Hi everyone,
Today's focus is the seventy-fifth issue of Marvel Comics' The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. The cover showed Shang in the clutches of a gigantic sea monster, as a person in scuba gear below the creature looked on. The tale was titled "Shattered Crowns." The issue had a cover date of April 1979.
The story started with the creature threatening to capture Shang-Chi, Leiko Wu, Black Jack Tarr, and Shockwave, under the instruction of Brynocki, who had donned scuba gear and was giving verbal commands to his monstrobot. Shang was his first target, and the robot quickly dismissed Shockwave, who then fled to the surface.
Shang-Chi was soon caught in a mighty fist, but managed to free himself and kick and destroy one of the robot's eye sockets. Brynocki swam away to pursue other tactics. Shang entered the robot's mouth to take its voice recorder before rejoining his comrades on dry land.
Tarr and Wu were just fine, but they were concerned about Shockwave, who appeared to be quite perturbed upon seeing his own damaged face now that his costume's faceplate had been removed. Shang-Chi suggested that Wu speak to their former foe, but they were swiftly shunned by Shockwave, who didn't want anyone to so much as look at him.
Meanwhile, Brynocki surfaced in a hidden grotto. He was thankful that Sarsfield and his MI-6 agents constructed the hollow grotto. It was something that his late master Mordillo probably would never have even thought of. He now wondered aloud what to do next as he paced restlessly in front of his automated companions.
Meanwhile, our heroes were waiting for the pickup plane, which had failed to show up at the designated time. Tarr knew that the longer they stayed on the island, the more likely that more of Brynocki's mechanized marauders would continue to attack them. They knew that they had to leave sooner rather than later.
Back in the UK, Clive Reston, Melissa Greville, and Sir Dennis Nayland Smith were sitting in an otherwise unoccupied room of Smith's family home, as prisoners of Sarsfield and his masked men. They knew that their former ally would return for them eventually. For the time being, they still had a lot to figure out.
At the same time, their friends on Mordillo's island began to postulate when or if the pickup plane would ever return. Shockwave admitted that he had his own seaplane on the north side of the island. The quartet set off for it, before being faced with a pair of giant green robotic crabs that blocked their path. Wu deduced that the robots' photoelectric sensors were motion-activated and that they needed a decoy.
Tarr volunteered Shockwave for that job. Shockwave rejected Tarr's claim that he was a freak before talking about his past. The man who was born Lancaster Sneed grew up as a quiet, lonely child whose parents had dropped him off at a boarding school. The only friends his parents seemed to have were Smith and Doctor Petrie.
He thoroughly enjoyed Petrie and Smith's stories of encountering Shang-Chi's father, Fu Manchu. They made him want to become an agent of MI-6. However, on the very first mission in North Africa, he was seriously injured. His face was destroyed, along with his courage and self-confidence. From there, Sneed went to the Orient to train in the martial arts and gradually developed a new costume and persona for himself as Shockwave.
Shockwave started making a new name for himself as a traveling show performer. Smith and Petrie's stories still remained in his mind, and after his uncle Smith had fired him, he became a free agent. Manchu became his new employer, and Sneed failed in his missions to defeat Shang. He was returned to MI-6, where he underwent conversion to their way of thinking, which made him become an unwitting assassin.
Sneed never had the opportunity to think for himself or to be his own person. Tarr quickly apologized, and Shang-Chi was about to console his former rival when Brynocki dispatched more of his unique robots after his island's intruders. Wu offered ways to help Sneed when Shang announced that he would go for the seaplane by himself.
Shang knew that Mordillo's minions would never let the four of them depart together and was soon off toward his goal. Tarr and Wu stayed behind with their broken comrade. Tarr and Wu wondered if removing the faceplate and depowering his electroshock costume might have brought him back to reality. They also guessed it might be part of another trap.
Speaking of traps, Sarsfield was back to torment his prisoners. He ordered Smith to either confess everything or be subjected to mind-alteration. He admitted that the War-Yore operation had been approved by top brass, until it later became adjusted. Reston asked just what they were supposed to confess to. Sarsfield went on to presume that his captives may have been tainted by the enemy Fu Manchu, a foe that, for all the trio knew, was dead. Smith and Reston agreed to confess to a work of fiction that also had to be believable.
Shang-Chi had finally located the seaplane just as more of Mordillo's fantasy creatures set upon his colleagues. He was able to figure out the controls in time to come to the aid of Wu, Tarr, and Shockwave. Sneed yelled to him where the weapons controls were, and Shang fired a pair of rockets at the large robots moments before his friends ducked for safety.
Tarr took over the piloting after everyone was safely aboard the seaplane. As they departed, he and Shang-Chi talked about who could rectify Sneed's situation. They weren't quite sure who to trust in their former agency anymore. On the island, Brynocki admitted his defeat to his late master, Mordillo, whose skeleton sat in a command chair.
Shang remembered that he'd had the tape recorder in his pocket and played back Sneed's diatribe to his friends. Hopefully, that would be enough for the prime minister to become aware of what had happened and convince him to take steps to remedy the situation. While he and his friends rejoiced on their way to freedom, Brynocki walked disconsolately, as he thought about going off to rust somewhere.
Author's note: I just realized in re-reading this issue that Smith's castle was in Scotland, and not Great Britain as previously reported. I thought that this was another enjoyable epic. I loved getting to know more about Sneed and how he became the villainous Shockwave. He reminds me a bit of the old Punisher foe Jigsaw. Brynocki is an entertaining character, and rest assured, this wouldn't be the last time he'd face Shang and company.
Well, that's all for now. Next time, I'll recap the seventy-sixth issue of Master of Kung Fu. Shang-Chi returns home and embarks on a solo mission. Afterward, he'll rejoin Tarr and Wu as they contemplate what course of action to take to help their missing friends. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another. Merry Christmas, everyone!
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