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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 25, 2020 12:15:21 GMT -5
It's been many years since I re-read MoKF but I know there is at least one issue left that I'd rank up with the best of the entire series. I think thre are actually several good issues to come but I remember that one specifically. Two of my absolute favourites are yet to come : the one with the blind archer and his eternally young wife, and the one with the cranky bagpipes player.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 25, 2020 18:55:17 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #111Creative Team: Doug Moench-plot & script, Gene Day-plot and pencils, Jack Abel, Rick Magyar and Josef Rubinstein-inks, Jim Novak-letters, Christy Scheele-colors, Ralph Macchio-grinning fanboy editor Synopsis: Death waits for no one..... Chi and Black Jack land and hop in a jeep, while Chi reminds us of last issue... Ghost Maker flies into some tress and dumps Leiko. Chi and Tarr catch up to her and find her sulking. She says GM is going after the Queen, who is making a state visit to France. Chi leaves Tarr with Leiko and chases GM in the jeep. GM's jetpack gives out and he crashes down, but swipes a motorcycle and it becomes a vehicle chase. They play Ben Hur on the road, katana vs tire wrench. The canister with the chemical agent is ruptured and GM's bike is wiped out, but he leaps into Chi's Jeep. GM gets control of it and drives it off a pier onto a ferry. Chi hops a boat and says "Follow that car (carrier)!" They arrive in Calais and fight their way to a train. Then, they fight over the train.... Chi uses gymkata.... and GM gets dumped off the train by a telephone wire. They fight in the water, they fight on land, they chase each other on bikes. It's like a combat triathlon! GM stops to pull out his weapon and loads a super soaker to fire the remaining liquid at the Queen's car; but, Chi dives in and Gene plays with layouts... and some more, as GM is killed by his own acid rain... Thoughts: Rock 'em, sock 'em action from start to finish. The art looks better and Gene has some fun with it. Great issue.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 26, 2020 16:07:55 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #112Looks like Chi is fighting with some collapsible radio antennas. Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Rick Magyar-pencils, Ricardo Villamonte-inks, Janice Chiang-letters, Christie Scheele-colors, Ralph Macchio-editor. Janice also lettered the previous issue; I was on auto-pilot when I said it was Jim Novak. I even posted the credits, for criminey's sake! Synopsis: Shang Chi is in Toronto, trying to rescue Gene Day from Deadline Doom. He runs into two guys in toques who offer him some beer and back bacon (Beauty, eh?) and then some really obnoxious guy named La Rue, who keeps muttering about a crane shot. Okay, that's not how it starts; but, dammit, I wish it did! Shang Chi meets SCTV! Spidey met the Not Ready for Prime Time Players; so, why not? Sid Dithers is no sillier than Rufus T Hackstabber. Anyway, Clive, Chi and Leiko are in Toronto to help track down who is accusing Nayland Smith of being a mole, in a rather unlikely set up. Smith was signing the Official Secrets Act (not named; but, that's what it sounded like), even though he would have done that when he started with MI-6, and receives a package that has a mole in it, which he tosses out a window and then blows up. So, the Golddust Trio is in Toronto following Morris Talon, Fah Lo Suee's flunkie from MI-6, who was pointing fingers at Smith about his various connections to Chinese agents, yet failed to stop Shen Kui. They follow hi to a wharf and a ship, then into a cargo hold, calling out for "Simon," when he is attacked by Chinese men. Chi and Leiko get involved and chase after the fleeing assassins, while reston attends to Talon. Chi and Leiko catch up to them in a park and fight... The standing ones flee and the down ones take cyanide pills (no one does that outside the movies) and they are stuck; but, Talon recognizes things as being orchestrated by Yung Sing, "The Red Reaper," a Chicom agent. It's all releated to a 50 year old operation, code named "White Heat." So, apparently, Jimmy Cagney is after Nayland Smith.... Thoughts: Meh.....this is a placeholder story, to give Gene some breathing room, which is ironic, since it is set in Toronto. This is all just recycled stuff, with moles and false accusations. Just not a compelling story, after the Shen Kuei two-parter and the return of Velcro. Then ending, alluding to a past mission, has some promise; so, maybe next issue will redeem it. Rick Magyar was young, at this stage and his art shows promise; but, it's a really abrupt change from Day and even Zeck. I really liked Magyar on The Maze Agency, at Innovation, and much of his other work, and he is good enough here; but, it all looks very "superhero" and even Leiko is in a robe in the fight, rather than her usual Emma Peeler. It just looks too generic Marvel for Shang Chi, like an appearance in Marvel Team-Up or something. Not bad; but, not the epic quality we have come to expect. His Dark Angel is weirdly proportioned, on the last page, like she has been strapped in a corset or something, with a tiny waist and gangly arms. Next issue goes to Africa and Magyar will be back.
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Post by berkley on Jul 26, 2020 17:33:01 GMT -5
It's been many years since I re-read MoKF but I know there is at least one issue left that I'd rank up with the best of the entire series. I think thre are actually several good issues to come but I remember that one specifically. Two of my absolute favourites are yet to come : the one with the blind archer and his eternally young wife, and the one with the cranky bagpipes player. Yes, I knew that first one was coming up, and that's the issue I had in mind. I agree, the bagpipes story is up there too, never thought of that one until you mentioned it here.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 27, 2020 20:01:18 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #113Kitties! Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Rick Magyar-pencils, Alan Kupperberg-inks, Janice Chiang-letters, Christie Scheele-colors, Ralph Macchio Synopsis: Chi, Leiko and Clive are in Toronto, hangoing out at the Silver Snail, catching Second City at the Old Firehouse,.....um, listening to Rush......watching the Expos......and hunting Chicom assassins. Talon takes them to a pub to meet a contact, who flees screaming when he sees Chi and Leiko are Chinese. That's just rude! The contact runs into a dead end and Talon tries to talk him down and he's about to pass on info, when he is hit in the neck by a dart. They spot the assassins, who take off across rooftops. Chi tells Leiko to stick with Talon, while he and Clive give chase. After the other two are gone, Chi & reston start to leave and assassins pop out of dumpsters. Ch fights, trying to take them alive, but they take cyanide and Clive shoots one... The dying contact says White Heat waas code for diamonds, then dies. Smith is puzzled, as the Red Reaper was interested in uranium, not diamonds, 50 years ago. Smith tries to recall the text of a dossier and dictates in to Dark Angel, but a shot rings out and just misses. Tar goes hunting. he finds a Chicom agent and shoots him dead. Smith finishes dictating, but it seems like outdated speculation about future uses of uranium. Working through the night, Dark Angel tries to decipher the text of the old document, believing the vital information is buried inside. Eventually, she breaks it and speaks of masers (Microwave Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation), as used by the Japanese Self Defense Forces, against kaiju... Diamonds are the focusing agent for this development. Chi, Leiko and Reston hop a plane to equitorial Africa, where the rare blue diamonds needed for the maser are found. They head out in a convoy with local contacts. They stop for the night and pass on details about the region they are headed for, which appears to be a meteor crater, which caused volcanic eruptions, creating the diamonds. They head out in the morning At the crate they find a hidden Chinese mining operation and Chi and Leiko go to do some recon. They overhear that the miners are ready to blast to get to a diamond vein and Chi goes off to create a diversion. He finds some kitties and plays with them... They follow him to the camp and go looking for the guy who hands out the treats (or is that just my cat?). The miners flee, but not the assassins, who kill the cats with shuriken, which makes them the best users of those things in the world, because most of them can't impale deeply enough to do that kind of damage. Chi fights, Leiko tries to disable detonator wires, but is too late. The diamonds are revealed, but it also sets off a landslide and the miners refuse to flee. Chi gets out in the nick of time and the diamonds are buried again under tons of rock. Fah Lo Suee turns up later, with Talon, ticked off that they didn't get the diamonds, either. Chi tells her to lump it and they leave. Thoughts: Better ending than the set up, again. Doug seems to be backloading the good stuff, but the weaker opening chapters aren't exactly making part 2 a must read, unless you stick with the momentum. In a podcast interview, he felt he was doing his best writing with Gene, though he and Gulacy were just in sync. I would say he paced his stories better with Gulacy, though I do think Chi is a more rounded character, as he writes him in these stories. Magyar and Kupperberg make an okay team; but nothing spectacular and Ricardo Villamonte made him look much better, in my opinion. The images seem more simplistic, almost cartoon-like, at times. He still struggles with women, in certain poses, as Fah Lo Suee's entrance, at the end, is all kinds of awkward... Chi's head seems like it is sitting on a pretty tall neck, too. Rookie stuff, to be sure. He has good storytelling skills, though I can't wait for Gene to be back, next issue.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 28, 2020 20:32:10 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #114Uh, oh; caught with her lover......... Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Gene Day-artist, Jim Novak-letters, Christie Scheele-colors, Ralph Macchio-editor. Gene is back, doing the whole shebang! Synopsis: Chi is meditating tot he Rolling Stones, when he is summoned for a mission... A couple in Hong Kong believe they have been chased by an assassin for 40 years. MI-6 has passed it on to Smith, who passes it to Chi, as the assassin is alleged to be Si-Fan. Chi takes the mission. In Hong Kong, a blind archer hits the target, while Leiko says goodbye to Chi, at the chartered plane, as Chi steps back in time to board a Boeing seaplane, one of the old Pan Am Clippers, which had long been retired; but, hey, comics! Chi arrives in Hong Kong, during the Festival of Autumn Moon, while the assassin finds the blind archer. Chi hears the commotion from the street outside the walled retreat and interrupts. He squares off against the assassin, then gets the 411 from Mara Ling... She tells of a princess who fell in love with a blind archer, but their love was forbidden. They escaped to the mountains and got the blessing of a dragon, so they could wed. The woman drank from a pool of immortality and remained young, while the archer grew old and died. The princess found a way out of immortality and ascended to the heavens to be with her husband. Now she tells the real story. Mara Ling was arranged in marriage to Fu Manchu, but loved the blind archer. She refused to consummate the marriage, though Fu tempted her with the elixir vitae... She succumbed and stole the potion to give to her lover, but he refused it. They were stalked by Si-Fan. Li, the archer, overhears the truth and leaves his bow and arrows. Chi finds him dead, hanging upside down and fights the assassin. The assassin trips and is impaled and Chi brings down Li's body and finds that Mara has taken poison, to join her love. Chi walks off. Thoughts: Beautifully written and illustrated story; very poetic and dreamlike, which makes up for some wonky fill-ins. This is why we loved Gene Day as he really makes it look spectacular, making it stand out from the Marvel norm. Gene uses several two-page spreads to carry across the story and dialogue, making talking heads interesting.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 29, 2020 7:27:05 GMT -5
In Hong Kong, a blind archer hits the target, while Leiko says goodbye to Chi, at the chartered plane, as Chi steps back in time to board a Boeing seaplane, one of the old Pan Am Clippers, which had long been retired; but, hey, comics! Needs must be as the Raiders of the Lost Ark Homage drives. Absolutely. I would have been ready to accept plenty of turkeys like the previous issue if it meant giving Gene enough time to finish such beautiful books.
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Post by kirby101 on Jul 29, 2020 8:08:25 GMT -5
What a loss Gene Day was.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 29, 2020 18:12:09 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #115When card games turn violent! Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Gene Day-artis (assume he is co-plotting, too), Janice Chiang-letters, Christie Scheele-colors, Ralph Macchio-editor Synopsis: Shang Chi has gotten himself some of the most useless zippers on his new threads... Nayland Smith and the gang hear about their financial problems and the foreclosure on Stormhaven Castle... Gee, the sub-prime mortgage bubble collapse came early, to the Marvel Universe. At MI-6, we are introduce to Li Ching-Lin, one of Fah Lo Suees most promising, if brutal agents. We also learn that Melissa Greville is back working at the department, where she runs into Smith. He meets with Fah Lo Sue, who contracts him to destroy Li Ching-Lin, in exchanged for forged mortgage papers that give Smith the sole ownership of Stormhaven. I smell a rat. He accepts. He returns to Stormhaven and finds Clive and Dark Angel muching on each other's face and Chi and Leiko smacking each other around. This is a kinky bunch! Smith gives them the assignment to take down Li Ching-Lin, though Chi smells a rat. He goes along with it. he uses the direct approach and knocks on Li's front door, tells him to come with him and then fights when he refuses. Li escapes into the maze of alleys around the Limehouse district and meets up with Wang Yu Seng, who knows much of Shang Chi. He says all is going according to plan and has Li suit up, as Death Dealer. Chi finds documents indicating Li is an MI-6 agent and questions why Smith wants him. Tarr overhears Wag Yu Seng and Death Dealer, somehow. Chi meets up with Leiko at her flat, where Reston waits and he relates what dark Angel told him about Li. They all smell one very dead rat. Tarr turns up and so does Death dealer, and he fires a grenade through the window. The group is alive, in a pocket of rubble, but Reston is unaccounted for. They draw straws and Chi rigs it so he goes and runs into Death dealer and they fight.... Reston is alive and shoots the three-bladed weapon out of DD's hands and he flees out a window. Chi later goes hunting in Stormhaven and Smith finds him and tells him he burned the fake papers. He played FLS, to expose Li and he knows who is behind it, because he saw him the day before... The gang sits around and commiserates, then spilt alcohol peels off layers on Death dealers cards, revealing the truth; he was sent by Fu Manchu. Thoughts: The story is a bit choppy, as we shift scenes with only face cards as markers and it gets a bit confusing; but, Gene Day inking himself looks so spectacular we don't care. FLS tries to play Smith to eliminate a troublesome agent, who seems kosher, but turns out to be an assassin for a still alive Fu Manchu. Smith has lost his castle and his money and Leiko loses her flat. So, everyone is pretty low. Chi finds his faith in his surrogate father upheld, in the end, but once again faces his biological father. We also see that Doug isn't exactly done with Melissa Greville, though he sure seems to be down on Clive, who is either making an ass of himself with Dark Angel or getting drunk. Does Doug have that much contempt for James Bond> Serpent's Tooth suggests otherwise; so, I don't know why Clive is getting knocked around. Guess he is an easy target; it's not like Doug hasn't F-ed with him before. Death Dealer is a nice design, though his weapon isn't very practical. Looks wicked, though, and that's what matters. He should get a glaive. Gene is with us for this entire story, which will run through issue #118. A little shorter than previous Fu Manchu epics; but, Day is inking himself; so, there is that to look forward to.
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Post by berkley on Jul 30, 2020 0:15:32 GMT -5
I too liked the Death Dealer design, and also Ghost Maker from a few issues earlier as well as several other characters created by Moench and Day - which makes Dark Angel all the more puzzling, as I don't think Day came up with a good look for her at all, though she looks better here than in her first appearance.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 30, 2020 21:07:48 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #116I think Chi needs to find a better chiropractor. This guy doesn't look like he knows what he is doing. Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Gen Day-artist, Janice Chiang-letters, Christie Scheele-colors, Ralph Macchio-editor. Synopsis: Chi is pulling off false covers from Death Dealer's cards, revealing images of bricks and masonry that are portions of Fu Manchu's Honan retreat, where Chi lived and trained. It is a message for him, pieces in a bigger puzzle, which Gene Day puts together for us... MC Escher would be proud! Shooter probably hated it. Meanwhile, In Honan, someone trains to fight Shang Chi... Chi talks to Smith, who admits he didn't see Fu, so much as sense him around Wang Yu Seng, the man who sent Death dealer. He sends Chi, Tarr and Leiko to go investigate the man. Outside Stomrhaven, they run into a police constable delivering an eviction notice. I thought bailiffs did thing like that, in the UK. They arrive in Limehouse and Leiko watches the doors, while Chi and Tarr go up on the roof of Wang Yu Seng's place. Tar is attacked from behind as Chi watches Yu Seng, through a window, then Chi reacts to the attacks and makes forceful pedal movements to the glutueus maximus and records the parentally-delivered designations of said bearers of damaged gluteals (kicks ass and takes names). Tar recovers and does a bit of bone crunching and then forgoes stealth and crashes through the window, Chi behind him, only to find an empty room and Leiko crashing through the door, from outside. He got away. They go searching and Tarr almost falls to his death at a trapdoor, which reveals the river below (to the left of some wicked spikes) and a boat fleeing. Back at Stormhaven, Clive hears a crash and finds Petrie moaning after being hit. He tells Reston that three of them attacked and grabbed Smith. he goes after them, but gets waylaid and the kidnappers flee with Smith... Chi and the rest go to MI-6 HQ, to speak with Fah Lo Suee, runs into Dark Angel, who name drops Bulgarians and the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II (true; the assassins were Bulgarian muscle for the KGB). FLS reacts in fright, until she sees it is Chi, which peaks his curiosity. She admits she knew Li Ching-Lin worked for Wang Yu seng and that WYS works for Fu. she knows he is alive and wants their blood and warns Chi to seek protection. Outside, Tarr gets a call from Clive and he and Leiko sppped off to hunt for Smith, leaving Chi at MI-6. Chi heads for Reston's flat, figuring it will be the rendezvous, and cuts through alleys, where he is attacked. It is Bolo and Kimba, two ex-Si-Fan, who work for Fah Lo Suee. They want to know what he was doing at Whitehall. Chi tells to to go Fu themselves and kicks them around, before they realize he is the real deal and call a truce. They act like he might have been someone else, someone specific; but, refuse to say who. They leave. Chi follows, at a distance, hears a scream and finds the pair dead. A truck speeds off and Chi leaps onto it. Death Dealer is the driver. The truck drives to a cemetery and stops and Chi jumps out and is attacked by a giant scorpion... Chi chops off one of its pincers, but gets stung by the tail and passes out. Death Dealer and a Si-fan carry him off. At Clive's place, Reston fills in Tarr and Leiko and examines the mosaic of Fu's Honan retreat and spots a figure at a window. A magnifying glass reveals it to be Chi, but with a scar down one eye. Chi hasn't been there in years and it is a recent photo. They wonder who it is. meanwhile, Chi is in trouble... Wang Yu Seng takes some of Chi's blood, mixes it with a solution.... ...and Fu Manchu is reborn anew, thanks to the elixir vitae and Chi's blood. he built up an immunity and only blood of his own family would make the solution work. He plans to keep Chi a prisoner to continually drain him of blood. Well, that sucks! Thoughts: Fantastic issue. Doug is really cooking and Gene is handling the sauces. This is a return to form and probably, as Doug has said, some of his best writing. Gene is making is suitably mysterious, stylish, and ghastly. This is the horror of Rohmer's Fu Manchu, matched with the films (both the Karloff Mask and the Christopher Lee series), and a healthy dose of Bruce Lee and James Bond. This is the essence of Master of Kung Fu. A mystery still remains; not only how Fu survived (he's Fu, what's to know); but, who the scarred doppelganger for Shang Chi is.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 31, 2020 19:41:20 GMT -5
I almost forgot, with Fu Manchu reborn, can a concert tour be not far away?
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 31, 2020 20:22:46 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #117Bad touch, Squid-Man! Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Gene Day-artist, Janice Chiang-letters, Christie Scheele-colors, Ralph Macchio-editor. Synopsis: When last we left Fu and Chi, Chi was going to spend the rest of his life as a blood donor to Fu. Now, we see that Fu has been shopping at Kenneth Stickfadden's garage sale... Smith is dragged into the Limehouse...er, house, as the local plod (police constable) looks on. He spots the car and decides to call it in. The bailiffs (well, more plod, as Gene draws them) have evicted everyone from Stormhaven; so, they miss the call from Fah Lo Suee. At Fu's, Chi bites through the blood bag, dousing himself, then pushes his gurney towards cages of rats. He uses his toes to pull the cage down, smashing it open and the rats attack the blood on his flesh. Chi uses the pain and adrenaline surge to break free of his bonds. Ewwwww! He goes looking for Pop and finds him in the Escher Room and aks about his survival...he swam out. Fu reveals he held the mortgage on Stormhaven and that Smith is in the hands of the Si-Fan, while Reston, Tarr and Leiko are homeless. Fu keeps Chi distracted, while Death Dealer moves into position and he sucker kicks Chi and it's on! Chi starts tossing DD around like a Mulkey Brother... DD tells Fu to run, Chi is POed.. DD flees and Chi follows. He then gets attacked by the Dungeon of Doom, though it's Fu's version of monster horrors, not Kevin "Taskmaster" Sullivan... (I liked his Army of Darkness better...) (anyway...) Chi fights them out onto the cemetery grounds and impales one of a monument(!!) and then guts another with an ornamental cross/spear (!!!); but, Fu and DD escape in a helicopter (an Alouette, like in the newer James Bond movies, of that era!). Chi walks out of the cemetery, which bears the name Wildwood, above the gate... Wait, that means Fu took over Denny Colt's old digs! Meanwhile, at Clive's place, the gang has breakfast. FLS finally reaches them and they take off, just as a bomb goes off in Clive's flat, destroying it. Man, Fu's a Richard! Chi turns up and collapses. Meanwhile, Smith is slapped around by the Si-Fan. Leiko has Chi in a hospital, being treated for blood loss. She tells him to sleep, then she dozes off and he slips out to go warn FLS. he finds the door open to FLS' flat and is attacked by Dark Angel, who claims Chi was just there and whooped her behind. Leiko turns up and stops the fighting and mentions "the other Chi" and shows an enlargement of the photo... Chi tells Leiko and Dark Angel to head for Limehouse, where Fu will likely take FLS. He then passes out, only to be attacked by a surviving monster (the one with the spear in the gut). He whoops it again and a false eye pops off and pens, revealing a taunt from Fu... Chi heads out for Limehouse and passes some dude in round glasses, who looks vaguely John Lennon-ish, but can't be, as this is 1982. Imagine if there had been an elixir vitae? Thoughts: Brrrrrrr.....some creepy stuff there, and Chi opens a catering-sized can of whoop ass on Death Dealer. FLS has been grabbed and Fu has been playing games with everyone (and evicted The Spirit, from his home!) Guess where Frank Miller got the idea for Born Again? Well, maybe not directly, and this happened in the soaps, all the time; but, given how big of a deal Doug Moench was as a writer at Marvel, you can't tell me this wasn't of some influence to Frank. Next up, the double-sized finale.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Aug 1, 2020 13:50:44 GMT -5
At Fu's, Chi bites through the blood bag, dousing himself, then pushes his gurney towards cages of rats. He uses his toes to pull the cage down, smashing it open and the rats attack the blood on his flesh. Chi uses the pain and adrenaline surge to break free of his bonds. Chi's narration credited the rats with gnawing the leather strap. Chi heads out for Limehouse and passes some dude in round glasses, who looks vaguely John Lennon-ish, but can't be, as this is 1982. Imagine if there had been an elixir vitae? I thought the blind man looked a little like once and future MOKF editor Denny O'Neil.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 1, 2020 20:23:38 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #118Wonder if Gene was using this photo of Robert Vaughn, as Napoleon Solo, for reference... Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Gene Day-artist, Janice Chiang-letetrs, Christie Scheele-colors, Ralph Macchio-editor Synopsis: The boys are parachuting into Fu's Honan retreat, though it looks a bit more Hindu, to me. I mean, these are the Longmen Grottoes, in Honan, for comparison... A helo drops them in (you can parachute from a helicopter; but, you pretty much have to pop your chute immediately. Much safer from a plane) and the are armed for bear, though Doug doesn't seem to know the difference between a Sten and a Schmeisser, judging by his dialogue. Meanwhile, in Limehouse, Nayland Smith taunts his Si-Fan captors and gets cuffed for it. Back in Honan, the boys run into the local welcome wagon... Fu's goons seem to be a bit light on automatic weapons, despite jet-pack flying Si-Fan in the past. Everyone is there: Si-Fan, dacoits, phansigars, hashishin, kitty men, knights templars, second degree masons, webalos, girl guides, Stonecutters, No-Homers, Trekies, and The Grand Mystic Royal Order of the Nobles of the Ali Baba Temple of the Shrine. Automatic weapons beat swords and Shang Chi just beats on everyone. Meanwhile, inside Fu's condominium, Fah Lo Sue is chained to a table and Fu is draining some blood, waiting for Shang Chi's to join it. Chi moves on after kicking 20 sets of gluteus maximi and gymkatas over a wall and around some death traps. Meanwhile, Fu addresses the other Chi... Aha! Clone......... Chi finds collections of his blood and goes smashy, smashy. In London, Leiko and Dark Angel are in Limehouse, hunting for Smith. Chi moves through Fu's castle and is lost in memory, when he is attacked by Death Dealer, from behind. Chi F-s him up.... Chi finds Fah Lo Suee and frees her, then moves on. In a garden, he runs into Ch Lin, his former teacher; but, this is no Master Po and he is not Grasshopper. Whoop-assin' ensues and Chi brought the can opener. Fah Lo See has finally got her gun (Fu had it locked in a box, near her table, to taunt her) and shoots Ch-Lin dead. Chi slaps her and moves on. Think Doug is working out a lot of rage on this one? Fu gets ready to take a bath. Ducharme gives him the elixir vitae and his rubber ducky and Fu settles in with his bath beads and snakes, and a vial of blood. yeah, I said snakes, as they slither over him......Hhhhhuuuuuggghhhh...................I hate snakes more than Indiana Jones! Blue Chi turns up to watch, even though he is supposed to be meditating, then he smashes the vial of blood with nunchucks and reveals himself to be Red Chi. FLS turns up to take pot shots at Fu, who dives down deep and escapes. I want a bath tub that I can go diving in! Meanwhile, in Limehouse, Smith has been taunting and watching the Si-Fan and has slowly inched his chair towards a window and now he crashes through it to the ground below, injuring his ankle. The Si-Fan give chase, but are slower than a one legged old man. Fu has gone to Blue Chi and orders him to kill Red Chi and FLS and bring him their blood. Oh, and take out the garbage while you're heading that direction. And turn down that music....get a haircut.....when I was a boy, we walked 500 miles, up mountains, through snow, to get our elixir vitae and we liked it! Chi finds the room where Sting got all those candles... Chi ends up in an ewwwwwwwww moment.... and then fights a praying mantis... He grabs a nearby statue and pulls free, then pushes it onto the creepy-crawlies/slitherers and kills them. Clive & Black Jack have finished slaughtering the cannon fodder and plant explosives, but the timer activator gets dropped on the button, so they have 30 minutes to find Chi and get out of this place. In London, Smith is pretty much crawling his way across streets; but, bystanders ignore his pleas for help. Phil Collins sings a song about it... chi moves through passages and prepares to throw down, until he sees that he is looking in a mirror. he relaxes and then Blue Chi bursts through the glass and holds a shard to his throat. Red Chi flips Blue Chi and it's on! it gets all YE-AGH! HO! HA! WAAAAAAAAAAA.....KIYAH! HIKIBA!!!!!!! Red Chi consults the Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu and uses Number 127, to throw Blue Chi over his shoulder and down a really deep hole in the floor. Blue Chi crashes through a skylight and is impaled on spikes below, right in front of Fu. He scrambles for the blood and Red Chi shows up and grapples with him and takes it away. The detonator timer ticks down and is within 5 minutes of explosion. Clive, tarr and FLS run, looking for Chi. he has the vial of blood and pours it away, to Fu's horror. No coming back, now. Fu tries to lap it off the floor. the bombs explode and the fortress comes raining down around Chi, as Reston, Tarr and FLS dive out of the path, outside. They turn and see the destruction and fear Chi is dead. In London, Leiko and Dark Angel find Smith and take hom to safety, after shooting the Si-Fan. In Honan, Tarr, Reston and FLS search the rubble and find Chi, sitting in the lotus position, meditating, in a pocket within. Everyone notices that change has come over him and he seems to glow. he says Smith is alive and leads them off to meet the extraction helo. Back in Stormhaven, which has reverted back to the bank that holds the mortgage, which isn't calling in the note, the gang throws a party for Smith, as he comes home, and Chi tells his real "father' that he loves him. Oh, and Brynocki will be here next issue. BRYNOCKI? ?? F@#$*N;' A!!!!!!!! Thoughts:NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' 'BOUT!!!!!!!!! This was a seriously epic finale to and epic story as it is pretty much the final chapter to what was the Master of Kung Fu. Oh, the comic isn't done just yet (7 more issues); but, the writing is on the wall and Doug, once and for all, puts an end to Fu. Thus endeth the era of Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu. Seriously, this was all kinds of awesome, with action galore, some really horrific images, some payback to Fu and Chi at his baddest. if ever Marvel gets a Shang Chi film series off the ground (it's been in development, in one form or another, for over a decade), then Moench and Gulacy should guide the first installment or two; but, this should be the guide for the ending. It is real closure. Gene Day is on fire, with his layouts, the detailing, the emotion, the body language, the fight choreography, the terrifying visuals and icky moments....just everything. You almost wonder it finishing this isn't what brought on his heart attack (he has one more issue to go, though). We need more material devoted to his work, because Day was a real storyteller and artist. No wonder people like Dave Sim worshipped him. Comics lost a true great when he died, far too young. I have to also think that there was a bit of F-U in this, from Doug to Shooter, as he says John Verporten said MOKF was Marvel's most profitable book, in terms of sell through; but, not its biggest seller. The response was why don't we print more, with Shooter basically saying, "Not while I'm in charge!" This issue flies in the face of Shooter's infamous memos about storytelling. I am probably reading my own disdain for Shooter's absolutism, but, Doug has never made a secret of his hatred for the tall one. Anyway.....BRYNOCKI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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