Hi everyone,
Today I'm writing about the one hundred and fourth issue of The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. The cover showed the titular character walking down a long stairway that had statues on either side of it, with a spear-wielding opponent above him on a balcony. The tale was titled "Fight Without Reason." The issue had a cover date of September 1981.
The story began where the last issue left off. Shang-Chi was facing his former foe and ally Shen Kuei. Kuei dared Shang to fight him. Leiko Wu then stepped in, stating that she had taken the place of Kuei's former lover, Juliette.
Shang-Chi wasn't ready to believe that, and he only struck back once Wu denied his accusation that it was all a ruse, and her claim that Shang was lying to learn the secret of the sunken German boat. Meanwhile, Black Jack Tarr was returning to the tugboat after observing Kuei's men take items from the sunken ship. He had noticed the conflict and was about to intervene when Wu knocked the pistol from his hand.
She took the gun and left with Kuei. Tarr asked Shang-Chi to fill him in, but he didn't do so just yet. Shang then thought back to his previous encounters with Juliette, who was in love with Kuei when he first met her. The duo then fought off their captors and returned to the boat where Juliette was.
Shang-Chi informed her as to what had just happened. She noted that the newly resurfaced German freighter contained a component that was essential for a particle beam weapon. Multiple world powers were interested in it because of its potential to achieve global dominance. The component was a metal called Zorium, which the Nazis had discovered during World War II. It had been loaded onto the boat that was en route to Japan when it was bombed and subsequently sunk by American planes.
Kuei wanted the component for himself. Tarr added that Wu's mission was to find the particle beam secret for MI-6. Shang countered that Leiko had since made her goal a private one, namely assisting Kuei in destroying the secret.
Juliette promised to deliver Shang-Chi to the temple of T'ien Hou, who was the Taoist goddess of heaven and love. Meanwhile, Kuei and Wu continued to share affection for each other, even though Kuei still thought back to Juliette momentarily. In the morning, Juliette's ship reached the shore of the temple.
Tarr and Shang disembarked. Shang-Chi insisted on entering the edifice alone. It wasn't long before he found Kuei. Shen thought that Shang was still working for MI-6 and engaged his visitor in another battle. The conflict went on until Wu declared that the component was destroyed. She and Juliette faced off against each other with pistols drawn.
Shang-Chi was the first to concede. Kuei soon followed, and the quartet walked outside. Wu rejoined Shang, and Juliette returned to Kuei's arms. Later, they watched from the shoreline as the German freighter was destroyed and sunk to the bottom of the waters once more. Each couple said goodbye and then went on their separate ways, knowing that they'd done the right thing.
This was an interesting yarn. I was surprised by the MI-6 angle, knowing that Shang and his colleagues had cut ties with that organization long ago. I thought that this would be another Freelance Restorations mission, but maybe that former connection had to be falsified to garner Kuei's interest. The story felt a little rushed at times, and I didn't think that Wu really explained why she'd posed as Kuei's lover to Shang-Chi or Tarr in this issue.
Well, that's all for now. Next up is the one hundred and fifth issue of Master of Kung Fu. That issue features the return of a few more popular characters. One of the returnees was in the Shang-Chi MCU movie. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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