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The Way Of The Warrior: Marvel’s Mightiest Martial Artists Book Review

“The Way Of The Warrior: Marvel’s Mightiest Martial Artists” covers a lot of ground.

Although clearly designed as a tie-in to the forthcoming “Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings” film, DK Book’s “The Way Of The Warrior: Marvel’s Mightiest Martial Artists” covers quite a few character. Author Alan Coswell’s (who also provides an introduction) hardcover book is essentially divided into five sections. Section one is Martial Arts Masters which is devoted to Shang-Chi-, iron Fist, the Daughters of the Dragon, Sons of the Tiger and The White Tiger (including the various incarnations). Section two (which is dubbed Shadows and Light) is all about Daredevil and Elektra. Naturally, The Hand are frequently mentioned as well. Section three is titled Mutant Maestros and focuses on Wolverine and Psylocke. Section 4 (“Spies And Mercenaries) revolves around Black widow, Ronin and The Killer Elite (which is a sort of hodge podge of characters such as Taskmaster, Bullseye, Batroc and Deadpool). Lastly, section 5 is called Space Fu and covers intergalactic characters like Gamora, Mantis, Karnak and Howard The Duck. Yes, Howard The Duck may be a PI, but he is also trained in martial arts!

For those with a deep knowledge of Marvel Comics and Marvel characters, the material within this book might be familiar. For those who may be daunted by the vast Marvel library and don’t know where to start, this new book is a great primer on beloved characters. Plus, you don’t have to read thousands of comics to learn about the characters either! 

Alan Coswell does a great job of summing up the history of the above listed characters. The origins, the modern comics era, and key story arcs (such as Shang-Chi training Spider-Man and Elektra’s death as an example) are all touched upon here as are character allies (such as Shang-Chi ally Leiko Wu), deadly foes and even family histories. Again, since this is essentially a Shang-Chi tie-in, a good chunk of the book is devoted to that character. Some characters get a little short changed here (Deadpool could easily have a massive section), but getting to see lesser known characters like Ronin and Karnak was a nice surprise.

Given that this is a book about comics, there are plenty of comic panels and comic imagery complete with information about the publication date and issue number. Personally, I really appreciated that as it not only gives the reader context, but might inspire someone to track down that particular issue if they are drawn to the story or artwork.

Overall Thoughts: Whether you want to learn more about Shang-Chi before the movie or are simply a martial arts enthusiast, this book has something for every Marvel fan. Check it out.

June 11, 2021 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Book review | Black Widow, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Shang-Chi, Taskmaster, The Way Of The Warrior: Marvel's Mightiest Martial Artists