Review by Ian Keogh

John Carpenter’s martial arts comedy Big Trouble in Little China wasn’t a successful movie when first released, but an early example of the video market re-evaluating an enjoyable film and according it cult classic status. It concerns idiot truck driver Jack Burton helping rescue his mate’s fiancé who’d been abducted by a sorcerer.

Whether Carpenter envisaged a sequel in 1986 or it’s something he’s worked out since isn’t revealed, but his collaboration with Eric Powell and artist Brian Churilla certainly embodies the film’s madcap spirit. They pick up with the movie’s dangling cliffhanger of the monstrous Wild Man stowing away on Jack’s truck, and Jack deciding he’s best in the care of Wang and Egg in San Francisco. It’s as credible a reason as any for Jack returning to the scene of the crime, so to speak, where he learns the Wild Man is now magically bonded to him. Unless someone kills him, that is.

This is a twelve chapter epic, in this format continued in The Return of Lo Pan & How Jack Burton Became King of the Lords of Death, so settle in, fire up the CB and let Jack take you on a ride in his truck.

Powell provides the dialogue, and captures Jack’s character well with the stream of outrageous stories, quick on the draw quips and tales of his succession of poor marriages, and sets up a series of outrageous encounters as Jack and Egg have to complete a quest.

What prevents Big Trouble in Little China from matching the quality of the film is Brian Churilla’s undistinctive cartooning. It gets the job done and you can just about recognise a caricatured Kurt Russell in the role of Jack, but given the exotic ingredients the pages could look so much better. They feature the regular distortion of heads too large for the body, foreshortening issues and very little background detail, although Churilla’s ninja apes are a highlight.

All three volumes of Carpenter and Powell’s movie continuation were later combined as Big Trouble in Little China: The Legacy Edition Book One.