumsy way of forcing Danny back into a worn-out dramatic situation where teaming up with Luke Cage as Heroes for Hire defines the character. This feels like all the development of both the character and his world are being gutted to recapture the "glory days" when nobody gave a shit about this character.

Hoopla.

Plus, Misty's pregnant and they're getting married. I'm not sure, but there may be a cliche or two that were missed in the "crafting" of this issue. But then again, maybe not.

This, of course, leads to Danny and Luke Cage hanging out in a bar and talking about fatherhood for two pages that look like they were drawn in an afternoon and inked with a felt-tip marker. David Lapham is responsible for these two pages and they're embarrassing. These are easily the worst two pages in the entire series, and visually they only serve to set off how mundane and unimaginative Iron Fist's future looks.

Especially when put side-by-side with Travel Foreman's gorgeous pen and ink work for the other contemporary sections of the story. Foreman is just as good with the pages here, nearly all set in offices and apartments, as he was all through the previous storyline imagining the architecture of Hell. His use of shadow and light is excellent, bringing the suggestion of photo-realism without the slavish devotion to rendering photos that can suck the life out of a comic.

At times the figures are extremely over-simplified and stylized, but it works for the most part, at least until we get to the page or two leading into Lapham's pages. There, the simplification works against the intentions of the narrative, looking rushed and unfinished rather than stylized and orchestrated. It's almost as though Foreman's art is trying to soften the blow that Lapham's art makes in contrast. It doesn't work.

One of my favorite currently-working artists, Timothy Green, illustrates the flashbacks this time around, and he is completely wasted on the material. When you've got one of the most talented and distinctive science fiction artists working today, do you really want to give them page after page of guys standing around an empty office, while the narration frets about whether or not Wendell Rand is a good father?

What the hell is that all about?

All in all, it's a sad way for this comic to go out. Reading this issue was kind of like finishing a drink and then being told that someone had dipped their balls in it while you weren't looking. Not only does it make you want to throw the drink down in disgust, it taints any enjoyment of the drink you might have been having before being told the truth.

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