Kung Fu and martial arts, in general, went through a big surge. Not only did you get the Chinese films and the Kung Fu tv series, you got martial arts on other tv shows and movies, and even cartoons.  Hong Kong Phooey premiered in 1974, bringing it, sort of, to Saturday morning.  There was a made-for-tv movie, with Jared Martin, Robert Ito (Quincy) and Joseph Wiseman (in yellowface), called men of the Dragon, that was a kind of pilot for a potential series.  It ripped off Enter the Dragon and several other films; but, had a pretty decent plot and made for an entertaining movie.  It was stunt choreographed by David Chow, who was doing that work on Kung Fu.  Chuck Norris appeared, as himself, in an episode of Room 222, where a smaller student is being bullied and learns some martial arts to defend himself.  Ed Parker turned up as an assassin in Revenge of the Pink Panther, fighting Clouseau early in the film (he thinks it is Cato).

Eventually, the Kung Fu fad would fade, then we would get kickboxing (the Chuck Norris movies and others, as kickboxing was heavily featured on ESPN) and karate films, followed by ninjas, more kickboxing, MMA, Krav Maga, Kali and other hybrids.  The best fight, to this day, is still Bruce Lee vs Samo Hung, at the beginning of Enter the Dragon.  It actually demonstrates the various fight ranges and ends up with grappling, long before the UFC showed the deficiencies of many martial arts styles, when fights moved into grappling range.  Of course, it helped that Bruce cross-trained in grappling with "Judo" Gene LeBell, pro wrestler, AAU Judo champion and Hollywood stuntman (and the guy who choked out Steven Segal on a movie set).

Ugggghhhhh..........................

Don't get me started on the Frank Dux fiction.  Let's put it this way; Count Dante had a better claim to legitimacy.............




(Some NSFW language)

That said, there are some decent fight scenes in Bloodsport, thanks to Bolo, who had tons of experience in Hong Kong.

My personal favorite is when the kung fu fad crossed over with Blaxploitation, in the form of Jim Kelly.  Kelly purloined his memorable appearance in Enter the Dragon into a string of his own films.  My favorites are Black Belt Jones and Black Samurai...





ps  The guy you see in the red and green knit hat, in the Black Belt Jones trailer, is Donnie Williams, who can also be seen in the kempo school, when Jim Kelly is leaving LA for the tournament in Hong Kong, in Enter the Dragon.  The hat was a bit of a trademark and he can be seen in several films, as a stunt man and actor, both in the US and Hong Kong (including some of the Bruce Li "fake Bruce Lee" films).  He and Steve Muhammad (born Steve Sanders) were leading fighters and teachers in the Black Karate Federation and appeared as martial artists/stunt men in several films and tv shows, in the 70s and early 80s.  Tommy Davidson's character, Sweet Tooth Jones, on In Living Color, was based on Williams and Muhammad (Muhammad was balding and Williams had a big moustache)...



(There really should have been a Sweet Tooth movie!)

Marvel Premiere #18



Creative Team: Same bunch.

Synopsis: Iron Fist battles Triple Iron, without ever using any other martial art skill beyond the iron fist, while getting unseen help from the previous issue's ninja. He uses severed electrical cables to zap TI and then storms into Meachum's office, where he finds him...



Meachum was in love with Danny's mother; but, she spurned him. he only meant to kil the father. He escaped; but was crippled in a climbing accident and lost his legs. he was nursed to health in Nepal and heard that Danny was found and training with the monks of K'un-Lun. Meachum then pulls a gun on Danny, who won't fight him and walks away, only for the ninja to spoil Meachum's aim, as he goes to shoot IF in the back. The ninja faces Meachum...



IF returns to find Meachum shivved with a katana and Meachum's daughter sees IF and thinks he did it. Danny leaves with the girl vowing vengeance.

Thoughts: Hardly original but entertaining. !974 is still a bit early on the ninja front, though they were appearing in Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson's Manhunter. Give them a few years and they will be like cockroaches! Moench is heavy with atmosphere and adds some nice (if cliched) touches with the Meachum twist. The ninja is a mystery element for future stories. Not bad; but, not up to MOKF standards, for Moench. Hama and Giordano doa fine job on the art, though Hama hasn't exactly added many martial arts touches. Oh for Gulacy to add some actual technique!

Marvel Fanfare #9



Creative Team: JM DeMatteis-writer, JJ Brozowski (Birch)-pencils & colors, Gray Morrow-finishes, Joe Rosen-letters, Al Milgrom-edits

Synopsis: Man-Thing is dreaming as we see Ted Sallis with Man-Thing's head and Man-Thing with Ted's head. They fight and Man-Thing awakes to music and finds some hippy with David Crosby's moustache. He threatens Man-Thing, who slumbers off and the guy flashes back to New York, where his band is eking out a living. Enter a sleazy manager and a literal deal with the devil and success comes, with the occasional groupie or roadie sacrifice (Almost Famous left out that part...).



Our singer leaves the group and is hunted by the others, who turn up, with the agent, who wants a soul. He tries to temp Man-Thing with a return to human form and even transforms him into ted allis, after man-Thing has burned his face, by touching him. ted rejects him and Satan comes to claim the manager's soul and the hippy is left with one of his bandmates.



Thoughts: Fairly cliched Faust story, with a rock n roll twist. JM DeMatteis also worked as a music critic, though gave it up after writing a negative review of The Grateful Dead's "Go To Heaven," album, which got him a ton of flack from deadheads. he gave up that career and turned to writing comics full time. He really adds nothing new, as this has all been done before. Gray morrow adds a lot to JJ birch's art, though I would have rather seen Morrow, on his own.

Mowgli's Brothers

Creative Team: Kane & Russell are back, with Novak and Goldberg, for more Jungle Book.

Synopsis: Mowgli grows, under the watchful eyes of Akela, the great gray wolf, and Baloo and Bagheera. He takes his place with the wolf council and hunts to feed the pack. Akela is growing old and some younger wolves seek to challenge his leadership, with the aid of Shere Khan. Mowgli denies his right to be involved and uses fire to drive away the tiger. he rejects the cowardly wolves andsays goodbye to the pack, no longer a cub. He is now an outsider, not of man's world and not of the wolves. he has only Baloo and Bagheera as companions.

Thoughts: Another excellent chapter from Kane and Russell, adapting Kipling. The art is beautiful and they capture Kipling's tones, as we see the ancestor of Tarzan. the difference was that Mowgli was a native Indian, not a white man come to the jungle to become it's lord and master (ironic, given Kipling's love of Empire). Once again, mowgli has successfully challenged Shere Khan, who harbors a hatred of man. There will be a reckoning.

Marvel Premiere #20



Batroc ez 'eer to murdair Airon Feest an' ze Franche langueege!

Creative Team: Tony Isabella-writer, Arvell Jones-pencils, Dan Green-inks, John Drake-colors, Ray Holloway-letters, Roy Thomas-shuffling teams.

Total shake-up in the creative team, with only Holloway returning. I like much of Tony Isabella's work; but, he was no Doug Moench when it came to pulp atmosphere or plot. Arvell Jones was part of the Detroit comic book mafia, which included Rich Buckler, Keith Pollard, Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom. Green worked primarily as an inker and finisher, bumping around a bit on titles, from the 70s onward. Jones was one of the few African-American artists working in comics, at the time.

Synopsis: Iron Fist is battling a bunch of Indian assassins, who are dressed like pro wrestlers. He dispatches them , while prof. Wing watches from a window. Danny then goes to Meachum industries to meet up with Joy, who yells at him, then tells him to come back, after getting a signal. he walks into another trap and is attacked by Batroc, who has been hired by Meachum to kill Iron Fist. Lots of kicking and throwing ensue, as Isabella and Jones demonstrate neither knowledge of kung fu styles or savatte.



Batroc sicks his brigade on Danny and, wouldn't you know it, the ninja shows up to rescue him. He somehow transports the two of them away in a smoky mist, then buggers off. he turns up on the last page for a surprise...



The ninja is Prof. Wing!

Thoughts: Boy how things have changed! Isabella is about average, for a rookie Marvel writer of the 70s. He continues the second person narration, which is distracting. Moench's atmosphere is missing. What's worse, Hama's more polished art (with Giordano elevating it over Hama's work elsewhere) is missing and Jones' stuff would look amateurish, in the Charlton Bullseye! This is really bad, with clunky staging and some really ugly figure work. Like Grade C fanzine bad. Quite a change from the previous issue and not a step in the right direction.

The turbanned assassins really need to go. They are dressed in trunks and singlets, like pro wrestlers; but, are colored caucasian, looking like Sam Jaffee, in Gunga Din. Now, there is quite a bit of racial diversity across the Indian sub-continent and there are some ethnic groups that have skin tones like a caucasian European. However, this just reeks of bad Hollywood and pulp stereotypes. The turbans are another thing. Sikhs wear the turban as a part of their religious and cultural beliefs. Most of the rest of India did not wear them, apart from protection from the elements. Not everyone looked like Hadji (an even he was animated with darker skin tones and more accurate cultural features). At least we don't have sword swallowers or people eating monkey brains.

Danny Rand is a bigger moron than even last issue, as he keeps approaching Joy Meachum and keeps walking into traps. There is a difference between innocent and stupid. Danny was given intensive combat training and one element of that is an awareness of your battleground and a caution when facing an unknown adversary or walking into an unknown setting. It's a plot convenience but suggests the rather complete lack of characterization that dogs this feature. Danny really needs to be developed to get this to series. Even Shang Chi had more of a personality, at the start. I doubt anyone would have cared that Finn Jones played the character, if they had only seen these first few stories.

My last rant is saved for comics as a whole, and Marvel and Batroc specifically. I like Batroc, cartoon French and all. However, no one associated with writing or drawing the character had a single idea of what savate is. Isabella calls it "The French art of boxing with the feet." Non! Savate is a form of kickboxing. It has more than foot techniques. It makes extensive use of hand and foot strike combinations. Savate includes far more kicking than American kickboxing; but, it was derived from street fighting techniques, brought to France by sailors who frequented Central and East Asia. Savate includes blocking techniques using the feet, whip-like kicks to the head, chambered combination kicks to the mid-section, and standard punching patterns and combinations. The street fighting versions also incorporated Persian wrestling techniques, which were banned when savate became a sport. It is not jumping around and hitting people with drop kicks, as Batroc tends to do. Even the Batroc of Winter Soldier did not employ much in the way of actual savate technique (more of an American kickboxing and muy tai style, mixed with Hollywood acrobatics and wire stunts). A "real" Batroc would employ a lot of footwork to move into striking range and launch kicks to the body and head, following up with punches and elbows. He would most likely finish off with grappling techniques, making him a very deadly fighter. Batroc's history is supposed to be the French Foreign Legion (Frenchmen cannot serve in the Legion, except as officers, though many did, in earlier decades, under false Belgian names and papers). The Legion is one of the toughest fighting units in the world and Batroc, with a combination of professional combat experience around the globe and a mastery of savate fighting techniques, should be a much deadlier opponent. unfortunately, the cartoony dialogue, ignorance of savate, and a general comedic approach to the character have held back what should be one of Marvel's deadliest fighters.

C'est la guerre!

Ed Brubaker has been one of the few who seemed to recognize that Batroc could be a more deadly foe, when he did a story where Batroc fights Bucky-Cap, also employing some parkour. Doug Moench at least treated him seriously, in Master of Kung Fu. So, there is hope.

Marvel Spotlight #19



"Here comes the chopper, to chop off your head!"

Creative Team: Mike Esposito replaces Chiaramonte, and Charlotte Jetter handles the letters. Everyone else remains.

Synopsis: Katherine reynolds is at the hospital, trying to reach Daimon. She runs into the local reporter, Kolchak, I mean Crandall, who wants to poke around the story of Dr Noble's house burning down. He proceeds to irk Katherine and she blows him off, to go find Daimon. Daimon is currently being attacked by a possessed father. daimon whoops his hide, then Allatou jumps back into Linda Blair, I mean melissa...



Daimon backs off and makes an ankh sign on the floor, trapping Allatou, while Melissa's mom gets hima cup of tea. She must be English. Meanwhile, Katherine arrives at the ruins of dr Noble's house, followed by Crandall. the neighbors tell them about a weirdo in a cape and a pitchfork ad they soon find Daimon battling demons. Allatou has repossessed Melissa and is slowly killing her and daimon drives her out, only for her to jump from Melissa to pops to mom. The body ring-around-the-rosey ends with Crandall and Daimon traps Allatou in his body and blasts it with Soulfire, eventually enticing Alaltou to give up the body, allowing Daimon to 86 her to Hell. The former possessees are all disoriented and Daimon and Katherine go off to roast marshmallows on his trident.

Thoughts: Well, that was nice. The body jumping got a bit overdone by the end and it looked like Daimon was prepared to sacrifice Crandall, to get rid of Allatou; but, of course, he's the "good" guy. Crandall seems to borrow from Carl Kolchak, Darren mcGavin's character in the telemovie The Night Stalker, and star of the short-lived Kolchak supernatural tv series. He dresses better, though. I think Marvel's lawyers would advise against doing this story these days, for fear of a lawsuit over plagiarism. It's not a direct swipe; but, Gerber doesn't disguise it much.

Decent two-issue story.

Marvel Fanfare #10-13



Black Widow! Perez! Hooyah!

Creative Team: Ralph (Not The Karate Kid) Macchio-writer/co-plotter. George Perez-pencils & co-plot, Brett Breeding, Jack Abel & Joe Sinnott, Al Milgrom and John beatty-inks, Tom Orzechowski, Jim Novak, Diana Albers-letters; Petra Scotese, Ben Sean, Bob Sharen-colors; Al Milgrom-edits. Bob Layton & Luke McDonnell assist in the pencilling of the second chapter, in issue 10

Whew!

Synopsis: Nick Fury is at SHIELD HQ, in Manhattan (presumably somewhere other than the East 40s, where UNCLE has its HQ) and Happy Sam Sawyer is bugging him for files. he is conducting a presidentially commissioned investigation into Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow. We cut to her apartment, where Perez gives us some leg and a towel...



...while some goons conduct a helicopter/jet pack assault on her apartment, and get whooped...



Ouch!

While Natasha kicks ass, Fury relates her background: orphaned in WW2, found by Ivan Petrovich (in Stalingrad), trained as a spy since childhood, involved with Alexei Shostokov (Really, Roy? Nothing more original than part of the composer's name?) aka The Red Guardian, spy for the KGB, Avenger, SHIELD agent, etc. Natasha continues fighting the goons and then turns up at SHIELD HQ, after interrogating one. Turns out they were sent by Happy Sam and Nick is stunned and 'Tasha is pissed. Turns out, Ivan Petrovich is missing.

Issue 11 finds Black Widow fighting her way out of a remote estate and then gives us the flashback of Natasha given the details of Ivan's disappearance. She infiltrates the USSR, disguised as Lara Mathers, a defecting scientist. She is taken to the earlier seen estate and meets up with another defector, Michael Corcoran. After some wining, dining, researching and hanky panky (Perez draws Natasha in a blonde wig and sexy toga outfit) sneaks out in uniform and gets ambushed, leading to our fight. At the end, a group of assassins are tasked with bringing her down...



and they track her, attack, and then George gets to indulge in a bit of bondage...



Issue 12 picks up with Natasha all trussed up; but, still feisty...



...as we see where Joss Whedon got the idea for this scene...



It comes down to Black Widow vs Iron Maiden.....



No, not that one....



Nor that one....



Bingo!

She's an ex-colleague of Natasha and she wants her spy sorority sister dead. She gets the upper hand, before Jimmy Woo, of SHIELD arrives...



Iron Maiden escapes and Natasha and Woo chase her, using a homing beacon that 'Tasha planted. That leads to a sewer, where the girls fight it out, before IM goes down the drain. Then, it's lights out and Natasha is ambushed by Snapdragon.



Issue 13 finds Natasha carted off by Snapdragon and her male accomplice, as Natasha is back in bondage (manacles, this time). She is brought to a secret lair, near Hong Kong (where last issue's action took place) and finds out that the whole thing was a revenge plan by Damon Dran, an arms dealer that Black Widow and Daredevil fought.



He has placed a double with the unconscious Agent Woo, to infiltrate the SHIELD helicarrier, discredit Natasha, and blow up the ship (with Nick Fury on board). Natasha is carted off to a cell, while the double flies back with Jimmy Woo, to the Helicarrier. Natasha's cell is an interesting place, a sort of pit within a cell, with a door way up high. Stealing a page from Modesty Blaise, Natasha tears off fake skin to reveal a hidden bow and arrow. She tears her uniform into strips and creates a rope, shooting it up to the door with the arrow. She climbs up to pick the lock.



One hidden fingernail device and an explosive arrowhead later and Natasha is in a corridor, where she finds a mind-controlled Ivan. She has to kick his butt and take his weapon, then prowls around the villain's lair. Another fight with Snapdragon ensues and natasha wins the rematch, only to find herself with weapons pointed at her. Ivan breaks programming and saves her, they warn SHIELD and one James Bond finale later she and Ivan are safe in the ocean. This not being Bond, there is no further hanky-panky (Ivan is a father figure, anyway).

Thoughts: Yeah, boy; that's what I'm talking about! This is, by far, one of the best Black Widow stories ever! Widow gets to play spy, kick ass and take microdots, while Perez gets to indulge in his brand of specialized assassins and sexy women punching and kicking each other (he has even directed videos of this kind of thing). All of the sexist cliches come out, as we get a bit off post-shower peekaboo, a lot of curvy bodies and plenty of ropes and chains. Macchio and Perez have done a bit of Modesty Blaise reading and borrow from that awesome action/adventure heroine, star of a hugely popular comic strip and series of novels (and three mediocre films, theatrical and tv). Modesty is a good template for any action heroine and especially Black Widow. We get a massive info dump of Widow's past and the mission is personal. Just an excellent piece all around, with the only real deficit being that Perez couldn't do all of the artwork and there are some abrupt switches to Layton & McDonnell, as well as Perez doing looser pencils in later chapters.

The story was originally intended for Marvel Premiere and followed on the heels of another Macchio-written Widow tale, in Bizarre Adventures #25 (formerly Marvel Preview magazine), with awesome Paul Gulacy art...



Gulacy also released a Black Widow portfolio, via SQP,



which always reminded me of this video...


(Can you tell that Phil Collins produced that album? And did backing vocals? And drums?)

This story was later reprinted, in Black Widow, Web of Intrigue, in 1999...



and again in 2009, along with the Bizarre Adventures story, in the Web of Intrigue hardcover...



Highest recommendation for those collections or these issues (plus the Bizarre Adventures magazine).Also, if you can find it, the Gulacy Black Widow portfolio is a must-have!