Deadly hands of Kung Fu #9Ah, the dreaded Athlete's Foot Attack!
Creative Team: Shang-Ch- Doug Moench-writer, mike Vosburg-pencils, Jack Abe;-inks; Sons of the Tiger- Bill Mantlo-writer, George Perez-pencils, Mike Esposito-inks; Don McGregor-edits.
Frank McLaughlin has the interior cover, with illustrations of Southern China kung fu styles, of more of the "soft" variation, including Crane, Snake, Dragon, Leopard and Tiger. No Monkey? Aw.....Monkey is cool, especially when you hold your arms above your head and shake them side to side, as you run towards your enemy, chattering...........
The letters page hits the editors badly for issue #6, with excessive focus on Enter the Dragon cited (3 different reviews/essays of the same film), the horrible art on Sons of the Tiger, the error in the cover credit, and over-exposure of Shang-Chi. Turns out, John Warner's piece about ETD was written at the same time ad McGregor's 3-part essay on the film; but, published later. Basically, Marvel admits that no one is running the show and chaos is the state of mind. The black & white magazines got it worse, as they were the red-headed stepchild of the Marvel line. No one wanted to work there and it was mostly the rookies or freelancers who did (for extended periods). The loss of Neal Adams covers is also moaned.
Shang-Ch- Chi is in Golden Gate Park, when Madame Fatal is mugged.........
Seriously, that is the most masculine old woman I have ever seen.
Chi intercedes and whoops the guy, on a bridge, while a kid and a dude in kung fu pajamas watches. The kid wants to be like Chi and the dude wants to fight him, whether he wants to or not (and Chi does not). The kid says he has to fight, for his honor and Chi gives him a lecture on the sanctity of life vs the use of "honor" for false intentions. then the kid says the dude, Johnny Chen, is a drug dealer and pimp, who is holding his sister hostage to drugs. Even Chi finds this hard to swallow and calls the kid on it; but he swears it is true, so Chi goes to face Chen on the beach.
Chi meditates and the kid shows up and admits he lied. Chi says he will fight, but pulls a double-cross on the brat...
Chi and Chen face off and Chi uses defense techniques, allowing Chen to be the aggressor. Chi blocks and counters; but, Chen is good. Eventually, Chi uses aggression to end the fight, knocking out Chen. He then carries him out of the surf ad hides him behind rocks, then uses a stone to bloody js own face. He wakes the little punk and tells him he got whooped and Chen moved on. He then gives the kid a lesson about fighting only for defense and looking to others to be heros, rather than looking within for what he wants to find. They depart, before the kid can see Johnny Chen wake up. Miyagi-san smiles.
Frank McLaughlin has a piece illustrating
kihon kumite or sparring, as practiced in shotokan (Okinawan) karate. Which brings up the point that Frank Dux, the subject of the film Bloodsport, is full of Bushido. Kumite is not a a no-holds barred fight to the finish (or even death); just basic sparring. One of his many lies.
Dan Hagen has a piece about African-American martial arts instructor David Brownridge, who was living in my neck of the woods. Brownridge grew up in East St Louis, which was the inspiration for Hub City, in Deny O'Neil's The Question series, if that gives you any idea of what a tough childhood that was. Brownridge points out that winning karate tournaments isn't the same thing as fighting for your life on the streets, as tournaments have rules and fighters work within that structure. brownridge gives sensible advice throughout, like when faced with a gun, give the person your money.
David Brownridge taught Okinawan karate in Central Illinois, with several schools operating throughout the area. He passed away, last may and his obituary also remarked on his work in ministry, and Hagen's article does note his bible.
This beautiful ad notes the aborted Iron Fist magazine lead story appears in DHOKF, next issue....
Michele Wolfman has photos from Madison Square Garden of the Oriental World of Self defense exhibition, from June 2nd, 1974. The exhibition includes a Korean War vet, who lost his legs, and demonstrates defensive techniques from a wheelchair. A martial arts instructor I knew, from Springfield, Steve Fristoe, also used to give classes on self-defense for the handicapped. Fristo had multiple black belts in several disciplines, studied under Dan Inosanto (and sparred with young Brandon Lee), held a world championship in one of the professional karate associations, and fought in muy thai in Thailand (becoming the first westerner to win a bout). Fristoe is an albino (African-American albino, to be exact) and suffers from the related vision problems, and is considered legally blind. He teaches without his glasses and basically sees light and shadow, yet can pretty much handle anything you throw at him. A mutual friend, who taught tai chi, used to spar with him and Fristoe would spar at his level, but push him a bit. My friend wore a "do rag", to keep the sweat out of his eyes. Steve threw out a kick and hooked the bandana and pulled it down over his eyes. My friend liked to think it was an accident; but was pretty sure it was deliberate. He put it to Steve, when we were gathered to watch one of the early UFCs and Steve just gave a big cheshire cat grin. Steve taught
kali, a Filipino art, which he learned from Inosanto and could execute joint locks with his toes!
The Oriental World of Self Defense featured combat demonstrations, katas, and basic stunts, including driving a spike into a board with the bare hand. There is a qi demonstration of a motorcycle rolling over a master, without damage. This was one of the drawbacks of these big public exhibitions. A lot of it was flashy stunts to attract the crowd, that had nothing to do with martial arts skill and more to do with simple physics and trickery. ABC's Wide World of Sport used to broadcast these things, with much emphasis on breaking boards and shattering bricks, walking on sword blades and other stuff. As Bruce Lee observed in ETD, "Boards....don't hit back!"
Sons of the Tiger- When we left the SOT last issue, a mysterious woman had set off a bomb. Well, it blows up the 59th Street Bridge and she damn near gets crushed, because she freezes, ad is rescued by Abe.
The girl is acting differently and says she was sold into slavery, to the Silent Ones, by her mother, for rice. Her village was then slaughtered. She was given to Harry Budge as a reward. She was offered her freedom to destroy Bdge, but this wasn't what she expected. The Three Stooges believe all of this and take the girl with her.
Bob Diamond has rented a brownstone and the guys all move in and meet the landlord, Mrs dalwoody, a tiny woman who thinks they have a lot of "noive," bringing around "goils" and whatnot. Bob takes the girl, Lotus, out for a hotdog, them comes home with the snot beaten out of him. Mrs Dalworthy gets a doc while Abe goes searching for a castle, mentioned by Bob. He is directed to a house near Central Park.
(Belvedere Castle)
Abe gets jumped by an unseen figure and it turns out to be Lotus, under the control of the Silent Ones. Lin Sun shows up and rips off her hair....
...revealing implants, near the base of the neck. He vows vengeance and the neighbors yell, "SHADDUP! I GOTTA WOIK IN THE MORNIN', @$$#%&^!"
Thoughts: Shang-Chi is mostly a philosophical exercise into the spiritual underpinning of the martial arts. It is to defend oneself, not to go around starting fights to prove your ability. "Ka-ra-te for defense only, Daniel-san." This is the thing often missing from those chop-socky kung fu films that were en vogue, especially the Hollywood imitations. They, instead, inserted fortune cookie wisdom. Kung Fu had better moments with real philosophy; but spent more time on parables. The Karate Kid captured it perfectly and Cobra Kai, recently, has expanded upon it.
Vosburg's art is improving and looks better here, as he has to illustrate a lot of action, during the fight. It's still more karate than kung fu technique; but, Johnny Chen even noted the mixed styles that Chi employed against the opening mugger. Bruce Lee always promoted the idea of using what works, regardless of source and breaking from hidebound tradition. This earned him enemies in the Chinese kung fu schools, though he put a hurtin' on one who tried to challenge him over it (forget what you see in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story; that was a fantasy version of things).
The interview with David Brownridge reinforces the spiritual element of the martial arts, as he talks about how his training, as a youth, gave him confidence, in a dangerous environment. he went onto be a teacher, in schools and martial arts schools, passing on those lessons to others. He blended his own Christian spirituality into his martial arts teachings. Mind, Body, and Spirit; regardless of belief system.
The issue stays away from the movies, for a change (the fad was petering out and much of the kung fu films that came out weren't classics). The feature on the Oriental World of Self defense exhibition s fairly cursory, mostly just photos with captions, without any critical examination of what was presented. As I mentioned above, the legit stuff was often buried under showy stunts, designed to draw a crowd, with no practical application in defense and often achieved through pure trickery. If you ever notice, the boards used in martial arts training are very broad and not particularly thick. They are also usually from soft woods. I've seen a few closeups (mostly for Hollywood) where you can see perforations, which allow them to snap in clean sections. Bricks smashed are never solid concrete, yadda, yadda, yadda. There are techniques involved and there is a science to it; but, it isn't what is suggested in the demonstrations. The wheelchair demonstration provides practical ideas, with spectacular illustration.
Sons of the Tiger continues to be rather haphazard. Little long term plotting seems to be occurring, though rotating creative teams haven't helped. Mantlo and Perez have stuck with it, more than anyone. However, after 9 issues, these guys still have no personality or much backstory. They are just stereotypes and Mantlo hasn't shown much inclination to change that. Lin Sun is the guy who rescues the other two, so you wonder why they are even there.
Perez is getting better or getting better inks, or both (probably the latter); but, thestories still don't really work to his strengths. Mantlo is trying to put superhero plots onto this and I'm not sure that is the way to go; at least, not with these three chumps. The amulet thing is getting to be like Ultraman's little flashing light: he'd get kicked around, until it's 60 second warning would go off, and then he'd remember his superweapon and blast the monster. Same thing; they get whooped and use the amulets to kick ass. This needs a major shot in the arm. The Silent Ones would be more menacing if it felt like this was leading somewhere. Mantlo has upped things a bit, by at least making it more spectacular and the reveal of the circuitry gives a motivation to hunt down the people who did it. Question is, does the audience care enough? Judging by the letters pages, not really. Shang-Chi and Frank McLaughlin still get the greatest praise.
Lot of work needed with this magazine. Iron Fist debuts next issue, with the material meant for his own magazine, including art by Frank Mclaughlin.