Giant-Size Kung Fu Bible Stories is just as unpredictable as it seems; trust me on this. I for one had absolutely zero idea what I was getting into with this one. And if you have any educated guesses based on that wild title or cover rest assured that they’re probably off base too. But at the end of the day this is a book that I’m supremely glad I let surprise me, because this is a real doozy of a collection. But enough vagueness, what exactly is Giant-Size Kung Fu Bible Stories? Is it worth your hard earned greenbacks? Find out after the cut.
First up is Bruce Timm’s short story “Secret Crisis on Ultimate Earth”, which is a great way to open any book really. Bruce Timm cranking out new work in 2014 is a blessing, but this isn’t just some sketch pages. Bruce lays out a parody of essentially every comics event ever in 8 pages, and it’s an absolute riot. If nothing else; this is the story that sells this collection
But we also get another a ton of other great content.
An Adam Warren Empowered reprint follows Timm’s raucous offering, but it’s nothing to really write home about. Though the art is still fantastic and the writing fun; it just feels weird for a reprint to be in this book. Ryan Ottley, the artist for Invincible, brings the collection right back on track with his story “Snowman Slaughter”. I don’t want to give too much about this one away but the title does give you enough to guess that Ottley’s art gets wild before the story ends.
The longest story in the entire collection is Erik Larsen’s. A charming homage to the comics of Jack Kirby, Larsen creates an entire pseudo-New God of his own in 20 short pages. As the largest story in the collection, it’s hard not to focus on this offering. But it really does warrant that much focus, as it frames the entire collection as a self-referential love letter to how downright big comics can feel. The next story really hammers that sense of scale; Tom Scioli’s Secret Prison is non-stop massive art. Coupled with the oversized print of this collection and you’ll really get what this collection is about.
Andy Kuhn and Bill Crabtree wrap up narrative duty on this treasury with Frankenstein of Mars; which betrays your expec
tations by being exactly what the title implies. A fun romp with killer execution. Lastly the book has 4 absolutely killer one page spreads by Arthur Adams. They don’t feel necessary but they sure as hell look gorgeous, and are another great example of the raw scale
At the end of the day this is a real fun collection. Definitely a collection for the comics aficionado rather than something you should be showing off to your friends just getting into comics. But for people like us, who’ve read our body weight in comics if not more, it’s always nice to be reminded how downright massive a comic can feel.
