The Red Fist Saga hits Part 6 with this week’s issue, and this adventure continues the first arc of the recent Daredevil volume. Chip Zdarsky ends this arc with quite the cliffhanger as the battle between the Fist and the Hand is being set up. We have Rafael de Latorre on art chores for this issue, with Matthew Wilson bringing the colors. This issue continues the trend of having various Marvel guest stars and great fight scenes, but now the Hand has been exposed. Once you see what Elektra spies, you’ll wonder just how much reach the Hand has.
The issue opens with Doc Sasquatch having sessions with various characters, which is a fun way for Chip Zdarsky to let you know who is joining the Fist. These moments are enjoyable as they peel back the costumes and help to inform the reader of the character’s motivations; I also think this is an excellent place for Zdarsky to plant seeds that will come to play once these characters come to battle. The use of the symbiote Agony makes me think that she will have a very significant moment in future issues, which can be a great callback to when a symbiote took over Matt Murdock during the King in Black crossover.
The conversations continued throughout the issue, and I enjoyed how Chip Zdarsky played with Bullet. The banter between Bullet and Matt Murdock was great as the two characters challenged each other. The two characters have a long history with each other, and I appreciate that Zdarsky uses their relationship to create a discussion that has the two fight without using their fists. Yet this time, Bullet won. When Bullet left Matt Murdock, there was a moment of reflection, and Matt showed extreme anger; I wonder if that was because of the situation or if it was due to the upgrade of Matt’s senses. I’m looking forward to seeing how the upgrade plays out in Matt’s life.
Rafael de Latorre does a great job with the art, holding the high standard that Marco Checchetto has set. In that opening scene, with the characters facing the reader, de Latorre shines by giving vital definitions to the characters out of costume. When de Latorre draws non-human characters like Stegron and Agony, he shows just how wild and exotic their features are, and when he draws the others, he does a great job with their body language to match their wants. There are action scenes in the issue that also highlight de Latorre’s abilities; I enjoyed Elektra’s moments as the art plays to several of her skill sets.
Those moments with Elektra are a significant piece of action that will help ignite the upcoming conflict with the Hand and other Marvel heroes. I was shocked to see the face-off with Elektra that quickly after the last issue’s breaking out of supervillains. Chip Zdarsky is planting some major seeds that can lead to quite the conflict later as the Hand and Fist go to work while the other Marvel heroes intervene. We just had Avengers vs. X-Men vs. Eternals, but this group of characters coming to blows has me very excited. I am hoping things will speed up to get the significant conflict going as now that we’ve seen the leader of the Hand, hopefully, that’ll mean business will get very serious soon.
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!
You must be logged in to post a comment.