Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer: Eric Powell, John Carpenter
Artist: Brian Churilla
Release Date: 2nd July 2014

Qiang Wu, a warrior disciple of David Lo Pan, has kidnapped Wang Chi in an act of vengeance against those responsible for the death of his master. To ensure Wang’s safe return, Jack must recover three sacred jars containing the tormented spirits of Thunder, Lightning, and Rain from the Hell of the Seven Faced Widow. In order to do so, Jack, Egg, and Pete (Jack’s newly christened pet Demon), must venture into the spirit realm and the face the many dangers of the Midnight Road…

You’ve gotta love Jack Burton. His unshakable self-confidence (or is that blissful ignorance?) in the face of potential danger is truly inspiring. By degrees he’s an unwavering hero, saving the world from an otherworldly threat, or a blundering buffoon, who somehow gets the job done despite his own incompetence. Depends who you ask, provided they know who he is! All of the elements that made the character so memorable on-screen are faithfully recreated in this book. The humour is pitch-perfect, and remarkably, even funnier than the last issue. Good ol’ Jack seems to have a witty observation or acerbic put-down for every situation, and his continual verbal jousting with Egg, who gives as good as he gets, is a welcome continuation of the relationship they established in the movie. The first issue was replete with references to John Carpenter’s cult classic, but this second instalment limits the callbacks to more subtle references and really begins to expand upon original premise, striking a fine balance between action and comedy.

The choice of art style is a perfect match for the light-hearted tone the series has adopted. The caricatures are spot-on, from Jack’s heroic Jaw, to Egg’s world weary squint. ‘Pete the Demon’ (probably one of the worst prosthetic monsters in cinema history!) was essentially a caricature to begin with, and translates easily to comic book form. Churilla’s depiction of the spirit realm is conceptually based on elements of Chinese mythology, and he has conceived a bizzare, foreboding world brimming with demons, monstrous pagodas, gigantic turtles, angry warrior apes, and other outlandish oddities.

In short, I love this book, and fans of the movie should not be without it. It’s as close to a sequel as we’re probably going to get. I still haven’t found out what’s inside a ‘six demon bag’, though!

Rating: 5/5.

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The writer of this piece was: Martin Doyle
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