Hi everyone,
Today, I'm writing about the thirty-third issue of Marvel's monthly The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu comic book. The cover showed the main character squaring off against an armored being who was firing rays from its eye sockets at our hero. The story was called "Wicked Messenger of Madness." The issue had a cover date of October 1975.
This time, we find Shang, Sir Dennis Nayland Smith, and Black Jack Tarr at Victoria Station in London, England. Having recently returned from Marseilles, France, the trio was waiting for a cab. What they didn't know was that someone else was there waiting for them.
A figure with a mechanical voice asked for Reston, and then proceeded to fire at him with gunports that emerged from where a human's eyes would be. Clive instinctively ducked for cover while Shang-Chi attacked it. Smith and Tarr drew their pistols after realizing that their opponent wasn't alive. They fired at it until Shang was able to bend the robot backward until it fired upon its torso, seemingly destroying it.
Afterward, Tarr presumed the assassin had been sent by Mordillo. He explained to Shang that Mordillo was a hired assassin. He'd gained a reputation for himself over the years, even though none of them knew what he looked like. Reston was surprised that he was the intended target, and suggested that the slugs fired into the car during the attack be retrieved and inspected, after telling Smith that Petrie was waiting at headquarters with a new case for them.
Smith had arranged living quarters for his companions during their stay. The flat on King's Road in Chelsea was more lavish than Shang-Chi expected. As he explored his living quarters, he was surprised to see a mysterious woman in the bath. She introduced herself as Leiko. It became obvious during the conversation that she and Reston had some sort of history together.
While Leiko and Shang got to know each other, Reston was on the phone with Smith. The three of them had been summoned to Scotland Yard, where Tarr and Smith had already begun preparing for a debriefing about Mordillo. Once everyone had arrived, Smith began by sharing what was already known about their new opponent. He went on to display blown-up images of slugs fired at agents. Each of them had inscriptions, such as: "my fair lady," "three blind mice," "see how they run," and "the clock struck one." The last three engraved bullets had been extracted from the hearts of three agents who had been shot and killed in front of Big Ben. The eyes had also been removed from their sockets. The coroner determined that their time of death was approximately one o'clock.
The pattern was ominous and showed some psychopathic tendencies, but Reston wondered what those incidents had to do with the case that Petrie had mentioned. Doctor Petrie let Smith explain the correlation. Smith went on to describe Earth's ozone layer and how it was commonly known that the layer had begun to erode over time. He added that a couple of their government scientists had been working on a way to add a mixture of plastic emissions and freon into the stratosphere, which would eliminate the ozone layer over certain strategically located parts of the world.
If this were to happen, the radiation from the sun could be enough to fry people on the streets. Knowing the military potential of this, the scientists trusted that those assembled at Scotland Yard that day would prevent that top secret project, labeled Project Ultra-Violet, from becoming a global disaster. An agent named Norris Putnam had been tasked with counter-spy operations to stop the information from being leaked. Another agent, named Simon Brentor, was supposed to meet Putnam at Tower Bridge to accept the news. However, Putnam was found dead at the meeting spot.
The bullet taken from Putnam's body had a series of letters, in what seemed to be a code. It was assumed that meant that Mordillo was involved in plans to roll out Project Ultra Violet. Another concern was the fact that Brentor had gone missing since his intended rendezvous. Leiko reacted to that news, which indicated that she knew the agent personally. Moments later, an agent entered the room, stating that the code might be a series of musical notes, which translated to the chorus "London Bridge is falling down." This appeared to indicate even more correlation between the murders and the madman known as Mordillo.
Assumptions were made that Leiko was the fair lady referenced by the bullets, just after it was realized that she'd left the room. Reston thought that she was off to find Brentnor and went to find her, even though Smth warned him not to fall prey to Mordillo's lure. Later that evening at Tower Bridge, Tarr and Shang-Chi encountered soldiers who emerged from a truck, posing as ordinary workers. Shang soon found a bomb on the bridge and quickly removed it. H tossed the bomb into the waters below, where it exploded harmlessly.
Smith then ordered his men to search the bridge from top to bottom for any more incendiary devices. Reston told him that he'd been to Leiko's flat. She was nowhere to be found, but a note from Brentnor asking her to meet him at the usual place had been left there. Tarr assumed that Reston was vying for her affection as well, which led to an argument.
Before things could proceed further, Smith admitted that the physical Project Ultra Violet file had been destroyed several months ago, but that Leiko had been hypnotized to retain the full file in her subconscious. She could be hypnotized a second time and repeat the contents of the file after being given the requisite code word. The person who had initially hypnotized her was the now deceased Norris Putnam.
Reston produced a note that had been found near Putnam's body. The piece of paper said that Brentnor was Mordillo, and included latitude and longitude coordinates for an island in the East China Sea. The group deduced that Mordillo/Brentnor had been talking about himself, saying that Leiko was his fair lady. That explained why the robot assassin at the beginning of this yarn had been sent to eliminate Reston.
On the last two panels, we find Leiko traveling alongside Mordillo/Brentor. They were traveling by air in a small shuttle to a strange-looking island. Once they arrived, Mordillo promised that there would be some most amusing contests about to take place.
This was another thrilling Moench-Gulacy masterpiece. It also introduced Leiko Wu, who would remain a supporting character for this title and subsequent stories that followed after it was cancelled. Mordillo was an interesting villain, but I could see why some would criticize his physical similarities to Clive Reston. The robot assassin was something different for this magazine. He reminded me a bit of Yul Brynner's character in the movie Westworld and Doctor Doom. Oddly enough, the famed Marvel supervillain would interact with Shang-Chi later on in this series' run.
Well, that's all for now. Next time, I'll recap the thirty-fourth issue of Master of Kung Fu. That issue will continue this story, as we'll learn more about Mordillo's mysterious island. We'll find out what happened to Leiko, discover if anyone came to rescue her, and see the debut of a minor but memorable character. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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