Title: Canton Kid 1-3

Creator(s): La Morris Richmond (writer) Larry Chy (Artist)

Publisher: BAM! Comics

Format: Print (black and white)

Price: $3.50 per issue

Pitch: '70s inspired superhero continuity, minus the funky.

Most mainstream super-heroes are of, or at least are descendants of, the WWII era. Later characters that were created (or absorbed joined the universe/continuity of these original Nazi-fighting patriots.

Canton Kid is what you get when you take all the '70 s TV shows and Hong Kong action movies that were on in the middle of the afternoon in the late eighties and build a superhero universe around them.

Writer La Morris Richmond confidently spins the tale of a Chinese American carrying on the family tradition of using martial arts mastery to defend John Q. Public from the forces of evil. In this first story, evil comes in the form of ancient vampiric hounds springing from a Field Museum exhibit. No mere karate chop could take down such formidable adversaries. And so The Canton Kid, his brother Dragon, and a whole slew of their relatives must channel their chi (life force). Their collective chi gives the warriors a variety of abilities (techniques) including super-human vigor and access to the fighting skills of their ancestors.

Canton Kid is an exuberant read. La Morris's style is reminiscent of a Chuck Dixon story: fast-paced narrative moves the story along in such a way that the exposition feels more like winding up than slowing down.

The writing would have surely been lost if not for the superb storytelling technique of artist Larry Chy. Mr. Chy accomplishes this blend by seamlessly incorporating the best of both American comics and manga.

Chy matches La Morris' storytelling with his draftsmanship. Every page is filled with detail and beautifully utilizing hatching—an artist's technique of creating dense criss-crossing lines—for shade. Every character is drawn consistently and true to their ethnicity. (Read my comic MENTAL to see how badly Asian people can be drawn.)

At $3.50 a pop, Canton Kid is pricier than even most mainstream books to which La Morris alluded when he said, "I did it out of greed!" and then went on to explain the less cynical realities of independent publishing. But I think the quality put out by the joint creators is worth the hefty price tag.