
Synopsis: THE HITS KEEP ON COMING! Shang-Chi may have finally met his match in the form of this strange new assailant, Sister Hammer – BUT WHO IS SHE REALLY? Find out in this shocking reunion!
The Story
Picking the story up from the last issue. Shang-Chi is flown to the home of Sister Hammer, who happens to be his Sister Shi-Hua. Shang is hoping that his sister is looking for a family reunion, but learns that she is after his Spirit so that she can take over their dead father’s criminal empire.
The Artwork
The art team comes up with some great action beats for this issue. We get a really dramatic few panels in which we see Shang-Chi is shot down as he parachutes in. This is followed up with Shang making short work of Shi-Hua’s. guards. We then get a nice moment where Shang is reunited with his sister. This moment is particularly moving given what we see early on in the issue when Shi-Hua and Shang are separated by their father.
The final few pages have some great art. I particularly liked how the injury that Shang has is leaking of stars and night sky instead of blood.
Overall
Gene Luen Yang is crafting a really fun story, which connects martial arts mysticism with family and betrayal. It basically ticks all the boxes of your typical martial arts movie but has a few nice twists. I really enjoyed the flashback at the beginning of the issue where we see the last time that Shang-Chi and his sister were together and the circumstances in which they were separated.
The action beats throughout this issue seemed to fly by, but I did enjoy the final few pages where Shang’s father’s spirit reaches out to him. Overall this is a pretty solid issue and a nice introduction for just how determined Sister Hammer is.
You can get hold of your own digital copy of this book as well as back issues at ComiXology.
