A young woman learns the truth about her mother’s role in history and uses it to rise to power.
IMMORTAL WEAPONS #4: TIGER’S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Penciler: Khari Evans
Inkers: Victor Olazaba and Allen Martinez
Colorist: June Chung
Letterer: Blambot’s Nate Piekos
Backup Story Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Backup Story Artist: Hatuey Diaz
Backup Story Colorist: June Chung
Summary: Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter – her beauty is legendary; her kung fu, unmatched. Now learn how one of the most gorgeous women in the world also became one of its deadliest fighters! In a distant dimension, undefeatable men fight wars to protect their beautiful, well-groomed wives, sisters and daughters. But when the men prove not so undefeatable after all, who will stand and fight for her home…and change a world in the process?
Review: Duane Swierczynski weaves a tale through a culture where gender roles placing women in subservient positions are questioned. At first a reader could fall into a false sense of finding the story uninteresting and all about the scantily clad Asian women; but Swierczynski pulls out some tricks transforming Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter into a warrior as fearsome and brave as DC’s Wonder Woman (and donning an even more revealing costume than the Amazon).
The minuscule wraps which pass as the traditional garments of the village’s women are obvious mechanisms to cater to a target male audience between 18 and 35. The so-called “warrior” costume is even more far-fetched where the women don nothing more than belt straps over their delicately curvaceous forms. The actual armor components to the women warriors’ design is handled in a creative style with an explanation that is believable; they had none of their own and so they had to take the armor from the dead men and craft it into pieces of their own. However, that gives way to question why they would cover their faces in half-helms as they say, to give their opponents reason to only focus on the steel in their guts when any opponent would honestly be staring at the strapped bosoms instead. Treating the fashion in this way detracts from the otherwise decent storytelling about a young woman rising to power. There was perfect opportunity to give the women appropriate garb but instead the seduction of the flesh clearly won the heart of artist Khari Evans.
The Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter is a rebellious girl named Li-Hua. She obsesses over the war stories told by her father and the other men. When the city is invaded, Li-Hua learns the devastating truth about her people’s history and the role of women.
On the surface the stunning illustrations of so many beautifully sculpted bodies with a red-dominated palette seems superficial and appealing only to the basest of instincts; but it’s perfect for fans of classic female characters like Artemis, Boudica, Red Sonja and even the modern classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
All the Immortal Weapons stories are easily followed as one-shots but they’ve been pulled together as a five-part miniseries because of the Immortal Iron Fist back story which is also written by Swierczynski, colored by Chung and lettered by Piekos with art by Hatuey Diaz. Each Immortal Weapons issue uniquely handles a range of emotions for characters who reveal their mysterious origins.
