Deron Generally
Deron Generally
Master of Kung Fu #126
Marvel Comics
Written by CM Punk
Art by Dalibor Talajic
Colors by Erick Arciniega
Letters by VC’s Travis Lanham
Shang-Chi’s Day Off
Shang-Chi has decided that the time he has put into working out has earned him a treat. As he leaves his apartment, the Master of Kung Fu and his pet monkey Chee greet the locals before being interrupted by a pack of ninjas. As he easily takes them down, more appear and he gives chase, leading to an obvious trap. After he’s captured, two of the ninjas who took him have a heart to heart about their new boss and a pretty funny back and forth about his name Dr. Mel Prasis.
When the doctor arrives, he dismisses the men and goes to speak to Shang-Chi. As the villain begins to monologue, Shang-Chi interrupts him with the fact that he has been tracking this splinter cell of The Hand for weeks before they showed up at the ice cream truck. What follows is the Master of Kung Fu weaving a pretty absurd tale of rescue animals, experiments, mass sewer graves and a kung fu monkey. Apparently, Prasis is trying to create an army of kung fu fighting animals in a bid to get back in the good graces of the Hand.
I can understand the desire to have a lighter tone with a classic character and some of the humor in this issue works. I think there were moments when CM Punk strayed a little too far in trying to make everyone clever with the one liners. Some fell a little flat, but overall I enjoyed the lighter tone. The challenge will be if the stories get more serious, will the tone change along with them or will it try to hard to be funny going forward? Talajic’s art was subtle and worked in much of the book. I just wish there was more for the artist to do action wise. Still worth a read to re-acquaint oneself with the character.
