War Rocket Ajax #102: Kagan McLeod Talks ‘Infinite Kung Fu’ [Podcast]

Prepare yourself for the ultimate technique! Infinite Kung Fu creator Kagan McLeod joins Chris and Matt on this week's War Rocket Ajax podcast to talk about the martial arts epic that it took him ten years to create and the influences that inspired him from the world of movies! It's a head-kicking, bone-shattering discussion of one of the best comics of the past few years, and you can listen to the whole thing right here at ComicsAlliance!War Rocket Ajax #102: Rage of the Screaming Centipede, with Kagan McLeod

(WARNING: Contains NSFW language)

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Before they get to the discussion of Infinite Kung Fu, Chris and Matt are full of anxiety. For Chris, it's the suspiciously Canadian copy of the Jason Statham action epic Crinqué Deux: Sous Haute Tension that just arrived, which leads Matt to discuss an ill-fated plan for learning to speak foreign languages that's destined to be an Ajax classic. For Matt, improv comedy is the source of all of his woes, as is usually the case.

Plus, after the interview, we're joined by a special guest in the form of radio DJ Evan "Funk" Davies, who lets our listeners know all about the power of the WFMU Marathon!

When Kagan joins us, a conversation kicks off about his influences and how he brought them to a page:

I mentioned a lot of the movies that were seminal in the back of the book, but not necessarily my favorite. I like a lot of the obscure ones, or just weird ones really. That's kind of what draws me to a lot of them. Some of them are just cool, some of them are a little weird.

Godfrey Ho is a director who did a lot of terrible stuff in the '80s, and I always managed to find one of his. He did a lot of those Ninja movies, you picure a white guy with a moustache, maybe a headband that says "Ninja" on it, or maybe "Nin" on one side and "Ja" on the other, and a rising sun in the middle.

I verified it because I had to see if it was on YouTube and it was, it's called Ninja Thunderbolt, and there's a great opening scene with a ninja climbing a mountain to breakdance music. When he reaches the top of the mountain, he just says "NINJA!" That kind of stuff.

He also tells us a little bit about the specific actors that he used for inspiration:

He's kind of based on Hwang Jang Lee, who's a kung fu villain in some of the smaller studio stuff. He's really cool, he's always playing the villain. Silver Fox is one of his big ones, or Invincible Armor. There's one of the fake Bruce Lee movies that he's the villain in, I think it's called Dragon Claws, and it's got one of my favorite lines ever, dubbed over of course. It's:

"Like the wings of the eagle we will fly in there and show them who's boss!"

Contrary to what Chris says in the interview, Hwang Jang Lee is the villain in Drunken Master, not Drunken Master 2. Plus, find out McLeod's five essential kung fu movies!

Show Notes:

Challenge Kagan McLeod on Twitter or find out more about Infinite Kung Fu online... if you dare!

You can read 250 pages of Infinite Kung Fu online for free, thanks to Top Shelf!

Please enjoy this amazing scene from Super Ninjas:

In case you're not familiar with here, here's Kagan's crush, Lady Snowblood star Meiko Kaji:

Check out Evan "Funk" Davies on Twitter, and catch his show every Wednesday night at 9:00 PM -- you can stream it live or listen to years of archives at WFMU.org!

Chris's Rec: Assassin's Creed: Revelations

Matt's Rec: Alan Wake's American Nightmare

Comics Reviewed:

Aquaman #6: "I had to give that book up. I can't... I can't read it anymore. Somehow you're sticking it out." "I don't blame you. It's a tough book to read. There's this horny grocery store manager who comes over and is hitting on her and starts groping her in the middle of the aisle. The guy who is so uncontrollably horny that when Mera walks into his grocery store, he stops sexually harassing his employee and immediately starts groping her, the dude's name is 'Randy.' His name is a word that means horny. It's a shade on the nose."

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #7: "I like Miles Morales and this book almost in spite of itself. This issue actually has some pretty decent action beats. There's a real kind of danger element to this book that wasn't there before. I do like this book, and even with its slow pacing, it's good."

Uncanny X-Force #22: "They do so much in this issue. The pacing is amazing. It's so quick and so fast and they're accomplishing so much in every issue. I like comics where a lot of stuff happens. I like it when things move and feel urgent, and that's what Remender and Tocchini are doing here."