For more than ten years, Shang-Chi, son of Fu Manchu, walked the way of the warrior…  Now, it has come to an end.  Your Major Spoilers (Retro) Review of Principal Of Kung Fu #125 awaits!

Master of Kung Fu #125 coverMaster OF KUNG FU #125

Author: Alan Zelenetz
Penciler: William Johnson/Alan Kupperberg
Inker: Mike Mignola/Alan Kupperberg
Colorist: George Roussos
Letterer: Rick Parker
Editor: Denny O'Neil
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Comprehend Cost: $1.00
Electric current Virtually-Mint Pricing: $20.00

Previously in Main Of Kung Fu: "Phone call me Shang-Chi, as my father did, when he raised me in the vacuum of his Honan, China retreat.  I learned many things from my father: that my name means 'The Rise and Advancing of a Spirit" and that my body could exist forged into a living weapon through the discipline of kung fu.  Since then, I have learned that my begetter is Dr. Fu Manchu , the virtually insidiously evil homo on earth and that to honor him would bring nothing just dishonor to the spirit of my name."

So spoke Shang-Chi at the showtime of every issue of his series, and for years he had opposed his fathers schemes, until Fu Manchu kidnapped him and his half-sister Fah Lo Suee, planning to cede his children to maintain his own immortality.  Shang-Chi escapes, saving his sibling and beating a clone whose skills should take been (hypothetically) superior  Shang left his begetter in a crumbling fortress, leaving the old man to his doom as Fu Manchu badly tried to lick up the elixir he had created.  Thus, Fu Manchu is dead.

What does that mean for Shang-Chi?

The origins of the Master of Kung Fu are 1 of those weird things that only happen in comic books: In the early 1970s, Marvel Comics had adaptation rights to both Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu stories and the television receiver series 'Kung Fu, leading writer Steve Englehart to create a melange of the two for the pages of 'Special Marvel Edition.'  Shang didn't end up being much similar Chang Kwai Kaine, but his stories managed to make good apply of Fu Manchu and the characters thereof for many years.  Most recently (for Retro Review values thereof), author Cistron Solar day had taken over the book and made it exciting once again later a couple of years of moribund stories.  Sadly, Factor had of a sudden passed away afterward writing #120, which I remember probably contributed to the series' cancellation, with this consequence, leaving Shang-Chi to meditate about the holy nature of the human relationship between father and son, and whether he succeeded in honoring it without revering his nefarious papa…

Precipitous-eyed Spoilerites probably noticed the proper noun 'Mike Mignola' in the credits of this consequence, in some of his earliest comic book work.  Information technology'south piece of cake to see what would become Mignola'south signature shadows-and-low-cal in these pages, or at least elements of what it would become…

Shang considers his life, thinking of his late father, his deceased "brother" (actually a clone created past Manchu'due south cross-brood of science and sorcery) and what he's going to do with his life now that it'southward all over.  Volition Johnson and Mignola's art besides gives him a strong resemblance to the belatedly Bruce Lee, an chemical element that has come and gone in this series since the earliest days.

Having returned the tiny tortoise to the reflecting pool, our young Master is attacked by a GIANT i (Recall that magic/science thingy?  Fu Manchu was not selective about information technology at all.), leading to a battle through the temple, leading him to a golden formalism loving cup with his father's confront carved in information technology.   Taking the goblet with him, he leaves the temple, feeling the commencement stirrings of what might be acceptance.  So, he immediately walks into the centre of a fight!  Seeing a young man surrounded past armed attackers, Shang-Chi leaps in to defend him…

One of the greatest parts of a good Shang-Chi story is how humble and cocky-effacing he is, responding with embarrassment and good will rather than anger or aggression.  Shang even agrees to stay and run into the play that his new friends are performing.  Meanwhile, in a faraway Scottish castle, his assembly and allies in the "games of deceit and death" wonder virtually whether they'll ever see their young friend again…

Poor Leiko…  She and Shang-Chi have spent more than 100 issues dancing around whether or not they are actually in beloved or non, and now she thinks she has lost him forever.  It'due south eye-breaking stuff.  As for Shang, he's equally disturbed to observe that the play he has accidentally chosen to encounter is called 'The Accursed Son', and echoes his own fears and worries well-nigh his recent patricide…

Overcome past his own guilt, Shang flees the village, taking a railroad train south to the interestingly named hamlet of Yang Yin, where he gets a risk to play a bit with his martial arts skills (and likewise gets a whole new creative person in Paul Kupperberg.)

That dark, Shang-Chi goes to sleep, hoping to finally escape the terrible dreams of his nearly recent days.

The skilful news is, he doesnt have bad dreams.  The bad news?  There's a celestial demon, summoned by Fu Manchu's wife, coming to consume his soul…

Trapped in his own memories, Shang remembers Leiko, his lost friend Midnight, even his fathers demise, but rather than succumb to his own fear, he fights back the only way he knows how:  By..  fighting, but…  really fighting?  Because hes a Principal Of Kung Fu, y'all.  #TitleDrop

Their battle rages, moving out of the village onto a beach, then into the sea itself, where Shang-Chi finally defeats the sorcerer (thanks to a massive moving ridge), and returns to observe his father's chalice where he left information technology.  Having defeated his demons, literally and figuratively, he prepares to potable to a new life…

Rather than drown, though, he finds himself renewed…

Finally leaving his father, spycraft and even his beloved Leiko behind, Shang-Chi decides that Yang Yin shall exist his new domicile, and rather than kung fu, his new calling shall be that of fisherman…

Its a overnice ending, made even nicer past the fact that Curiosity editorial actually tried to make it stick rather than immediately relaunch him into new adventures and games of blah blah blah fishcakes.  Information technology was well-nigh a decade earlier Shang-Chi would return to the spy game, a reminder that for all his faults as an editor-in-primary, Jim Shooter was a firm believer in comics having endings.  Since the very first Retro Review at Major Spoilers (over Xi YEARS AGO) was a MoKF comic, I enjoy returning to Shang-Chi'due south adventures every once in a while.  And even though this effect suffers a bit from less-than-compatible art teams (Kupperberg's work is fine, but it'south hardly the nuanced stuff that Johnson and Mignola give us), Master Of Kung Fu #125 is a very solid issue, sending off i of Marvel'due south well-nigh unusual heroes in a manner plumbing equipment his status every bit trailblazer, and even the nearly opaque $.25 of philosophical nonsense feels like they acquit meaning, earning a amend-than-average 3 out of 5 stars overall.As much as I wish comics stuck with endings, I'm glad that this one wasn't the end for our homo Shang (and I wish somebody would bring him back in a loftier-profile role again, since he's been sort of missing since Hickman's Avengers run ended…

Writing
Fine art
Coloring

It's existential claptrap, but well-written existential claptrap with one splendid fine art squad and 1 that's just kinda okay...

User Rating: 3.2 ( 1 votes)

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