by Kagan McLeod

Top Shelf Productions, $24.95, 463 pages

Wow!  Kagan McLeod’s Infinite Kung Fu is AMAZING!  Infinite Kung Fu possesses all of the wonderful insane spirit of the classic Chinese Kung Fu movies.  The plot is completely indescribable.  Our hero is Yang Lei Kung, a young soldier, who finds himself the student of one of the Immortals, a servant of heaven.  Lei Kung is trained by the Immortal to defeat the Emperor of the Martial World, who seeks to destroy all life.  The Emperor is served by evil practitioners of Poison Kung Fu, who were themselves also students of the Eight Immortals before they fell.  Lei Kung is not without allies though, he befriends the awesome Moog Joogular (a cross between Black Moses-era Issac Hayes, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from Bruce Lee’s Game of Death), a musician who travelled the world in search of Funk, a deadly Bootsy Collins.  Together they travel across the ruined landscape battling the servants of the forbidden Poison Kung Fu, and zombies…That’s when my brain exploded.

There is joyful abandon here.  The black and white comic is incomprehensible when it’s read through eyes accustomed to standard superhero fare.  Kung Fu movies have motivations and logic that are entirely different than western action films. Infinite Kung Fu has embraced the unique traits of the classic 1960s and 70s Hong Kong Kung Fu films, and then it adds a layer of awesome.

McLeod’s art is full of kinetic energy, his pencil and ink work is emotive, at 463 pages it’s a weighty tome, but it’s nearly impossible to put down.  Top Shelf’s production is first rate, the pages are thick, the stock shows off the art, and the binding held up to plenty of abuse.  If you’ve ever enjoyed a Saturday afternoon Kung Fu flick, you will love this graphic novel.  Kagan McLeod’s Infinite Kung Fu is superior!

Reviewed by Brad Wright