Hi everyone,
Today I'll be writing about the eighteenth issue of Marvel's The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. The cover showed Shang fighting off several emissaries dispatched by his father, the evil Fu Manchu. The tale was simply titled "Attack!" The issue had a cover date of June 1974.
The story started with Shang-Chi battling a Dacoit member. The combatants were fairly evenly matched in the beginning. As his would-be assailant's noose tightens around his neck, Shang thinks back to entering his father's international palace in New York just minutes earlier. Disguised, Shang-Chi was able to walk in, but it wasn't long after he shed his disguise that his opponent first struck.
Jolted back into reality, Shang swiftly regained consciousness and tumbled, bringing his opponent to the ground. He soon trussed up the soldier with a note stating "First Move!" Shang departed before more of his father's men could arrive.
Minutes later, Shang was met by Sir Dennis Nayland Smith and Blackjack Tarr outside the office building. Smith showed how Shang-Chi taught him how to stand. He went on to say that he understood how the young man had been deceived by his father into killing his friend Dr. Petrie (in Special Marvel Edition #15) and that he saw now that the youth was perhaps the greatest weapon in the war against Fu Manchu, a conflict that Smith had been waging for 60 years.
Smith reflected back on the first time that he saw Shang's father. He was 28 at the time and initially feared that he did not know. After Manchu first swept through China, Smith knew that he had to stop him. He considered Fu Manchu to be the most evil person alive and didn't want his life's work to go unfinished. Tarr asserted that he would be the best man to continue that work, but Smith replied that Shang deserved his assistance after the young man showed him that he could walk again.
Shang agreed that he could utilize Smith's knowledge and would do what he could to assist him. He stressed that he would not be either his father nor Smith's weapon. Smith agreed to that before informing his new friend that Manchu was smuggling an unknown cargo into Florida that evening. He offered to have Shang flown there. Shang-Chi politely declined the offer and made his way to the airport, where he entered an unattended airplane cargo door. He mediated in silence on the journey.
Several hours later, Shang-Chi arrived at his destination. He marveled at the beauty of his new locale and picked up a lizard merely to observe it. Minutes later, Fu Manchu's ship arrived at a nearby harbor. Manchu's monkey companion, Peko, detected a menace, but it was nothing that his owner could immediately ascertain. Instead, he focused his ire on the fact that the trucks he'd ordered to deliver his cargo had been delayed for several hours because of increased American patrols to prevent drugs from being smuggled into the country.
Manchu was willing to wait. He ordered his men to keep a lookout for his wayward son, Shang-Chi. Little did they know that Shang had already made his way onboard their vessel. He soon made his way to a hatch that was filled with drums of gasoline. He used a crowbar to pry open the lid of one drum and noticed that it appeared to be ordinary gasoline. However, he was soon overcome by the scent of mimosa, the telltale scent of his father's sedative.
The drug's hallucinations filled Shang Chi's head for a time. A swift kick from one of Manchu's men once they were on shore brought him out of his reverie. Manchu admitted to his son that he intended to use the mimosa-gasoline combination at a demonstration at an international oil company in several hours to control the minds of millions of Americans. He would, of course, dispose of any officials or others who would interfere with his plans.
Fu Manchu then brought forth Satima, the Dacoit soldier that Shang had fought earlier. He dosed his warrior with several drops of the solution and let the two renew their conflict. Even with his hands tied behind his back, Shang Chi was still able to fight back against his opponent. He held his own until the influence of the drug caused Satima to light his face on fire with the torch that he'd held in one hand. The Dacoit shrieked in agony, running headfirst into a nearby building that contained gunpowder.
The building exploded almost instantly. Shang had his former foe's torch clenched tightly in his teeth and made a dash toward his father's ship. He was able to fling the torch at the cargo ship, which caused it to also explode. Fu Manchu and several of his adjutants watched the ship sink from land, knowing that this would not be the last time he and his son would confront each other.
As a reminder, this comic book was written in the 1970s. There were several racial and ethnic prejudices, some of which appeared from time to time in this title. They were not okay then, and they aren't acceptable now. I enjoyed this issue because it was my first time witnessing Paul Gulacy's brilliant artwork. Gulacy would draw comics off and on throughout the years, and his run on Master of Kung Fu was definitely one of his career highlights. I also liked how Engelhart drew Shang, Smith, and Tarr together against their common foe.
Well, that's all for now. Next time, I'll discuss the nineteenth issue of Master of Kung Fu. We'll find out what happened to Shang after confronting his father and his men. We'll also see more characters enter the fray, including a well-known entity that most Marvelites know very well. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment