Big Trouble in Little China: Volume 2 (2016)

The Return of Lo Pan and How Jack Burton Became King of the Lords of Death (2016)

Authors: John Carpenter / Eric Powell  |  Illustrator: Brian Churilla  |  Page Count: 112

"It's like I always say, you can never really go home! Especially when there's a restraining order involved!"

NOTE: the following text contains spoilers for the Big Trouble in Little China (1986) movie AND for Volume 1 of its comic book sequel. Proceed at your discretion.

If you've read Volume 1 of the series, then you'll know that Jack Burton's antics while travelling the Midnight Road weren't without consequence - he pissed off some powerful individuals, some of whom want payback.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the recently resurrected supernatural entity Lo Pan, butt-hurt and angry due to his marriage plans going tits-up and subsequently being sent by Jack to The Hell of Those Killed by Idiots, is itching for some mystical-style vengeance. Jack's best option is to go on the run with his friend Wang.

Egg Shen, the wily old magician who accompanied Jack on his previous adventure, travels elsewhere, putting into action a plan that reveals itself eventually. But before that we get some entertaining road-movie-esque action as the two parties encounter different kinds of enemies and face different kinds of challenges.

There's more comedy this time, which made me enjoy it less than Volume 1 during my first read through. But with adjusted expectations I enjoyed the second reading a lot more.

The notable absence that I referred to previously, in Volume 1, is attended to, explaining why the person in question wasn't at the big event. Was it a case of author Eric Powell retroactively fixing an oversight, or was he laying the foundations of some future plot? I hope it's the latter.

Volume 2 collects together Big Trouble in Little China issues 5-8.

 Individual covers. Click for FULL size: