Appearances
Featured Characters:
- Cloak
- Dagger
- Daredevil (Matt Murdock)
- Heroes for Hire
- Iron Fist (Danny Rand)
- Power Man (Luke Cage)
- Moon Knight (Marc Spector)
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
Supporting Characters:
- Avengers
- Maximilian Pride
- Shang-Chi
- Tiger's Claw
- Linda Fong
- Wu Fong
- Unnamed members
- Kongers
- Tak/The Bomber of C-Town
Antagonists:
- Dragonlords
- White Dragon
- Unnamed members
- Faces of Fear
- The Batboys
- Deathlok Simulacrum FIX-MEN-01
- Fixer
- Hemlock the Clown (robot)
- Mentallo
- Mister Fear (Referenced)
- Robot Chinese ticket seller
- Robot Dancing Serpents
- Robot Dr. Frankenstein
- Robot English archaeologist
- Robot female vampire
- Robot Frankenstein's Monster
- Robot mechanical clowns
- Robot mummy
- Robot old man werewolf
- Robot werewolf
- Ten robot skeletons
- Two robot grave robbers
- Two robot party children
- Two robot vampire slayers
- Unnamed Faces of Fear members
- Maggia
- Beetle
- Blizzard
- Bruno
- Chemist
- Three Dreadnoughts
- Constrictor
- Hammerhead
- Killer Shrike
- Nefaria family (Mentioned)
- Whitney Frost (Referenced)
- Silvermane family (Mentioned)
- Silvio Manfredi (Referenced)
- Unnamed members, thugs and technicians
- Si Fan
- Fu Manchu/The Celestial One
- Fu's skeletal ghosts
- Hsih Feng
- Lee Min
- Lee's Siamese cat
- Silver Samurai
- Warriors of the Imperial Dawn
- Fu Manchu/The Celestial One
Other Characters:
- Marlene Alraune (Referenced)
- Dr. Peter Alraune (Referenced)
- Android Human Torch (Referenced)
- Avengers West Coast (Referenced)
- Dr. Noah Berstein (Referenced)
- Donald Blake (Referenced)
- Brand Corporation (Referenced)
- Bucky (Referenced)
- Buddha
- The burglar who killed Uncle Ben (Referenced)
- Ronald Bushman (Referenced)
- Captain Mar-Vell (Referenced)
- Celestials (Referenced)
- Douglas Chin
- CIA
- Reva Connors (Referenced)
- Oliver Crumb
- Kathy Dare (Referenced)
- Original Deathlok robot built by Harlan Ryker in Earth-74924 (Referenced)
- Doctor Doom (Referenced)
- Elektra (Referenced)
- Dr. Abraham Erskine (Referenced)
- Eternals (Referenced)
- Titanian Eternals (Referenced)
- Alars (Referenced)
- Sui-San (Referenced)
- Thanos (Referenced)
- Titanian Eternals (Referenced)
- Fah Lo Suee
- Fantastic Four (Referenced)
- Force (Referenced)
- From another timeline (Referenced):
- Luther Manning (original Deathlok) (Referenced)
- Major Simon Ryker (Referenced)
- Project Alpha-Mech (Referenced)
- Harlan Ryker (Referenced)
- Godwulf (Referenced)
- Frost Giants (Referenced)
- Galactus (Referenced)
- The guard who sabotaged Bernstein's experiment (Referenced)
- Guardsmen (from the Vault) (Referenced)
- Justin Hammer (Referenced)
- Dr. Jonas Harrow (Referenced)
- Harry the Met's watchman
- HYDRA (Referenced)
- Bartholomew Jacobs (Ghost, soul or spirit)
- Jord/Gaea (Referenced)
- Khonshu
- Kingpin of Crime (Referenced)
- Bruce Lee (Photo)
- Magneto (Referenced)
- Simon Marshall (Referenced)
- Eric Masterson (Referenced)
- Harold Meachum (Referenced)
- MI-6 (Referenced)
- Sir Denis Nayland Smith (Referenced)
- Jack Murdock (Referenced)
- Nazi (Referenced)
- Franklin "Foggy" Nelson (Referenced)
- New York City Fire Department
- New York City Police Department
- Od (Odin) (Referenced)
- Operation: Rebirth (Referenced)
- Prisoner teenagers
- Prisoners
- Project Pegasus
- Daniel Rand's father (Referenced)
- Daniel Rand's mother (Referenced)
- Roxxon Oil Company (Referenced)
- Roxxon's Nth Command (Referenced)
- Harlan Ryker from Earth-74924 (Referenced)
- Scarlet Witch (Referenced)
- Dr. Gregor Shapanka (original Blizzard) (Referenced)
- SHIELD (Referenced)
- SHIELD's ESP Division (Referenced)
- Niles Nordstrom (Referenced)
- SHIELD's ESP Division (Referenced)
- Shou-Lao the Undying (Referenced)
- Obadiah Stane (alias the Iron Monger) (Referenced)
- Stane International (Referenced)
- Howard Stark (Referenced)
- Stark Industries (Referenced)
- Stick (Referenced)
- Willis Stryker (Referenced)
- Tak's parents
- Henry Ting
- U.S. Government (Referenced)
- Uncle Ben (Referenced)
- US Army (Referenced)
- Grl. Chester Phillips (Referenced)
- United States Coast Guard
- Viper (Referenced)
- Mr. Eddie Wong of China Star Restaurant
- Mrs. Mei Li Wong/The China Doll
- house Yashida (Referenced)
- lord Shingen Harada (Referenced)
- Mariko Yashida (Referenced)
- Harry Yoram
- Luke Yoram
- Yu-Ti, the August Personage of Jade (Referenced)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth-74924
- Earth
- Arctic Circle (Referenced)
- China (Referenced)
- Honan (Referenced)
- Fu Manchu's Honan retreat (Referenced)
- Small village where Shang-Chi lived as a fisherman (Mentioned)
- K'un-Lun (Referenced)
- Tibet (Referenced)
- Honan (Referenced)
- London, England, United Kingdom (Referenced)
- Earth Orbit
- Norway (Referenced)
- Sudan (Referenced)
- United States of America
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Referenced)
- New York
- New York City
- Upper New York Bay (Referenced)
- Statue of Liberty (Referenced)
- Manhattan
- Midtown
- Bowery District (Referenced)
- Central Park
- Chemist's personal Chamber of Horrors
- Chinatown
- Canal Street
- Misha Restaurant
- The old Chiang warehouse
- China Star Restaurant
- Chinatown Museum
- The House of Madness
- Oriental Antiques and Curiosities
- Oriental Garden
- The Snake House ("Monsters of Orient") (shop)
- Tong's Electronics
- Canal Street
- Financial District
- Dragonlords' crack house
- Greenwich Village
- West Village
- Pier 38 (First appearance)
- West Village
- Harlem (Referenced)
- Lower East Side
- Yancy Street
- Pier 36 (First appearance)
- Warehouse near Pier 35
- Pier 35 (Referenced)
- Upper East Side
- Brooklyn Bridge
- East River
- Upper New York Bay (Referenced)
- New York City
- San Francisco, California (Referenced)
- Seagate Prison, Georgia (Referenced)
- The Vault, Colorado
- Hydro-Base, Atlantic Ocean (Referenced)
- Earth
Items:
- A Madman's Mutterings
- Avenger's wrist communicator
- Beetle Armor MK III
- Belt of Strength
- Blizzard Armor
- Captain America's Shield
- Captain America's Uniform
- Chemist's Avenger-Killer Ray
- Cloak's Cloak
- Constrictor's Battlesuit
- Crack (drug; derivate from cocaine)
- Crescent Darts (Moon Knight's)
- Daily Bugle
- Daredevil's Billy Club
- Daredevil's Suit
- Deathlok blueprints
- Dreadnought blueprints
- Enter the Dragon (Bruce Lee movie)
- Fixer's Tech-Pac
- Fu Manchu's elixir vitae
- Guardsman Armor
- Iron Man Mk VIII Armor
- Iron Gloves
- A mannikin impersonating Mrs. Wong
- Lee Min's Stasis Gun
- Mentallo's Armor
- Mjolnir
- Moon Knight's Nunchakus
- Moon Knight's Scarab Darts
- Moon Knight's Suit
- Opium (Mentioned)
- Silver Samurai's Armor
- Silver serpent statuettes
- Spider-Man's Web-Shooters
- Spider-Tracer
- Super-Soldier Serum (Referenced)
- UGABS (UnderGround AirBase Shuttle)
- White Dragon's Armor
Vehicles:
- Celestial China, cargo ship on Pier 36
- Dragonlords vehicles:
- Convertible sedan
- Van with treads instead of wheels and a large screw-like device in the front ("borer machine")
- Other smuggling shuttles
- Maggia's vehicles:
- A black sedan (Hammerhead's men's)
- A black van, also Maggia's
- A long black limousine (Hammerhead's personal vehicle)
- Hydrofoil (boat)
- Quinjet
Plot
The Faces of Fear have stolen a grimoire from the Museum, trying to incriminate their rival Hammerhead of Maggia. The Faces have associated with the Si Fan organization against Maggia: The Si Fan supports the Faces of Fear in exchange for the book, which they aim to use to resurrect their leader, Fu Manchu. Meanwhile, Maggia has associated with another Chinatown gang, the Dragonlords led by the White Dragon; and the Chinatown citizens have made their own band, Tiger's Claw, to protect themselves. Following the suggestion of Metropolitan Museum curator Maximilian Pride, who wants the book back, the heroes investigate rumors of a ghost-like appearance in a Chinatown restaurant. Meanwhile, the Dragonlords have stolen the box containing Fu's corpse -albeit Si Fan leader Lee Min claims that it contains mundane merchandise; and Hammerhead sends the White Dragon to murder the heroes, using innocents as a bait. Hammerhead also sends villains and robots against the Tiger's Claw, unaware of the Si Fan's plan. The Si Fan is getting the ingredients for their resurrection spell, and the Dragonlords have captured several Avengers thanks to a specific weapon. The good citizens of Chinatown are constantly harassed by violent villains, several of them being forced to obey illegal orders. The heroes find a Faces of Fear lair and they defeat their newest high-level minion, a Deathlok Simulacrum. The Si Fan treacherously steal Fu Manchu's corpse from the Dragonlords, even though the heroes have tried to help following a hint of a mysterious English-accented ally.
As the White Dragon is arrested, Chinatown gives a premature celebration party - which is interrupted by Fu Manchu's ghost. After that, the mysterious ally reveals himself as Shang-Chi, estranged son of Fu Manchu, who's looking for his sister Fah Lo Suee. Fah had been captured by the Si Fan as a sacrifice to resurrect Fu Manchu. When Shang-Chi leads his allies to the Si Fan headquarters, they are likely captured and forced to attend the resurrection ceremony. Revived, Fu Manchu orders his minions to kill the heroes, but they fail. However, Fu Manchu is back and will rebuild his worldwide criminal empire in the shortest of time.Trivia
- There was a change in the suggested player characters from the previous installment of the trilogy: The Black Widow is no longer a suggested option; and instead Cloak and Dagger are offered. Dagger is however blind at this point, which is reflected in reduced combat statistics.
- In page 12, a Dragonlord says that "It's the Year of the Dragon." The adventure was released in 1990, which was not a Year of the Dragon - it was Year of the Horse, except for the first 26 days, which were Snake. 1988 had been the Year of the Dragon, specifically the Earth Dragon from February 17th 1988 to February 5th 1989; the following Year of the Dragon (Metal Dragon) would be February 5th, 2000 to January 23th, 2001. The Dragonlord however is probably referring to the success of his dragon-themed gang, not to the Chinese zodiac.
- On page 33, the Vision is described as a ghostly white figure, suggesting that he has the "white exterior" introduced in West Coast Avengers (Vol. 2) #45, with a cape lacking a collar, also forfeiting gloves and boots, and with a V-shaped short instead of the previous slips. In the black-and-white image on page 35, the Vision is seen fighting Iron Man, but the Vision seems to have a collar on his cape, gloves, boots and slip-like shorts, suggesting that the discarded uniform was used for reference.
- Page 37 says that "House of Madness (...) is located in the amusement arcade near the Chinatown Museum on Oliver Street". There is no Chinatown Museum in New York in real life. There is a Museum of Chinese in America that happens to be in Chinatown, New York City, but it's on Centre Street, not on Oliver Street.
- On page 45, the Silver Samurai teleports with a stolen human corpse, apparently using the hypnoporter machine introduced in the previous adventure, After Midnight. The description of the hypnoporter in page 9 of After Midnight specifies that it can teleport people from the machine to another location, but it cannot teleport back organic matter, except for the people it had teleported forward.
- A number of characters and locations have typos in their names: A'Lars is called Alars; Noah Burstein is called Noah Berstein; Raul Bushman is called Ronald Bushman; and the Hydrobase is called Hydro-base.
Other credits[]
- Design: Anthony Herring
- Penciler: John Statema
- Editor: Karen S. Boomgarden