The Big Trouble in Little China Comic Series Strikes a Different Tone Than the Film
In our second episode, which was released this Thursday, we decided to review the cult classic Big Trouble in Little China. All four of us lamented that this film never received the sequel it deserved, yet we forgot to mention that a sequel does in fact exist, just not in celluloid form. A comic series was released last year that begins right where the film left off, with Jack driving away in the Ol’ Pork Chop Express.
This is not a new thing. Comics have served as a continuation point for many films and TV series such as Fight Club and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Since we paid so much attention to the film, it seemed only fitting for me to do a review of the comic.
Big Trouble in Little China works great for those super fans of the film who were left wanting more. The series is co-written by John Carpenter, so it certainly qualifies as canon.
If you felt the film didn’t do a good enough job explaining Jack Burton as a character, this comic series delivers in spades. Much of the action in the comic is intercut with backstory from Jack’s past. Anytime Jack tries to tell one of his classic anecdotes, it’s immediately followed by a flashback, and wouldn’t you know it, they never happen exactly the way he remembers them. The series also answers some fans may have been yearning to know, like what happens to the Wing Kong, do Wang and Miao Yin live happily ever after, and how does Jack escape that snaggletoothed ape demon?
That’s not to say there aren’t some places the comic misses the mark. Without giving away too many spoilers, the comic begins with Jack being sent on a mission to save his friend Wang. This, unfortunately, changes the relationship between the two that was introduced to us in the film. It ends up effectively changing Jack from the sidekick who thinks he’s a hero to that of a hero who’s just totally inept. It’s a change that may irk some fans of the film.
Then there’s the shift in tone, more specifically in regards to the dialogue. Big Trouble in Little China has always been known for its somewhat corny sense of humor, but the comic series often times finds itself descending into the Hell of Sophomoric Jocularity.
For example, here’s an excerpt:
Jack: We’ve come for Wang!
Villain: You’ve come for what?
Jack: Wang!
Villain: Sounds like you want wang really badly.
Don’t get me wrong, I get a good chuckle out of dick and fart jokes as the next person, but this type of humor seems out of place in the world the film created and the whole series is laced with them.
We may never have gotten our sequel to Big Trouble in Little China, but the comic does sate our desire to see where a second film would have gone, even if the tone can be more childish at times.