Taking a Bath used to be Relaxing

 

cover art by Paul Galucy

 A few years ago, we looked at an issue of Master of Kung Fu in which we learned that Shang Chi can't even have a quiet lunch without someone trying to kill him.

In MoKF #55 (August 1977), we learn that poor Shang can't even take a relaxing bath without being stalked by assassins.

He easily takes out the bad guys and finds out they were sent by someone named Han Sung.

For Shang Chi, this is a blast from the past. He knew Han Sung when he was a teenager--still being trained by his father Fu Manchu. He thought of Han as a friend and, in fact, Han trusted him enough to reveal that he (Han Sung) was spying on Fu Manchu to learn about the arch-villain's immortality serum. At some point Han Sung disappeared and Shang always thought he had left voluntarily. 

Shang Chi assumes Han Sung things Shang is still working for his father, so he begins to track him down. This means--of course--that he gets into some more fights along the way.

When he does find Han Sung, he discovers that Han didn't run from Fu Manchu's organization. Instead, he was experimented on by Fu--artificially aged during Fu's experiments to perfect his immortality serum. Now Han has stolen a sample of that serum, intending to drink it as soon as he makes sure he's not going to be assassinated soon afterwards. That's why he's tying up perceived loose ends like Shang Chi.

Shang, though, knows that Fu Manchu has conditioned himself to use the serum. Anyone else using it will be killed. He tries to convince Han Sung of this. Predictably, Han refuses to accept this, drinks the serum and... well, it turns out he did not choose wisely.

The story was co-plotted by Doug Moench and Archie Goodwin, with Moench writing the script. The art is by Mike Zeck. It's a filler issue in the midst of the excellent multi-part spy/martial arts stories we usually found in the series. But it's a good, solid filler issue. Yes, Han Sung's fate is predictable, but the story flows along logically and the fight scenes are pretty cool. 

Next week, Bugs Bunny finds a genie, which leads to nothing but trouble.