Shang-Chi And The Ten Rings #1 - Marvel Comics

SHANG-CHI AND THE TEN RINGS No. 1, September 2022

Proudly proclaimed by “Marvel Worldwide” as the start of “a bold new era” for the Master of Kung Fu, Gene Luen Yang’s script for Issue One of “Shang-Chi And The Ten Rings” arguably doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to involving its titular character in pulse-pounding pugilism and deep-rooted treachery. For whilst this twenty-page periodical’s plot does contain a brief sedentary sojourn to a crazy golf course so as to show the martial artist wooing current girlfriend Delilah Wang, the vast majority of this comic is crammed full of sizzling laser beams, deadly-sharp giant blades and gun-toting Hydra goons.

Indeed, straight from this book’s opening, where a pair of ill-thinking Warriors of the Deadly Hand unwisely attempt to interact with Ta-Lo’s mystical iron weapons, its American author appears determined to ensure that the reader is persistently kept ‘on the edge of their seat’ with a series of well-penned, dramatic occurrences involving some of Brother Hand’s most notorious opponents; “Makes you wonder -- If he’s got these, why isn’t the Five Weapons Society in charge of, well… everything..?! 

Perhaps foremost of these ‘guest appearances’ is that of William Young, who not only makes a surprising, savage attack upon “the Chi-Meister” whilst the Supreme Commander is busy putting. But also ‘enjoys’ a throwback comment to one of his early battles as Razor Fist when Doug Moench’s co-creation got one of his formidably-sized blades stuck in a statue. Sadly, this epic tussle only lasts a dozen or so panels. However, its brevity is actually crucial to Yang’s storyline, as the now heavily-bearded mercenary was supposed to delay Shang-Chi long enough for Lady Iron Fan’s winning bidders to successfully steal the Ten Rings.

Admirably adding some extra “Klunk”, “Hwak” and “Whump” to this publication’s proceedings is Marcus To, who amongst other positives, somehow manages to prodigiously pencil the absolutely lethal Heavenly Weapons with a disconcertingly deadly personality all of their own. In fact, coupled with the sheer amount of colourfully-attired assassins being brutally clobbered, as well as the Red Dot’s gruesome demise, and it’s debatably hard to imagine what else a bibliophile could expect from the Canadian artist inside a Kung Fu comic.

The regular cover art of "SHANG-CHI AND THE TEN RINGS" #1 by Dike Ruan & Matthew Wilson