Shang-Chi And The Ten Rings #3 - Marvel Comics

SHANG-CHI AND THE TEN RINGS No. 3, November 2022

Quite heavily borrowing from King Arthur’s legendary tale of “The Sword in the Stone”, Gene Luen Yang’s plot for Issue Three of “Shang-Chi And The Ten Rings” certainly seems to depict the titular character at the summit of his close combat powers as he single-handedly infiltrates the headquarters of MI-6 in London, England and retakes the Heavenly Weapons of Ta-Lo which were previously stolen from him. Of course, to succeed against the likes of Tinkabelinos Hardleg and the disgusting Wyrm of Desolation, the Master of Kung-Fu admittedly still needs to ‘tap into’ the formidable energies of his mystical iron rings. But even this remarkable feat is accomplished with breath-taking ease, especially as the deadly bands are supposedly entombed within a block of rock similar to how Excalibur was ‘protected’.

Happily however, such effortlessness doesn’t debatably detract too much from the spine-chilling tension generated by this comic’s central antagonist, the grisly grub-like Wyrmspawn, which quite terrifyingly burrows itself straight down poor Clive Reston’s throat and subsequently exudes suckers through the secret agent’s bleeding eyeballs; “I’m fine, Jack, Just feeling a bit… Lonelyyy!!!” This horrific transformation genuinely seems to be a bit more gratuitous than the New York-based publisher’s usual fare and coupled with Tink’s unacceptably frank expletive early on in the comic, undoubtedly makes the periodical live up to its “Teen+” rating.

Furthermore, for those Shang-Chi fans long-enough in the tooth to remember the martial arist’s “first friends” from the mid-Seventies, the American author’s penmanship manages to give the likes of Black Jack Tarr and Leiko Wu plenty of ‘spotlight’ too. Indeed, the British secret service’s latest Director brings some much-needed humour to this twenty-page publication’s perilous proceedings, courtesy of a wicked face palm when his fairy friend from Avalon decides to elaborate upon her mystical solution to their dilemma with a “Once upon a time” story-telling session.

Nobly assisting Yang in his endeavour to depict a gripping yarn is Marcus To, whose ability to visualise Brother Hand’s sheer quickness of motion with his pencilling repeatedly steals the show. Likewise, the Canadian illustrator does an excellent job in projecting all the slimy grotesqueness of the writhing Wyrm of Desolation, as well as the raw magical momentum available to whoever successfully bends the Ten Rings to their will.

The regular cover art of "SHANG-CHI AND THE TEN RINGS" #3 by Dike Ruan & Matthew Wilson