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OLD MAN JACK by John R. Carpenter

OLD MAN JACK

From the Big Trouble in Little China series, volume 1

by John R. Carpenter & Anthony Burch ; illustrated by Jorge Corona & Gabriel Cassata

Pub Date: Sept. 4th, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68415-204-9
Publisher: BOOM! Studios

Nostalgic for campy humor and 1980s fantasies? Revisit the world of the film Big Trouble in Little China (1986).

In this graphic novel set several years later, Ching Dai, the Demon God of the East, has combined the worlds of the living and the dead, turning the Earth into a Hellpocalypse. How or why Ching Dai was unleashed, Jack Burton claims to know nothing about. He is, however, lured away from the safety of his lonely paradise into this disaster zone by the call of a “very attractive woman.” Regrettably, the individual is revealed as the previous villain, David Lo Pan, now mortal and in need of Jack’s help to save the world. These unlikely heroes begin their journey through the hellscape to Ching Dai’s throne in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Fans of the movie will enjoy callbacks of previous characters and the use of signature phrases. For those who are not familiar with it, there is enough exposition to allow them to follow along. The many jokes, enhanced by the expressive art, however, can bog down the story. The authors make some attempt to address the ethnic stereotypes and misogyny prevalent in the original work through humor. A variety of ethnicities are shown, especially Asian, with some dark-skinned secondary characters. The volume contains examples of variant cover art.

Fans will delight. Newcomers may be engaged if they can get through the deluge of jokes.

(Graphic fantasy. 16-adult)