Hi everyone,
Today, it's time for me to write about the forty-second issue of Marvel's The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. The cover showed Shang being attacked by a masked man known as Shockwave while reaching out for a ticking time bomb. The story was called "The Clock of Shattered Time." The issue had a cover date of July 1976.
The tale began in the office of Sir Dennis Nayland Smith. His receptionist let Shang-Chi in. Smith was less than happy with his associate. He noted that Shang had turned down the last two missions in a row: the Shen Kuei affair and the current crisis involving the worldwide murders of multiple agents. Shang-Chi reminded Smith that he was not one of his agents and that he'd grown tired of the games of deceit and death.
However, Shang was willing to go with Black Jack Tarr to check out the Oriental Expediters' clue, because Tarr had convinced him that more deaths might be prevented by investigating it. Smith appreciated his answer and strict moral code, and asked him to cooperate fully and obey completely. That was something Shang-Chi simply could not do.
Smith left to follow Shang-Chi mere moments before his office exploded. Remnants of a time bomb soon landed at the duo's feet. Both Smith's assistant, Miss Greville, and Smith himself were amazed by what had just happened and the fortune that no one was seriously hurt. A few moments later, an agent named Caldwell presented Smith with an important communique that he could decipher.
As he was preparing to leave the building, Shang ran into Black Jack Tarr and Clive Reston. They asked him to join them behind closed doors in another office. There, Larner sat eating a hamburger as he waited for them. He talked about the recent attack on his apartment (in issue #40) and a former MI6 agent named Lancaster Sneed.
Sneed was caught in a shrapnel burst during a mission in South Africa and had half of his face blown off. He opted for rebuilding himself with metal plates instead of plastic surgery, and liked the results. Sneed was eventually dismissed from the service after being declared mentally unfit. He then went off to pursue martial arts training, and later used that knowledge during his employment at a traveling carnival, where he assumed the moniker Shock-Wave.
Shang-Chi asked how this concerned him. Larner went on to say that after botching a mission, he was approached by Sneed to join his cause. Shang still didn't understand how this was related until Larner explained that Sneed had told him that his front was the same Oriental Expediters Limited that Shang-Chi and Tarr were planning to investigate. Larner had not relayed this information to Smith because they couldn't. Shang-Chi thanked Larner for the information and went to join Tarr to pursue the lead.
A short car ride later, Shang and Tarr arrived at Oriental Expediters' storefront. From the outside, it appeared to be a typical warehouse. However, danger lurked on the inside. A quartet of masked men quickly attacked our heroes, who wasted little time in defeating them.
Afterward, Shang-Chi made his way up into the ventilation shaft. He crawled along the passageways until he heard a conversation from a window below him. He peered down to see two men talking in an office. Shang soon dropped down onto the table where the men stood, and asked why they sought the death of himself and Tarr.
A man named Skolnik called for Shock-Wave, who arrived from an adjoining room. His electroshock attacks proved to be more powerful than the efforts of most of Shang-Chi's opponents. He fled the room, knowing his opponent would soon follow him.
Meanwhile, back at headquarters, Smith and Greville convened. The secretary was unable to reach Doctor Petrie. Smith asked her to summon Larner and Reston and meet him by the car.
Back at Oriental Expediters, Tarr arrived in time to interrupt another ferocious attack by Shock-Wave. The villain got away, and he and Shang made it outside just as Smith and his companion's vehicle arrived. Smith informed Shang-Chi that Leiko Wu had sent a message from Switzerland, stating that her contact, Agent-O, had been exposed as a counteragent. He asked Shang to protect both Wu and Agent-O.
Shang could barely muster a reply before collapsing in pain. Smith then changed his mind and ordered his young warrior to be sent to the hospital. Tarr was surprised by his friend's injuries, noting that he'd never been seriously hurt before by any previous foe. Both he and Smith knew that this didn't bode well for them, especially with the slew of agents being slain across the globe.
In the epilogue, a British policeman noticed Tarr's office door was ajar. He opened it to find Doctor Petrie standing there as if he were in a trance. Before he could do more, the bobby was hit from behind by Shock-Wave. He seemed to be working in tandem with the doctor, who now held another active bomb in his hands.
I think that some readers may have been confused by the panels depicting Shang squaring off against Shock-Wave before their actual initial confrontation. To me, it seemed to be a bit of foreshadowing. Shock-Wave might even have been sparring against a Shang-Chi look-alike to prepare him for their first encounter. Whatever the case or reasoning, it was still an enjoyable issue from Moench, Gulacy, and company.
Well, that's all for now. Next time, I'll recap the first and only Master of Kung Fu annual. Shang-Chi will join forces with fellow Deadly Hands of Kung Fu star Iron Fist in a trippy tale that marks the duo's first meeting in a color Marvel comic. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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