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The Four Constables/Four Warriors #3
The Four Constables, Volume 3
The Master Zhuge has deciphered the identitly of the one leading the 13 Masked Men. But knowing is something far from defeating. Also we learn what has happened to the lightfooted Life Snatcher!
- GenresManga
143 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Tony Wong
293 books124 followersFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wong_Yuk...
Tony Wong Yuk-Long (Wong Jan-Lung), is a Hong Kong based Manhua artist, publisher and actor who wrote and created Little Rascals (later re-titled Oriental Heroes) and Weapons of the Gods. He also wrote adaptations of Louis Cha's (a.k.a. Jin Yong) Wuxia novels such as The Return of the Condor Heroes (retitled as Legendary Couples), Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, and Ode to Gallantry. For his contribution and influencing a generation of artists in the local industry, he is regarded as the "Godfather of Hong Kong comics" or "Hong Kong's King of Comics".
He provided the art for Batman: Hong Kong, which was written by Doug Moench. He has also acted in some films occasionally, including making a cameo appearance in Dragon Tiger Gate (a film adaptation of Oriental Heroes).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wong_Yuk...
Tony Wong Yuk-Long (Wong Jan-Lung), is a Hong Kong based Manhua artist, publisher and actor who wrote and created Little Rascals (later re-titled Oriental Heroes) and Weapons of the Gods. He also wrote adaptations of Louis Cha's (a.k.a. Jin Yong) Wuxia novels such as The Return of the Condor Heroes (retitled as Legendary Couples), Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, and Ode to Gallantry. For his contribution and influencing a generation of artists in the local industry, he is regarded as the "Godfather of Hong Kong comics" or "Hong Kong's King of Comics".
He provided the art for Batman: Hong Kong, which was written by Doug Moench. He has also acted in some films occasionally, including making a cameo appearance in Dragon Tiger Gate (a film adaptation of Oriental Heroes).
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 19, 2019
The Epic Kung-Fu Whodunit continues and again keep your wits about you and the other volumes on hand because this is super involved and plot heavy.
Life Snatcher is imprisoned by two more of the 13 assassins: cleanliness freak, Blood Phoenix - Lian Du and her lover Prince Ximen. Love Life Snatcher as a character and his fight sequences with Blood Phoenix are highly entertaining because she's such a quirky villain. We also briefly encounter the 13th mask, lecherous Earthwalker Bugang sun.
Duke Wu isn't quite dead as assumed last volume - Zhuge is able to keep him alive by infusing him with Chi until they can get him to the Imperial doctor who is currently too occupied to come. How convenient! What it does however is effectively take Zhuge out of the picture and detain top constable Emotionless who has to protect him.
Iron Hands spends the majority of the volume facing off against Sima Huang Feng - a completely psychotic martial artist who's one goal in life is to die a glorious death at the hands of a superior rival. We get a brilliant flashback into Sima's backstory where his entire caravan is butchered by bandits but rather than being appalled, Sima joins in by killing off the survivors, including his own father. He later kills his martial arts master.
Cold Blooded faces off against Baiyu Zhou - Head of North City one of the Four noble houses. We had hint of this in the last volume with the Tang family. As if 13 masked assassins wasn't enough, there are 4 noble houses (North, South, East and West) vying for power and martial arts supremacy - 2 years ago Cold Blooded defeated & humiliated Zhou who has been in constant training for two years preparing for a rematch. Sadly Cold Blooded who was nearly killed last volume in his match with Ghost Gate Master & Returning Spirit Sword is far from peak condition and it shows! He looses and Zhou goes on to be challenged by the head of the South Clan - and we leave the two houses battling it out.
Emotionless re-encounters Yan and we get a sweet romantic interlude with the star crossed lovers knowing that next time they meet they are going to try and kill each other. We also get Yan's back story and how she became Bronze Mask and was forced into working for the enemy.
So other than the identity of the power behind the 13 masks (and my money is still on Cai), we've now met all the major players. As well as the 13 masked assassins and the heads of the four houses (and a few minor bandits and random rapists) we are also introduced to the Duke's villainous son Ahn Hou-Zhen (apparently dead) - I mention him because he has such a pivotal role in the movies - An Shigeng (the major villain of The Four and his defeat the motivation for the villain of the two sequels)
That's an awful lot of villains for such a seemingly slim manga! So kudos to this for making every single character interesting both visually and in their particular quirks. Despite such a huge cast I've never been confused over who's who or what side they are on.
I like the structure of this volume - we follow each of the major characters in turn and get a fight scene all leading towards the upcoming major show down. Highlights are the back story of Sima, Emotionless/Yan's romance and Life Snatcher's battle with blood Phoenix. The art is stunning and the fight sequences are vibrant and kinetic. The series is very heavy on plot and has a massive cast list but it is worth sticking with it because the story is strong and intriguing and the characters are larger than life.
Life Snatcher is imprisoned by two more of the 13 assassins: cleanliness freak, Blood Phoenix - Lian Du and her lover Prince Ximen. Love Life Snatcher as a character and his fight sequences with Blood Phoenix are highly entertaining because she's such a quirky villain. We also briefly encounter the 13th mask, lecherous Earthwalker Bugang sun.
Duke Wu isn't quite dead as assumed last volume - Zhuge is able to keep him alive by infusing him with Chi until they can get him to the Imperial doctor who is currently too occupied to come. How convenient! What it does however is effectively take Zhuge out of the picture and detain top constable Emotionless who has to protect him.
Iron Hands spends the majority of the volume facing off against Sima Huang Feng - a completely psychotic martial artist who's one goal in life is to die a glorious death at the hands of a superior rival. We get a brilliant flashback into Sima's backstory where his entire caravan is butchered by bandits but rather than being appalled, Sima joins in by killing off the survivors, including his own father. He later kills his martial arts master.
Cold Blooded faces off against Baiyu Zhou - Head of North City one of the Four noble houses. We had hint of this in the last volume with the Tang family. As if 13 masked assassins wasn't enough, there are 4 noble houses (North, South, East and West) vying for power and martial arts supremacy - 2 years ago Cold Blooded defeated & humiliated Zhou who has been in constant training for two years preparing for a rematch. Sadly Cold Blooded who was nearly killed last volume in his match with Ghost Gate Master & Returning Spirit Sword is far from peak condition and it shows! He looses and Zhou goes on to be challenged by the head of the South Clan - and we leave the two houses battling it out.
Emotionless re-encounters Yan and we get a sweet romantic interlude with the star crossed lovers knowing that next time they meet they are going to try and kill each other. We also get Yan's back story and how she became Bronze Mask and was forced into working for the enemy.
So other than the identity of the power behind the 13 masks (and my money is still on Cai), we've now met all the major players. As well as the 13 masked assassins and the heads of the four houses (and a few minor bandits and random rapists) we are also introduced to the Duke's villainous son Ahn Hou-Zhen (apparently dead) - I mention him because he has such a pivotal role in the movies - An Shigeng (the major villain of The Four and his defeat the motivation for the villain of the two sequels)
That's an awful lot of villains for such a seemingly slim manga! So kudos to this for making every single character interesting both visually and in their particular quirks. Despite such a huge cast I've never been confused over who's who or what side they are on.
I like the structure of this volume - we follow each of the major characters in turn and get a fight scene all leading towards the upcoming major show down. Highlights are the back story of Sima, Emotionless/Yan's romance and Life Snatcher's battle with blood Phoenix. The art is stunning and the fight sequences are vibrant and kinetic. The series is very heavy on plot and has a massive cast list but it is worth sticking with it because the story is strong and intriguing and the characters are larger than life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review