Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #1

Writer – Mike Benson
Artist – Tan Eng Huat
Inker – Craig Yeung
Colours – Jesus Aburtov

Shang-Chi is on mission to stop Crossbones when he receives word from Captain America to head on back to which he in turn hears some bad news about a former friend and lover who has died working for MI6.  He is naturally upset and decides to take a few days off and go to London for the funeral and of course, investigate, even though he said he would not.  Once there he faces a mystery and some action involving the previously stated organization, some bad guys who are somehow connected to his friend’s death, as well as the mention of an old name from the past.  This was a decent issue, with nothing too shocking or revelatory happening in a fairly straight-forward story.  It would have been nice to be as entranced by the story as the recent Iron Fist book, but the fact that we have a Shang-Chi book in the first place is cause for celebration.  The artwork is serviceable, but a little uneven at times and the colouring was off in the second half of the book giving the Master of Kung Fu brown hair instead of black.  Unless he was wearing a disguise during that part of the book, it was a little sloppy on Marvel’s part to let it through as such.  Not the best book but certainly not the worst.  Hopefully the second issue is stronger than the first.

3 out of 5

Batman Eternal #6

Writer – Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, John Layman, Tim Seeley
Artist – Trevor McCarthy
Colours – Guy Major

Something is lurking below Arkham Asylum and giving the inmates nightmares, Batwing tussles with the Gentleman Ghost, Jim Corrigan has a chat with Bruce and the teams up with the aforementioned Batwing to investigate some spooky stuff and Batman follows a truck from a medical supply house in old Gotham to possibly fatal consequences.  There is no GCPD, no Stephanie Brown, no Jim Gordon, no Batgirl, no Red Robin and no Falcone although what is in this book, at least some of it, ties into what has been going on.  This was a good issue and it is great to see Jim Corrigan in the new DCU as the rightful alter-ego of the Spectre.  While the artwork was good and the story engaging, it added yet more plot threads to a book already teeming with them.  So far the book has worked the way it has been laid out, but the continual adding of elements to make the book bigger might be making it too big.  Hopefully it does not get bogged down by its own weight and some of the storylines get resolved before more start up.  Still, it was another good issue for DC’s first weekly of 2014.

4 out of 5