Random Back Issues #129 - Master of Kung Fu #126

The plan to attack Shang-Chi while he's relaxed backfired once they realized he was on a sugar high.

About six years ago, Marvel did this series of one-shots that were numbered as the "next" issues in long-canceled series. I bought three: Darkhawk, Power Pack, and this, which is also the only one still in my collection.

Shang-Chi's doing some crossed armed push-ups while the local news discussing an octopus missing from the zoo. Shang also has himself a monkey friend he calls Chee. They go to get ice cream - mint chocolate chip for Shang-Chi (a man after my own heart), and date ice cream for Chee - and are accosted by several ninjas. You see above how attempts to attack Shang-Chi went, so the ninjas decide to try and take Chee hostage.

That's gonna be tough to live down, assuming they don't contract a deadly disease from monkey bites to the eye. Oh, and that they can escape. And it looks like they just might, because when Shang-Chi gives chase, the ground suddenly opens beneath him and he wakes up in a cell underground. Two ninjas are assigned to guard him, and they're morons, but we learn they work for a Dr. Prasis, first name Mel. Meaning his name is almost "Malpractice", as we (and the doctor) are reminded more than once.

Turns out Shang-Chi's been aware of someone experimenting on animals for weeks. First he saw a rat steal a slice of pizza with kung fu. The ninjas trying to adopt rescue animals was somewhat more obvious, and he tracked them to an underground lair full of missing pets that had died after being experimented on. Which is when he found Chee, who, once he was able to trust again, showed an aptitude for kung fu. Shang used some old S.I.S. and Homeland Security contacts, and learned about a doctor at the local zoo who liked to talk to the animals about martial arts movies.

Mel was fired after trying to sneak the octopus out, but now that he's successfully stolen the (very large) octopus, and has Shang-Chi captive, he's going to transfer Shang's brain into the octopus. Which isn't really teaching an animal kung fu, is it? Plus, that just gives Shang-Chi more arms to whip the shit out of you with. I'm starting to think this insane vet may not be all there in the head.

Chee gets Shang-Chi loose, Shang whups the shit out of the ninjas with only two arms and two legs, and releases the octopus. Into the sewer. The newscaster joked about being careful when you sit on the toilet, but man, don't put it past an octopus to try. But first, it has to take a little revenge. Mel tears by on a speedboat and gets yoinked out of it and tossed at Shang's feet by the octopus, and that's pretty much it. Insane doctor incarcerated, octopus free to terrorize the plumbing of San Francisco, more ice cream for Shang-Chi and Chee.

{7th longbox, 10th comic. Master of Kung Fu #126, by CM Punk (writer), Dalibor Talijac (artist), Erick Arciniega (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer)}

Sunday Splash Page #141

 "Not Appropriate for Young Audiences" in Deadpool Team-Up #899, by Fred van Lente (writer), Dalibor Talijac (artist), Jeff Eckleberry (letterer)

During the time of Daniel Way's Deadpool run, the Merc with a Mouth became incredibly popular, to the extent Marvel gave him the treatment once reserved for Spider-Man. He got a second ongoing (Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth), almost a third ongoing that became a mini-series by Rob Liefeld (Deadpool Corps), and this team-up book. 

I can't actually remember what made him so popular at that point, seeing as we're still over five years away from the Deadpool movie. Heck, in this very comic, Deadpool describes this level of popularity as 'inexplicable and totally undeserved'.

Anyway, they did an oversized, one-shot 900th issue of Deadpool in late 2009, then started the numbering for this series at 899, and started running backwards. Made it all the way to 883, which isn't bad for Marvel these days. As every issue was by a different creative team, it was basically an opportunity to write their pet characters and/or do whatever random nonsense they felt like.

This was the only issue I actually bought at the time, because Arcade was in it, and van Lente and Talijac had done good work on a short story in that Deadpool #900 issue, but I've picked up maybe another 7 issues since then, and it's as much a mixed bag as you'd expect.

Jeff Parker brings in Gorilla Man from Agents of Atlas. Tom Fowler and Cullen Bunn do an issue harkening back to the Thing's days of pro wrestling. David Lapham and Shawn Crystal have Wade get married to Satana, which googum has gotten a lot of use out of at Random Happenstance over the years. Skottie Young and Ramon Perez make Wade Galactus' Herald. Stuff like that.

And with that, we are past all Deadpool-related titles. But we aren't out of the "Dead" woods yet.

What I Bought 11/29/2017

I went to the store hoping to find at least one of the two books that came out this week I was interested in, or one of the two from last week I wanted. I found none of those, but I did come up with a book from three weeks ago I'd wanted to try.

Master of Kung Fu #126, by CM Punk (writer), Dalibor Talijac (artist), Erick Arciniega (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - I like that cover much better than the Mayhew one I saw in the solicits. Javier Rodriguez brings the goods.

Shang Chi's hanging out in Brooklyn, and he has a monkey. A monkey wanted by some ninjas, who capture both of them. The ninjas work for a Dr. Prasis, who is trying to teach animals kung fu. Having failed at that, he's going to try transplanting Shang Chi's brain into an octopus to achieve basically the same effect. That doesn't go very well for the doctor.

Not having any past experience with Punk's writing, this was a little different than I was expecting. It's played a bit silly, as the ninja henchmen are goofs, and Dr. Prasis got fired by the Hand, of all things. But I'm mostly used to Shang Chi having a lot of internal monologue, seeming unfamiliar with whatever he's encountering. This Shang Chi is more relaxed, comfortable. He's not bemoaning having to resort to violence, maybe because this is a mission he chose.

Talijac is inking himself this time, which results in a thicker line, and a less crisp look than in the Secret Wars Master of Kung Fu mini-series he drew with Goran Sudzuka. The musculature has a bit of a rough, sketched look to them. Which isn't bad, just a different look. The fight scenes are still good, and there's one panel where he gives Shang and the monkey similar irritated expressions that was amusing. Although every time I look at Dr. Prasis I kept having a bit of deja vu, and I just realized it's because he reminds me of Dr. McNinja.

Arcinega's colors are a little muted. Not enough to really muddy things up, but enough I didn't feel like the switch to the two-page flashback was as obvious as it was meant to be. Because the sepia tone wash over everything didn't produce that much of a difference.

As a stand alone story, I think this works a lot better than the Power Pack one did. Whether it would work better as an enticement to get fans to demand a revived Master of Kung Fu, I don't know. Shang, living in NYC with his monkey that knows some kung fu, helping people and animals that slip through the cracks. Given the wide variety of people living in and under NYC in the Marvel U., there's a lot of possibilities there.

What I Bought 8/19/2015 - Part 1

It's surprised me that Rock Bottom Comics has been pretty much the only comic book store in Columbia for the last 10 years or so. It's a good store, well-lit, good selection of back issues and trades, staff is always friendly. Just surprising a town that size can't support more than one (Slackers sells comics, but until recently, it was a pretty ancillary part of their stock). But I had the chance to visit a new store that opened this spring, Distant Planet Comics, which is also seemed like a nice store. They're still building up back issue stock, but they had almost everything I was looking for in new issues, and it's a very nice store. So hopefully they can make it stick.

Master of Kung-Fu #4, by Haden Blackman (writer), Dalibor Talijac (penciler), Goran Sudzuka (inker), Morislav Mrva (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - You may have mastered 9 of the 10 rings, Shang Chi, but you're no match for Zheng Zhu's fabulous hair! If only you had learned the mysteries of Loreal Arts!

Shang tries to fight Rand-K'ai and Red Sai, which doesn't go terribly well, and we learn Shang killed Rand's master because Red Sai failed to, and he was trying to protect her and her school. Rand reluctantly lets Shang go to meet his father, and they have the big fight, in a room which resembles a miniature version of their city. So it's kind of like a kaiju fight, but with weird martial arts stuff. Shang nearly loses, but he's learned a few things in his time with the outcasts, which give him the upper hand. He becomes Emperor, everything is relatively happy.

When we get to the final battle, Shang is in his traditional look: shirtless, the red headband, the red pants. It's sort of a treat for the fans thing, but it actually works. Shang's shirt got torn over the course of his many battles, and the headband covers a wound given to him by Red Sai during the fight. So it isn't as though he just randomly decides this is a good look. If you're going to do that sort of thing, there should be a solid reason for it. I wasn't quite as clear on Rand suddenly deciding, "Naw, I can't beat Zheng, it has to be this guy I've been trying to hunt down for years."

I enjoy how, when Shang and Zheng begin to fight, Shang leaps over all those miniature buildings, but Zheng just charges through them, smashing them to bits. It isn't as though they're actually giants fighting in their real city, but it's probably telling in regards to how the two regard their roles in relation to the city. Zheng is one of those, "they're here to serve me" types, Shang is the, "I'm supposed to serve them" guy. I also liked the shift on page 19 from Talijac's normal style, to the flatter style he's been using for the retellings of lore that lead off each issue. Showing how this is becoming part of that legend, the exile returning to challenge his father and take over the realm.

I wish this had more time for the fights. Go full Dragonball with it, spend entire issues on one crazy fight. Lots of back and forth, arguing, weird techniques. For what it wanted to be, I think it was pretty good.

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos #3, by Gerry Duggan (writer), Salva Espin (artist), Val Staples (colorist), Joe Sabino (letterer) - Monsters, please, the giant spectral Dracula is behind you! Simon Belmont would be rolling in his grave at your attempts to kill the Lord of Vampires.

Shiklah and the others reach Weirdworld, where the other half of the scepter is located. After much stumbling lost in the jungles, they find the proper temple, then have to fight off a slightly kooky wizard for the Totem of Manticore. Then they start on their way home. The only problem is, well, see, they left the Invisible Man to spy on Dracula, and he's not nearly as good at staying unnoticed as you'd expect. Dracula was getting pretty paranoid, swinging at the air, until he finally made contact with someone invisible. After that, he pretty much went nuts, and by the time our protagonists return, he's killed much of the population of Monster Metropolis.

Also, the only person who can see Ghost Deadpool is Frankenstein's Monster, who refuses to explain why he seems to be talking to air. Is that a metaphor for something? Frankenstein wants to keep Deadpool all to himself, even if it hurts Wade, even if it makes people think he's off his rocker, because it's something exclusive to him. Kind of like certain segments of the fandom, who want to keep other people out, then wonder why everyone else thinks they're nuts. And the readers are the only ones other than the Monster who can see Wade, so are we similar? Not a comforting thought, but I do share the Monster's fear of being lit on fire. Oh no, I was the monster all along!

It's not the strongest issue. I haven't felt like Duggan's given me a reason to want Shiklah to succeed in her mission. The whole quest hasn't resonated. Maybe because the last time we saw her in Deadpool, she was about to raise an small army of warriors and try to conquer the world. Dracula's no good, but I'm not entirely convinced she's too much better. I did enjoy Dracula getting so paranoid he essentially loses his mind. It's kind of funny, but it also made a certain amount of sense. He knows Shiklah isn't happy about the marriage, he knows he's a shitty boss, so he has to watch both those fronts. That means he starts questioning everything he thinks he knows about them and their actions, which gets him questioning more people. Which makes those people jumpy, 'cause they don't want to die, which makes him more suspicious, and so on. It's pretty well played.

I like Espin's art, but I wonder if it isn't too cute at times. The last panel, with Dracula holding ogre or troll by the hair, while it stares at us blankly, almost made me laugh. It isn't badly drawn, but the way the ogre's tongue lolls out of its mouth gave it a comic edge. It made me think of someone pretending to be dead, like a little kid or something. The panel where he ripped the minion's head off with his teeth was appropriately gory. And Dracula's expressions as he starts to lose it are pretty good. I can almost see his eye twitching when he finds out there's more than one invisible presence in his castle.

I am confused by the presence of the Thors at the end of issue 2. They didn't show up at all here, so I don't know what that's about, whether it'll be brought up next month or not. I don't know if I even want them to show up, other than there needs to be some payoff for it. My guess is, Shiklah and the Commandos kill Drac, the Thors decide this is too much of a disturbance, and she has to lead her kingdom in an open war against the Thors. Which could be a tall order. As Drac put it, God Doomit to Hell (I chuckled at that line).

What I Bought 8/4/2014 - Part 2

I'm sure I've said this before, but I hate commercials where there's a number to call, and they just keep repeating the number. I understand the reason, but as someone who is never interested in whatever they're selling, it just makes it that much more likely I would never buy. Also, it makes me want to strangle the person talking. Or rip out their throat entirely, depending on my mood.

Daredevil #17, by Chris Samnee and Mark Waid (storytellers), Matthew Wilson (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I had my doubts about that look, but Samnee makes Matt look like he can pull it off. I still find it a little odd he cut his hair short once he stopped wearing the cowl, since it seems that would have been more useful when he had his old costume. Hair should probably interfere with how well those costumes sit, right?

With all the fighting between Matt, the Shroud, and Jubula, none of them end up with Julia. Instead Fisk's men do, and when Matt confronts Tubby, he learns Ikari brought Foggy and Kirsten there too. See, Fisk was very amused by Matt's offer, and is also amused by the idea of having Matt under his thumb, but isn't going either route. Instead, he's going to use Matt's friends to get him to die. Not in the figurative sense that Matt proposed, he wants Matt to literally be killed by Ikari, and if Matt refuses, one of Foggy or Kirsten dies, because Fisk only needs one of them to keep Matt in check. Matt struggles to stay alive while racking his brain for a solution, and right about the time he comes up with something, the Shroud appears, unceremoniously stabs Ikari with his shadow-stuff, and throws him off the building. Sorry, Matt.

I'm curious as to what Waid and Samnee are driving at with this story. Matt's taken his "keep a positive outlook" strategy to the point of being completely open. It's like he's tying to confront his demons out in plain view, thinking they'll lose their power in the light. Now here's Fisk telling him that's a stupid idea, he's left himself vulnerable. Which doesn't entirely hold up, because the people who are hurting him - Fisk himself, the Shroud through the Owl - either knew Matt was Daredevil already, or would have found out quickly. So I don't know.

I'm not sure how Fisk's guys caught Julia. As she pointed out when she kicked Jubula, she used to be Spider-Woman. How did stupid goons in suits with handguns catch her? Sure, she doesn't seem to want anything to do with Shroud, but I can't quite picture her quietly going along with guys she doesn't know who try to hustle her into a car.

I like the panel on page 19 of the shadow hand hurling Ikari off the roof. We haven't really seen the Shroud use his shadow powers to make distinct forms, so it's a nice change. Reaching up like a hand from Hell and casting Matt's plans into ruin. The distance is an interesting choice. The page before, we see Ikari pierced from fairly close up, then Samnee pulls way back for this one. Maybe it emphasizes it's over, there's not going to be any last minute rescue of the villain by the hero, or how small and inconsequential it all is. One life, or two lives if you count whichever of Matt's friends Fisk will kill, doesn't seem like much compared to even the number of people in that building Ikari just got thrown off. And even though this book isn't tying in, the specter of Secret Wars is still there, entire universes getting wiped out, but with no real weight to them. A perspective thing?

Master of Kung-Fu #3, Haden Blackman (writer), Dalibor Talajic (penciler), Goran Sudzuka (inker), Miroslav Mrva (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - I feel dodging one's way between banners is not effective training for a martial arts tournament. Dodging between Banners would be another story.

The tournament begins, Shang-Chi arrives, and his father puts him through the wringer. Making him fight every other opponent. Which frankly, doesn't seem like much of a tournament. Shouldn't some of the others be fighting each other while Shang fights his battles? Each fight is one-on-one, are the others just wandering around in the stupid caverns waiting to stumble into Shang-Chi? I know Zheng is manipulating the order, but at least maintain some semblance of a tournament that isn't rigged. As much as you can in a circumstance where the champ doesn't have to fight until the final round. My Tenkaichi Budokai from Dragonball loving self is appalled. Anyway, Shang beats everyone because he's the only one who can beat his father, which is the sort of thing I'd roll my eyes at, except for the fact none of the others have managed it yet, so maybe he has a point. But he's pretty thrashed, and here comes Rand-K'ai, the Iron Fist, still looking for payback.

I wonder if the two guys making bets in the background throughout Zheng's speech, and Shang's arrival are supposed to be anyone in particular, or just representative of the average citizen's view on the whole thing. It would be pretty funny, given the importance all these masters place on winning and taking control of the city, if it ends up meaning nothing at all. The city runs itself, nothing changes. The person on the ground doesn't give a hoot who sits on the throne and all that.

I'm also waiting to see what Red Sai does. She was standing behind Rand on the last page. She could stab him, she could take out Shang if he wins against Rand, or aid either of them against Zheng. The legend goes the Red Sai is the Emperor's right hand, but that the first master also saved the life of the Iron Fist of that time. Could go a lot of ways. Maybe kill them all, take the throne herself. I feel there has to be something significant to the fact we never see Red Sai's face, or the Emperor's for that matter. Something the two of them are hiding. Good thing the last issue comes out this week, then.

What I Bought 6/12/2015 - Part 4

Last week, my boss complimented me on my positive thinking, which is not a phrase that tends to be associated with me. Not sure what it says if I'm the optimistic member of the crew, though it's probably more relevant I seem to be the most heat and uimidity resistant of us. I’ve delayed it as long as I can, so let’s venture into the exciting world of Secret Wars cash-in, I mean, tie-in books.

Master of Kung-Fu #1 and 2, by Haden Blackman (writer), Dalibor Talijac (penciler), Goran Sudzuka (inker), Miroslav Mrva (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer) – Must be hard to concentrate on kicks with that giant leering face behind you.

It’s K’un Lun, but in this version, the city is ruled by whichever Master wins the 13 Chambers tournament. For 100 years, it’s been Zheng Zu, Master of the Ten Rings. His son, Shang-Chi, is a drunk who ran away years ago because of a task he carried out on his father’s orders. So his father wants him dead, for defiance, and Rand-Kai, current Master of the Iron Fist, wants him dead because the act he committed was to kill Rand’s master. Presumably Rand doesn’t know it was on Zheng’s orders. Yet. Shang had been out of the city for some time (or was so complete in his descent into dereliction no one noticed him in the city), but he has to defend himself from some of Zheng’s students, which brings him to the notice of a group of kids who were cast out of their schools for various transgressions, and now live underground as outcasts. They want Shang to teach them as he was taught. Shang points out if he did so, they’d probably all die, and goes off to drink by himself. His attitude pisses off Callisto, so she informs on him to his father, which brings Rand, plus two of Zheng’s servants down on the lot of them. Shang survives, but one of the kids doesn’t, which is the kick in the pants he needs to agree to be their Master, which will enable him to enter the tournament and defeat his father

It’s good, I enjoy it. I like the take on the characters, how what would be their mutant abilities in the conventional Marvel U., are turned into something that fits the setting. Though I’m not clear on who the other student of Zheng’s was Shang beat up in the first issue. Razorfist, obviously, and Typhus was Typhoid Mary. The other one appeared to wield shadow stuff, so Black Mamba, from the Serpent Society? I like these opening scenes talking about how the Tournament came about, because so far, they sort of agree, and they maybe don’t. The Red Sai’s version of things seems to have opened a different avenue Shang’s didn’t, which makes me wonder what the real story is, if there even is one.

I haven’t read anything Talijac has drawn since, I think that issue of Deadpool Team-Up with Hercules and Arcade, but I do enjoy his work. He has those clean lines I prefer, and he’s good at drawing action. When Shang fights, you can tell from his position in one panel, how he got to the next one. The movements make sense, and seem possible. It’s not a lot of ludicrous contortions, which makes sense with a character who doesn’t have inhuman stretching powers or anything, and doesn’t really want to be fighting anyway. He’s not going to expend any more effort than he needs, which isn’t very much, apparently. I like that Kitty is apparently so used to being intangible she does even walk around things or people on instinct anymore. She walks through a piece of rubble after their narrow escape, and she puts her arm through Shang’s chest to point when Cy tries to rescue Rahne. It’s a nice touch, implying how long she’s been this way, and how resigned she is to it.

I especially like the scene where Kitty explains how they all wound up as they are, to convince Shang to really train them, and so we get these panels of her moving among them, always smiling, upbeat about it. Right as she explains her own mistake, we get this large panel of Shang denying he can help them, refusing to make eye contact, clutching a bottle in those hands with the bloody wraps around them. Then he starts in on what the training they desire would really be like, and again we get the close-ups on each student, but Shang’s not in the panels at first. Just his harsh words, and their scared and disappointed faces, until he suddenly pops up right in Callisto’s face, talking a bunch of shit, and then follows that up by casually moving his hand through Kitty, just to demonstrate how helpless she is. Then he strides off with them set against a white backdrop, but his face is obscured by shadows. It’s just a nice encapsulation of how he’s tried to reject everything since he started running, and since he can’t hide in an alley from these kids, he tries driving them off.

This is the sort of thing I can go for with Secret Wars. It has its own story to tell, and it doesn’t give a toss what Hickman’s up to, and doesn’t expect the reader to, either. It’s just a fun What If/Elseworlds thing, essentially.