Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings #1
- Writer
- Gene Luen Yang
- Artist
- Marcus To
- Letterer
- VC’s Travis Lanham
- Cover Artist
- Dike Ruan, Matthew Wilson
- Publisher
- Marvel
- Price
- $3.99
- Release Date
- 2022-07-20
- Colorist
- Erick Arciniega
With great power comes great responsibility, and Shang-Chi has a major responsibility to uphold. Between atoning for his family and his father Zheng Fu’s violent legacy, turning the Five Weapons Society into a force for good, and carefully wielding the all-powerful Ten Rings, Shang-Chi has a lot on his hands — quite literally. The rings seem to operate of their own will, and all they want is to destroy their enemies and to cling to the arms of a host, preferably Shang-Chi’s.
Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings #1, written by Gene Luen Yang, with art by Marcus To, colors by Erick Arciniega, and letters by VC’s Travis Lanham, explores young Shang-Chi’s new role as the protector of the Ten Rings and Supreme Commander of the Five Weapons Society. Shang-Chi fears the Rings for their potential to corrupt their user, as he suspects they had done with his father before him. He may have to overcome those fears sooner than he thinks when an inside source within the Society has put the Rings up for auction, and every villainous organization has come to collect.
Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings #1 wastes absolutely no time in starting the narrative, immediately establishing the unpredictable and dangerous nature of the Rings and Shang-Chi’s frustration and fear towards them, with just enough exposition to bring new readers up to speed. There’s an efficiency in the writing that makes this issue a smooth read. Even Shang-Chi’s interior monologue — enhanced by his distinct serious yet witty and laconic speech patterns — feels perfectly placed, setting the tone of the issue. The high stakes of this series are made clear by the explosive and glorious ending.
Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings #1 boasts some of the best fight choreography in the Marvel canon. While there are quiet moments, there’s an undercurrent of tension in every panel. Even slower scenes, such as Shang-Chi’s attempts to return the Rings to Ta Lo in the mountains, or his ill-fated date with Delilah, have a feverish quality. Considering the amount of stress Shang-Chi is under, fearing the corruptive influence of the Ten Rings and their allure to gangsters, ninjas, and terrorists alike, this works to this comic’s advantage.
Shang-Chi’s abject fear about the Rings and their potential to drive their human host to evil weighs heavily on him as he mulls over the fate of his supposedly evil father. The story has great payoff at the end, when Shang-Chi has no choice but to heed Master Ling’s advice — and his own intuition — and use the Rings to initiate one of the best curb stomp battles in recent comics. From midway through the issue onward, Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings #1 is packed with back-to-back fights, pitting Shang-Chi against evil organizations ranging from the Hand and A.I.M. to the Inner Demons. Yet these battles don’t feel crowded, cluttered, or chaotic. The fights flow into each other beautifully, demonstrating Shang-Chi’s competence. Betrayal, backstabbing, and the appearance of Lady Iron Fan aside, it’s a real treat to see Shang-Chi hold his own as a one-man army against so many adversaries even before he utilizes the Rings and assumes an ominously formidable yet totally cool demeanor.
Artist Marcus To lends a distinct but familiarly Marvel-esque style to the visuals for this issue. The line art is thick and bold yet softened at the edges with an almost chalk-like or painterly texture. This is especially evident in the fight scenes, which have broad, bold painted strokes, and the environments. The characters look phenomenal in this art style, especially Shang-Chi himself in the climactic fight scenes, which similarly show fantastic composition and panel flow. However, the thick line weight sometimes works against the composition, as backgrounds are just as thick and boldly rendered as the foreground, creating a confusing textural cohesiveness.
Equal parts witty, tense, and terrifying, Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings #1 is a formidable start to a series, perfectly summing up Shang-Chi’s character, his potential development arc, and his plight as a repentant hero with a tall order to resist power and corruption. From the events of this issue, it seems he is up to the task.