Retro Comic Recap: Master of Kung Fu #115

Good afternoon everyone,

Welcome to my five hundredth blog post! Now it's time for me to discuss the one hundred and fifteenth issue of The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. The cover showed the titular character battling a man who wore a skull mask, with dozens of playing cards flying around them. The story was called "Deals." The issue had a cover date of August 1982.

The tale began at Stormhaven Castle. Shang, Black Jack Tarr, Doctor Petrie, Clive Reston, Dark Angel, Leiko Wu, Clive Reston, and Sir Dennis Nayland Smith were gathered with Smith's financial advisor, Henry. The advisor had informed them that Smith was bankrupt.

Freelance Restorations Limited hadn't brought in enough money to support its expenses. Most of the group was upset by the news. However, Smith didn't seem particularly concerned, and he left for a meeting shortly after the announcement.

The scene then shifted to a gym in London, where a training session was being observed by Shang-Chi's half-sister, Fah Lo Suee, and Melissa Greville. Greville greeted Smith at the door and explained how she'd moved to the agency after leaving Smith's employ. Smith then entered Suee's office.

Fah Lo Suee had an assignment for her former boss. She stated that one of their agents, a man named Li Ching Lin, had become a problem. She asked that Smith's crew eliminate the issue. In return, she would provide him with a mortgage deed that would list Smith as the sole owner of his Scottish castle. Smith accepted the proposal.

Back at Stormhaven, Angel and Reston were continuing to get to know one another better, while Leiko and Shang had a regular practice session. Smith returned shortly thereafter and convened the group to share the news. He asked Shang to escort the agent from London, which he agreed to do.

Shang-Chi met Li at his residence and asked him to join him. Lin refused, and they scuffled briefly. The agent went to the home of his comrade, Wang Yu-Seng, and exclaimed that he'd just been attacked. The old man nodded and told his associate that it was time for him to assume another identity, namely, that of the Death-Dealer, and handed him a costume. Black Jack Tarr had been listening to the conversation from outside the building, and left before he could be spotted by them.

Meanwhile, inside Lin's apartment, Shang rifled through a few documents and learned that Lin was an MI-6 agent. He wondered if Lin was a double agent before heading for Leiko's flat. There, he was met by Wu and a slightly inebriated Reston. Clive had discovered that the mortgage papers were forged, and they suspected that Suee might have been involved.

Tarr arrived to share what he'd learned with his friends, just moments before a grenade fired by Lin/Death Dealer from his car outside destroyed a wall of the tenement. Shang-Chi, Leiko, and Tarr were huddled together after the blast and drew straws to decide who would go after Clive, who had been resting on the sofa before the explosion.

Shang drew the shortest straw and went to find his colleague. His journey brought him face-to-face with Lin in his Death Dealer guise for the first time. Death Dealer escaped by jumping out a window minutes after Leiko, Reston, and Tarr arrived on the scene.

Afterward, back at Stormhaven Castle, Shang-Chi searched Smith's office for the mortgage papers. Smith entered the room and informed him that they couldn't be found because he'd already tossed them into the fire that had been burning in the room's fireplace. Smith told Shang that he'd learned the truth about Lin from a man whom he'd met the week before, that they both knew well.

Later, Shang-Chi, Wu, Tarr, and Reston regrouped to discuss the property losses (of Stormhaven and Wu's apartment) and play a friendly game of cards. Reston eventually discovered that one of the cards had a false face. Shang looked at the card and saw the face of his father. He noted that the cards had been dealt by Fu Manchu and that Smith had just seen him during the prior week. 

The addition of several playing cards on multiple pages of the story was a nice touch. I was surprised to see Petrie and Greville in this issue, as I assumed that, like Mandy Greville, Miss Haversham, and Lyman Leeks, they wouldn't appear again in this series. The dual identities of Lin were a nice touch, and the story moved one step closer to one of the most popular villains in this series.

Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow, I'll recap the one hundred and sixteenth issue of Master of Kung Fu. Shang and company will investigate the playing cards further and check out a lead that brings them closer to discovering the possibility of whether or not Shang-Chi and Fah Lo Suee's evil father may still be alive and causing chaos. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.