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Adventures of Jack Burton
"Death to the Deathless"
Big Trouble in Little China #19 (BOOM! Studios)
Written by Fred Van Lente
Illustrated by Dan McDaid
Colors by Gonzalo Duarte
Letters by Ed Dukeshire
Cover by Joe Eisma
December 2015 |
Jack squares off against Harry Potter; the
Chi sisters bond.
Story Summary
Not wanting to go against his fellow members of the immortals
council, Egg Shen conscripts Winona and Whitney to find the
hidden silver needle that can bring death to the immortal
Koschei. Meanwhile, Jack faces off one-on-one with a young
magician in the poker tournament, with the winner gaining access
to the immortals round of play. Little does Jack know that Egg
is helping him behind the scenes.
CONTINTUED IN BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE
CHINA #20
Characters appearing or mentioned in this issue
Egg Shen
Koschei
Baba Yaga
(mentioned only)
Ivan Tsarevich (mentioned only)
Winona Chi
Margo
Litzenberger (mentioned only)
Whitney Chi
Yu Shi
Wang Chi
Gracie Law
"Harry"
Jack Burton
Miao Yin
Uncle Chao
(mentioned only, deceased)
Didja Know?
Most of the issues of this series did not have individual
titles.
I used the title "Death to the Deathless"
given in the next issue blurb of the previous issue.
Didja Notice?
On page 1, Egg Shen tells of how the ancient witch Baba Yaga
told the great Russian knight
Ivan Tsarevich where to find Koschei's death. Tsarevich's story is part
of the actual Russian fairy tale "The Death of Koschei the
Deathless".
On page 4, Wang tells Winona he's going shopping at the
Hugo Boss
store so he can look his best for dinner with Yu Shi and Miao
Yin.
On page 6, the "Harry Potter" character gives Jack a telling of
how he got the star mark on his forehead. It is similar to how
the Harry Potter of the book series got his lightning bolt mark.
On page 7, Jack thinks about his card hand and that he has
pocket rockets. "Pocket rockets" is a term used for a pair of
aces in Texas hold 'em poker.
On page 10, the boots Winona wears with her patriotic America
costume are similar to those worn by the eponymous Wonder Woman in the TV
series of the same from 1975-1979.
Wang brings to the dinner party a bottle of wine labeled "WINE!
(SPARKLING)" on page 10. But in the flashback to this scene
found later in
"All-In", the bottle's label is "WINE? I GUESS?".
Also on page 10, Winona says that Whitney, in her frilly dress
and hair, "looks like she crawled out of Jane Austen's
butthole". Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English writer known
for her novels of women suppressed by, and chafing against,
British social structure.
On page 11, a Russian nesting doll emerges from the elevator.
This is the
young woman who was speaking up against
Koschei and was then turned into a Russian nesting doll by him
in anger in
"Big Trouble in Little Heaven".
On page 12, Jack thinks on how he hates playing heads up. "Heads
up" is a poker term for a game played between just two people.
On page 14, Yu Shi admits he didn't make an impression on anyone
growing up until he began his fortune in the mah jong
parlors of Fuzhou province.
Mah jong is a Chinese game similar to the card
game rummy, originating in the 17th Century and often played for
money between opponents. His statement of "Fuzhou province"
seems to be in error;
Fuzhou
is the capital city of
Fujian
province, China.
Yu Shi remarks that he and Miao Yin met again as adults online
through Facebooking. "Facebooking", of
course, refers to updating your own profile or browsing those of
other people on the social network
Facebook.
On page 15, Winona mentions the memorial of her Uncle Chao.
Presumably, Chao was a brother of either Wang or Miao.
On page 16, "Harry" refers to Jack as a "gummle". This is a play
on the word "muggle" in the Harry Potter books, a word
for a person not born into a magical family and with no magical
abilities.
On page 17, "Harry" says that he is "The Boy That Breathes".
This is a play on Harry Potter's appellation "The Boy Who
Lived".
A short, robed figure in the background of panel 1, page 19 has
glowing yellow eyes, appearing to be a Jawa from the Star
Wars franchise!
On page 19, Jack tells "Harry", "If I see that nameless
character up there in the immortals floor...I'll give him a
swift kick in the bangers-and-mash for your folks," for which,
"Harry" thanks him. Bangers and mash is a British dish of mashed
potatoes and sausage. Obviously, Jack is using the term as a
euphemism for male genitalia.
On page 21, Winona uses two actual martial arts to take down the
guard at the Kunlun Casino, Golden Leopard Turns Around and
Tiger Tail Kick (see
Shaolin.org).
The being that emerges from the green oak tree, above Winona and
Whitney is the Four-Armed manifestation of Mahākāla, a deity in
Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism.
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