Inspirography: Infinite Kung Fu
I could easily write this inspirography like so:
You want to play Far West? You must read Kagan McLeod’s Infinite Kung Fu. Go buy it. Read it.
RIGHT NOW.
Not very inspiring though, and most of us bristle at orders, no matter how well intended. So let me try this approach:
Immortals. Undead. Masters and students. Monsters and saints. Artifacts. Restless Spirits. Romance. An Unstoppable Emperor. Forbidden Techniques. Blaxploitation. Training Sequences. Dark Magic. Tragedy. Shaolin Mechanica (Drudges).
And, of course, Infinite Kung Fu.
Kagan McLeod is a phenomenally talented illustrator who unleashed the first whistling blows of his kung fu epic as singular self-published comics starting in 2000. After the first seven issues, he realized he had to do the whole thing or give it up – after a long hiatus, the entire graphic novel is out and it’s phenomenal.
Infinite Kung Fu tales the story of the earth after an undefined apocalypse that has wiped most life from the world. Unable to enter the cycle of rebirths, many human spirits now choose to inhabit corpses and prey on the living, making an already perilous world even more dangerous. The young, but promising, Yang Lei Kung is chosen by Chung Li Ch’uan, the leader of the Taoist Immortals, to bring balance to the world. But whether that balance will mean a rebirth or a final ending, none can say.
Despite a heavy supernatural element, there is still quite a bit that a Far West fan can take from this graphic novel. In brief: many different Kung Fu styles, from the obscure Limb Removal Prana to the obscene forbidden Poison Techniques; the price of honor and the occasional necessity of maintaining appearances regardless of one’s actual feelings; some unorthodox uses for Drudges, and ideas on how to stage awesome fights!
I said you had to go buy it. I lied. Sort of. The first 250 pages are available for free online at Top Shelf 2.0. Yeah, that’s 250 comic pages for free. Why so many? Infinite Kung Fu weighs in at a whopping 464 pages. They know if they can suck you in for the 250, there’s no way you won’t need to finish the story. Plus, the graphic novel has an introduction from kung fu movie legend Gordon Liu!
The complete graphic novel can be purchased from Top Shelf, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and in digital format from Comixology and iTunes. A complete list of purchase links can be found here on the Infinite Kung Fu website.
We’ll see you back here on Friday with a “director’s commentary” development article on the game design of Far West, and a look at new art!
Fight On!
Nice summary.. I’ll definitely have to give this book a try. Thanks for sharing.