To give the piece some context here is the original Iron Fist #15 cover...

That was posted upthread Andrew.

And I think Wayne's argument is a persuasive one...it is not that JB is so sensitive to criticism, but rather that such criticism of a piece commissioned by a fan who has yet to even receive the piece is a bit - I dunno - mean.

And I think it's a great piece.

It doesn't seem to me that JB is even slightly sensitive about criticism. Any number of negative comments have been made about this commission and he's offered exactly one direct response, and that regarded nothing more than identifying a specific drawing technique -- which is actually generous enough when you consider he's a professional artist and we are almost all of us manifestly not.

That was posted upthread Andrew.

Whoops, sorry. Weird, I had viewed that page of the thread (which also had John's abortive version) but somehow I had missed that image there.

Did he pick that up in the Savage Land or something? On special?

+++++++++++++++

He picked it up from one member of the Imperial Shi'ar team in Uncanny X-Men #107, wore it in Uncanny X-Men #108 (first JB issue on the title ), Iron Fist #15 and Uncanny X-Men #109, when he eventually took it off.

Would just like to say that I, too, loved the narrative style of those Iron Fist issues. It was dramatic, unique and atmospheric and seemed to go well with the whole mystique of the book. And I remember people complaining, "Do you have to start every issue with 'You are Iron Fist...'?". My answer would have been "Yes!"

It seems Chris listened to those critics.

I always figured Iron Fist's second-person present narrative was a counterpoint to Shang-Chi's first-person present ("I feels his blows like rain....").

The alert reader will note that Iron Fist's origin is essentially the same as that of Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt.  That's because they were both cribbed from Amazing Man, a 40s character created by Bill Everett (who gets a nod in the IF debut).