As the series winds down, it’s regular artists leave and then Doug Moench, who has been shepherding the character for over 5 years, leaves as well–allowing a new writer to close it all out. That’s disappointing.
Fu Manchu has gradually turned into a supernatural character, a sort of vampire who is able to halt the aging process using the blood of his children. A decent storyline that ends with Gene Day leaving the comic and Fu Manchu dead.
At the hands of Chi.
Doug Moench then does a light, silly, one-issue fill-in with Marc Silvestri before he, too, leaves the book. The book then flounders around with very talented folks like writer Steven Grant and artists David Mazzucchelli and William Johnson illustrating what appear to be inventory scripts by Moench.
And that all makes sense because really, the saga ends with Shang Chi finally killing his father, who had tormented him from his very first appearance.
To his credit, Alan Zelenetz does service to the character by making the final arc about Shang Chi coming to terms with what he has done. And finding atonement.
It’s actually a suitable ending for this book, even if it’s not by the series’ most eminent creators.