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ULTIMATE MARVEL TEAM UP #15
Recommended (8/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Rick Mays
Inks: Jason Martin
Brush Art: Andy Lee
Colors: Transparency Digital
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
Ultimate Marvel Team Up is coming to a close, but it looks like Bendis will be taking the title out on a high note, as the first part of the Shang-Chi story is a perfect bland of a martial arts action/comedy and a Spider-Man story. There's plenty of comedy, both of the dialogue and physically based types, and Mays's manga-influenced artwork was an ideal choice fot this type of story. As with most issues of Team Up, this
bears a pretty strong similarity to the existing version of the character, but
in making Shang-Chi a bit younger and more quietly imposing he has turned him
into an even more effective counterpart to the talkative and young Spidey.
The story is broken up into two different styles, a Japanese fable and a modern day story of Spider-Man meeting Shang-Chi. The latter features manga style artwork in Mays's traditional style, which is not unlike the work of other manga-influenced artists like Adam Warren or Chynna Clugston-Major. The former is done by Andy Lee, in a painted style similar to that of Scott Morse in some of his work on Soulwind. Both of them feature beautiful artwork,
although I have to admit that my favorite art was the work done by Mays on the
martial arts action sequences.
Bendis and Mays are
channeling Jackie Chan flicks in the first face-off between Shang-Chi and street
thugs, down to the use of some comedic improvised weapons. Mays does a very good
job of capturing the sense of speed and motion needed to make a martial arts
sequence work, and Bendis writes a script that wouldn't feel out of place in a
Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan movie. The random street toughs just aching for a
beating and the reluctant but powerful hero with a mysterious past are only two
of the elements that come immediately to mind.
However, while this is the
origin of the "Ultimate" Shang-Chi, that doesn't mean that Bendis has left
Spider-Man out in the cold. This issue features some terrific interaction
between Mary Jane and Peter, demonstrating once again why the revelation of his
identity to her was such a good idea. In addition, the discussion of Shakespeare
is the kind of normal conversation topic in the midst of a stranger story that
helped earn Bendis his reputation as a great writer.
Behind a pretty light story
of martial arts and super-hero inferiority complexes, this story hides a more
sinister plot as well. In Marvel continuity, Shang-Chi's father was the
dangerous Fu Manchu, and whether it's that specific villain or not, the
secondary story in this issue and the agenda of one of the main players reveals
that Shang-Chi's father is definitely a dangerous man, and his desire to reclaim
or destroy his son should lead to more action and trouble in the next
issue.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board. |
