Shang-Chi [2021] #6 - Marvel Comics

SHANG-CHI No. 6, January 2022

As finale’s go, Gene Luen Yang arguably still leaves a lot ‘hanging in the air’ with his final instalment to “Shang-Chi Verses The Marvel Universe”. But whilst a truly despisable Tony Stark and Reed Richards disconcertingly depart the Master of Kung Fu’s partially destroyed headquarters still arrogantly believing that they were right to attack their former friend because of an evidently ill-placed hunch, the California-born writer’s storyline still provides its audience with plenty of high-octane, action-packed entertainment.

Foremost of this twenty-one page periodical’s hooks has to be the titanic tussle between Commander Hand and the mighty Thor, which momentarily threatens to level the entire House of the Deadly Sabre with the truly phenomenal forces on display. Admittedly, it soon becomes apparent that Shang-Chi isn’t actually fighting with “the power of Takemikazuchi, the God of Blades and Thunder”, but rather a disguised Cosmic Cube. However, such a deception at least momentarily manages to wipe the infuriatingly smug smile off of Odinson’s face, when he’s shockingly cut on the cheek by the seemingly rapier-sharp magical sword, and resultantly realises he might not actually be as undefeatable as his overconfident team-mates all believe.

Likewise, the elite martial artist’s ability to persistently hold off the best efforts of Iron Man are incredibly satisfying. The American author really does a first-rate job of penning the Golden Avenger as an incredibly dislikeable bully, whose contemptible self-importance supposedly fully justifies him being able to threaten a group of non-super-powered onlookers with death and destruction. So when the titular character stoically holds his own against Stark’s ‘trump card’, it’s not hard to imagine many within this publication’s audience cheering aloud at the billionaire industrialist's obvious discomfort; “Shang-Chi’s holding his own!”

Injecting this comic with all the sense-shattering sketches needed to make such a frenzied fracas followable is Dike Ruan and colorist Triona Farrell. The Chinese artist does a fantastic job of imbuing the Master of Kung Fu with all the blinding speed a reader might expect from a close combat expert occasionally referred to as “the Chi-Meister”, and later does an equally fine job in depicting all the electrical energy resonating from the mortal being’s intense battle against the living God of Thunder.

The regular cover art of "SHANG-CHI" #6 by Leinil Frances Yu & Sunny Gho