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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 16, 2020 19:10:57 GMT -5
ps The Chelsea Quinn Yarbo reference is related to a series of books she did, with a vampiric St Germain, which had come out some years before this. However, she also appropriated said Count for her stuff. Never read them, but, as I recall, reading the back of one of them, he's supposed to date back to ancient Egypt. I think she was trying to ape Anne Rice, though I skipped her stuff, too, and have no idea how similar they might be, beyond writing about vampires. We always categorized Rice's in the Fiction section, while Yarboro's were in SF & Fantasy. A lot of that has to do with how publisher's marketed them. Vampires fell acroos a wider spectrum. We had a horror section, at one time; but it was eliminated. Even then, Rice was still placed in Fiction. It could get rather arbitrary and snobbish.
Those were the days.......
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 18, 2020 22:50:14 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #2Is it just me or do they look like lodge brothers giving the secret handshake? Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Jimmy Palmiotti-inks, "Comicraft's Rich & Wes"-letters, Paul Mounts-colors, Axel Alonso-paper pusher Synopsis: Reston, Tarr and Chi are being chased by modern dacoits/ninja/shriners... They kick their black-clad buts and Reston grabs some wheels to get them out, while a cyclist follows. Meanwhile, in France, St Germain inducts some new assassins, which probably means eating escargot without the garlic. They are then shown a hidden paradise and it sounds like Doug has been re-reading the stories of the hashishin. This being a Max series, that includes a lot more skin that Gulacy got to do in the old days (and Pavane didn't wear much; or Leiko, for that matter). The initiates also have to kill an American intelligence officer. They do so and St Germain gets word of the doings in Singapore and the presence of Shang Chi. He sends his top assassin, Moving Shadow, to face him, while the initiates make like T-Rex... Tar and Reston continue to fill in Chi about St Germain and Doug goes deeper into conspiracy theories, as St Germain has the hidden secrets to Tesla's "death ray"... ..even linking it to the Tunguska Event, in Siberia, in 1908. Tarr further tells us they are up against rivals, from MI-6, Omega Team, a bunch of assassins, who put he Adult Content into this, via juvenile profanity, so I can't show an image, without all the pottymouth. A@#$oles! While St Germain continues to torture Leiko, Chi takes down the motorcyclist who followed them and smashes his face shield and then his face, until he gives up the name of his boss. Moving Shadow kills him and attacks Chi. They fight, but he dives out befor Tarr and Reston turn up, guns drawn. Chi is impressed. We zip ahead and St Germain drags Leiko to be executed by goons and she fights for her life, while Reston and Chi sneak in from outside. Leiko was faking being in a trance and she kicks butt, then smashes St Germain's mask, revealing Fun Manchu, in form, if not name... Thoughts: Lots of action, more info dump and Doug throws St Germain into deeper conspiracy theories about Tesla and US space weapons research, name dropping HAARP (High-Frequency Active Aural Research Program), a program that is jointly operated by the US Air Force, US Navy, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Univ of Alaska Fairbanks, which studies the ionosphere, using high frequency transmitters to excite portions, in hopes of developing more sophisticated and efficient communications devices, which makes it a favorite obsession of conspiracy theorists. Tesla's inventions are anothe, especially his experiments in wiresless power transmission. Gulacy's image of Tesla's wonder weapon is based on his transmitter at Wardenclyffe, his factory on Long Island... The Tunguska Event is believed to have been a meteor air burst, in Siberia, that flattened forests for miles. The event has often been cited by conspiracy theorists as being secret weapons tests and has been used in science fiction, including the backstory to Eclipse Comics' Strike! series. In that comic (written by Chuck Dixon and drawn by Tom Lyle), the meteor is discovered by the Soviets, after stories of the people of the area showing amazing feats) and a long chain of people transport it (and die soon after handling it) down the line to a lead box. The Germans overrun the research facility during the war and do their own experiments, developing a harness that uses the power of the meteor. A commando team attacks the facility and a soldier puts on the harness and kills the Germans, after seeing the test subjects from the camp, all Jews and other non-Aryans. He returns to Allied lines and becomes the secret weapon, Sgt Strike. In the present, his harness and costume are found in an attic by the hero, who becomes Strike. Doug wrote The Big Book of Conspiracies, for DC's Paradox Press line of Big Book graphic albums, which showed he was well versed in everything from the Kennedy Assassination, Moon Hoaxes, The Trilateral Commission and every secret society under the sun (who never seem very secret), plus stuff like MK Ultra, Operation Paperclip and various other Quasi-government top secret research and scientific projects that did exist, but get grossly exaggerated by theorists. I read a bunch of this stuff in the dawn of the 90s, as I started watching The Prisoner and a few things inspired by Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatus Trilogy, which fits quite well into Shang Chis "Games of Deceit and Death." Problem is, later writers have turned everything into one grand conspiracy that interlinks everything, to the point of lunacy, with HYDRA and SHIELD being byproducts of ancient groups. Conspiracies work best on the small scale. Meanwhile, St Germain is revealed as "Shang Chi's father." At no point will the name Fu Manchu appear in this mini-series. Paul even departs from the traditional appearance of Fu, within these pages. Better safe than sorry, as they didn't have the rights; but, also, it allowed them to move somewhat away from the stereotype.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 19, 2020 16:48:31 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #3Leiko looks a little chilly, there; maybe she should zip up her catsuit. Creative Team: Doug Moench-wrter, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Jimmy Paliotti-inks, Rich & Wes-letters, Paul Mounts-colors, Axel Alonso-editor. Synopsis: Leiko says she knew who St Germain was as soon as he spoke. Fu reveals that he was the historical St Germain, which is a bit hard to swallow, as a Chinese man in the court of Louis the XV is going to get mentioned a lot more than the St Germain stories suggest. So Fu is even older than he seemed in the 20s. Father and son have a reunion and we are reacquainted with their past, before he sicks his Si-Fan and others on him. Chi and Leiko run and beat up attackers along the way. They come to the torture room, where Chi had visions of Leiko and she reveals she fought the terror by reciting 3 names over and over and Ch was the one who "heard' her. Neither understand it; but, they have more pressing concerns. Meanwhile, Fu has an F117 Nighthawk available for his personal use.. As they fight and run, Leiko fills in Chi about the zombie assassins. They run into a trap, just in time to see Fu take off and face some other monsters... Chi and Leiko kill the monsters, then hide among the dead and surprise Fu's guards. Meanwhile, Clive and Black Jack are waiting in Hong Kong, as a ship arrives. Omega Team is also there and observe the ship unloading cargo. Chi and Leiko take an MI-6 private jet to Hong Kong and relax, though it looks a bit nipply...nippy on the plane, judging by Leiko. She could put a sweater on. She demonstrates the strength of her marriage vows to Chi... Thoughts: Fu has been a secret manipulator of things, throughout history, under names liek the Comte de St Germain and others, suggesting that the un-mentioned Fu Manchu name is just another false identity. This does serve to place Fu back into Chi's stories, without the legal issue of the name, though Yellow Claw could have worked just as well, though the name wasn't an improvement. Even he got adjusted to the Golden Claw, then an actual Chinese name. However, then you have the whole Jimmy Woo thing and SHIELD and Doug seems to want to stay out of the Marvel Universe. Quite frankly, Shang Chi never mixed well with it. The problem of a shared universe. Gulacy's art is a bit substandard, on some pages and Leiko is almost cartoony on the page after Chi makes his entrance. Maybe he rushed to meet the deadline. This has a very dark color palate, which seemed par for the course for this era of comics. Then again, Master of Kung Fu always had a darker look, but it felt a bit different with traditional coloring. Kind of underwhelmed with the adventure, so far, as it seems kind of cookie-cutter. Still better than the MCP serial; but, that is hardly praise. It feels a bit lazy. I also think that 6 issues is padding things, to produce a trade. Why they didn't just do an OGN is beyond me, other than Marvel had pulled back from that kind of thing and still fell well behind DC in their trade collection program. They only put out short print runs and booksellers used to rage about how they couldn't get re-stock on things, as demand would often come well after initial release. marvel was too fixated on the Direct Market, while DC, via Warner, was well integrated into the book publishing world. The average lifespan of a prose book's release was 6 weeks, forming a bell curve of lower initial and later sales, peaking at the 3-4 week range. That's average, not best-sellers and without major marketing campaigns. Even that was longer than Marvel's focus of release week. Comic trades had longer, flatter sales curves, in bookstores, as they did little marketing, so it took time for word to get around. Sales came in smaller increments, over a longer period of time. DC stretched their runs over that longer period of time; but, Marvel only cared about that initial month. Even with the movies.
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Post by kirby101 on Aug 19, 2020 17:20:57 GMT -5
It's probably average art for Gulacy at that time. But the coloring is horrendous.
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Post by berkley on Aug 19, 2020 21:15:08 GMT -5
It's probably average art for Gulacy at that time. But the coloring is horrendous. I can't swear to it but think I remember reading that some of the artwork was done at different times, hence perhaps the uneven quality - because some panels look quite good and some very sub-standard. The faces seem off in a lot of cases, including Shang-Chi's and Leiko Wu's in some of these samples. I'll have to re-read the whole thing one of these days.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 25, 2020 22:06:26 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #4Leiko and Chi are swapping fishing stories there. Clive doesn't seem to believe them. Creative Team: Doug Moench-story, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Jimmy Palmiotti-inks, Rick & Wes-letters, Paul Mounts-colors, Axel Alonso-editor Synopsis: Fu's stealth fighters are somewhere over Asia, nearing his base. We see the Tesla tower. Fu orders a test strike on a nearby fishing village. Leiko and Chi are lip locked as their plane approaches Hong Kong. The fishing village is hit with intense lightning strikes... Fu lands and gets updates on the shipment coming his way to allow a global-scale test of his weapon. Meanwhile, he heads off for some chow, in his inner base, which shared an architect with Diabolik... Tarr & Reston are observing the offloading of Fu's ship, when a rocket hits their vehicle and the Si-Fan commandos attack. Omega Team is observing and looking to do nothing, until guilted into it by the female member of the team, whose tactical gear is a little on the sparse side, if you know what I mean. I haven't seen too many BDUs with "boob windows." Omega Team comes over the hill, like the cavalry..... ...if the cavalry had strippers and muscleheads. Guess which audience they are catering to with this one.... Spetz mouths off to Tarr, who tells him to swivel and they have an exchange of headbutts (must be Glaswegian), then the Si-Fan outflanks them and the steroid soldiers have their butts in a sling, until Leiko and Chi turn up. This being a Max book, there is some cursing and Leiko blows a guys brains out the side of his head. Sterling examples of "mature" storytelling. The Mi-6 gang take the ship out to Hellfire Base and observe the destruction of the fishing village, when they are interrupted by Omega Team, who hit Batman's marina sale..... Moving Shadow reports in and says he has Chi's number and Fu calls him his son. Don't know if that means biological, another clone, or adopted, like Midnight. Thoughts: I don't see the point of Omega Team, unless Doug and Paul are making fun of the various Image super-commando teams, like Wetworks and the rest. They are pretty inept and rather ludicrously attired. Lot of testosterone being thrown around and that's just the women! The MI-6 bunch is riding Fu's supply ship, after MI-6 payed off the captain; but, we are to believe that he isn't scared s@#$less of the owner of his cargo that he goes along with it? I still think this has been padded out to much for a trade. There is 4 issues worth of plot, tops. The rest is a lot of people standing around and cuckolding. The firefight with the Si-Fan is beyond James Bond silly. I think Doug is trying to hard and Gulacy isn't exactly knocking it out of the park. They did better work on Legends of the Dark Knight and their own Sci-Spy, around this time; not to mention their James Bond mini, Serpent's Tooth. This is kind of like a midling reunion album from a classic band. Let's see if they can at least pull off a decent finale, as we have 2 issues to go.
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Post by zaku on Aug 26, 2020 1:58:30 GMT -5
Just for the sake of curiosity, there is at least one instance in this series where the label "Explicit Content" is justified..?
I remember other series of the Max imprint where they just told out-of-continuity stories without any particular adult content... (Foolkiller?)
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 26, 2020 7:28:35 GMT -5
Just for the sake of curiosity, there is at least one instance in this series where the label "Explicit Content" is justified..? I remember other series of the Max imprint where they just told out-of-continuity stories without any particular adult content... (Foolkiller?) Spetz, the Omega Team leader, has dropped the F-bomb, rather unconvincingly, over two issues. There is a bit more skin, though no outright nudity, such as in issue 2, where Fu's hypnotized assassins are presented with bimbos, and one has her hands over her nipples; but, a great deal of the rest of her breasts are on display. I can't say the violence level is much more than a regular Marvel comic would have, for the period, given how things were trending. Once the Code was dropped, viscera became the norm; so, this issue's head shot isn't that extreme. It mostly seems to be like high school twerps trying to sound like they are hardcore Marines, on liberty, after watching a Tarantino marathon.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 26, 2020 13:49:50 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #5Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Jimmy Palmiotti-inks, Rick & Wes-letters, Paul Mounts-colors, Axel Alonso-editor Synopsis: Omega Team land their hydroplanes on the shore of Hellfire Base and do some walking and cursing, then get flash-fried by Fu's lightning weapon. Tarr, Reston, Chi and Leiko head in on a cigarette boat and see the destruction, from a distance. They sneak aboard a truck carrying the components to Fu and Reston gives Chi the stink-eye. meanwhile, Fu plays video games while Moving Shadow.....er, moves his shadow... Fu is alerted that the cargo has arrived and orders preparations be made to target London. Tarr and the Rest get ready to sneak inside, when Omega Team turns up, alive and making a ruckus. They use the distraction to slip past the Si-Fan and Chi puts on a do-rage and moves off on his own. He does some choppin' and sockin' and continues on, while the others deal with various threats. Chi comes into sight of Pop and the others encounter heavy resistance. hi then faces Moving Shadow. Thoughts: Again, things are heavily padded, which affects the flow of action. Lot of fits and starts. No explanation how Omega Team escaped the lightning. Must be rubber fetishists or something, which might explain their suits.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 26, 2020 14:09:31 GMT -5
I'm just gonna finish this off... Master of Kung Fu #6Chi vs Moving Shadow. Creative Team: Same bunch. Synopsis: The brothers fight... Dad watches... While Spetz and Tarr fight. Which leads to Spetz getting gunned down... Stone, the female team member in the bikini tells Tarr to get her to the array and she will destroy it. Chi whoops Moving Shadow and daddy kills him... Stone changes the target coordinates to the island and they hit the bricks... Chi tells off his old man...again....Fu is buried under a mountain....again, and Chi survives....again. They drop Chi off at his island retreat, while Leiko stays with Clive. Sports cars, London flats and money trumps rice and fish and meditation. Chi helps the little girl solve her problem by aiding her in retrieving her doll from the "quicksand." The moral is, give help freely and ask for it. Pretty weak philosophy there, Lao Tzu. Thoughts: Been there, done that, bought the red pajamas, wore them out and bought a leather trench coat. Just felt like Doug & Paul were going through the motions, for a new generation. Nothing really new, nothing particularly mature, and the pacing was off to pad it out to 6 issues. Compared to what was on the stands, it's pretty good; but, compared to the past, it pales. And here endeth the Master of Kung Fu, as nothing else is worthy. Chi made some guest appearances in the team-up books and was usually ill-used. He would turn up in Secret Avengers, which is a massive mistake as he doesn't mix well with superheroes (as the team-ups demonstrated). The movie has been in the works for well over a decade and I do not have high hopes for anything like the masterpieces of old and suspect, at best, it might be something like this; but, is more likely to be something like Secret Avengers, with Chi running into superheroes. Just do it as Bruce Lee meets James Bond, have a funky henchman, keep the chop socky to James Bond gunplay at the right mix, and blow up a lot of stuff in the third act and you can't go far wrong. Personally, I'd look to Mordillo and the Cat storylines, for at least two films of a trilogy, with a running subplot that leads to the third, with the epic battle with Fu, or whatever you call him (Fred Manchu).
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Post by brutalis on Aug 26, 2020 14:31:26 GMT -5
I'm betting this Maxi wasn't Doug and Paul's idea. Since Marvel was doing nada with Shang and his buddies I can see Marvel offering them the opportunity to do a story without any editorial hindrance in the new Max adult format. No superheroics or MU connection in order of keeping the brand or copyright alive.
Certainly that along with pay would provide interest and incentive for Doug and Paul to reunite. Even if both were hesitant to try it was a fan's dream come true. Sad that it really fails given the past creativity from both creators. But that's what happens at times, it's difficult to catch lightning in a bottle again years later.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 1, 2021 9:56:09 GMT -5
I forgot to mention one point: Shang-Chi has been indoctrinated by his father since childhood, yet he takes Nayland Smith's word pretty easily. Now, he is already troubled by being ordered to a kill a man and even more when he sees it is a very old man, and one who is bed-ridden. So, you can make the argument that he was already doubting his father and is more receptive to Nayland Smith; but, he doesn't exactly challenge Nayland Smith's claims. Granted, the physical evidence of his crippled legs is a pretty good convincer; but, that could have happened another way. Shang-Chi is shown to be an innocent, who is too trusting for his own good, which, under Moench, leads to conflicts with allies and enemies. Other point is some of the dialogue. Fu refers to various senseis teaching Shang. That is a Japanese term. Fu would refer to them as "sifu." One of the problems of jumping on a craze is not doing the research to make it more authentic. Comics dove right into martial arts, with very few with any real background in it. Larry Hama did the best of the early Iron Fists, as he had a background in judo. However, Iron Fist was trained in the Himalayas and all of his techniques were Japanese judo and karate. Under others it was generic kicks and chops. Starlin manages a couple of poses; but, mostly goes with judo throws and karate chops, then generic kicks and punches. It really takes until Gulacy for us to get real technique, as Gulacy actually studied a few styles (I wanna say jeet kun do, Bruce Lee's methods, but that may be wrong) and fight scenes in Lee's films. I'm finally getting around to reading these reviews. Great job. Anyway, I had wondered if Gulacy did study any martial arts. I would consider that a very important requirement for being an artist on a martial arts comic, but it seems like almost no artists, unsurprisingly, have any knowledge of martial arts, and the fights just wind up looking not much different than your typical wham-bam comic book fights. I do remember reading in the letter column of an issue of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu that both Arvell Jones and Frank McLaughlin had martial arts training, and McLaughlin even did some teaching. Paul Gulacy is definitely my favorite MOKF artist, but I'd have loved to have seen the take those two have on him, especially Arvell Jones. I really liked his work on All-Star Squadron. That same letter column also mentioned that Jim Dennis (AKA Denny O'Neil) also had martial arts training. While I'm at it, I do really enjoy Doug Moench's Shang-Chi. I really buy into all that pseudo-Eastern philosophy claptrap that Shang-Chi spouts.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 1, 2021 12:12:40 GMT -5
I forgot to mention one point: Shang-Chi has been indoctrinated by his father since childhood, yet he takes Nayland Smith's word pretty easily. Now, he is already troubled by being ordered to a kill a man and even more when he sees it is a very old man, and one who is bed-ridden. So, you can make the argument that he was already doubting his father and is more receptive to Nayland Smith; but, he doesn't exactly challenge Nayland Smith's claims. Granted, the physical evidence of his crippled legs is a pretty good convincer; but, that could have happened another way. Shang-Chi is shown to be an innocent, who is too trusting for his own good, which, under Moench, leads to conflicts with allies and enemies. Other point is some of the dialogue. Fu refers to various senseis teaching Shang. That is a Japanese term. Fu would refer to them as "sifu." One of the problems of jumping on a craze is not doing the research to make it more authentic. Comics dove right into martial arts, with very few with any real background in it. Larry Hama did the best of the early Iron Fists, as he had a background in judo. However, Iron Fist was trained in the Himalayas and all of his techniques were Japanese judo and karate. Under others it was generic kicks and chops. Starlin manages a couple of poses; but, mostly goes with judo throws and karate chops, then generic kicks and punches. It really takes until Gulacy for us to get real technique, as Gulacy actually studied a few styles (I wanna say jeet kun do, Bruce Lee's methods, but that may be wrong) and fight scenes in Lee's films. I'm finally getting around to reading these reviews. Great job. Anyway, I had wondered if Gulacy did study any martial arts. I would consider that a very important requirement for being an artist on a martial arts comic, but it seems like almost no artists, unsurprisingly, have any knowledge of martial arts, and the fights just wind up looking not much different than your typical wham-bam comic book fights. I do remember reading in the letter column of an issue of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu that both Arvell Jones and Frank McLaughlin had martial arts training, and McLaughlin even did some teaching. Paul Gulacy is definitely my favorite MOKF artist, but I'd have loved to have seen the take those two have on him, especially Arvell Jones. I really liked his work on All-Star Squadron. That same letter column also mentioned that Jim Dennis (AKA Denny O'Neil) also had martial arts training. While I'm at it, I do really enjoy Doug Moench's Shang-Chi. I really buy into all that pseudo-Eastern philosophy claptrap that Shang-Chi spouts. I read an interview where Gulacy said something about Jeet Kun Do, Bruce Lee's "style" (which is an inaccurate description, but we'll go with it). I don't recall him saying he had trained rigorously in it; but it sounded like he had had some instruction. he definitely did his research, either from Lee's films, his books or the magazines, if not with an actual instructor. I think Denny mentioned doing some karate. Larry Hama trained in judo and iado (related to the drawing of the katana). Frank McLaughlin was a high black belt in judo and did teach it. That was part of his inspiration for creating Charlton's Judomaster. He used to do pin-ups of actual techniques there, as well as, later, in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. I believe I read that Mike Baron had done some training. Kirby likely had hand-to-hand training in the Army and he depicted some actual judo holds and throws, as well as wrestling techniques, in several of his stories, particularly the 60s Captain America.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 1, 2021 15:46:12 GMT -5
I'm finally getting around to reading these reviews. Great job. Anyway, I had wondered if Gulacy did study any martial arts. I would consider that a very important requirement for being an artist on a martial arts comic, but it seems like almost no artists, unsurprisingly, have any knowledge of martial arts, and the fights just wind up looking not much different than your typical wham-bam comic book fights. I do remember reading in the letter column of an issue of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu that both Arvell Jones and Frank McLaughlin had martial arts training, and McLaughlin even did some teaching. Paul Gulacy is definitely my favorite MOKF artist, but I'd have loved to have seen the take those two have on him, especially Arvell Jones. I really liked his work on All-Star Squadron. That same letter column also mentioned that Jim Dennis (AKA Denny O'Neil) also had martial arts training. While I'm at it, I do really enjoy Doug Moench's Shang-Chi. I really buy into all that pseudo-Eastern philosophy claptrap that Shang-Chi spouts. I read an interview where Gulacy said something about Jeet Kun Do, Bruce Lee's "style" (which is an inaccurate description, but we'll go with it). I don't recall him saying he had trained rigorously in it; but it sounded like he had had some instruction. he definitely did his research, either from Lee's films, his books or the magazines, if not with an actual instructor. I think Denny mentioned doing some karate. Larry Hama trained in judo and iado (related to the drawing of the katana). Frank McLaughlin was a high black belt in judo and did teach it. That was part of his inspiration for creating Charlton's Judomaster. He used to do pin-ups of actual techniques there, as well as, later, in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. I believe I read that Mike Baron had done some training. Kirby likely had hand-to-hand training in the Army and he depicted some actual judo holds and throws, as well as wrestling techniques, in several of his stories, particularly the 60s Captain America. It's interesting to note the creators with martial arts experience. And isn't Bruce Lee's style, "the style of no style"? I love the idea of that.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 1, 2021 17:35:43 GMT -5
I read an interview where Gulacy said something about Jeet Kun Do, Bruce Lee's "style" (which is an inaccurate description, but we'll go with it). I don't recall him saying he had trained rigorously in it; but it sounded like he had had some instruction. he definitely did his research, either from Lee's films, his books or the magazines, if not with an actual instructor. I think Denny mentioned doing some karate. Larry Hama trained in judo and iado (related to the drawing of the katana). Frank McLaughlin was a high black belt in judo and did teach it. That was part of his inspiration for creating Charlton's Judomaster. He used to do pin-ups of actual techniques there, as well as, later, in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. I believe I read that Mike Baron had done some training. Kirby likely had hand-to-hand training in the Army and he depicted some actual judo holds and throws, as well as wrestling techniques, in several of his stories, particularly the 60s Captain America. It's interesting to note the creators with martial arts experience. And isn't Bruce Lee's style, "the style of no style"? I love the idea of that. That was the philosopy of Jeet Kun Do. What Bruce actually taught was wing chun kung fu, based on his training with Yip Man. Then, he mixed in things he learned from other people. His crowd included Gene LeBell, pro wrestler, stunt man and judoka. LeBell was a real deal in judo and a shooter in wrestling. His family promoted pro wrestling in Los Angeles (as well as boxing and the Olympic Auditorium). He used to trade techniques with Bruce and taught him the grappling techniques that Bruce incorporated into his style, as seen in the opening fight between he and Sammo Hung, in Enter the Dragon. Another student, cross-trainer was Dan Inosanto, who taught Bruce Filipino techniques, from their arts of kali and escrima. Kali makes extensive use of close-quarter techniques, including joint locks and strikes, while escrima is a weapons-based art, using sticks and knives. Dan can be seen in Game of Death, as the fighter Bruce Faces, who is using nunchucks. He also was the only person that Bruce anointed to teach his ideas to others. Inosanto also had a hand in teaching Brandon Lee, after Bruce passed away, as well as an acquaintance of mine, sifu Steve Fristo, a martial artist from Springfield, IL, who held a world kick boxing title in one of the professional groups, as well as fought muay thai, in Thailand, and was the first westerner to win. He trained at Inosanto's school, in California and used to spar wit Brandon, when he was young. Steve was an interesting guy; he was an albino African-American, who grew up in the Springfield housing projects area and was legally blind, due to his albinism. He basically could see shadows and was able to see enough movement in his fights. He did a sideline in teaching self-defense techniques to people with disabilities. Bruce had a further student/trainer, Larry Hartsell, who was a wrestler who added catch and greco-roman techniques to Bruce's arsenal, complimenting LeBell's judo training and submission wrestling. Bruce taught about using the best techniques for different fighting ranges: Kicking, trapping, striking and grappling. The fighter would employ the proper techniques to deal with an opponent at those ranges. In short, his students were some of the first true mixed martial artists, as they cross trained in techniques to adapt to those fighting ranges. Most styles are built around a specific terrain or set of circumstances. Judo deals with grappling, while karate deals with striking. Neither was particularly great at kicking, which is an area that Korean martial arts specialized in, such as tae kwon do and hapkido. Chinese kung fu varied according to region, as techniques had evolved based on the terrain and the historical enemies. The same was true in the West, where boxing and wrestling were the foundation for Western hand-to-hand combat, with some cultural variations based on their topography and traditional enemies. Bruce started out teaching Jun Fan Gung Fu, with Jun Fan being his Chinese name, and Gung Fu being the dialectical variation on kung fu. That was still mostly what he taught his students after he wrote The Tao of Jeet Kun Do, while adding the new stuff he had learned from cross-training. He had also been a dancer and footwork was very important to his teaching. So, yeah, even "no style" had a style to it. The eternal conundrum.
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