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Adventures of Jack Burton
"The Luck of the Righteous Fool"
Big Trouble in Little China #12 (BOOM! Studios)
Story by John Carpenter and Eric Powell
Writer: Eric Powell
Artist: Brian Churilla
Colorist: Gonzalo Duarte
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Cover A: Brian Churilla
July 2015 |
Jack confronts Lo Pan over the Black
Serpent's Tongue.
Story Summary
P'an Kun casts a spell over Jack's dead body to preserve it
until the time when/if his soul escapes from Hell. But P'an Kun
warns Egg and Shen that it may be a long wait, as time in the
realm of spirits does not move the same as in the world of men.
Meanwhile, Jack and Slinky enter the Hell of Ice and Sorrow and
eventually come across a hole issuing green steam and light
melted into the side of an ice mountain. They enter it and
follow the tunnel down to the end, where Lo Pan is uses the Breath of
the Green Flame to melt his way to where the Black Serpent's
Tongue is frozen in the ice. Confronting the two, Lo Pan using
the Green Flame to turn Slinky into a pile of bones and leave
Jack with his lower body encased in ice, unable to escape. The
evil sorcerer promises to leave Jack in agonizing torment before
returning to the mortal world. Having dispatched his foes thus,
Lo Pan resumes his work melting the ice and soon comes upon the
gigantic sword he seeks. But, just as he's about to touch the
sword, a comparatively-sized fist smashes through the ice on the
other side of it and grasps it. The gigantic god Yama bursts
through the ice with the sword now in hand.
The shattering of ice frees Jack from his entrapment. Yama sees
Lo Pan and Jack and states that he's been trapped within the
frozen walls for countless eons and is ready to return to his
brethren beyond the stars. Yama tells the pair before him that
he will grant the blade and command of all kingdoms of Hell to
the one who is the most worthy, asking, "What
great deeds have given fear and honor to your name?" Jack
responds with a tale of driving a load of hogs from Kansas City
to Tallahassee with no sleep, going on a 48-hour bender of beer
and poker, and having a spitting contest with Mabel before
passing out. Lo Pan relates his accomplishments as a
warrior-sorcerer who has won countless battles, enslaved
nations, drank the blood of his enemies, commands the Three
Storms, and has now freed Yama himself.
Pondering for a few moments, Yama finally decides he'd rather
give the sword to the idiot and hands it to Jack. As soon as
Jack touches the sword, a cosmic boom rattles the ice cave and
Yama vanishes, replaced with a now-gigantic Jack. Jack uses the
sword to carve a gash in the ice floor, from which grasping red
hands seize Lo Pan and drag him to face the dark gods to whom he
made promises of 10,000 souls from the mortal world. Jack then
uses the sword's power to reanimate Slinky. He gives Slinky the
sword and rulership over Hell. The ecstatic Slinky declares his
first decree will be the establishment of Taco Tuesday.
19 years later, Jack's preserved body is on display as the
Amazing Ossified '80s Man at a truck stop in Arizona. The body
suddenly comes to life, scaring all but one of the tourists
away. Jack asks what's going on and where he is. Learning he is in
2015, Jack laments, "Maybe I should have stayed in Hell?!"
CONTINTUED IN BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE
CHINA #13
Notes from the Jack Burton chronology
The end of this issue jumps Jack 19 years forward in time to the
year 2015. The issues after this take place in 2015,
approximately concurrent with the time of publication.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this issue
Wang Chi
Egg Shen
P'an Ku
Tai Sui
Jack Burton
Slinky
Lo Pan
Miao Yin
(mentioned only)
Yama
Mabel (mentioned only)
Thunder
(mentioned only)
Rain
(mentioned only)
Lightning
(mentioned only)
Didja Know?
The issues of this series did not have individual titles. I
chose the title "The
Luck of the Righteous Fool" based on a line of dialog in this
issue about Jack's propensity to survive the unlikeliest
scenarios.
Didja Notice?
On page 2,
Tai Sui
remarks that Egg and Wang were supposed to bring back beer. He
told them to bring back beer in
"No Exit".
The artwork of the form and costume of
Yama seen in this issue is reminiscent of the art of comic book
superstar Jack Kirby (1917-1994).
Asked to declare what great deeds of his have given fear and
honor to his name, Jack tells Yama that he once hauled a load of
hogs from Kansas
City to
Tallahassee on no sleep.
Jack also tells Yama that he had a spitting contest with a 300
lb. short order cook named Mabel. This may be the same
"bartender" called Mable (different spelling) previously seen in
"So Long, Chinatown"
and "The Extraterrestrial Highway".
Lo Pan tells Yama that he is the master of the Burning Blade.
The
Burning Blade was used in the marriage ceremony of Lo Pan to
Miao Yin and Gracie Law in
Big Trouble in Little China.
When Jack hands the Black Serpent's Tongue to Slinky, making him
the new ruler of Hell, Slinky says, "Boy, they better expect
changes around here! I think I'll start with a Taco Tuesday!"
Taco Tuesday is something of a tradition at many restaurants in
the United States of offering special deals on tacos during
limited hours on Tuesday nights.
Jack's preserved body is found to be on display at Prospector
Pete's Truck Stop and Quickie Annulments in Arizona in 2015. The
exhibit is known as the Amazing Ossified '80s Man.
Prospector Pete's Truck Stop and Quickie Annulments is obviously
a satirical business for the story. "Ossified" means to have
hardened like bone, so I guess the spell P'an Kun placed on
Jack's body to preserve it must have also hardened it.
Unanswered Questions
How did Jack's body wind up as
the Amazing Ossified '80s Man at Prospector Pete's Truck Stop in
Arizona? Shouldn't Wang have been keeping a better eye on his
friend?
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Adventures of Jack Burton Episode Studies