3 out of 5

Hey, ongoing storyline.  Cute.

A return to some violence and moderate “what can happen next?” stakes, but it stops shy of the pure nonsense that has fueled some of Baron’s best bits, preventing the pacing from every really boiling over.

Badger and Riley attend an “open fist” kung fu demonstration by a proclaimed master of the art, witnessing its interruption by a disciple of Hop Ling Sung, another proclaimed master.  This has been happening all over, the braggadocio of which ruffles Badge’s feathers.  He steps in during another interruption and gets a life-sapping “negative kung” punch by karate kid baddie Ron Dorgan.  Negating the negation requires a roadtrip to go see Hop, which gives us some great buddy interactions, classic Baron-choreographed battles, and – also happily returning – some legit interaction with the wizard Ham.

As mentioned, it sort of stalls, more acting as a segueway to then-upcoming graphic novel Hexbreaker than a story that legitimately needed three issues, but it’s still cool to change up the storytelling pacing a bit.