{"id":311,"date":"2015-05-23T02:08:25","date_gmt":"2015-05-23T02:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/?p=311"},"modified":"2015-05-23T02:08:25","modified_gmt":"2015-05-23T02:08:25","slug":"big-trouble-equals-big-fun-act-1-the-midnight-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/?p=311","title":{"rendered":"Big Trouble Equals Big Fun \u2013 Act 1: The Midnight Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

Without a doubt, one of the best movies of the 1980s was John Carpenter\u2019s \u2018Big Trouble in Little China\u2019.\u00a0 This offbeat action, horror, comedy, fantasy is hard to match in fun and excitement.\u00a0 From the opening scene with Egg Shen, the enigmatic Chinese sorcerer, to the final glimpse of the Pork Chop Express as it rides off into a torrential downpour, the movie has just the right mix of humor, camp, action, and plot.\u00a0 Since its release in 1986, the story of Jack Burton\u2019s short visit to San Francisco has stood alone.\u00a0 No sequels, no prequels, no television spin off.\u00a0 That is until Boom Comics started publishing the comic by the same name.<\/p>\n

For those who haven\u2019t seen the movie I have things to say.\u00a0 First, what is wrong with you?\u00a0 Do you starve yourself of good food, the great outdoors, and human companionship as well?\u00a0 Second, stop reading this now and go out and watch it \u2013 I\u2019ll be here when you get back.<\/p>\n

Okay, now that we are all on the same page, some comments about the comic.<\/p>\n

Brought to you by the creative team of John Carpenter (yes that John Carpenter) & Eric Powell on story and dialog and Brian Churilla as the artist, Big Trouble in Little China is a blast as a comic book.\u00a0 The initial storyline is roughly in three acts with about four issues per act.\u00a0 All the action and favorite characters are there along with a lot more humor, weird, and Jack Burton backstory.\u00a0 We also get to see a lot more hells than just those mentioned in the movie (the Chinese have a lot of hells).<\/p>\n

The first act picks up precisely at the moment the movie leaves off.\u00a0 We see the Pork Chop Express fighting its way through rainy northern California weather with an unwelcome hitchhiker<\/p>\n

\"Pork<\/a><\/p>\n

stowed in the back of the rig. Not content to just sit there getting wet, Lo Pan\u2019s demon soon bursts his way into the cab and lunges at Jack.\u00a0 Just as Burton is deciding that his time is up, the creature starts licking his face affectionately<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/a><\/p>\n

and suddenly a beautiful friendship is born.\u00a0 Dubbing his new pet Pete, Jack decks him out in spare clothes and then promptly turns around and heads back to San Francisco.<\/p>\n

When Jack and Pete arrive just in time to attend Wang Chi\u2019s wedding to Miao Lin.\u00a0 At the reception, Egg explains that the bond that Lo Pan had with Pete transferred to Jack when the later killed Lo Pan.\u00a0 Jack and Pete kick around at the buffet table and at this point we are treated to the first of four flashbacks to previous Mrs. Burtons.<\/p>\n

\"At<\/a><\/p>\n

It seems that wife #2 became available after she \u2018encountered\u2019 Jack in a broom closet at his cousin\u2019s wedding.\u00a0 On pregnancy test and shotgun marriage later, Mr. and Mrs. Burton are enjoying what passes as marital bliss when the bottom falls out.\u00a0 Wife #2 had no bun in the oven and a father, who as the leader of his local cult, is trying to resurrect a Babylonian death god.\u00a0 It seems that Jack is destined to be surrounded by the supernatural. Needless to say a quicky divorce follows.<\/p>\n

Just as Wang Chi and Miao Lin are about to start their honeymoon, the Wing Kong crash the party and a full-fledged melee breaks out.\u00a0 The action comes to a screeching halt a few minutes later as a new villain makes the scene.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a><\/p>\n

Deeply annoyed with the fall of Lo Pan, Qiang Wu gives Egg and Jack three days to retrieve the spirit jars of Storms, his brother disciples.<\/p>\n

\"Midnight<\/a><\/p>\n

So begins the quest on the midnight\/black road (one complaint \u2013 the writing staff keeps switching the name).\u00a0 As Pete, Jack, and Egg travel along the midnight road in the Pork Chop Express, we are treated to a whole big plate of strange and, often crude humor.<\/p>\n

\"Where<\/a><\/p>\n

Along the way, we are treated to the back story for wives #3 and #4.<\/p>\n

It seems that the third Mrs. Burton, troubled with the prospect of growing old, joins a band of goth vampires and becomes one of the undead.\u00a0 She comes back for one more marital bed tussle before she ends her human husband\u2019s wife.\u00a0 Lucky for Jack he\u2019s an early riser and that his bedroom window faced east on a sunny day \u2013 scratch wife #3.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Burton #4 has an even stranger hookup with our romantic lead.\u00a0 It seems that she was a mind controlling gypsy who put her beloved to the sinister task of killing and robbing those hapless souls who came to her to have their fortunes told.\u00a0 Unfortunately for her, the local villages finally have enough and, gathering their torches and pitchforks, put her to a gruesome end \u2013 scratch wife #4.<\/p>\n

The funniest exchanges occur when they near the lair of the Seven-Faced Widow.\u00a0 Her lair sports a fantastic image of her<\/p>\n

\"Seven<\/a><\/p>\n

but as our heroes soon discover images can be deceiving<\/p>\n

\"False<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite coming face-to-face with the Seven-Faced Widow\u2019s impressive stature, Jack remains unfazed and delivers some biting commentary about the state of art on the midnight road.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

The widow poses some challenges that the trio must conquer in order to obtain the jars.\u00a0 But Jack, being rather quick in his reflexes and comfortable thinking outside the cultural-sensitivity box, simply steals the jars and heads back to Qiang.<\/p>\n

At this point we actually get to hear about Mrs. Burton #1.\u00a0 It seems that she was a beautiful and decent soul and that she dies of some disease or condition.\u00a0 This flash back is about the only poignant note one finds in the series to date but it gives a lot more depth to Jack\u2019s character.<\/p>\n

Finally, Egg, Pete, and Jack make it back to our world and deliver their cargo.\u00a0 Once the former Lo Pan fan boy has the jars he quickly reconstitutes the storms<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

and then brings back a petulant Lo Pan from, get this, the hell of those killed by idiots.<\/p>\n

\"Lo<\/a><\/p>\n

Thus ends act 1.\u00a0 Next week, I\u2019ll cover the new quest to beat back Lo Pan in Act 2.\u00a0 It gets weirder and a lot more fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Without a doubt, one of the best movies of the 1980s was John Carpenter\u2019s \u2018Big Trouble in Little China\u2019.\u00a0 This offbeat action, horror, comedy, fantasy is hard to match in… Read more ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327,"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions\/327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}