Is it possible to have too much Kurt Russell? If you are anything like us, the answer is no, because there is never enough of this iconic hero. In that scenario, the comic crossover between Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from New York is a well-wrapped present for you all.
Crossovers have a tendency to either go tragically wrong or turn out to be unexpectedly amazing. The premise in this crossover comic from Boom Studios undoubtedly falls into the latter category, since it has been handled flawlessly.
Those who have followed John Carpenter’s career will agree that some of his best work was produced in the 1980s. Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from New York, for example, are two cult masterpieces with a rabid fan base.
Kurt Russell was born to play big-mouthed truck driver Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China and badass protagonist Snake Plissken in the post-apocalyptic drama Escape from New York.
The idea of creating a crossover in which the two characters coexisted was brilliant, and even John Carpenter praised the concept. Greg Pak developed a plot that brought the two renowned Kurt Russell characters together in this future adventure with elements of time travel. In this video, we will look at a lesser-known comic crossover, and if you like these characters, you are welcome to watch them!
The six-issue comic book explained
The story begins with Jack Burton driving his truck and humming gleefully to a song by one of his favorite artists Blind Apple Mary. As Jack drives nonchalantly, we see the evil sorcerer from Big Trouble in Little China, David Lo Pan. He is apparently stuck in a place between the real world and the other dimension, and he is invisible to Jack.
David Lo Pan is annoyed that Jack ruined his plans of obtaining a physical body after almost two thousand years, and he promises that he will have his revenge. Jack has no idea about his presence in the truck and he continues driving in his usual carefree manner.
Suddenly, he finds a blinding fiery source of light in the middle of the road, and his truck moves right through the light. Jack is confused because his radio connections are broken, and he ends up in a world, where there is some action straight away.
There is a crazy shootout taking place, and they all seem to be after Jack. As he prepares to fight back, he spots an unlikely ally in this strange world. A man who looks like his old friend Wang is in an adjacent vehicle and he offers to help him out of this sticky situation. Jack is puzzled because Wang addresses him as Snake, and he is also wondering what Wang is doing in the middle of Texas! It will soon dawn on him that there has been an unexplained time-jump and he is in a futuristic world!
Jack’s crazy driving makes one of the vehicles fall from a cliff, and the guy who looks like Wang warns the others that there are no chances of winning from Snake Plissken. The attackers seem to be worried when they learn that they have been fighting Snake Plissken all this while. Jack takes advantage of the situation and plays along with his new identity of Snake. As the attackers flee, Jack follows Wang into an army base.
Meanwhile, the real Snake Plissken is drinking at a bar, when he hears about the exploits of Snake. He knows it is an imposter, but there are other members of the gang of the attackers in the bar.
They try to take down Snake and face the inevitable as it takes about a few seconds for Snake to floor them all. He hears about the imposter’s last-known location on the radio and goes ahead to seek him out.
Back in the army base, Jack learns that it is the year 2001, and the man who looks just like Wang is actually Bobby Liu. These are turbulent times and Bobby, who used to be a security guard a few years ago, is one of the survivors of the war. He decided to honor his oath to defend the United States of America and took up the uniform.
He accessed the government database, and he summoned Snake to the secret vault maintained by the government for supernatural research. Bobby Liu went through some of the items stored there, and a Chinese scroll grabbed his attention. Snake Plissken happens to be one of the most decorated soldiers in American history, and Bobby used the scroll to summon him through a portal.
Just as Jack is about to explain that Bobby got the wrong man, Snake Plissken appears, seemingly angry at the imposter. Bobby is confused that the two men look exactly the same except for the eye patch, but Snake smiles menacingly and remarks that the eye patch could soon be required for Jack as well!
Snake confronts Jack about posing as him because now the entire gang will be after Snake. Jack reveals that he is from the year 1987, and posing as Snake actually helped him save his life. Snake Plissken is not too impressed, and he wants to kill Jack so that Bobby can take his body to the marauders and prove his innocence.
However, we shouldn’t forget just how lucky Jack is and soon the tables turn and Jack is the one pointing a gun at Snake. Bobby calms down the situation and explains that there has been some kind of an error. But there is a situation at hand, and both Jack and Snake can help him out. The guards at a Federal Culture Bunker outside Cleveland are under siege by the marauders, and the heroic duo would have to go and rescue them.
The Culture Bunker houses the cultural treasures of the country, and they soon learn that Blind Apple Mary, both of their favorite artists is one of the protected treasures. They set out to get the job done, but there is clearly still some tension between them. After all, they are such different people!
Outside Cleveland, the marauders are all set to attack the Federal Culture Bunker. The saviors are on the way, and a mean machinegun wielding Snake Plissken is driven by Jack in his eighteen-wheeler truck. They finally arrive outside the premises of the Federal Culture Bunker, and Snake does not have a good feeling about the conflict. He feels that it would be impossible to break through so many marauders, and he wants to turn back.
At this point, Bobby pleads with them saying his wife is also among those held inside, and he needs their help to rescue her. Jack has a soft corner for Bobby because he looks so much like his friend back in his time. He helped in saving his friend’s wife from the evil sorcerer, and he wants to help Bobby as well.
There are some mean confrontations between Jack and Snake, and suddenly by a stroke of luck, they cause a few explosions to enter the premises, evading the marauders. Bobby realizes that something happened in the course of Jack’s time travel that caused his luck factor to be enhanced. Bobby finds his wife inside, and as the two reunite, Snake and Jack find their idol, Blind Apple Mary.
Suddenly, the mission is worthwhile for both of them! Snake is shocked to find Bob Hauk is still alive. He still has great animosity towards Bob, the man who used to be the commissioner of the United States Police Force. He sent Snake on a mission to rescue the President in New York, and Snake believes that it was a hoax mission set up for everyone to die.
Bobby and his wife calm the tension between the two, and everyone moves inside the giant truck as they drive out through the marauders. But something sinister is brewing unknown to them all. David Lo Pan is getting back his powers because of the carelessly left magic scroll. He summons his powerful forces, and soon things are going to get a lot worse for Jack and Snake!
Along the journey after escaping from the marauders, Bob and Snake engage in a war of words. They both seem unhappy about the other’s role before the war and their rift is interrupted by the forces of Lo Pan. During the surprise attack, everyone realizes that they only want Jack. In a selfish move, Snake kicks Jack out of the truck to have no fight with the sorcerer and his forces. However, the others are not too pleased because they remember Jack’s contribution throughout the process.
Finally, Snake pulls a running Jack inside the truck and shoots back at Lo Pan. Innocent Jack believes that it was all a clever move to take a direct shot at the enemy! Jack tries to establish some kind of brotherhood with Snake, but the latter is simply too irritated.
He wonders why Bob, someone he thinks to be power-hungry and selfish is working so hard to save a musician. Bob reveals that such artists are the backbone of civilization and they must be saved. Suddenly, Jack comes up with a killer plan, to introduce Snake to the enemy!
Jack leaves the truck once again, this time dressed as Snake Plissken to infiltrate the Snake Plissken’s from all dimensions that Lo Pan summoned. Back in the truck, Bobby wants to go help him out, but his wife doesn’t find it to be a bright idea.
The great singer, Blind Apple Mary, also wants to go back and help him because they all owe a lot to the sacrifice of Jack Burton. Bob is not too impressed, but something humane is stirred inside Snake. He decides to go back to rescue his doppelganger. The evil Snake Plissken’s summoned by Lo Pan is not too impressed with Jack dressed up as Snake and they don’t buy his story either.
Meanwhile, Snake appears and confronts Jack, but their covers are blown soon enough. After a brief fight, they both manage to flee. There seems to be a certain bonhomie developing between the two, and Jack wonders if he is just another version of Snake Plissken. Does that mean that even he has an evil side deep within himself?
When they come to the truck once more, they find out that Bob has escaped with Blind Apple Mary’s guitar. They also discover that it was a magical guitar and now, nobody is sure about the real intentions of the ex-police commissioner.
It is soon revealed that Bob has run off with the guitar to the President and his advisors. We get an insight into the magical powers of the guitar. It has not only helped Blind Apple Mary stay young all these years, but it also killed those who did her wrong in any form. Merely playing the guitar would cause pain to these people, while the others would simply enjoy the music.
The veteran singer is worried that in the wrong hands the guitar can prove to be a great weapon, and feels that they must get back the possession of the guitar. As Jack and Snake set out for yet another rescue mission, they are ambushed by Lo Pan and the evil female Snake Plissken.
She apparently felt that she was enough to put Jack to his grave, and she killed the other Snake Plissken’s who had assembled. Now, a brutal gunfight ensues as Snake fights back with equal ferocity. Jack wonders why Lo Pan is so desperately after him, and the latter reveals that he wants to suck in the life force of Jack, including the miraculous luck that allowed him to survive despite being so stupid.
All of a sudden a tank appears at a distance. On top of the tank is a soldier with the magical guitar and it starts shooting towards these men. Jack manages to convince Lo Pan about the magical guitar and the immediate threat from it and strikes a deal with the evil sorcerer. He then summons the meanest Snake Plissken in the universe.
This fiery beast arrives, much to the bewilderment of the President and his men. Lo Pan calls off the evil Snake Plissken lady, but she has plans of her own. It seems like Lo Pan doesn’t control the crew any longer!
The lucky Jack stumbles across the magical guitar amidst the crazy fighting and chaos. Jack hands it over to the veteran singer, who uses it to decimate the fiery Snake Plissken, the most powerful one from all universes.
Now, Lo Pan reveals the deal that he had struck with Jack. The carefree trucker had promised to allow him to take away his life force in return for help in this crisis. Snake is shocked at the stupidity of Jack, but this is a changed man and he wouldn’t let Jack’s sacrifice go in vain. He poses as Jack, and Lo Pan begins the process of sucking out his life force. The sorcerer soon realizes that he has been duped and there has been a big mistake.
The hardened soul of Snake is a bit too much for Lo Pan, and he has stripped of his powers once again. The day has been saved, and it is time for Jack to go back to his own time. Jack is willing to stay back to help out more people in need, but Blind Apple Mary promises that she is more than capable of handling it herself.
As Jack and Snake ponder over the possibility of spending a week together through some adventures, Lo Pan appears once again. He is powerless, but he uses his last bits of powers to put them both through a portal. Before they can realize what is happening, they find themselves in a world full of Jack Burton lookalikes! It seems like it is now Snake’s turn to be a part of Jack’s world!
What we liked and what could have been better – Our Final Words
If we are being completely honest, we did not have high expectations when we first came across this six-issue comic book. In fact, it seemed like a joke that someone would try to bring two diverse characters together.
However, we were pleasantly surprised because the story was as engaging as it could get. It was a lot of fun to go through the bizarre interactions between two Kurt Russell lookalikes, who were as different from each other as night and day! The banter between the two is enjoyable and so are the action sequences.
There is a subtle hint to the depth in the characters of both Jack and Snake. For instance, Jack might appear to be a carefree fellow, but he does have a sense of compassion and he willingly fights for others. Snake on the other hand, appears to be a selfish and hardened guy, but deep down he also has a human side that allows him to choose the right side in the end.
There are some funny moments between all the intense action and we loved the idea of the two posing as each other several times during the course of events! The sketches are so colorful and vivid that it becomes a great experience reading through the book.
If we could change one thing about the story, it would be the over-reliance on Jack Burton’s luck. The man is so lucky that almost every tricky situation has a simple escape route, all thanks to his sheer luck! The narrative could have focused more on the nature of this post-apocalyptic world and the story could have been much darker than it was.
We are not a big fan of the ending because it seems a bit abrupt and out of nowhere! Overall, we would certainly recommend you to go through it all, and all this action with Kurt Russell can never be disappointing! Is this story ripe for a live-action adaptation?
Probably not because the absurdity of the plot might get to the audience in a full blown feature film. However, with some changes made to the narrative, and the right guy to play the role, it might just be an intriguing case! The wait for a movie might be indefinite, so till then, you can grab yourself a copy of this comic book for a fun evening.