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Post by chaykinstevens on Jan 12, 2019 15:47:57 GMT -5
I wish Sandy Plunkett had gotten more work (I don't know what the reason was.) Plunkett was probably too slow and meticulous to meet regular deadlines. On plunkettcomicart.com he said he rarely kept track of how long work took him because he would have to face the depressing fact that he was working for about 50 cents an hour. He surely would have been a much bigger star had he been more prolific. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2019 14:51:22 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #7 Creative Team: Steven Grant-writer, Joe Barney(?)-pencils, George Freeman-inks, Jim Novak-letters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Al Milgrom-edits. Joe Barney was a freelancer who did a little work at Marvel, including their adaptation of Peter Hyam's film version of Arthur C Clarke's 2010. He had worked at Continuity and moved on into multimedia presentations. George Freeman was best known for Captain Canuck; but, did some nice freelance work for DC and Marvel, including inking one of Alan Brennert and joe Staton's Brave & the Bold tales. This is a different look for Marvel. Synopsis: Hulk is skipping through the forest, tra-la-la-la, when, suddenly, a squadron of MIG-15s, flown by the USAF (  )...  ...show up an attack the Hulk. Hulk smashes and puny humans eject and leave Hulk alone. Hulk bounds on and ends up in Jasper, a small town with a circus nearby. This circus haapens to be run by Fred J Dukes, aka the mutant, The Blob. He is there with his pal Unus, the Untouchable, who he takes care of...  Unus' repelling field prevents even food from coming near him; yet, the Blob is immovable and can overcome the field to feed Unus. Unie mopes a bit and we switch to outside the circus, where Hulk is trying to buy a dog and a beer and gets grief. The vendor calls "Hey, Rube!" and the performers attack Hulk and wish they had studied accountancy. Blob turns up and Hulk's punches dont do anything, until Hulk gets real mad. then, Unus steps in and Hulk gets bounced back, until his punch proves mightier than the field.  By the end, Hulk whips their butts and moves on, while Blob and Hulk help each other off the field of battle. Thoughts: Well, that was different! Pretty much a generic Hulk story, though Blob and Unus make interesting opponents. Barney & Freeman prove to be a fun pair, giving this a more cartooney look, which kind of adds to the Looney Tunes dynamic between Hulk and Blob & Unus. It could have used a wackier script to match the drawing style, though. Still, Grant adds an interesting dynamic to Blob & Unus and humanize them, as Blob literally feeds Unus. There is a bond here you don't generally see with supervillains. Bless the Beasts and the ChildrenCreative Team: Bill Mantlo-writer, george Freeman-art, Annette Kawecki-letters, Glynis Wein-colors, Al Milgrom-edits Synopsis: Our story opens with a delivery van out of control (driver had a heart attack and collapsed on the wheel) and it bears down on a young blind child. daredevil saves the boy; but, his seeing eye dog runs away, in terror, his harness torn. Daredevil promises the boy he will find the dog (a newly trained seeing eye dog) and searches the city. He encounters an ASPCA dog catcher and is pointed towards a shelter; but, he gets there too late, as budget cuts prevents the shelter from boarding unclaimed animals long. He is taken away and DD shows up and is directed to the pens, where he is overcome by fear emanating from the animals. he gets a whiff of the remains of the leather harness and is directed to the vet; but, he is too late...  Thoughts: This is truly heartbreaking. All of your expectations are that DD will somehow find the dog and reunite it with the blind child. it's a personal quest by the blind hero. Even when you know what happens at the shelter, you expect DD to arrive in time. Unfortunately, not at this one. Mantlo is making a statement about humans not caring for their animals, forcing situations like this. It's a bit heavy handed, for emotional impact. In reality, the dog would have been kept for at least a few days, if not weeks, before being euthanized. He was just brought in. Still.................... Listen to Bob Barker and have your pets spade or neutered to help control the population. Also, adopt a shelter pet before going to breeders and the like. We've rescued 3 cats and they have all been special creatures. Got something in my eye..........I'll be back in a minute....................
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2019 15:25:37 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #8 Creative Team: Peter Gillis-script, Carmine Infantino-pencils, P Craig Russell-inks, Many Hands-letters, Ben Sean-colors, Al Milgrom-edits Synopsis: A female painter, named meredith, is painting Dr Strange, based on her boyfriend James Mandarin, who looks suspiciously like a fitter Abel, from the House of Secrets.  He's found an occult book, in a second hand store and he settles down to try a ritual. it doesn't work and Meredith turns up and he begins making shadow puppets. One of them turns demonic and attacks him and disappears with him. Meredith runs off to greenwich Village to find help, from Dr Strange and Clea. Doc looks at the book and tracks it to the Night Crawler...  Doc and the ladies head to his realm, where they meet an army, led by Jim Mandarin, who is under Night Crawler's control...  Doc fights; but, it is Meredith who provides the answer and Dr Strange taps the spirit within Jim Mandarin, defeating Night Crawler and releasing Mandarin. Thoughts: A bit lightweight, but, it calls back several Dr Strange and Defenders stories, as Mandarin was a rejected apprentice to Dr Strange and night Crawler helped bring the Defenders together. Carmine is a strange fit for this; but, Russell's inks help mold Infantino's style into something that suits the story. Wolf BoyCreative Team: Gil Kane-story & art, P Craig Russell-inks, Jim Novak-letters, Christie Scheele-colors, Al Milgrom-edits. Based on the Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling.  Tabaqui the Jackal visits a clan of wolves and tells them that Shere Khan, the Tiger, has changed hunting grounds. He is hunting man and attacks a woodcutter and family, landing in a firepit, burning his paw. The humans scatter but a manchild is left alone. the cub is found by Father Wolf and brought to the den to be with the wolf cubs. Shere Khan comes to the den, demanding the child and rakesha, the She-Wolf drives him away. Rakesha later brings the cub, now called Mowgli, to the gathering, where he is presented to Akela, the leader of the pack. Rakesha says she will teach the cub and raise her as her own, to keep the peace with man, a peace which Shere Khan threatens to break. The tiger shows up demanding the cub; but, Rakesha blocks his way. Akela asks who else will speak for the cub and Baloo, the Bear, speaks up, vowing to teach the child the laws of the jungle. Bagheera, the Panther, also speaks and adds his voice to those who will raise the man cub. Akela decrees that Mowgli will join the pack and Shere Khan slinks away, vowing revenge. Mowgli will grow amid the pack and will elarn from his friends, Baloo and Bagheera. Thoughts: Wonderful adaptation of Kipling's Jungle Book, as we see how Mowgli is found by the wolves and comes to be raised by them Shere Khan declares enmity from the start and their paths will cross again. Kane does a beautiful job with the material and Russell adds much to Kane's line. It would have been nice to see the pair adapt the entire work, not just the few stories they did. Russell would return to Kipling and Mowgli, at Eclipse and Elsewhere, with his stories eventually being collected at NBM. Kipling is a favorite of mine, with The Jungle Book and the Just So Stories at the top. I can separate his love of Empire and war recruiting from his writing, as the man could tell a story! Mowgli is the template for Tarzan and just about every other jungle lord, though Mowgli is no white man, come to tame the jungle. Disney's version is probably best known; but, it loses too much of Kipling's artistry, while adding some nice songs. Still, George Sanders was perfectly cast as Shere Khan. This time, the back up is vastly superior to the lead feature.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2019 15:31:02 GMT -5
ps The book closes with a Bill Sienkiewicz portfolio, including Dr Strange pulling a demonic rabbit out of a hat and a pretty cool image of Disco Dazzler (looking like something from Xanadu). However, the back cover, by P Craig Russell, is my favorite image.  |
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Post by brutalis on Jan 16, 2019 16:12:18 GMT -5
I really dug the depth of and bond of friendship this provided to Blob and Unus. Villains rarely ever get this level of characterization given to them. I thought it was very cool that Blob the unmovable was capable of pushing his way through to Unus the untouchable. Without his friend Of course don't think the science of it all through too much or else your head may explode. How does the field permit oxygen in? How is it Unus has short hair and no beard/mustache growth if he cannot shave or trim? I don't even wish to consider the hygiene aspects. Boy must Unus be rather ripe!!!
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2019 16:21:12 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #15 Black Sabbath? Awesome!!! Ozzy vs Daimon! If only..... Creative Team: Steve Gerber-writer, Jim Mooney-artist, Dave Hunt-letters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Roy Thomas-edits. Synopsis: Damon sees a meteor fall in the desert and runs into a padre, who condemns him and attacks. Then other satanic creatures attack until Big daddy shows up to bring sonny boy into the family business. Daimon wakes up out of the nightmare, in his hotel, where he is awakened by Dr Reynolds at his door. His pentagram is now properly inverted and pops tells him it wasn't a dream. He took away the dual identity from Daimon, so no more nocturnal changing; he is always the Son of Satan and his two sides will eternally battle for dominance over his flesh. So, he's got that going for him!  Dr Reynolds invites him to lecture to her class and, the ext day, introduces him to byron Hyatt, a student. Over dinner, Dr Reynolds and byron tell Daimon that Gateway Univ is threatening to end her courses, due to a satanist cult that has grown at the university. Dr Reynolds asks Daimon for help in breaking it up. he agrees and knows that, since it's his birthday (Feb 2), there will be a ritual, as feb 2 is candlemas, on the Satanic Calendar (the one with the really uncute kittens and puppies). They head out of town (St Louis) and find the students, already at it, with one fiery kegger! Daimon recognizes that these aren't students out for naughty fun; these are the real deal. A nubile young woman removes her robe and climbs up on an altar for what looks like the start of The devil in Miss Jones, when daimon interrupts...  The demon Baphomet attacks Daimon and sics a horde of demons on him.He retreats to the Gateway Arch and the battle comes there.  The fight and Daimon vanquishes the demon, sending him and a chunk of concrete crashing to the parking lot below. Thoughts: Steve Gerber takes over as writer and things look up from previous issues. It still isn't terrifying; but, it is more exciting. Mooney has a nice atmospheric touch to things, even if he is a little too clean, as an artist. His depiction of the Gateway Arch is a bit off, sometimes looking way to squat and rounded. I'm not sure he had ever seen it and the surrounding area is more than a bit generic and off. The site had only been opened about 7 years before this story and the visitor center and Museum of Westward Expansion wasn't completed until 1976. The arch is bounded by the Lacledes Landing area and the Mississippi. Mooney doesn't really depict the river much, at all, though it is in at least one panel. Steve Gerber was from St Louis, so he gets to have a bit of fun in the old home town (Roy Thomas was also from Missouri). Next issue will explore the geography a bit more. It's a shame they couldn't take things inside the arch, as it is a pretty cool place. There is an observation deck at the top, where the countryside can be seen through windows. It is a strange feeling as you stand there, looking across the curved surface. You ride up in elevator trams, in groups of 3 or 4 (it's been a while) in each compartment. You shift angle a few times, which is rather jarring and also a bit scary, as you don't see it coming. I took a woman I was dating there once and she had her first claustrophobic experience inside the tram, though she got through it okay. Gerber introduces a new supporting character and gets rid of Daimon's dual status, in one story. From this pointon, he is always Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan. No more changing back and forth with the coming and going of night (probably because that had already been done with Ghost Rider and Werewolf By Night (well full moon, for Wolfie). Also, the pentagram was reversed to the correct format for Satan. before, the star pointed up, which was a symbol for good witches. It's too bad the story didn't have Daimon meet Ozzy, though. I guess they were a bit Paranoid....
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Post by MDG on Jan 16, 2019 16:36:13 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #15... Also, the pentagram was reversed to the correct format for Satan. before, the star pointed up, which was a symbol for good witches. Yeah, but in the panel where he calls attention to this, Mooney has his figure angled so the star points up! Where's the editor! |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jan 16, 2019 16:43:04 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #7(...) Got something in my eye..........I'll be back in a minute.................... That entire issue is really quite good, but yeah, that second DD feature always puts a lump in my throat (just like that scene with Krypto in 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?'). |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2019 17:01:13 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #16 Forest Park was home to the 1904 World's Fair (The Louisiana Purchase Exposition) and the Olympics. It is home to the St Louis Zoo (where Marlin Perkins was the director, during the days of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom), the St Louis Art Museum, the Science Center and the Muny (where I was subjected to the horror of Cats, in 1985). I grew up near decatur, IL and St Louis was closer than Chicago; so, we had a few family trips down there. My mother took a job there, while I was in college, so I got to see quite a bit of the city. Wonder if Daimon will fight satanists at Six Flags amusement park? I always thought Injun Joe's cave was rather satanic (and there were stories of sightings of water moccasins in there) and the Skyway had an accident, in 1978, where a car fell off the cables, killing 3 and injuring 1. You never could get me to go up in one of those things. Creative Team: Gerber & Mooney, Sal Trapani-inks, Carol Jetter-letters, George Roussos colors, Roy Thomas-tour guide. Synopsis: A couple of young folks are running through forest Park, when they trip on a hole. They find hundreds of holes, the exact same size, all around. the enxt day the police and a scientiic team are out by the McDonnell Planetarium, surveying things. There are 4,000 holes, each of the exact same size, with a reddish powder in them. Allen Crandall, a reporter for the St Louis Globe Dispatch comes down and writes a story, which leads to all kinds of crazies descending upon the park. Daimon and friends see this on tv and head down to check things out...  Would nihilists actually form a league? It seems like they'd tear it apart before it could do anything.... The nihilists recognize Daimon from the battle on the Arch and think he is trying to take over the city. They attack and Daimon loses his magma. He unleashes his Soulfire, which heads right for the holes, linking them like a Lightbrite, forming a serpent, Kometes. The Soulfire from his trident doesn't affect it, but, it just settles up in the sky.  Daimon goes and does some research and finds out that Kometes is a sign of cataclysmic change and last appeared at the sinking of Atlantis. Daimon and the gang travel back in time, via Soulfire and trident, t consult with Zhered-Na, the only human to face Kometes. They go through a hole and end up near Atlantis.  Thoughts: Interesting set-up issue, with some in-references to St Louis, for those who know. So, now Daimon can time travel at will...that's handy! Wonder if Daimon will take in a Cardinals game, while he is there? Pretty decent time, for the team, with Lou Brock stealing bases, left and right, and the Mad Hungarian, Al Hrabosky. I've never been much of a fan of baseball; but, I knew far more players when I was a kid, in the 70s, than I ever did, as an adult. It was also an era of big moustaches and afros, which made for some interesting baseball card photos. My family went to about 3 or 4 games, at Busch Stadium (the old one, not the current one). What Gerber should really do is have Daimon show up at the Chase Hotel, just in time for the matches at Wrestling At The Chase! Daimon Hellstrom vs Da Crusher!
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2019 17:05:40 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #15... Also, the pentagram was reversed to the correct format for Satan. before, the star pointed up, which was a symbol for good witches. Yeah, but in the panel where he calls attention to this, Mooney has his figure angled so the star points up! Where's the editor! It's tilted oddly; but, if you look closely, Daimon's neck falls between two points, rather than one aimed directly at the center of his throat. I put it down to wonky perspective. Roy was probably busy trying to find better reference material for mooney, for the Arch and area! Not even one riverboat! |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2019 18:01:13 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #15 Music............. Creative Team: Sifu Roy Thomas-keeper of the sacred scrolls of Shaolin, Gil Kane-5 Fingers of Artistic Death, Dick Giordano-Fists of Inky Fury, LP Gregory-Crouching Tiger, Hidden Letterer, Glynis Wein-Enter the Colors Wonder where they got this idea... Man, Keye Luke was good! Synopsis: A masked man in a funky green suit faces off against a bunch of guys who just got out of bed, judging by their pajamas. They attack and the green dude lays them out faster than you can say , "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa...." The manis Iron Fist and he emerges victorious and brags to Yu-TI, the August Personage in Jade (Augie, for short) and his band, the Dragon Kings. Yu-Ti tells him to hang loose, so we can have flashbacks to the past.  Wendell Rand, his wife Heather and son Danny, as well as his business partner Harold Meachum are in the Himalayas, trekking up K'un Lun, the mythical inspiration for James Hilton's Shangri-La. Dany slips crossing a natural bridge and pulls his mother with him, landing on a ledge below. Wendell is hanging over the side and calls for Harold to help and he kicks him off, falling to his death, miles below. Heather chucks rocks at Meachum and he threatens to leave them behind, as we cut back to Iron Fist and his test. he now faces Shu-Hu, a giant. Yu-Ti does the announcing and it is on. Iron Fist strikes quickly and strategically; but, Shu-Hu smacks him around like the wife of a buy who gets shoved to the ground in his underwear, on Cops. He shifts back to the past Danny and his mother climb towards the summit and shelter under ledges. they run into wolves and run for their lives...  They spot a bridge and try to cross, but Heather turns back and dives into the wolves, to keep them from her son. Um, not a great strategy. Daniel is saved by crossbows form some dudes who appeared out of nowhere. Wolves go down and the kid is taken to safety. Mom is wolf chow. Iron Fist returns to the present and gets a knife to the shoulder. No he is pissed and he goes to town on Shu-Hu, eventually Knocking his head off, with the Iron Fist, revealing him to be a Rock-'Em/Chop-'Em robot. He claims his right to something and the masked dudes agree. Thoughts: Well, we have some chop-sockey action, mixed with more than a bit of old pulp storytelling. We can assume that the crossbow dudes were from K'Un-Lun and took Danny in, training him to fight in tight green capri pants and yellow scarves.. Roy's second-person narration is annoying and it is a literary device that rarely works well. Gil Kane rocks the action, though he doesn't know his Praying Mantis from his Tiger Claw. This story is dedicated to Bill Everett, who is called an Amazing Man. That is a reference to Centaur Comics' Amazing Man, who first appeared in 1939; the creation of bill Everett. The character is an American, raised in a Tibetan Lamasery, and taught the secrets of its masters. he undergoes a series of tests efore going out into the world as a hero, Amazing Man, using the name John Aman. Gil Kane was a huge fan of the character and Everett was one of his artistic influences. Roy Thomas had seen his first kung fu film and there was a ceremony of the iron Fist and thought that would be a great idea to swipe for a comic. Um, yeah......It also didn't hurt that David Carradine's tv series, Kung Fu, premiered with a 90 minute pilot movie, in 1972. The series was red hot and launched the kug fu craze, in the US (along with screenings of films like The 5 Fingers of death and bruce Lee's early movies) Drive-ins and grindhouse theaters were suddenly filled with badly dubbed Chinese actors/stuntmen avenging the deaths of their teachers and protecting weak villagers, while performing balletes of endless strikes and counter-strikes. Amazing how the UFC fights never seem to have those kinds of exchanges! Basically, Kung Fu was hot (tv series and martial arts fad) and roy swiped liberally from multiple sources, while Gil Kane added the Amazing Man stuff. That series, itself, was spawned by the success of the first original paperback novel, James Hilton's Lost Horizon, which featured the mythical land of Shangri-La. Suddenly, everyone from the pulps to comics was writing about hidden Tibetan cities and temples, where ancient secrets turned people into supermen. Roy & Gil mixed that with some chop-sockey and Kung Fu flashbacks and a green spandex fighter was born. If you are wondering why they skipped the costume for the series, look at it carefully and picture an actor trying to pull that look off, especially Finn Jones. Maybe Ray Park could have done it, had that film gone off. I still think they would have redesigned it and lost the ballet slippers and the capri pants. It did look a bit like Danny Rand raided Laura Petrie's closet.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2019 18:40:21 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #16 Creative Team: Len Wein steps in as writer and Larry Hama is the new artist, with everyone else the same from last issue. Hama at least had a martial arts background, though not kung fu. Hama studied Kodokan judo, Kyudo archery and Iado swordsmanship; basically, the arts of the Japanese samurai. Kung Fu styles are quite a bit different. Still, that is a step up from Gil Kane, who knew more about haymakers than monkey fists. To be fair, Kane's fight choreography looked like he did a bit of research. Synopsis: Iron Fist is walking through New York (with people gawping) and turns down an alleyway, where he runs into an ambush. he fights the hired goons (with mostly karate blows and kicks) and then gets banged on the noggin, with a lead pipe (don't see many of those in Shaw brothers films). next thing you know, we are back in K'un-Lun, as Danny and his rescuer reach the gates of a temple. They bring Danny befor Yu-Ti, who welcomes him and asks what they can do for him. Danny wants revenge...  Yu=Ti gives a fortune cookie answer about revenge and sets Danny up with master Po......I mean, Lei Kung, the Thunderer, to train.  Cue training montages and danny takes a crown from a snake and wants more. We are briefly interrupted with Danny doing some buttkicking, then back to the past. Danny demands to face Shou-Lao, the Undying One, a giant serpent who bestows the mark of the dragon upon Danny's chest. He goes inside the temple and finds the Heart of the Dragon and plunges in his fists, which then glow, then he runs outside and thrusts them in the snow, like a little girl!   thus does Danny gain the power of the Iron Fist. We cut back to the present, where he faces Scythe, an assassin who uses a kusarigama....  (a Japanese weapon) and knocks him off balance and starts choking him. We cut back to Danny being told about his tests, winning, and then being offered the frit of the Tree of Immortality, or the one window to leave the temple (K'Un-Lun appears once every 10 years). Danny says goodbye, after learning that Yu-Ti is actually his uncle...  ..then we are back in the present, as Iron Fist battles Scythe and vaporizes the kusarigama, with the iron Fist. Scythe craps his pants (his robe was probably white, before facing iron Fist....  ...) and Scythe points him towards Meachum, who payed the thugs. More buttkicking, next issue! Thoughts: This seems familiar........ Pretty standard stuff; but, exciting and well executed. Like I said, Larry Hama's martial arts background is in Japanese arts; but, he makes the stuff look good, even if it isn't kung fu (which is an incorrect term and spelling; but, we will stick with it). The annoying second-person narrative continues. Already we have major creative changes, though the style continues. Wein is replaced, next issue, by Doug Moench. He and Hama stay for a few, before being replaced by Tony Isabella and Arvell Jones. They are replaced by Chris Claremont and Pat Broderick, before Broderick is replaced by John Byrne. So, lots of changes to explore.
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Post by Rob Allen on Jan 16, 2019 18:41:32 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #16Synopsis: A couple of young folks are running through forest Park, when they trip on a hole. They find hundreds of holes, the exact same size, all around. the enxt day the police and a scientiic team are out by the McDonnell Planetarium, surveying things. There are 4,000 holes, each of the exact same size, with a reddish powder in them. This seems to be a reference to a verse in the Beatles' song A Day in the Life:
I read the news today oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert HallNot sure if there's any other significance or relationship between the song and this comic. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 16, 2019 18:52:39 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #16Synopsis: A couple of young folks are running through forest Park, when they trip on a hole. They find hundreds of holes, the exact same size, all around. the enxt day the police and a scientiic team are out by the McDonnell Planetarium, surveying things. There are 4,000 holes, each of the exact same size, with a reddish powder in them. This seems to be a reference to a verse in the Beatles' song A Day in the Life:
I read the news today oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert HallNot sure if there's any other significance or relationship between the song and this comic. It is, knowing Gerber. |
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Post by brutalis on Jan 17, 2019 8:29:53 GMT -5
Ahhhh 70's Danny Rand as Iron Fist is probably somewhat hokey for today's readership but back then in the 70's when the Martial Art's craze hit (and it was BIG) across the US this is what most of our dreams would probably look like. A mix of American, Japanese, Chinese myth and culture tossed together in a form our young minds could conceive of within our fantasies all combined with the ability to super charge your fist until it is like unto a thing of iron! Not many could hope to be Shang Chi (trained to the arts from birth) but Danny Rand seemed a more "believable" fantasy goal of revenge, dedication and gaining power from a dragons heart. Damn straight everybody was Kung Fu fighting at the time!!!
Even my dad and 2 brothers got into the craze enough to taking some classes (from an Ed Parker school of all choices) but they never stuck with it, especially when they would come home strutting and showing off in arrogant disregard of the actual martial arts philosophies (good old book reader me knew more of the real arts from reading than they ever learned in "class") trying to impress the family only to have me come in and knock each of my brothers and dad on their respective backsides. All the fancy moves in the world still do nothing if you don't know how to utilize them. Me a skinny white boy in a poor section of the south part of town full of other ethnicity outnumbering us WASP's learned really fast how to fight, STREET fight that is; meaning you fight only when you must and when you do you make certain to put the other guy down and out and unable to retaliate and once he recovers then they will think twice before confronting you or wanting revenge.
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