The Good
Jack Burton and Egg Shen's journey truly begins here! In order to save Wang from an evil, immortal, Chinese warlord, the two, along with Jack's demon, have to travel to the Midnight Road, which is a world inside of Chinatown. Just like in the film, when the adventure begins, the weirdness begins.
What writer Eric Powell (with John Carpenter on the story) does incredibly well is create a sense of adventure of the reader. It has the same feel as the original movie and keeps the same tone as well. This particular issue delves a lot more into Chinese mysticism, which I have no idea if it's based on anything in Chinese lore or not, but it's a fun ride regardless. The idea from the film "China is here" is a huge part of this issue.
As mentioned, this issue does get really weird. There are lots of great visual elements in this issue readers will really enjoy, like a lot of the statues and buildings on the Midnight Road, which are these over-exaggerated Chinese buildings, reminiscent of some of the things in the original film. That, along with a few of the characters here, like an old man riding a giant terrapin, create an interesting world.
Where this book really shines is within its purpose. It's a comic, tied to a film, that doesn't feel like a cash grab. It has a story that feels like it really could have been a sequel to the original and this book utilizes pieces from the original film to create the world for the comic.
With both issue #1 and #2, Powell has given readers a moment where they get to see a piece from Jack Burton's past, and in both cases, nothing is as it seems. Burton's past is as abnormal as the events currently happening to him, which helps with the idea that nothing seems to phase old Jack Burton. Maybe it's more ego than anything else, but not having Jack Burton flip out when he sees a giant turtle or a immortal warlord would normally be a bit questionable, for any character. However, adding weird moments to Jack's history helps explain this character more.
The Bad
The silliness does go a bit over the top in this issue. There's a scene with the warlord demon holding Wang where Jack Burton causes him to stop in his tracks with Jack's over-done dialogue (Not a knock on Powell. That's how the character is). It feels out of character: this powerful, warrior getting stopped in his tracks while speaking by a trucker with a non-stop mouth.
Overall, the art does the story justice, but there are a few, rough panels in the issue. It's nothing major, but there are a couple moments that stand out as less than great.
The Verdict
Fans of the movie will be fans of this series. It has a great sense of adventure that the film had, and while the sense of danger may be a bit lost, this book is pretty awesome and worth a pick up. This issue really lets the reader know where the series is headed and all-in-all, it's a fun read. Powell proves he has a great grasp of these character's and this world here, which can be hard. Adapting a world from one piece of media to another is a tough job, but Powell nails it.
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