Gun Fu

by Howard M. Shum

The year is 1936, and Cheng Bo Sen -- a Hong Kong cop -- is enlisted as a secret agent by the English to help fight the Nazis. He also speaks hip-hop, which no one seems to notice.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 24, 2005

Reviews

[Edgard Aedo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the honor of meeting Howard Shum at a DeviantArt meetup in 2019, where he gave me a copy of Issue #3 of his comic book Gun Fu. I recently tracked down a copy of the trade paperback and got to enjoy the entire story.

This 1930's pulp adventure tale is pure escapist fun. If Jet Li were to star in an Indiana Jones movie, it would look something like this. Cheng Bo Sen, a Hong Kong cop who speaks in hip-hop (which no one seems to notice) makes for one memorable protagonist, whether he is taking on the Triads or the Third Reich. The character designs and visuals are simple but very expressive, reminiscent of early Cartoon Network productions.

If you are a fan of John Woo, Indiana Jones, or James Bond movies, I wholeheartedly recommend Gun Fu!

[Ryan McArthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good, and the ending is unexpected in this kind of genre. The scientist making his insinuations about the "sponkeys" make me laugh out loud on more than one occasion.
However I found the main character's dialog a bit jarring, speaking modern street slang in the 30's.