Big Trouble in Little China: Volume 3 (2016)

Jack Burton in the Hell of No Return (2016)

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

"It's all trouble from here."

Volume 3 is functional and purposeful, but not what I'd class as memorable and a lot of the time it even felt like the BTiLC spark of fun was missing from it.

With regards what I mean by the functional side of things, it's constructed precisely so that it takes four issues, (i.e. the TPB page count) for Jack to advance to the next part of his adventure, like a successful step in an ongoing narrative ought to do. In that respect it's kind of like a self-contained short story, but it also feels like a stop gap for the series, slowing it down too much.

With regards the purposeful side, the most successful aspect is in how it subverts expectations for comedic effect. much like it does with the hero genre, having Jack be a hapless fool but remain unaware of it. The Chinese Hells are at times the direct opposite of what most readers will be accustomed to from other media.

It continues to play upon the comedy elements within the fiery vendetta that Lo Pan has against underdog Jack, too, while both men are stuck in the same Hell. But I feel it takes the joke a little too far, lessening the viciousness of Lo Pan, presenting him as too much of a comedy chump.

Volume 3 collects together Big Trouble in Little China issues 9-12.

 Individual covers. Click for FULL size: