The Royal Tramp Collection
The Royal Tramp & The Royal Tramp 2
1992
Directed & Written by Wong Jing
Adapted from the novel by Louis Cha
Starring Stephen Chow, Cheung Man, Ng Man-Tat, Nat Chan, Sandra Ng, Chingmy Yau, Brigitte Lin, Elvis Tsui
Dragon Dynasty
Available February 12, 2008

Political strife is dividing the current reign of China during the Ching Dynasty, as the Emperor believes that one of his top advisors Obai is planning to kill him, and the Society Of Heaven And Earth is plotting to overthrown the government and return power to the Ming Dynasty. Enter Wei Siu Bo (Stephen Chow), a charismatic and manic con man with no allegiance save to himself who has no martial art skills but has a mastery over wordplay. By fate and perchance, Bo is swept up by Heaven And Earth to infiltrate the palace and steal a book that contains the secrets which will allow the anti-government society to defeat the Emperor. Instead, Bo becomes friends with the Emperor and his sister. As secret attacks and double crosses plague the palace, Bo is able to take advantage of one situation after another to gain the confidence of the Emperor and uses his wit and dumb luck to maneuver out of one deadly situation after another. But he is unaware that there is yet another plot underway to take over rule of China, and that the saga of the Royal Tramp could be over just as quickly as it started!

Filmed back to back in 1992 by the highly prolific director Wong Jing, Royal Tramp and Royal Tramp 2 take their inspiration from the wildly popular serial story “The Duke Of Deer Mountain” that appeared in a Hong Kong newspaper, from which Wong Jing also wrote the screenplays. At the head of this incredible comedy and spoof on period dramas and wuxia martial arts epics is Stephen Chow, who has had his unique comedic style tailor woven into the scripts.

Hunter-Killer Vol. 1 TPB
Written by Mark Waid
Pencils and Art by Marc Silvestri, Eric Basaldua, Kenneth Rocafort
Inks by Joe Weems, Matt ‘Batt’ Banning, Rick Basaldua, Studio F
Colors by Steve Firchow, John Starr, Chad Fidler, Blond, Tyson Wengler
Letters by Robin Spehar, Troy Peteri
Top Cow Productions
Cover price: $24.99; On-sale: Feb. 13, 2008

What if you were told the Cold War was not fought over nuclear weapons, but over the control of ultra-sapiens — humans genetically engineered to be weapons and traded like stock between nations. What if you were told these ultra-sapiens got a little too aware of the power they held, struck back at their controllers, and now are either in hiding or have farmed themselves out to the highest bidder? And what if you were told the entire world as you know it is a complete fabrication, a complex series of lies and cover ups to hide the real truth of the matter — that one man, known only as the Czar Obscura, runs the entire planet out of a secretly surrendered White House?

This is the world that Ellis has his eyes opened up to when a secret operative known as Hunter-Killer, an organization that seeks out rogue ultra-sapiens to either rope them back in under some control or terminate with extreme prejudice, set their targets on him. Ellis, who is an ultra-sapien with the power to mimic any powers in his range and who happens to have every single known ultra-sapiens data hardcoded into his DNA, is just the tool the Hunter-Killers have been looking for to put the operation into overdrive!

As Ellis is becomes begrudgingly acclimated into the Hunter-Killers, he learns more and more about the organization, their harsh tactics, and the mysterious Morningstar who oversees everything. He also finds himself constantly being attacked by Morningstar’s supposed enemies who believe that he is in fact the villain. What is very clear from the start for Ellis though, is that absolutely no one is to be trusted, and that a cloud of unease is forming over his head as he realizes that he may be nothing more than a pawn to be manipulated.

Fatal Contact (2006)
Directed and Written by Dennis Law
Produced by Dennis Law and Herman Yau
Action Coordination by Nicky Li
Starring Jacky Wu Jing, Ronald Cheng, Miki Yeung, Theresa Fu, Cheung Siu-Fai, Lam Suet
Dragon Dynasty
Available Jan. 22, 2008

Naive mainlander Kong, who is currently in Hong Kong making some extra money as a Peking Opera actor, is offered a lucrative deal by the local triad to fight in an illegal martial arts competition. Although Kong resists at first, he takes the opportunity after being convinced by Tin, one of his fellow performers that he secretly has a crush on. His first fight is a one-kick success, and he soon becomes indoctrinated into the gang, in the process making friends with one of the younger underlings, Captain, whose goofy persona is more than meets the eye.

With each successful bout, Kong gains more recognition as he defeats the tougher combatants in Hong Kong, while his new boss falls under the scrutinizing watch of a rival gangster who also deals in gambling and underground fights. These two triad bosses start exponentially increasing their wages in the fights, with Kong caught in the middle and unaware of just how deep he has gotten himself. He soon learns just how far down he’s gone though, when he becomes one of six martial artists in a three-on-three “Street Fighter rules” competition that could very well end his life!

Jacky Wu Jing, who was first discovered by Yuen Wo-Ping and turned into a martial arts star in 1996 in Tai Chi 2, stars as Kong. With his sincere smile and a devastating mastery of martial arts, Wu Jing does an incredible job with bringing the duality of his character to the screen. Wu Jing has been studying martial arts since he was six, when he first enrolled at the Beijing Wushu Academy, and that comes across with every bone-crushing blow and lightening-fast defensive move. What is equally impressive about Wu Jing is that when he is not fighting he can give an emotional and convincing performance which carries the story, rather than just being filler in between action sequences.

The Killer Snakes (1974)
Directed by Kwei Chih-Hung
Produced by Runme Shaw
Written by Ni Kuang
Starring Kam Kwok-Leung, Maggie Lee, Chan Chun, Got Dik-Wa, Chow Gat
Available Dec. 4, 2007

Poor Zhihong has spent his entire life being beat up and humiliated, and now lives in squalor in one of Hong Kong’s rundown neighborhoods. His only true friend is Xiujuan, a young woman who runs a street vendor stall. Zhihong is too shy to ask her out, and unbeknownst to him, she is equally too shy to ask him out. One night, a wounded snake from a delicacy restaurant next door, slithers into Zhihong’s apartment. Zhihong nurses the snake back to health, and realizes that he has an almost telepathic connection to the snake. He soon rescues more snakes from certain death in the restaurant, and builds up an army of reptilian friends to confide in.

One day, while delivering food for his new job, a street gang attacks Zhihong and steals his monthly wages. His boss doesn’t believe Zhihong’s story and fires him. And on top of that, Zhihong is stood up by Xiujuan, whom he had asked out just hours before. He finally decides to get back at all those who have humiliated and beaten him, and sets out with his snakes in tow to kill them all! Soon, gang members and prostitutes are falling dead left and right, but how long will it take for the authorities to track the slayings back to Zhihong?

Though the name Shaw Brothers is synonymous with martial arts, the highly productive production company has created dozens of pictures in every genre imaginable, including sleazy horror exploitation during the seventies. Director Kwei Chih-Hung, who had previously dealt with several violent crime thrillers and created the women-in-prison classic Bamboo House Of Dolls, is no stranger to drenching the screen in grimy sleaze and shocking sequences to titillate audiences looking for more and more extreme cinema.

Ghost Stories
Volume Two Of The Essex Country Trilogy
Written and Drawn by Jeff Lemire
Top Shelf Productions
Cover Price $14.95; Available Now

Present-day life for withering-away Lou Lebeuf has become too confusing for him as he deals with his fading memory and inability to hear. At any moment, a distant name, an image, or a location could send him spiraling back across a life that has spanned eight decades. At other times, he forces the triggering of these memories, as he tries to relive his life one last time before it is gone forever. Lou’s most often returned to moment in time, and the one that he keeps safely secure in a scrapbook, is his time playing with the Toronto Grizzlies, a now-defunct semiprofessional hockey team, alongside his brother Vince. For that one brief season, nothing was impossible, and his dreams of playing for the NHL were closer than ever.

But then with one lapse in judgment, followed by a blown-out knee that would end his career, Lou finds himself isolated and seemingly forced down a predetermined path of mediocrity as the city of Toronto engulfs him. Lou’s elderly memory slips back to these gloomy times as well, recalling the early pains of his deteriorating health, his monotonous but fulfilling job driving a streetcar, and how he finally had to return to the family farm and face his brother once again for the first time in 25 years, unaware at the time that even though it was painful to see Vince again, the most painful experiences had yet to come.

Artist and writer Jeff Lemire returns again to his fictonalized Canadian hometown of Essex County for the second volume of his planned interconnected trilogy. While his first volume, Tales From The Farm, dealt with a single year in the life of a young boy, Lemire’s much more ambitious and solemn Ghost Stories chronicles an entire life in regretful hindsight.