Shang-Chi #2

Shang-Chi #2

Marvel Comics 2021

Written by Gene Luen Yank

Illustrated by Dike Ruan

Coloured by Triona Farrell

Lettered by VC’s Travis Lanham

SHANG-CHI VS. CAPTAIN AMERICA!

There’s a Cosmic Cube for sale, and everyone from Hydra to AIM to the Hand is ready to pay up for it. But Shang-Chi and his Five Weapons Society might outbid them! Unless a certain Star-Spangled Avenger has anything to say about it…Uh-oh…

There are a couple of things that I wanna say right off the bat, I love the modified Shield Hellicarrier, I am not happy with the revelation and there is absolutely no way that Shang Chi is going to be able to take the Society and make it a force for good. That having been said lets talk about this issue shall we. I’ve always wondered how things like a Cosmic Cube finds it way into a villains auction? Something that powerful always seems to find itself in the hands of a villain and how many cubes are there anyway it because it does seem like they are a dime a dozen. This is how engaged the story has gotten me to be, that I am obsessed with the cube and pretty much everything that we see in the book.

I very much like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances that they encounter. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story is very captivating as Shang-Chi find himself in an entirely new world.

I appreciate the way we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen. We also see new ones emerge because of the way each issue has its own avenues that will continue to open anew. These layers contain the most amazing characterisation and other moments that continue to surprise readers and what these do is add this extra depth and complexity to the story. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved perfectly well.

The interiors here are really rather quite good. The linework is great and how we see the varying weights and techniques to create the detail work is exceptionally well rendered. I will say I wish we’d see more backgrounds they are so easy to overlook or just slap something generic in there but seeing how they work within the composition of the panels to bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a very talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is absolutely gorgeous! The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows an impeccable eye for how colour works.

I do like that Shang-Chi is trying to change his fathers organisation though I do believe that it’s a fools errand in the end. I also like that this isn’t all about seeing him fighting using the martial training that he has and instead has to run an organisation through his intelligence, smarts and wits. Anything that adds such a cerebral element to the storytelling is going to be something I will fully support as it adds more to expanding the character beyond the confines we’ve come to expect.

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With intelligent writing that adds depth and complexity to sticky situation and interiors that are incredibly solid this is what is going to make me say Make Mine Marvel!