{"id":330,"date":"2015-06-05T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T22:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/?p=330"},"modified":"2015-06-05T22:00:27","modified_gmt":"2015-06-05T22:00:27","slug":"big-trouble-equals-big-fun-act-2-lo-pan-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/?p=330","title":{"rendered":"Big Trouble Equals Big Fun \u2013 Act 2: Lo Pan Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Okay, Lo Pan is back, and he is particularly annoyed with Jack for not only having killed him in their last encounter but for consigning him to torment in the Hell of Those Killed by Idiots.\u00a0 And his renewed presence on our plane means yet another demise of a relationship between our mullet-sporting hero and a loved one.\u00a0 This time it is Pete, who once more under Lo Pan\u2019s control, turns on Jack.\u00a0 Even all the good times traveling in the Pork Chop Express aren\u2019t enough to save marriage number five<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Pete_turns.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-340\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Pete_turns.jpg\" alt=\"Pete_turns\" width=\"640\" height=\"385\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Pete_turns.jpg 640w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Pete_turns-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fortunately for our adventurous band, the Chang Sing show up just as things get hairy, allowing Egg Shen and company to use the old \u2018vanish in a cloud of smoke\u2019 routine to get out from under Lo Pan and his twisted boy band.<\/p>\n<p>Despite their narrow escape, things aren\u2019t rosy.\u00a0 Egg reminds them that Lo Pan has vast resources and all of those will be bent towards revenge.\u00a0 As a spirit, Egg is unable to harm Lo Pan and the only way to make him flesh again is rather unpleasant.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Sacrifice-Needed.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-339\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Sacrifice-Needed.jpg\" alt=\"Sacrifice Needed\" width=\"919\" height=\"579\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Sacrifice-Needed.jpg 919w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Sacrifice-Needed-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Sacrifice-Needed-810x510.jpg 810w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 919px) 100vw, 919px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And so a quick plan is put together off panel.\u00a0 Not one to be daunted by tales of death and destruction, Jack leaves in a conspicuous fashion with Wang disguised as Miao Yin to lure everyone away \u2013 including the Lords of Death.<\/p>\n<p>Once on the road together, Burton takes a few opportunities to tease Wang about how good a a women Wang makes.\u00a0 These comedic observations must be pretty accurate, though, because when Wang and Jack stop at a biker\u2019s bar for some food, Wang comes under some unwanted attention<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Jack-and-Chang-in-a-biker-bar.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-338\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Jack-and-Chang-in-a-biker-bar.jpg\" alt=\"Jack and Chang in a biker bar\" width=\"355\" height=\"673\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Jack-and-Chang-in-a-biker-bar.jpg 355w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Jack-and-Chang-in-a-biker-bar-158x300.jpg 158w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 355px) 100vw, 355px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Feeling sexually harassed, Wang reacts in the only way he knows how \u2013 with his feet of fury.\u00a0 He is in the process of taking the whole\u00a0bar down when the burrito he just ate drives home a bad case of Montezuma\u2019s revenge.<\/p>\n<p>Green to the gills, Wang sinks to his feet, about to get stomped, when he and Jack are saved by an old acquaintance by the name Moonie Joe, who also happens to be the big man at the biker bar.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the real Miao Yin walks the Midnight Road with Egg Shen under the assumption that this would be the last place where Lo Pan and company would look for them.\u00a0 Like her husband, it seems that Miao is having a hard time keeping her temper, perhaps due to the \u2018coitus interuptus\u2019 events surrounding her wedding.\u00a0 Whatever the reason, she goes off in hilarious fashion over the smallest of slights leaving Egg to wonder what exactly has happened<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Miao-explains.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-337\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Miao-explains.jpg\" alt=\"Miao explains\" width=\"510\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Miao-explains.jpg 510w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Miao-explains-300x274.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 510px) 100vw, 510px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Back at the biker bar, Moonie Joe, Jack, and Wang confer about the next steps unaware that two men in black, the Zhang Brothers, are on their trail<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zhang-Brothers.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-336\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zhang-Brothers.jpg\" alt=\"Zhang Brothers\" width=\"605\" height=\"653\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zhang-Brothers.jpg 605w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Zhang-Brothers-277x300.jpg 277w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 605px) 100vw, 605px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jack unveils his master plan to take Boot Nail Highway, a mostly abandoned and scenic stretch of highway.\u00a0 Much to his surprise, Moonie Joe freaks out and begins to tell a story of a dead alien whose ghost haunts Boot Nail Highway looking for people to eat.<\/p>\n<p>Jack dismisses the warnings and soon he and Wang are camped out on the side of the cursed road, drinking beer and slurring their speech.\u00a0 They look like sitting ducks and indeed the Zhang brothers are quite sure that they will be able to bring Jack back to Lo Pan, although perhaps not in one piece,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/MIB-with-a-bag.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-313\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/MIB-with-a-bag.jpg\" alt=\"MIB with a bag\" width=\"887\" height=\"382\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/MIB-with-a-bag.jpg 887w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/MIB-with-a-bag-300x129.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/MIB-with-a-bag-810x348.jpg 810w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 887px) 100vw, 887px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Before the campers are caught unawares by the Zhang Brothers, the ghost alien that Moonie Joe warned them about shows up and eats the assassins, putting an end to a brilliant mayhem career.<\/p>\n<p>While these events are happening on the earthly plain, Egg and Miao continue their journey in the spirit realm.\u00a0 As they climb through the bizarre, other-worldly scenery, they discuss what it means to be a hero<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Egg-and-Miao-discuss.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-335\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Egg-and-Miao-discuss.jpg\" alt=\"Egg and Miao discuss\" width=\"750\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Egg-and-Miao-discuss.jpg 750w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Egg-and-Miao-discuss-300x288.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>What they don\u2019t realize is that agents of the Seven-Faced Widow are tracking them and they are soon subdued and brought to face the lady with seven faces and five hundred pounds of flesh for each one.<\/p>\n<p>Jack and Wang continue eastward, stopping for lunch at a truck stop in Nashville.\u00a0 It seems everywhere he goes, Jack is known by the locals, and this truck stop is no different, and the pair are waited on by a giant, slow-witted country cook by the name of Bert.\u00a0 And what a good thing that turns out to be, for when Wang and Jack head back to the Pork Chop Express, who do you think is waiting for them?\u00a0 None other than the Lords of Death.<\/p>\n<p>The Lords start taking a bite out of Jack and things look bad when Bert gets involved and levels a beat-down on the Chinese street gang.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Bert-has-at-it.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-334\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Bert-has-at-it.jpg\" alt=\"Bert has at it\" width=\"784\" height=\"430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Bert-has-at-it.jpg 784w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Bert-has-at-it-300x164.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 784px) 100vw, 784px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sadly, before he can finish the job, his ma shows up and scolds him and drags him away.\u00a0 But by this time the locals have joined Jack and Wang in the free-for-all.\u00a0 The cops show up shortly thereafter and propose a southern-styled solution to the \u2018disagreement\u2019 between the two sides<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Southern-Justice.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-314\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Southern-Justice.jpg\" alt=\"Southern Justice\" width=\"845\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Southern-Justice.jpg 845w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Southern-Justice-300x148.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Southern-Justice-810x401.jpg 810w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 845px) 100vw, 845px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Lords of Death pick their leader, Black Knife, to represent them and the rednecks pick Jack (mostly because of his hair).\u00a0 Facing off in the pig pit, Jack looks grossly overmatched and it seems certain that he\u2019ll be the one the pigs dine on that night.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 fate seems to be on the side of our hero as she so often is, and when Black Knife rushes forward he slips in the muck and accidently impales himself on a broken shovel handle.\u00a0 In typical style, Jack greats the sudden victory with a \u201cIt\u2019s all in the reflexes\u201d response.<\/p>\n<p>Having defeated their leader, the Lords of Death now swear their allegiance to Jack. \u00a0With a small army now under his command, Jack resolves to head back to San Francisco and confront Lo Pan.<\/p>\n<p>Back in San Francisco, we find Egg and Miao prisoners, after the Seven-Faced Widow had turned them over to Lo Pan.\u00a0 Her asking price is that Lo Pan whacks Jack \u2013 something he\u2019s already itching to do.\u00a0 Egg is tied up while Lo Pan prepares Miao Yin for his pleasure.\u00a0 Qiang Wu pays a visit to Egg but is doesn\u2019t end too well for Qiang\u2019s ego<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Egg-gets-a-barb-in.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-333\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Egg-gets-a-barb-in.jpg\" alt=\"Egg gets a barb in\" width=\"875\" height=\"505\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Egg-gets-a-barb-in.jpg 875w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Egg-gets-a-barb-in-300x173.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Egg-gets-a-barb-in-810x467.jpg 810w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 875px) 100vw, 875px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jack soon launches his offensive and lots of action takes place with Wing Kong, Chang Sing, Lords of Death, and demon combatants all going at it in the subterranean lair of Lo Pan. Egg takes down Qiang but is exhausted.\u00a0 As Jack joins his side, Egg asks if Jack is ready<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Jack-is-ready.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-332\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Jack-is-ready.jpg\" alt=\"Jack is ready\" width=\"582\" height=\"575\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Jack-is-ready.jpg 582w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Jack-is-ready-300x296.jpg 300w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Jack-is-ready-54x54.jpg 54w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 582px) 100vw, 582px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jack allows himself to get captured and Lo Pan stabs him through with a sword.\u00a0 Gleeful that he is finally going to have some \u2018earthly pleasure\u2019<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Lo-Pan-mortal-again.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-315\" src=\"http:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Lo-Pan-mortal-again.jpg\" alt=\"Lo Pan mortal again\" width=\"369\" height=\"540\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Lo-Pan-mortal-again.jpg 369w, https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Lo-Pan-mortal-again-205x300.jpg 205w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 369px) 100vw, 369px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lo Pan is heedless of the fact that now that he is flesh he can be killed and Egg runs him through, thus ending the threat, at least for now.<\/p>\n<p>Egg consoles a grieving Wang Chi suggesting that there may be a way to bring Jack back \u2013 after all Lo Pan didn\u2019t seem to stay dead long.\u00a0 And Jack, as he journeys to the afterlife, decides that it isn\u2019t too bad.\u00a0 Not what he imagined but not too bad \u2013 that is until he finds that he and Lo Pan are sharing a common hell.<\/p>\n<p>So ends Act 2; a little darker and less humorous than Act 1 but certainly a lot of fun.<\/p>\n<p>Next time act 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Okay, Lo Pan is back, and he is particularly annoyed with Jack for not only having killed him in their last encounter but for consigning him to torment in the&#8230; <a class=\"read-more-button\" href=\"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/?p=330\">Read more &gt;<\/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-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","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=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":342,"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aboutcomics.blogwyrm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}