Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #3 - Spoilers

[Tien Long]

Hey all. Sorry for the late post. As promised, I'm writing the review for this month's Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. Overall, ugh, yeah I'm disappointed. As was the case in previous issues, the art took away from the story. Unlike the other issues, however, there wasn't a good piece of Shang-Chi character development or stand out line. There were some surprises here and there, but in general, I give the issue a C/C-.

In any case, here are my thoughts. Be warned, there be spoilers ahead!
















- There were some hidden gems in this issue. Being a fan of Kung Fu, I liked the mention of styles like Fut Ga and Crane. Indeed, it seems like Marvel's writers are paying attention to fan suggestions as I wrote in threads past how simply mentioning a real Kung Fu style here or there would add just a little bit of realism to a story. Moreover, I totally geeked out finding out that the main bad guy behind all of this was Midnight Sun! Oh Midnight Sun, how I've missed your fedora and cape!

- As for the rest of the story, it seemed to be a fairly standard tale to me, with just a splash of pulp. Shang discovers the big bad's plot to take over China through the use of a black magic ritual. I believed that the deaths of White Dragon and Skullcrusher were meant to be big shocks for readers, but I wasn't that moved.

- The art has been what has brought down this series since the beginning and it really hampered my enjoyment of this issue. This issue had a ton of fights and action scenes. However, the art just did not convey either of them well. The angles were strange, people seemed to be in Kung Fu poses with their butts jutting out, and the shading looked too dark. The appearance of the Sons of the Tiger and the Daughters of the Dragon, the gruesome nature of the black magic ritual, the reveal of the Midnight Sun, all of these moments lost a lot of weight because of the art.

So yeah, this issue could have been much better. Still, I'm loyal to Shang and loyal to my promise. I'll come back next month with my thoughts on the last issue.

[Geno]

Honestly, if this book did not have Shang-Chi as the main character and was only four issues long, I would not be spending a single penny on it. The art is still as bad as it's been in the last two issues. The writing has also taken quite the nosedive from the first issue, and even that was, at best, mediocre. I can't help but feel that I am reading fan fiction with all the nonsensical "plot twists". Skullcrusher is playing way too important of a role here, and his relationship with Leiko is just... wrong. Furthermore, Shang-Chi should have wasted the White Dragon in a matter of seconds - he was able to tag the Gorgon, for crying out loud. The only piece of this story that caught my interest was the reintroduction of Midnight Sun, which I was sort of expecting after seeing his silhouette on the cover of Issue 4. However, it begs several questions: when did he transition from cosmic being back to being human? How did it happen? And most of all, why is he so villainous here when the last time he appeared in the Master of Kung Fu Black & White one-shot, he was rediscovering his identity after fighting Shang. Even after their original fight back in the 70s, Midnight Sun came off as a more honorable character who fought against Shang only out of obedience, and not pure reverence for Fu Manchu as seen here.