Retro Comic Revisited: Marvel Comics Presents #4

Good afternoon all,

Now I'm going to write about the Master of Kung Fu story that was in the fourth issue of Marvel Comics Presents. The tale was titled "Crossing Lines IV: Water." The issue had a cover date of early October 1988.

The story began with Black Jack Tarr paging through files at his Oriental Expediters office. He finally located a folder containing information about an arms dealer who was working on developing a central location for his items to be purchased at. He went by the name Argus. A picture in the file showed an older, bald man with a hook where a person's right hand would be.

Tarr had a plan for contacting the arms dealer, but Shang-Chi wasn't about to agree. He would play the game, but without him or Clive Reston. He then departed to reconnect with Shen Kuei, the man also known as Cat. After telling his friend about Leiko Wu's kidnapping, Kuei agreed to join him.

Meanwhile, at an undisclosed location, Leiko was being tormented by her kidnapper, Argus. He told her that Shang had probably received the package (that contained her severed left hand, as shownin the last issue) before she lashed out at him. However, having lost blood due to that amputation, she wasn't as swift as her captor, who retaliated with a few swift strikes of his hooked hand.

A short while later, on a junk in the Hong Kong harbor, Shang and Kuei regrouped with Tarr and Reston. Tarr explained that an arms deal was set to happen in a warehouse outside of Tokyo. Members of the Yakuza gang were rumored to be the buyers in two days. His plan was to have Kuei and Shang-Chi replace the Yakuza buyers and pose as members of the Red Wolves.

The first part of the scheme was believable. The second part was disagreed upon. Shang reasoned that Wu's hand had been sent to him as a warning. It told him that she was still alive and she'd remain that way so long as no one came to rescue her. 

After a bit of discussion, the quartet decided to take a smaller boat that was moored next to the junk and enter the harbor. They had no sooner regrouped there when their junk exploded. Shang and his friends had been mere minutes from being blown away in the water. 

This was another interesting twist. It let the readers know that Shang-Chi and his friends were being surveilled, most likely by Argus. I was glad to see Leiko again and that she fought for herself, even though she was in a weakened condition. I still wanted to know more about why she'd been kidnapped and what her relationship with Xiao (who had been killed in the second issue of MCP) had been.

That's all I have for now. Next time, I'll discuss the MOKF tale from the fifth issue of Marvel Comics Presents. We'll learn just what Shang-Chi, the Cat, and their companions do to help their lost friend. In the meantime, I suggest reading the rest of the stories in this issue, especially the Wolverine epic, where the beloved Canuck squares off against Shang's old foe Razor Fist for the first time. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.