Jackie Chan Adventures Magazine is currently on sale in the UK. I understand that it is based on a cartoon series called Jackie Chan Adventures. I have not seen this as it is not shown on terestrial television but I am a sufficient fan of his live action films to buy a copy. Had I not already been convinced, I surely would have been by the photograph of Jackie Chan himself on the cover with speech bubble encouraging the purchase! Jackie also appears to have dyed his hair for the occasion.
The story behind Jackie Chan Adventures is that Jackie owns some talismans with depictions of animals on them that give him his special kung fu powers. Numerous monsters and men conspire to steal these from him so that evil might triumph. Jackie's chicken talisman came free with issue one. This shows a lot of trust that I will protect it for him and I now feel a special bond with Jackie.
This particular talisman was Rooster. On page 6 I learnt that, "The Rooster grants its master the power of flight." I do not yet have this power, as I am a student and not yet a master. Over the forthcoming issues, I will share Jackie's many adventures, but not his kung fu skills. He advises me that a magazine is not the proper medium for this, reinforcing what I learnt from classic 80s films like 'Kickboxer'.
Though Jackie does not teach kung fu in the magazine, he recognises its importance to the plot and to his career, so explains its historical and spiritual basis. One central tenet is respect. He refers to fighting styles like 'drunken monkey' and 'praying mantis' but is careful to intone, "Do not laugh at their names, they are very effective."
If I prove myself worthy by buying the next three issues, Jackie will give me another one. The powers associated with these range from the physical like my Rooster ("Rabbit grants its master the power of speed") to the supernatural ("Pig grants its master the power of heat beam eyes") to the entirely abstract ("Tiger grants its master the power of Yin-Yang"). To ensure that only the most dedicated of Chan-fans reap the more esoteric rewards, I would only release these later in the series. However, I do not yet have Tiger, hence Jackie may choose differently.
The content of the magazine is varied, each item in the index being given a brief synopsis of what to expect. Pages 20 - 22 are the "Puzzle quest", which asks, "Are you smart enough to join the J Team?" Excitingly, I am!
The measure of how traditional a character is appears to be measured by the extent to which they speak in the third person. All of the evil villains who are several thousand years old do this, as does Jackie's uncle. In a promotional feature for Jackie Chan collectable playing cards, some of the younger villains also do this, though this may simply be to help establish character in this first issue:
"Tohru chooses Chi - 80. Read them and weep!"
"Not so fast, my Chi score's 81. At last Valmont is victorious!"
As the proud owner of most of Jackie's live action output, at first I found Jackie Chan Adventures confusing. However, once I became accustomed to Jackie being represented as about 25 years old again with a contemporary haircut quite unlike anything he has ever sported, I recognised these as kung fu goodness downplayed for those whose Chi has been weakened by exposure to Mary-Kate and Ashley. Making his time at the China Drama Academy palatable to fat kids would equate to lying, which would upset Jackie's Yin-Yang so has been omitted. We join him following his success with the 'Drunken Master' and 'Police Story' series and his relocation to San Francisco. Here reality picks up, but pairing with a wise-cracking black man is now passe, so cartoon Jackie is instead assisted on his wacky adventures by his niece.
Overall, I rate Jackie Chan Adventures Magazine 9 out of 12 mystical talismans:
