Adventures of Jack Burton "Old Man Jack" Part 3 Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack #3 BOOM! Studios Written by John Carpenter & Anthony Burch Illustrated by Jorge Corona Colored by Gabriel Cassata Lettered by Ed Dukeshire Cover by Stéphane Roux November 2017

Jack is confronted by the mistakes of his past.

Story Summary

Driving through the Plains of Fire, Jack and Lo Pan are haunted by visions of the past meant to trick them into taking rash actions. Lo Pan sees Miao Yin and Jack sees Wang Chi and Egg Shen. Jack's vision reveals that he caused Wang's death in an accident while they were driving in the Pork-Chop Express. Jack had later got a hold of one of Egg's mystical books and summoned the demon Ching Dai to make a deal to bring Wang back to life. Ching Dai agreed but also tricked Jack into providing a bridge from the underworld to Earth. This is how the Hellpocalypse came about ten years ago (and Jack was never even reunited with Wang).

Continued in "Old Man Jack" Part 4.

Notes from the Jack Burton chronology

This story takes place in the year 2020.

Characters appearing or mentioned in this issue

Jack Burton

David Lo Pan

Miao Yin (as illusion only)

Wang Chi (as illusion and flashback only)

Winona Chi (mentioned only)

Egg Shen (as illusion only)

Ching Dai 

Didja Know?

Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack is a 12-issue limited series published by IDW in 2017-2018.

Didja Notice?

Previously referred to as the Ocean of Fire, Lo Pan now refers to the flaming landscape he and Jack drive through as the Plains of Fire.

    In Jack's vision on page 5, Wang tells Jack that his daughter is getting married. Wang's daughter with his wife Miao Yin is Winona Chi, last seen in "Second Beginning". Winona also has a twin sister, Whitney, not mentioned at all in the "Old Man Jack" storyline (last seen in "All-In").

    Jack also mentions missing out on throwing Wang a bachelor party before he married Miao Yin (in "The Ghosts of Storms").

Jack's vision of Wang on pages 7-11 imply that he caused Wang's death in an accident while driving the Pork-Chop Express. Wang here appears thin and has a full head of hair. In "Encino Man", which took place in 2015, Wang was heavier and balding. However, it's likely that that timeline was reset when future Jack and Winona arrived in 1986 to ensure the proper timeline in "Second Beginning".

On page 12, Jack implores Lo Pan to help him against the vision of Miao Yin that attempts to strangle him by exclaiming, "Help me or I'll run this truck straight into a hellmouth--!" This may be a reference by the writers to the areas of high supernatural energy called hellmouths in the two shared-universe TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel that aired 1997-2004.

Getting annoyed at all the visions appearing of people he accidentally screwed over, Jack incredulously asks on page 13, "Am I on This is Your Life?" This is Your Life was a first radio, then TV, show airing on NBC from 1948-1961 that led the on-air guest through a retrospective of their life.

On page 17, we learn the reason why Jack is missing half his right arm.