Does “Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu” have what it takes to revive the spirit of kung-fu once and for all in the Marvel Universe? Read our spoiler-free review to find out.
Written by Mike Benson
Illustrated by Tan Eng HuatMURDER! MYSTERY! MARTIAL ARTS! A former lover of Shang-Chi’s is murdered in cold blood while working deep undercover for MI-6. When Shang-Chi travels to England to pay his respects he learns all is not as it seems, and if he’s not careful he may be next to die! Old friends, new enemies, espionage and kung fu collide in this riveting story from Mike Benson and Tan Eng Huat!
From 1974 to 1977, “Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu” was published by an imprint of Marvel Comics as a way to capitalize on the prominence of TV’s Kung-Fu, as well as the obviously wildly successful Bruce Lee martial arts films. Alongside this, the great Doug Moench was penning the long-running adventures of Shang Chi in “Master of Kung-Fu.” This turned out to be a seminal Marvel run that carried the soul of the martial arts craze with it, while giving comic book fans a new genre to enjoy on the printed page. There have been several revival attempts for Shang Chi (and his martial arts peer, Iron Fist), but by and large these haven’t lasted long, unable to rekindle the vitality that the genre had in the ’70s.
Enter “Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu” (2014), a solo revival title for Shang Chi. He’s been an on-and-off Avenger for the last several years, but this title aims to decidedly remove him from the status quo for a little bit to put him on a quest for personal peace of mind and soul. Mike Benson opens with a cracking action sequence involving Leiki Wu, a longtime companion of Shang Chi, the ramifications of which catch Shang’s attention and pull him away from Earth’s Mightiest. Shang Chi shows up exactly where he’s expected; so too do his shadowy rivals.
While the greater machinations of Shang Chi’s predicament don’t reveal themselves in the opening of the issue, all of the expected plot elements are served up: A mission of vengeance; a reason to travel back home; clandestine martial arts gangs; corrupt officials. Unfortunately, all of these expected story beats result in a surprisingly by-the-numbers first issue.
“Deadly Hands of Shang Chi” #1 forgoes Marvel’s recent trend of using their solo titles to carve out stylistic or genre niches (or even emulating some of their own) and presents itself as a straightforward book without a hook. The book betrays its subject matter a bit, as well as the covers of the comic itself, by lacking any stylistic flourishes and by not being steeped in Shang’s martial arts background. At this point, this is more of an espionage book and Shang is more of a covert agent, rather than a taut weapon of martial arts mastery. It’s unfortunate that “Deadly Hands of Shang Chi” doesn’t embrace or pay anything more than lip service to the essential elements of its lead character.
Tan Eng Huat & Craig Yeung’s art is serviceable to the story, but again does not embrace the essential elements of the genre. Huat’s work on “X-Men Legacy” was a tough, offbeat nut to crack, but once you did the rewards were overwhelming. His art benefits from giving him something outrageous or interesting to do and unfortunately the first issue doesn’t challenge him. As alluded to earlier, he draws a cracking martial arts action sequence (complete with choreography that would fit in a Jackie Chan film); an early scene features the accidental decapitation of an statue, which then comes into play as a weapon/defense mechanism as the action set piece rolls on, and I was reminded of the countless scenes where Chan would accidentally-on-purpose get himself out of danger by using wacky means. “Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu” could use more of this spirit, as it would go a long way to playing to Huat’s strengths as a dynamic artist. Instead, the somber tone flattens the impact of his art a bit, and his linework tends to favor expressiveness with a manic sensibility.
The rest of the story plays out as a straight visual narrative of somber duty and intrigue. It’s not bad from a pure visual or a storytelling standpoint, but it wasn’t an exciting or memorable note to begin Shang Chi’s solo revival on. The issue teases a possible revival of Shang Chi’s spiritual roots might be in store, but the series would have benefited from imbuing a little bit of that into the early goings. Benson could take this story to some great places if he quickly starts to incorporate the essential elements of the character. It would give Tan Eng Huat more to do, as well, which can only bring out the more exciting elements of his art. As of right now, this is a story told just as predictably as its by-the-numbers plot merits.
Final Verdict: 5.5 – Browse
