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Post by tarkintino on Aug 29, 2019 16:08:40 GMT -5
Chi looks like he needs more fiber in his diet. ...or tell his illustrator to stop trying to channel a certain, departed actor?
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 29, 2019 18:36:52 GMT -5
Chi looks like he needs more fiber in his diet. ...or tell his illustrator to stop trying to channel a certain, departed actor? Nah, Bruce was pretty "regular."
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Post by zaku on Aug 30, 2019 7:11:43 GMT -5
However, it's interesting that, even if Marvel loves making its characters fight each other (and Shang-chi and Iron fist had their share of clash with other heroes), there has never been a bona-fide fide fight (with the obvious exception of mind-control or sparring) between these two...
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 4, 2019 12:04:47 GMT -5
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #24"Hear me X-Men...........hey, wait a minute; you're not the X-Men!" "No, I am Iron Fist" "Dhasha Khan." "Iron Fist? What the........?...................CHRIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Creative Teams: IF-Claremont & Nebres; SOT-Mantlo, Giffen & the Tribe; Archie Goodwin-edits Interior cover from a very green Mike Zeck, foreshadowing his future run on Master of Kung Fu. IF-Dhasha Khan casts his spell and time goes wonky and somehow ancient New York has a medieval castle. DKand DR fight, Iron Fist uses the Iron Fist.....biff, pow, bort! and Danny declares his love for Jade, he has defeated the N'Gai, she's free she transforms and leaves and Bowman turns out to be Lancelot du Lac. We get a feature on some new films, including ones from Ron Van Clief and Jim Keely, as well as Hammer's foray into kung fu, Call Him Mr Shatter! Next is a piece from Roberto Fuentes, author of the Jim Striker pulp books, detailing his experiences with an anti-Castro group, illustrated by George Perez. Considering this guy wrote men's adventure pulp novels, which were filled with BS artists, I kept a pretty healthy dose of skepticism about this stuff. Don McGregor turns up, finally, with his piece on Tom Laughlin's Master Gunfighter....which trashes it. SOT/White Tiger/Jack of Hearts (getting crowded in the back-up feature)-Everyone is at a hospital, as Jack is treated for injuries. The cop confronts White Tiger, as does Hector's sister and he comes clean, as we get a recap of events... They are interrupted by a doctor who says Jack's body is exploding, after they tried to remove his body armor. The place goes boom and Hector goes to try to stop more explosions. Meanwhile, we switch to Abe, in Morocco. he wakes up to find the woman who switched briefcases on him, that got him into this mess. She takes him to meet their hosts. He is brought to a snake pit, where, on the other side, is Mole, with one bullet. Meanwhile, hs two accomplices are watching from a distance. Lin-Sun commits breaking & entering and assault on a Western Union rep to send a telegram to Bob Diamond, who is buried under an avalanche. Meanwhile, mantlo needs an editor. Back to Hector-He gets Jack away and in control, then there's a lot of talking, then some weirdos attack the [place to grab Jack. We get a next issue teaser for a new feature, Swordquest, from John Warner and Sanho Kim. Gotta be better than Iron Fist and wouldn't take too much to top Mantlo, who is all over the place, now. Thoughts: See above. Iron Fist acts like a trial run for the Phoenix story, hich would kick off in a couple of months, in X-Men (X-Men #100 came out the next month). The ending is pretty bad and the whole Lancelot thing just turns it into the ridiculous. it's telegraphed early on, in a splash page from nebres, where he swipes Hal Foster's Camelot, from Prince Valiant. Finally, this interminable serial is done. Started out okay, then went quickly south and just became pointless fights every issue, with shifting realities and bad characterization and cliche. He got about 1 decent chapter and one so-so, then a lot of junk. White Tiger suffers from too many subplots crowding out the only interesting part of the feature. Abe is the only SOT to be of note and should just have his own feature. Lin-Sun and Bob Diamond are just excess, at this point. All of it and Jack of Hearts distracts from Hector Ayala and what the heck is going on with him. He shifted forms; but, he unmasks as himself. yet, he had no memories of being White Tiger, before. That all caught up with him last issue but, we still don't know what is going on and I get the feeling that Mantlo doesn't, either. All I can say is thank Kirby for Sanho Kim, next issue!
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 4, 2019 17:39:32 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #42Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Tom Sutton-inks, Denise Wohl-letters (with uncredited assist from Irv Watanabe), Don Warfield-colors, Marv Wolfman-edits. Real cover............ Synopsis: Shang-Chi is getting the crap kicked out of him, while we also see how he got into this mess, as he visits Sir Dennis Nayland Smith's office for an argument (after first mistakenly entering the office for Abuse). Chi tells of Smith for his "Games of deceit & Death", while Smith moans about not taking missions. Meanwhile, someone has planted a bomb in Smith's desk, which he hasn't noticed, even though it is a big bundle of dynamite and a timing fuse. Chi hears ticking and Smith says it is the desk clock. Chi storms out, Smith follows and narrowly misses getting blowed up, good. Smith tries to apologize but Chi keeps going. n aide brings a communique, which says Agent-D has had to leave his hole and a caretaker is urgently needed. Chi is leaving when Clive Reston calls him into his office, where Larner is waiting. They have something to tell Chi, which they are keeping from Smith. Larner relates the story of Lancaster Sneed, an MI-6 agent injured in a bomb blast, which scarred his face. Rather than have reconstructive surgery, he had metal plates put in and rigged up an electric exo-suit. he was declared mentally unfit to return to duty, became a circus sideshow freak and hired killer. Sneed approached Larner, after he was dismissed, with an offer to work with him, for a group, called Oriental Expediters. Tarr has been sent to look into them and Chi was about to follow; but, Reston and Larner wanted to alert him. There is more that they do not reveal. Chi meets up with Tarr and they go to check out OE's digs. The masked guys are inside and douse the lights. Tarr and Chi go in and kick ass. Chi goes into the ventilation ducts and sneaks into the boss' office, where he runs into Shock-Wave. And, we loop back around, as Shock-Wave kicks his but, while Chi flashes back, until Tarr turns up with his S&W Model 29 and scares off Shock-Wave. Smith goes after them, after being unable to raise Dr Petrie. He catches up after Shock-Wave is gone. Smith wants Chi to go to Switzerland to aid Leiko and Agent-D, but Chi collapses, from his injuries. This shakes Tarr, as Chi has been indestructible. Back at HQ, a guard is patrolling the corridors and finds Tarr's office door open. He looks in and finds Dr Petrie, with a wad of dynamite. He is electrocuted by Shock-Wave, from behind and we learn that Petrie has been hypnotized into being the bomber. Thoughts: terrific bit of mystery and intrigue, with the best new physical threat since Razor Fist got his way too early. Shock-Wave is even more deadly, as his martial skills are enhanced by his exo-suit and metal reinforcements. He is a tank and a weapon. Chi has been badly hurt, Leiko is in danger, Agent-D has been unmasked and on the run, and Petrie is under mental control of some unknown force. Great stuff! As a disgraced agent, Sneed/Shock-Wave has even more depth than razor Fist, who was just some unknown thug, with gimmick arms. Shock-Wave is a trained agent, with deadly weapons and a thirst for vengeance. Larner is sobered up and back in the fold. The art is a bit of a mixed bag, as Sutton's inks overwhelm Gulacy's pencils and alter them more into Sutton's world. It is atmospheric; but, lack's the noirish element that Gulacy brings. Shock-Wave's design shows the Steranko influence, as his suit is very much from the Steranko line of villain couture. Wimpy Cheeseburger is name dropped, which is the Wimpy restaurant chain, based on the Popeye/Thimble theater character. it began in Chicago and spread, then to the UK, in the 50s, well before McDonalds. It became the place for an American-style hamburger and you can hear it being referenced in british tv shows, like Are You Being Served?. At one point, they had restaurants in several other countries, though now, it is mostly limited to the UK (though with 67 restaurants, down from around 500, in the 70s) and South Africa (where the chain is home-based), as well as a single restaurant in Kuwait. The story told in parallel, in both present and future (or present and past, if you prefer) is an interesting experiment, though it is a bit confusing, at the start. There isn't a strong visual cue to timeframes, like color change or panel border, or split screen. Although this seems to be a two-parter, it is part of the longer epic that is unfolding, badly interrupted by last issue's fill-in piece. What is unfolding demands attention and I would have preferred late shipping to fill ins, in serialized format. Otherwise, this demanded to be a complete novel.
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 5, 2019 0:03:27 GMT -5
I don't know what happened to Dan Adkins, but I would miss his work from here on out. I had the impression that Gulacy wanted to ink his own pages, but apparently that blew a deadline, resulting in the annoying fill-in, and in the meantime Adkins probably got on another project. Tom Sutton has always been a mixed bag for me. Some of his work I've never liked, but other work has been among my all-time favorite, and looking back decades later I realized that he had a powerful influence on some of my own work I did while in high school. Here, he just seems totally out-of-place. I was extremely relieved the next issue when Jack Abel came back.
The most infuriating thing about this issue, for me... was that once I had begun buying the book regular, I NEVER saw this one... until about a month after the NEXT one came out. The same thing happened with Don McGregor's BLACK PANTHER run.
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Post by berkley on Sept 5, 2019 0:08:36 GMT -5
I like Tom Sutton a lot but his style was a bad match with Gulacy's pencils.
I would have loved it if Gulacy had been able to ink his entire run himself but it seems he was just too slow for that ever to be an option. Adkins and Marcos are my favourites of the various inkers who worked with him on MoKF.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2019 17:23:14 GMT -5
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #25Cover by earl Norem. Creative Teams: Samurai-Bill Mantlo & Pat Broderick; Swordquest-John Warner and Sanho Kim; Archie Goodwin-edits. Samurai-A lone samurai,accompanied by masked men, has ridden for days and stands at the gates of a castle, calling for his father, who has stolen away his wife. There is a lot of posturing, then an archer is ordered to shoot the son down. The samurai knocks aside four arrows fired at him. Then, pops sends his retainers to attack, through the front gate. The son dispatches them faster than any Kurosawa hero and begs for more. He fights his way inside (somehow, because one guy can take out an entire army) and learns that his father has dragged his wife to be killed on the beach. The wife is a blond Englishwoman (more on that, below) and pop is against it and will slay her for the clan. Son knifes pop with his blade and then faces a sea monster! Pop is sacrificed to the Godzilla wannabe (more of a Gorgo, really) and the wife is taken to be fixed. DAK has an article about a new movie with karate champion Joe Lewis (not the Brown Bomber), as well as Ron van Clief and some Brucesploitation. that is followed by a feature on screenwriter Sterling Silliphant. Swordquest-Korea, the end of the 16th Century, the Japanese have invaded Korea, looking to pour into China. Korea has no formal army and heroes must arise from the people.Kwang-Che Yu is one such hero. He trains inthe hills, then hides his sword as he returns to his village. His father was killed by the Japanese and a samurai took his family sword. He swore vengeance. In the village, the samurai bullies a tea house woman and is attacked by Kwang-Che, but loses. the woman tries to attack and is disarmed and told she will be his, this evening. She has hidden away Kwang-Che and tended his wounds. The couple escape, fighting their way past the Japanese, into the hills. they spend the following year training and planning. The girl, Sunok, learns quickly and her progress stuns Kwang-Che. Sunok refuses to discuss her past. Meanwhile, the samurai is told of a rival swordsman who decimated his men. he hunts for him. Kwang-Che attacks a samurai and is bested by the unarmed man. Sunok enters the conflict and throws the man, and is revealed to have been his student. Kwang-Che feels betrayed and runs off and the swordsman stops Sunok, telling her they will return to him, later. Meanwhile, a pair of ninja spies observe them. Thoughts: Half a good issue. The opening story, Samurai, is okay; but, it looks like Mantlo either just read James Clavell's Shogun or a Kurosawa festival, or came across some Lone Wolf and Cub manga. he pretty much rips off all of that, without adding much, beyond a supernatural sea monster, which undercuts the drama with pure silliness. He doesn't know squat about Japanese history, as the captive wife is a blond Englishwoman. The English first came to Japan in 1600, in the form of William Adams, a sailor working for the Dutch east India Company. he was one of a few survivors of a shipwreck and is the historical basis for John Blackthorne, in Shogun. Adams became a trusted advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu and helped establish relations between Japan and England, via the Dutch. However, the few Japanese ships that came offered goods of little value in Japan and trade fell off. The British angered Tokugawa, by closing don a commercial site in Hirado Island and the English were banned from the country and did not return until the 1850s. The English wife is supposed to be the daughter of a protestant missionary; but, there were only Portuguese Jesuits spreading Christianity, under the Shogunate. They actually tried to recruit Adams, to smuggle him out of Japan, to undercut his influence over Tokugawa, which, again, informed the plot of Shogun, the novel. So, there is almost no way there is a blond Englishwoman in Japan, to become the lover and wife of a Japanese samurai. It also shows a cultural ignorance, as the japanese considered foreigners as gaijin, barbarian foreigners who were allowed in only under very limited conditions. intermarriage was almost unthinkable, especially among the samurai. Adams had a Japanese wife, while still supporting his English wife, through payments shipped home. So, this is a very Western, romantic idea, built entirely under false concepts. It's fiction, so nothing wrong there; but, it is rather thinly sketched. The idea of a lone samurai defeating multiple opponents is even more ludicrous than such scenes in Kurosawa films, but, it's comics. Problem is, he has no super powers or supernatural skills and the masked Fates don't seem to aid him in any concrete way. Until they are called Fates, I though they were badly designed ninja. Anyway, middling story helped greatly by Pat Broderick's art. As a one-time thing, it's fine, for what it is (filler). It can't compare to Gene Day's samurai stories in Star*Reach or the work of Sanho Kim, who is up next. Swordquest presents an interesting samurai/revenge story, but in Korea. The US audience, especially in the 70s, was mostly ignorant of korean history, beyond the US involvement in the Korean War (and much of that through the tv series, MASH). Kim is Korean and one of their greatest artists. it is obvious that he contributed much to this story. He captures the period detail and the sword stylings, while adding the dramatic elements. We also get into the racial divide that drove Korean and Japanese relations. Koreans were considered inferior to Japanese and were treated harshly under Japanese rule, at various times. modern news has covered the Korean "comfort women", who were kept as sex slaves for the Japanese military. Cultural hatreds still persist, as Koreans are often depicted as villains in Japanese tv and film and vice versa, though their industry was often interconnected. One of the biggest secrets in japanese pop culture, was that the nation's top wrestling star, Rikidozan, who had been a sumo and their first pro wrestling hero, who delivered the highest tv ratings ever, for matches with Lou Thesz and is considered the father of Japanese puroresu (pro wrestling, as pronounced in Japanese), was actually Korean, a fact that didn't come out until his death (he was stabbed by a yakuza, in a club, after he embarrassed by Rikidozan. He stabbed him with a contaminated knife blade, which created an infection that killed Rikidozan). His Japanese name was Mitsuhiro Momota; but he was born Kim Sin-rak. This installment sets up a nice series; but, Sanho Kim was only able to do the first chapter. he would be replaced by Tony deZuniga, which is not the same.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2019 18:47:34 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #43Buckler cover, instead of.... Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Jack Abel-inks, Gaspar Saladino-;etters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Marv Wolfman-edits. Synopsis: We get a bit of recap, as Chi has been treated in hospital and is on his way to Switzerland. Petrie has placed a bomb in Tarr's office, and has begged off coming in to Smith, over the phone). Meanwhile, Leiko is defending Agent-D from attack.... She uses her G-76 submachine gun (G, as in Gulacy) to mow down Oriental Expediters masked goons and a thrown dagger says the Golden dagger (whoever they are) are in on things. They head for the safe house of their Swiss contact. Larner makes smart alec comments and Tarr repeatedly threatens to slap him around. Larner continues and Tarr backfist him (not back hand, backfist!) Larner goes to deliver a receipt and is stopped by Reston, until Smith restores order and them calls the trio out on not informing him of Shock-Waves involvement, since he is Smith's nephew. He tells Larner is there because he is a demolitions expert and is needed to help trace their bomber. Tarr and reston are ordered to go to Zurich, to back up Chi. Meanwhile, someone lobs a grenade into Chi's flat and miss the absent hero and his Siamese cat little pal. In Zurich, Chi arrives at the estate of Sir Herbert Griswold, which is supposed to be a safe house. In London, Tarr goes to collect more ammo for his Model 29 and is nearly blown up. In Switzerland, Griswold is hit by an OE sniper. A whole squad unloads on the mansion, while Shock-Wave watches, in the company of Leiko and Agent-D. Chi outflanks him and attacks, taking him on a chase through hedge mazes and the gardens. Chi picks his spots and launches strategic strikes that keep SW off balance, driving him back, until he dumps him into a swimming pool, short circuiting his exo-suit... OE withdraws, leaving the women. Griswold is fine, having worn a ballistic vest. Leiko is reunited with Chi and reveals Agent-D....... Ducharme!!!! Fu Manchu's concubine. Thoughts: Excellent conclusion to the fight with Shock-Wave, as moench & Gulacy apply strategy to a fight. No punching until the villain falls....Chi hits SW in vulnerable spots, atys out of reach of the electric contacts, ignores pain to keep hitting SW and keep him off balance, steering him into the pool, to neutralize the electrical source. Science and strategy works. What a concept! Great pacing to things, keeping it tense and exciting right up to the end. Then, we get the shocking reveal that Fu Manchu's concubine has been Smith's mole. Fu is royally f@#$ed and wants her dead. That pretty much tells us who the opposition is. Griswold's design is based on a combination of Sydney Greenstreet (Maltese Falcon, Casablanca) and Robert Morley (African Queen, Beat the Devil, Those Magnificent Men & Their Flying Machines). He makes for an interesting character, who would be great for a Shang-Chi film, if they did this storyline. Ducharme was featured more in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, which makes her seem to come out of nowhere; but, she did have a few MOKF appearances (GS MOKF 1&2, MOKF #17). On a side note, Gulacy's weaponry is just as illogical as some of Steranko's (what a surprise), though they at least look functional, unlike the Image Lego Guns of the 90s. Why the heck would you have a handgrip, on the left side, when you have a magazine underneath. It's not ergonomic. It seems like he wants something like a Sten or Sterling, whose magazine stuck out the right side); though holding them by the magazine can cause you to have feed problems. Anyway, it's a bit wonky, visually, but Gulacy seems to return to it, again and again. In later years, he either used real firearm models or went with something that more closely alluded to real firearms designs. From here, we enter the prologue to the Fu Manchu epic, which, I guess, makes this the preface.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 7, 2019 9:36:51 GMT -5
ps. Gulacy's likenesses are stronger, this issue, as Mordillo looks more Coburn, in a few panels, while Pavane is definitely Bardot (who was also the model for Barbarella, in the original comics). Roughly midway through this issue, Shang-Chi gets his headband back (he had discarded it along with his gi in the previous issue, when he traded it for a tight fitting flight suit). But it’s drawn very, very awkwardly, as if someone decided to have the art modified. Do you think editorial decided that the headband should really be there because it’s part of Chi’s look? Or because it makes him look a little less like Bruce Lee? In any case, even back then I thought it looked weird... It seems to float over his hair, not binding it at all.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 7, 2019 9:52:06 GMT -5
Sorry about how late this has been: been working on the Other Guys stuff and getting ready for vacation (which I am now on). Plus, I wasn't looking forward to fill-ins. Ah, well; suck it up, sailor. Master of Kung Fu #36-37Aw................man.........................@#$%ing ninjas. Thoughts: This is why I was avoiding this. This is one weird, pointless story, with few redeeming qualities. And it wasted two months of the comic and more than enough of mu time. This actually makes me look forward to a Sons o the Tiger story! I thought the same back in the day, feeling deprived of those amazing Gulacy pages... but I’ve grown to love these two issues! The eerie, dream-like atmosphere of the story is a sharp departure from the James Bond-like nature of the previous arcs, but as a standalone tale it works for me. One of my favourite moments is when Shang-Chi realizes that in a formal contest, he might have to admit that the ninja he’s fighting is better than he is. Such honesty, and the fact that there are people who can be even more accomplished fighters than our hero, make him more human and make his struggles more significant; it’s not a given that he will always prevail. Contrast that, if you will, with a caption in one of the giant-size issues that claim that “if there is one undisputed master of kung fu, it is he”. Bleargh!!! I hate the simplistic notions that “master of kung fu” means you’re the absolute best in that field, or that “sorcerer supreme” means that there’s absolutely nobody in this universe that’s a better wizard. It’s way too reductive. The ninjas themselves hadn’t been overused yet back in those days, and their employ as magicians here make them formidable indeed. I was never a fan of the Pollard fill-ins, but had this appeared in an annual or a giant-size issue I’d have been very happy with it. (Though honestly, back then, I just wanted more Gulacy!)
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Post by profh0011 on Sept 7, 2019 11:17:13 GMT -5
Back then, Jack Abel was one of my favorite inkers for Paul Gulacy. His work on GIANT #2 was fantastic. Gulacy's art had evolved enough by MOKF #43 that it had a different look, and Abel's inks at this point make his art look stunningly BEAUTIFUL. Ironically, this somewhat manages to take the edge a bit off the action scenes. No question about Robert Morley. I've seen him in many things, including MURDER AT THE GALLOP, THE ALPHABET MURDERS, A STUDY IN TERROR, THEATRE OF BLOOD, HIGH ROAD TO CHINA, and the 1989 version of AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS. Steranko had earlier "cast" him in NICK FURY AGENT OF SHIELD #5.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Sept 9, 2019 11:38:25 GMT -5
One of my favourite moments is when Shang-Chi realizes that in a formal contest, he might have to admit that the ninja he’s fighting is better than he is. Such honesty, and the fact that there are people who can be even more accomplished fighters than our hero, make him more human and make his struggles more significant; it’s not a given that he will always prevail. Contrast that, if you will, with a caption in one of the giant-size issues that claim that “if there is one undisputed master of kung fu, it is he”. Bleargh!!! I hate the simplistic notions that “master of kung fu” means you’re the absolute best in that field, or that “sorcerer supreme” means that there’s absolutely nobody in this universe that’s a better wizard. It’s way too reductive. I think that's something more prevalent in current comics (aside from Sorcerer Supreme, which although I think causes more conceptual problems than is worth it, has a certain logic as a title someone has to compete for). DC and Marvel both have this urge to identify the smartest people in the world as some kind of objective list ... not only absurd on its face, but moreso that every single one of them has to be a superhero or villain, not anyone in a lab or a think tank somewhere.
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Post by berkley on Sept 10, 2019 1:28:59 GMT -5
Back then, Jack Abel was one of my favorite inkers for Paul Gulacy. His work on GIANT #2 was fantastic. Gulacy's art had evolved enough by MOKF #43 that it had a different look, and Abel's inks at this point make his art look stunningly BEAUTIFUL. Ironically, this somewhat manages to take the edge a bit off the action scenes. I agree. It isn't a combination I would have expected to work - my favourite Gulacy inkers, Adkins, Marcos, and above all Gulacy himself, tend to use firm, clear, thick lines - but somehow Abel's feathery touch looks great in this issue (can't recall GS#2 off the top of my head). But I'm always a sucker for the kind of nuanced texture Abel brings to his inks, when it's done right.
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Post by berkley on Sept 10, 2019 1:33:00 GMT -5
One of my favourite moments is when Shang-Chi realizes that in a formal contest, he might have to admit that the ninja he’s fighting is better than he is. Such honesty, and the fact that there are people who can be even more accomplished fighters than our hero, make him more human and make his struggles more significant; it’s not a given that he will always prevail. Contrast that, if you will, with a caption in one of the giant-size issues that claim that “if there is one undisputed master of kung fu, it is he”. Bleargh!!! I hate the simplistic notions that “master of kung fu” means you’re the absolute best in that field, or that “sorcerer supreme” means that there’s absolutely nobody in this universe that’s a better wizard. It’s way too reductive. I think that's something more prevalent in current comics (aside from Sorcerer Supreme, which although I think causes more conceptual problems than is worth it, has a certain logic as a title someone has to compete for). DC and Marvel both have this urge to identify the smartest people in the world as some kind of objective list ... not only absurd on its face, but moreso that every single one of them has to be a superhero or villain, not anyone in a lab or a think tank somewhere. Yeah, and I think Sorcerer Supreme was a poorly chosen title, as in Englehart's Strange, it was really more a matter of heavy, crushing responsibility than a chest-thumping "I'm the bestest!" kind of thing. Of course, as usual, many later writers took the words literally without looking at the spirit behind the concept - though Englehart does bear some responsibility for choosing a term that encouraged that interpretation.
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