Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #6

I took a vacation day on Thursday for a couple of reasons, the foremost of which was that I had to renew my driver's license; the other -- it was the National Football League season opener, played here in the Emerald City, home to the Super Bowl Champion Seahawks, and I wanted to be comfortably resting in front of my small color TV at 5:30 PM PST for the kickoff instead of braving the perils of a homeward bound post-work commute on a train packed to overflowing with football fans.

I flunked my vision exam at the Department of Licensing. I was unable to identify a single character. The DOL agent who was evaluating me thought I was doing something wrong with the machine. She reprimanded me for not placing my forehead firmly on the viewing pad. When I tried again and failed again she printed out an evaluation form for me to take to an ophthalmologist. That was it. Out the door I went without a driver's license renewal. Now it is into the maw of the health industrial complex to be fitted for eyeglasses.

But the rest of the vacation day afternoon was pleasant. I went for a long run around Lake Union at midday. There is something about running under the sun in the middle of the day that is truly unique.

The late summer weather was pristine. Passersby wore Seahawks jerseys. There were also a few Cheesehead tourists sporting Packers gear.

I returned home and, after a warm-down stretch, began to cramp up in my right leg, something which is a frequent occurrence since I injured my left foot in May. Foot pain on the left prompts overuse of the right leg. The foot is getting better but very slowly. Some days it feels better and then others I feel like I am right back to where I was when I first injured it.

I took a few aspirin, reclined on my mattress on the floor and relaxed by reading Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #6. This is one of the tremendous All-New Marvel NOW! titles. For anyone who worried that Disney ownership would lead to a dumbing down of Marvel, All-New Marvel NOW! should allay those fears.

Both writer and artist of Iron Fist: The Living Weapon is Kaare Kyle Andrews. I think Iron Fist: The Living Weapon is the best superhero title out right now. It reminds me of Jim Steranko and Paul Gulacy in their prime.

My vision shot, my feet and legs a wreck, unable to eat hardly any salt without experiencing unsettling arrhythmia, my teeth going, I understand how a wounded and convalescing Danny Rand, a.k.a., Iron Fist feels in the scans below. He is approached sexually by a beautiful but now blind childhood friend from the mystical city of K'un Lun, which has just been razed by a baleful cybernetic reincarnation of his dead father.

In his ruined state he is flabbergasted as to how to react to such carnal advances.  -- Hey, I can understand that. Here is his self-analysis from the second-to-last scan:

You're Powerless. 

Chi -- drained, cut off from the source. 

Your iron hands -- broken. 

The city that raised you -- fallen into ruins. 

The men who you called father -- corrupted and desecrated. 

All the things that define who you are -- destroyed. 

And yet you survive. 

Daniel Rand, you've been here before and you know exactly what to do.

Often times I find myself weeping when I read comic books. I don't know why. I think it has something to do with accessing a type of consciousness, a kernel of the mind that is prior to all the outer layers of socialization and learned behavior and all that. This beginner's mind is filled not so much with awe and wonder as it is a peaceful sadness.

And that is something to cry about.