Master Of Kung-Fu #18 - Marvel Comics

MASTER OF KUNG FU No. 18, June 1974

Brilliantly bookended by two bouts of compelling close combat between the titular character and a highly-skilled Dacoit, Steve Englehart’s narrative for Issue Eighteen of “Master Of Kung Fu” certainly manages to suggest the international scale of Fu Manchu’s criminal organisation. Indeed, whether it simply be the vengeful interest of a former British Police Commissioner for Burma and his prejudicial agent, or the staggering scope of Shang-Chi’s malevolent father to brainwash “all of America” within the space of three months, the Indianapolis-born writer is not shy in showing the sheer scope of this ongoing series’ felonious machinations.

Likewise, the Inkpot Award-winner doesn’t fall into the tempting trap of simply depicting this comic’s lead protagonist as some sort of superhuman fighting machine, who boldly enters his pater’s hidden headquarters in New York, and readily defeats the numerous minions teeming inside. Instead, this book portrays a thoughtful warrior, who realises “the foolishness of [a] frontal assault” against his parent’s “Empire of Evil”, and instead tries to predominantly remain out of sight of his enemies, striking only when he must.

This thoughtful approach to his mission really helps sell Shang-Chi as both a highly-skilled, yet all-too mortal martial artist, who whilst capable of great feats of stealth, such as secreting himself aboard a cargo plane to Florida, is also vulnerable to a well-prepared ambush or fume-filled trap. Such susceptibilities really help sell the sense of suspense needed to make the warrior’s tense investigation into Fu Manchu’s murderous manoeuvrings all the more exciting, and it’s a credit to the America author’s penmanship that the Crime Lord’s latest scheme is actually thwarted by the actions of a disillusioned subordinate, rather than the Master of Kung Fu himself; “The man killed himself, because death was preferable to life for him! And my father made his life so unbearable!”

Just as captivating as this eighteen-page periodical’s plot are the layouts by Paul Gulacy and inker, Al Milgrom. The aforementioned punch-ups between Shang-Chi and the “adherent of Burmese strangler cult” are tremendously well-drawn, especially once Fu Manchu’s cold-blooded assassin has received four drops of a deadly chemical which bestows upon him “super-human speed”. But in addition, the creative collaboration are able to show off their truly imaginative side by creating a sensational splash page showing the hallucinogenic effects of the plant, Mimosa, upon the mind.

Author: Steve Englehart, Artist: Paul Gulacy, and Inking: Al Milgrom

Master Of Kung Fu #4 - Marvel Comics

MASTER OF KUNG FU No. 4, October 2015

Having endured this anti-climactic concluding instalment to Shang-Chi’s “Secret Wars” mini-series, many readers will arguably wish that writer Haden Blackmore had somehow managed to find a way “to pass up on an opportunity to flesh out a new corner of the Marvel Universe”. For whilst his “Battleworld” narrative is successful in “revolving around martial arts and the supernatural”, the former “LucasArts” producer’s uninspiring final premise that the long-time enemies of the Emperor’s “disgraced son” would actually aid him in his ‘mission’ to become Zheng Zhu’s better, just because he admits he “sacrificed his honor” for the sake of rival and former love Red Sai (Elektra), is implausible nonsense.

Certainly it is hard to imagine anyone who hates the true “Master Of Kung Fu” as much as Daniel Rand-K’ai has been depicted doing throughout this storyline, suddenly channelling their own life-force into their arch-nemesis’ dying form just because the ailing combatant admits he “only killed” Iron Fist’s Master to stop the Emperor from murdering an entire martial arts school. As the unlikeable wielder of the mystical living force says himself at the time of this unconvincing revelation “He should have found another way. He could have killed his father instead…”

Dubious plotting and questionable motivations aside however, the computer games “creative director” does arguably produce something of a memorable confrontation between Shang-Chi and his parent within the final third of this comic book. In fact for close to eight pages it is hard to disassociate Blackmore’s new version of Jim Starlin’s co-creation from the old, as the master of Wushu goes toe-to-toe with Zheng Zhu and uses all manner of fighting techniques in order to eventually outwit the evil tyrant…

Admittedly Steve Englehart’s extraordinarily skilled warrior from the Seventies never manifested unearthly magical proficiencies such as “the power to harden my hands into the mortal blade” or “to force all of my most painful memories into the mind of another…” But considering within this ‘alternative universe’ martial artists are bestowed with “a wide range of powers and abilities” like “intangibility and even shape-shifting”, such an extreme variance to the original ‘powerless’ Shang-Chi is just about tolerable.

Perhaps slightly more bearable than the script to “Master And Apprentice” is the action-packed artwork of Dalibor Talajic. The Croatian penciller’s panels depicting Rand-K’ai and Red Sai’s all-too brief battle with this comic’s “battered and exhausted” main protagonist is full of dynamic movement and rather well-drawn. Unfortunately though the same cannot be said for the illustrator’s portrayal of the Emperor’s ultimate battle with his son in the Thirteenth Chamber, with parts of "the Final Battle", such as Shang-Chi’s application of the “Lost Hope” technique upon his father’s brow, appearing rather amateur-looking at best.

Writer: Haden Blackman, Penciler: Dalibor Talajic, and Inker: Goran Sudzuka

Master Of Kung Fu #3 - Marvel Comics

MASTER OF KUNG FU No. 3, September 2015

Writer Haden Blackman clearly had a lot of fun scripting this third instalment of Shang Chi’s adventures upon “Battleworld”, as within the space of its opening few pages the ex-creative director of “LucasArts” fulfils a genuine ‘love of intermixing’ by integrating “a wide range of reimagined characters” into his “Secret Wars” tie-in book… and what an incredible assortment of “Marvel’s martial artists” he has selected too, with some being “not… immediately obvious or expected.”

Indeed it is clear that the GLAAD Media Award-winner has scoured the roster of “Marvel Worldwide” characters in order to populate the kingdom of K’un Lun’s “Ritual of the Thirteen Chambers”. For not only do obvious choices such as “wise T’Challa of the Panther Clan”, “Master of the Iron Fist, Rand-K’ai” and Karnak “from the House of Terrigen Mists” appear as competitors. But so too do the likes of the “mysterious Drew, weaver of the Spider Cult”, the “noble Creed, leader of the Tooth and Claw” and “Shattered Spector, mercurial Master of the Faces of the Moon”. In fact even the “savage Lord Namor” resurfaces “from the Halls of Atlantis after years of self-imposed seclusion” in order to fight for the opportunity to be Emperor for the next thirteen years.

Equally as impressive is that despite their daunting number artist Dalibor Talajic somehow manages to redesign every one of these major “Marvel” personalities into someone who both ‘feels familiar’ but is also “wholly new”. Something ‘which is exactly what Blackman had apparently hoped for when writing the mini-series’ storyline. However due to time constraints, many of these figures are regrettably reduced to little more than fleetingly brief cameos in two double-splash illustrations which occur at the very end of the comic.

These montages, whilst dynamically drawn by the Croatian penciller, provide nothing but a tantalising glimpse of these semi-familiar faces, with supposedly formidable opponents such as the Black Panther unceremoniously being laid low by the Master of King Fu within mere moments. Only a bearded Sub-Mariner is awarded any genuine ‘screen time’ during this early phase in the martial arts tournament and rather dishearteningly, even Namor’s frantic under-water fist-fight is cut inauspiciously short by Shang-Chi somehow transforming his hands into steel blades (similar to those of the villainous Razor Fist) and rather bloodily puncturing the Atlantean’s lungs with them.

Writer: Haden Blackman, Penciler: Dalibor Talajic, and Inker: Goran Sudzuka

Master Of Kung Fu #2 - Marvel Comics

MASTER OF KUNG FU No. 2, August 2015

In many ways “Master’s Son” could be viewed as being worringly similar in narrative to a typical episode of the 1972 American martial arts television series “Kung Fu”, as the comic’s entire storyline seems to focus upon the titular character’s desire to elude a confrontation with his people’s oppressive authorities. However whereas the ABC drama’s hero tried to avoid conflict and violence as a result of his spiritual training and genuine desire for a peaceful life, Haden Blackman’s incarnation of Shang-Chi shuns oppression and adversity because he’s a drunken coward. In fact all “the disgraced son of Emperor Zheng Zu” wants to do is “drink away his pain in anonymity.”

Such a disagreeable, dishonourable depiction of Jim Starlin’s co-creation is difficult to like, especially when so clearly able a fighter simply stands by and allows one of his teenage rescuers to be bloodily gutted by the maniacal Laughing Skull. Indeed there really isn’t much to admire about the unshaven, unkempt alcoholic at all, as he first soundly bests all of the Outcasts who saved him from his father’s thugs, whilst mocking each one for being “slow and sloppy”, and then destroys any hope which they had for a ‘better brighter (Battle)world’ by graphically telling them how he would torture, main and finally execute them all if he were to do the Emperor’s bidding.

As a result when the expert in “nine of Zheng Zu’s legendary ten techniques” does finally admit his fears, decides he must compete for the throne in the thirteen chambers and therefore begrudgingly asks his ‘surviving students’ to “take me as your Master”, it is hard to feel anything more than revulsion for this prospective saviour of K’un Lun.

Unfortunately the vast majority of the Writer’s Guild of America Award-winner’s supporting cast are equally as unlikable, with supposed “honourable protector of K’un Lun”, the Iron Fist Rand K’ai proving to be as much of a despicable ruffian as the rest of his Emperor’s minions. Even the one-eyed Outcast leader Callisto shows her true colours by betraying the location of her teammates’ secret hideaway to Zheng Zu’s entourage in order to obtain “acceptance into the ten rings.”  

Fortunately Dalibor Talajic does occasionally bring some enjoyment to the proceedings with his well-animated fight sequences and his interesting re-imaginings of classic “Marvel Worldwide” villains, such as a vagabond Bullseye and severely chastised Razor Fist. However the quality of the Croatian artist’s illustrations lack consistency and at times appear a little too stiff-looking and anatomically awkward.

Writer: Haden Blackman, Penciler: Dalibor Talajic, and Inker: Goran Sudzuka

Master Of Kung Fu #1 - Marvel Comics

MASTER OF KUNG FU No. 1, July 2015

Openly ‘boasting’ upon its splendid Francesco Francavilla front cover that it contains “Shang-Chi in a tale of Kung Fu madness and mastery” this “Secret Wars” tie-in title certainly provides “Marvel Worldwide” comic book collectors with an interesting “wide range of reimagined characters”. Indeed this ‘warped’ world of K’un-Lun, where the whiskered martial arts expert is both a wanted murderer and ‘down and out’ drunkard, is initially a disorientating topsy-turvy read.

However having navigated Haden Blackman’s wonderfully written opening, which despite his insistence on using the odd profanity is a mesmerizingly good narration chronicling the creation of the kingdom’s ‘thirteen chambered trial by combat’, these once familiar people and their ‘all-new’ alternate personalities soon settle into the customary age old conflict of hero verses villain. Thus, having established the ‘reinvented’ Shang-Chi as a park vagrant and somewhat soiled son of the evil Emperor Zheng Zu, the former “Batwoman” co-writer swiftly introduces the inebriated warrior’s obvious arch-rival, the belligerent Razor Fist; who in this incarnation “can chop off a man’s head with his bare hands.”

Such a classic confrontation, especially with a disconcertingly different Typhoid “Typhus” Mary additionally thrown into the mix, should always result in a memorably violent fist-fight… And Blackman’s storyline certainly does not disappoint as an overconfident and arrogant tyrannical ruler’s bodyguard, as well as his two formidable female companions, are soundly thrashed by a humorous smart-mouthed Shang-Chi over the course of the next few pages; “I am sorry, legendary Razor Fist. I truly meant to let you hit me. But I am so drunk I can’t even control my own reflexes.”

Less successful, though still mildly entertaining, are some of the other more recognisable inhabitants of this “Battleworld”, many of whom seem to have banded together to create a somewhat ineffective oriental version of the Morlocks. Thus a bald Kitty Pryde, Caliban, Callisto, Wolfsbane and Fing Fang Foom-like Lockheed the Dragon, all make contributions to the story with varying degrees of success.

Any action-orientated title, full of karate chops, kicks and agile gymnastics will arguably ‘live or die’ depending upon the quality of its artwork. Fortunately Dalibor Talajic’s pencilling is certainly competent, for the majority of his illustrations at least, with the Croatian’s fresh interpretation of a quite different Shang-Chi proving to be especially well-drawn. However several panels suffer from the artist’s somewhat sketchy simplistic style and habit of using blank featureless backgrounds, most notably those featuring Shadowcat and the other “undesirables”.

The variant cover art of "MASTER OF KUNG FU" No. 1 by Butch Guice