Good morning all,
Today's topic is the one hundred and sixteenth issue of The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. The cover allows viewers to peer inside a rooftop window, where we see Shang being attacked by a knife-wielding opponent while he's shackled to a table in a rather ominous-looking laboratory. The tale was titled "Blood of his Blood." The issue had a cover date of September 1982.
The story began where the last issue left off. Shang-Chi was peeling off the false backing from the playing cards that his friends had just been using. He put them together and saw an image of the Honan, China retreat where he had been raised by his father, the evil Fu Manchu.
Afterward, Shang went to consult with Sir Dennis Nayland Smith, who said that he'd seen Manchu the previous week. Smith admitted that it wasn't what he saw directly, but instead what he felt, that bothered him. He then asked Shang-Chi to recruit Black Jack Tarr and look in on Wang Yu-Seng once more, because he believed that the old man who advised the double agent Li Cheng-Lin was working for Shang's father. Leiko Wu was welcome to join them on that mission.
The trio was no sooner preparing to depart when a police officer arrived outside Stormhaven Castle with an eviction notice that would be valid at midnight. Tarr drove Shang-Chi and Wu toward Wang's home while Clive Reston, Smith, and Doctor Petrie stayed behind.
Tarr and Shang crept up the wall after arriving. They peered in a window and saw Wang, who then quickly turned and observed them. Moments later, our heroes were attacked from above. There was a brief fight, but Wang and his men were gone by the time Wu rejoined Tarr and Shang-Chi.
Shang then decided it was a good time to check in with his half-sister, Fah Lo Suee, at the MI-6 office in London. Meanwhile, Reston was busy tossing darts at the Stormhaven eviction notice when he heard a crash. He ran to investigate and found that Petrie had been struck on the head from behind. Clive looked up and saw three intruders retreating. He fired at them, but it was too late to stop the assailants, who drove away with Smith in their car.
Dark Angel was conversing with Melissa Greville when Shang entered the MI-6 facility. He then went in to see his sister, who was aware that Lin, whom she'd sent Freelance Restorations after, was a double agent. Suee was also confident that Manchu was very much alive (he was presumed dead after this last defeat in issue #89) and up to his usual mischief. She asked her brother to take precautions.
Tarr and Wu were waiting for Shang-Chi in their car when Clive called them with the news that Smith had been kidnapped. That left Shang alone to fend for himself. He soon stepped outside of MI-6 headquarters and was attacked by Suee's associates, Bolo and Kimba. The fight ended after he convinced the duo that he was indeed Suee's half-brother. They said that they would still protect his sister and that he was not to be hurt, but that they wouldn't answer any of his questions before departing.
A few moments later, Shang heard an agonizing scream. He turned a corner and found that Kimba and Bolo had just been brutally murdered. Shang-Chi noticed a truck fleeing the scene and jumped to catch its back bumper. He looked into the side mirror and saw that Death Dealer (Lin's alter ego) was driving the vehicle, which entered a graveyard.
A few minutes later, Shang was accosted by a giant scorpion that emerged from the back of the vehicle. Its pincers dug deep and infected the young warrior with its poison. After lapsing into unconsciousness, Shang was carried inside by Death Dealer and one of his lackeys.
Back at Stormhaven, Tarr, Wu, and Reston were waiting with Petrie for midnight. Reston took a closer look at the picture assembled from the playing cards and saw what appeared to be Shang-Chi peering out of a window. However, this character had a scar across his face, and this seemed to be a recent photograph.
Later, Shang awoke. He found himself bound to a table, with Wang standing over him. The old man was mixing fluids from two beakers together. He drank the mixture from one of them and began to transform. Shang-Chi was stunned to see the familiar visage of his father, Fu Manchu, appear before him. He explained that he needed the blood of his offspring to blend with his life-extending elixir vitae to overcome his natural immunity to the serum.
Manchu was free once more to pursue his evil plans, which included the elimination of Shang and his comrades. He planned for his son's death to be slow, but eventual. With that, he left Shang-Chi alone in the room, still strapped to the table all by himself.
I have to admit that this was a rather unexpected way to revive the best villain from this series. This issue raised several questions, some of which were bound to be answered sooner rather than later. I was curious to find out how Manchu survived his watery crash in New York last time, and wondered what had happened to his associates like Ducharme and his other loyal soldiers.
Tomorrow, I'll discuss the one hundred and seventeenth issue of Master of Kung Fu. The middle of this trilogy will show us what happened to Shang-Chi after his capture. We'll also see another encounter with Death Dealer and the final fate of Stormhaven Castle. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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