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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 11, 2021 18:48:10 GMT -5
Kung Fu Special #1This was a special annual, for Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, though the official title was Kung Fu Special. it features a team-up of Iron Fist, Shang-Chi and the Sons of the tiger, as they face Fu Manchu. Creative Team: Iron Fist chapter-Doug moench-writer, Frank McLaughlin and the Crusty Bunkers-art; Sons of the Tiger- Chris Claremont-writer, Herb Trimpe-art; Shang-Chi- Doug Moench-writer, Mike Vosburg & Dan Adkins-art Synopsis: Iron Fist- Danny Rand, in costume, finds a wounded Chinese man, part of a 6-man diplomatic team to the UN. they were attacked by costumed assassins and abducted. This one escaped, but is gravely injured. He urges Iron Fist to find the others, before it is too late. Then, the assassins shows up... IF beats the first and moves to the second, taking him out with a front kick to the face, then dislocates a thrid's shoulder. The first baddie runs off and IF follows, to see where the other abductees might be. He leads him to an import warehouse, where the assassin reports to his boss, Tsu-Gamo, a massive sumo wrestler. He is angered that the assassin failed an snaps his back with a bear hug. IF smashes through a window then unleashes the best drawn choppin' and sockin' on IF so far... Tsu-Gamo grabs him in a bear hug, but IF slaps his ears, then sweeps his legs and takes him down, administering what Moench calls a chop to the enck, but looks more like a chokehold, based on what McLaughlin draws. IF then goes to the metal door, behind which are the victims and used the Iron Fist to smash through. There, he finds 5 disguised dummies and an open window. He looks out and sees a departing helicopter and a not, saying "Thank you." Next follows an article about an actual open martial arts tournament, at the Manhattan Center (which was a crumbling mess, at the time). It gives a description of a typical martial arts tournament, with forms competition, sparring, demonstrations and presentations. They also interview the medic for the tournament. An article about Sax Rohmer follows, with mostly cursory information about ROhmer (Arthur Sarsfield Ward) and his books, movies based on them, the serial and tv series, plus the newer Christopher Lee films. It is illustrated with stills from The Mask of Fu Manchu, with Boris Karloff. Next is a n article on martial arts movies to see, mentioning the Shaw brothers and Hammer co-productions of Shatter and The Seven Golden Vampires. Yakuza, with Robert Mitchum, gets a shout out, as does Way of the Dragon, aka return of the Dragon, with Bruce Lee. Sons of the Tiger- the trio arrive in New York for a tournament and are immediately attacked by minions of the Silent ones. There is a lot of choppin' and a sockin', bippin' and a boppin' and the guys kick butt. Later, they hear a news piece about the disappearance of the Chinese delegates and a demand from the Chinese government for their safe return, vowing to hold the US responsible. Li Sun's amulet tingles at the sight of the speaker, indicating he is one of the Silent Ones. He wakes the others and they go investigate. Some thugs try to prevent them from going into the gallery, at the UN council chamber, but, a guard lets them through. They notice several in the galery acting funny and then the suspicious types attack, with glider wings! The go after the American delegates and the SOT pull off their clothes to reveal their fighting outfits and counter-attack. The "Chinese" agents grab the US delegates and one lets slip that they are Si-Fan. They escape in the confusion, as the trio trips over a blind beggar. Hmm... there was a blind beggar around during Iron Fist's fight. Next is a review of the film Chinese Mechanic, a kung fu rip-off of the Charles Bronson film (or, at least, the title). This is followed by an article on the real Shaolin Temple, vs the Kung Fu tv series. It points out that the Shaolin are buddhist minks, not warriors and not all study martial skills. Shang-Chi-Chi is walking near his father's HQ. He runs into the blind beggar, who gets around. he spots a limo leaving the building and hops a ride. It goes out to the waterfront and unloads hostages to a waiting submarine! Chi conks a robed hood and sneaks aboard. They rendezvous with a freighter, where Fu waits and offload the kidnapped delegates. Chi is still on the sub when it is sent away, before he can exit. Chi hides in a torpedo tube and, as luck would have it, a Coast Guard or police cruiser is spotted and they fire a torpedo, releasing Ch! He gets aboard the ship, as Fu explains about creating a war between China and America, and proceeds to kick Si-Fan bootie. Fu escapes and the cruiser turns out to be Nayland Smith and Tarr, who get the delegates off, before the ship blows. Back on the pier, they depart and Chi finds the blind beggar's clothes and a note from Pop. Thoughts: This would be a lot better with one writer and art team: preferably, Moench and McLaughlin and the Cristy Bunkers, from this cast. Ideally, Moench & Gulacy; but, you can't have everything. The McLaughlin/Crusty Bunker art blows away everything else, though Trimpe and Vosburg do fine jobs. They just lack the style and oomph that the other had. Als, McLaughlin is more schooled in the martial arts, so the fight choreography is better. The plot is typical James Bond, a third power is trying to orchestrate a war between two other nations. This time it is Fu. This is getting closer to the style that Moench & Gulacy will bring to Master of Kung Fu, once they get past all of the typical comic book stuff and Fu Manchu schemes. Not bringing the three features together in a finale is also disappoint, as you are led to believe that it is a team-up. Not bad; but not as epic as it aspires to be. By the way, none of these pictures are showing up for me. The sources were all on-line, so the links are broken. I don't have physical copies anymore, so I had to pull from the net.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 12, 2021 8:57:59 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #22Thoughts: Pretty damn good issue! The opening restaurant is pretty much straight out of a kung fu film and brings to mind Bruce Lee's Way of the Dragon (released as return of the Dragon), which featured him working at a restaurant that is being harassed by gangsters (in Italy), and his kickings of said Italian keesters. it culminates in a fight, in the Colosseum, against Chuck Norris. Chuck loses, so bear that in mind when someone brings up one of those stupid Chuck Norris memes. I heard many years ago from a friend, who'd heard from I don't know where (which is about as unreliable a source as you can get) that Chuck & Bruce sparred during the filming and Chuck beat Bruce. I don't really believe it, and I don't want to believe it, but I suppose somebody does.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 12, 2021 11:10:09 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #22Thoughts: Pretty damn good issue! The opening restaurant is pretty much straight out of a kung fu film and brings to mind Bruce Lee's Way of the Dragon (released as return of the Dragon), which featured him working at a restaurant that is being harassed by gangsters (in Italy), and his kickings of said Italian keesters. it culminates in a fight, in the Colosseum, against Chuck Norris. Chuck loses, so bear that in mind when someone brings up one of those stupid Chuck Norris memes. I heard many years ago from a friend, who'd heard from I don't know where (which is about as unreliable a source as you can get) that Chuck & Bruce sparred during the filming and Chuck beat Bruce. I don't really believe it, and I don't want to believe it, but I suppose somebody does. I've never heard that one and most of the stories I do hear about either sound like they are mostly BS urban legends. However I did hear one story from a source that was a bit more reliable than the internet. The source is a martial artist, named Steve Fristoe, who taught Filipino martial arts, in Springfield, IL and had trained with Dan Inosanto and fought professional kickboxing (held a world title, with one of the organizations). He remarked that, in the 70s, there were dojo wars, not unlike what you see in Cobra Kai, in Los Angeles. Apparently there were some bitter rivalries with some of the Chinese schools and others. According to Steve, some of them went into one or more of Chuck's schools to start fights and that Chuck abandoned his students to their attackers. Now, Steve is the only source for that story and I have never come across it anywhere else. He wasn't prone to wild stories, so I think there may be some truth in it; but, I also don't know how many hands this story went through, before it got to Steve. I don't doubt Norris skills; but, if memory serves, his championships were earned under a point fighting system, not full contact. That's a different style of fighting. Bruce didn't participate in such competitions, though he did put on demonstrations. He was a pure streetfighter. Given the two backgrounds, in a fight without rules, my money's on Bruce. In a formal fight structure, Chuck has the advantage, though Bruce was supposed to be lightning fast and Joe Lewis, one of Chuck's rivals, rated Bruce highly. Doesn't matter, as by all accounts, Bruce and Chuck were on friendly terms, though Bruce was a star, while Chuck was getting bit parts. If you had transplanted an MMA format to the 70s, Gene LeBell would have probably submitted the whole bunch of Bruce, Chuck, Joe Lewis, Bob Wall, Jim Kelly and Bill Wallace. LeBell gave most of them some form of instruction in grappling and had already won a proto-MMA fight against a boxer, in a legit fight, plus he was legit in judo and submission wrestling.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 19, 2021 15:12:14 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #23Some wonky body positioning there. So, Chi has punched forward into one guy's face, backward into another, yet is falling straight back; shouldn't he be twisting from left to right? It looks more like Chi pushed off the two guys to fall backward to the crocodile. Should have put a "tick-tock" sound effect on the crocodile. Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Al Milgrom-pencils, Klaus Janson-inks, John Costanza-letters, L Lessmann-colors, Roy Thomas-edits Synopsis: Chi is back from the Dakotas, in New York, looking out at the Statue of Liberty. A hand reaches out and grabs him and he swivels and punches the owner. It's Tarr and they face off, before Tarr relents and tells him Smith wants to talk. Smith says Fu is seeking an alliance with escaped Gestapo officer Wilhelm Bucher, who has secret weapon plans. They fly to South America and meet up with guide, Raymond Strawn, for a trip down the Amazon. Strawn objects to Chi's presence, even before learning he is Fu's son. Tarr, of all people, comes to Chi's defense and tells Strawn to like it or lump it. Chi withdraws to keep the peace. The boat heads down, with Chi somehow shadowing, from land. Smith briefs Tarr about Bucher's original mission, to courier plans to Japan, with a Japanese aid. They were caught in an Allied attack and Bucher was trapped. The Japanese officer left him to fend for himself. Bucher got out and escaped to South America, still with the plans and a hatred of Asians. Funny that he is willing to meet Fu. The boat is attacked by Si-Fan. Nayland Smith ends up knocked overboard and a croc moves in. Tar fights the mob, while Strawn goes nuts and starts shooting every Si-Fan, despite Tarr telling him to help Smith. Enter Shang-Chi, king of the jungle. He fights the croc, in it's own environment and forces it away... ...eventually killing it with a chop. Uh-hunh. He tows Smith to the boat and sees the carnage. Smith pleads for him not to kill Strawn before they get to Bucher's and Chi backs off. Further down the river Strawn starts randomly firing his Luger at a boat, well out of range. Chi slips off the boat. He swims to the paddle boat steamer and disables its engines, then beats up the crew, in a two-page spread... He fights a Si-Fan who gives up info that Fu isn't on board. Strawn goes nuts when he hears this, stars shooting, then removes the disguise that covers his scarred face, revealing Bucher. He shoots at Chi, who dives overboard. Fu watches from CCTV, in his helicopter. He was going to double-cross Bucher. Smith knew Bucher was Strawn and was going to hit him and Fu, together. Thoughts: Okay story, though rather cliched. Strawn as Bucher is telegraphed the moment he sees Chi, so why they kept the mystery up is anyone's guess, apart from padding out the story. The Croc fight is Tarzan stuff; but, at least he had a knife. Killing a croc in the water, with bare hands and a chop? Even bruce Lee didn't go that far into fantasy world. At least they have him attack the underside; but, really all Chi needed to do was put a thick rubber band around the crocs muzzle and mouth. Their muscles are built around biting down, but are very weak in opening. Once their jaws is clamped shut, the mouth is eliminated as a threat. There is still the massive muscles, the claws on the feet and the tail. Also, crocs swim pretty fast in water. Comics. It looks cool, though. However, the croc is referred to as an alligator, even though it is drawn with the longer snout of a croc and the fact that alligators are native to the US (and a Chinese species that lives only there). Milgrom's art is fine, with Janson's inks; but, it is lacking in spots and doesn't capture mood as well as Gulacy. That will be a problem, as we get more and more used to Gulacy's renderings (which just get better and better) and then get an interruption for a fill-in. This is part 1 of 2; so, more to follow. I thought the story was pretty good, and the art ok. I didn't like the sequence at the beginning where Chi and Tarr tussle. It seems out of character for Shang-Chi, who professes nonviolence, to attack someone for just putting his hand on his shoulder. Since he apparently heard Tarr coming, why not just turn around before, rather than waiting like he did, and inviting a confrontation? Also, Tarr is partly to blame too. Who sneaks up on somebody than just claps their hand on their shoulder? Doesn't a normal person come up, then say something like "Hey, Shang-Chi" or, in Tarr's case, "Hey, Chinaman"? Odd exchange. Just an excuse for a needless fight, typical of comic books. I did like the rest of the story well enough, though.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 19, 2021 15:30:27 GMT -5
Deadly hands of Kung Fu #6
Johnny gets tossed from the restaurant and Chi walks off. The girl follows Chi and they walk and talk. of course the bikers go after Chi and get whooped. Johnny tries to knife Chi and sticks his old lady, instead ( how many times has this happened with Shang-Chi?) He blames Chi and gets a kick to the face. Ha, no kidding! Three times, I think? I thought the story was ok, the art less so. Yeah, the Sons of the Tiger was no great shakes.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 20, 2021 6:24:48 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #24Diaper ninjas! Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Al Milgrom, Jim Starlin, Alan Weiss, Walt Simonson-pencils (uh-oh); Sal Trapani-inks (oh, HAIKIBA!), Dave Hunt-letters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Roy Thomas-allegedly in charge of this mess. 4 pencillers and Sal Trapani? Oh you know this will be an artistic triumph! Synopsis: Shang-Chi is hiding up in the trees, in the Amazonian jingle, as a patrol of Si-Fan cut their way through. Chi drops down and takes out the rear straggler and dons his keffiyeh. They continue tramping along to some jungle compound. Meanwhile, Fu is arriving by helicopter at said jungle compound, where Bucher's men await to spring a trap.... Yep, there is no better way to hide from the Israeli Mossad than wearing swastika t-shirts in a South American jungle, while wearing an SS officer's cap. Guess they haven't finished carving the giant Adolf Hitler head, to help hide the place! Fu's no dummy and he departs to meet up with the Si-Fan,, As this goes on, Blackjack Tarr has restarted the engines on the paddlewheel boat and they head for Bucher's camp, not knowing if Chi is alive or dead. Fu meets up with the Si-Fan. They head to ambush the Nazis. The Nazis, in a perfect defensive maneuver, just put up a sandbag barrier between two quonset huts, thereby cutting off their means of escape and any forward warning of an intruder's approach. You guys ever hear of a multi-layered defense? Perimeter patrols? BLEEPing guard duty? Master race my assassin! Bucher has shown up and is all kinds of crazy; but, the Boys From Brazil follow his every crazy order. Fu f@#$s with him and has a goon snapa branch, loudly. Bucher orders them behind their barriers and goes to command from inside one of the buildings. Fu sends Si-Fan to outflank the Nazis, then has the rest unload from the front, to draw their attention. It pretty much looks like the movie The Green Berets, as the VC overrun the A-team's camp. Time to call for Puff the Magic Dragon! Chi separates from the group and is discovered by a Si-Fan and they go all KIYAAA and consult chapters in the Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu.... Meanwhile, Fu signals his flanking men.......... Chinese Assassin Cult 1, Nazi Renegades 0. The Si-Fan go on to face MI-6 in the finals. When the Si-Fan arrive in the center defensive area, Bucher orders men in the two quonset huts to open fire between them, to kill the Si-Fan (problem is, they are firing direcly at each other, with only aluminum sheets between them. The Si-Fan don't care and keep coming. Somehow, in a scene that has no logic to it, Bucher emerges from his hut, firing wildly and kills off the Si-Fan. Fu is captured and tied to a tree, with Bucher about to use a panzerfaust (bazooka) on him. Chi saves his father by knocking Bucher's shot wide, revealing a V-2 rocket in a hidden silo. Tarr and Nayland Smith show up and shoot the Nazis before they can kill Chi, though Bucher flings a knife at him. he goes to set off the missile; but, finds that Chi is waiting and has deactivated it. Bucher falls down the silo an ends up a wet splatter. Fu escapes. So, MI-6 goes over the Si-Fan and retain the title. Nazis have a surprisingly good showing, though the Si-Fan lodge protests about rules of logic being broken. That's all from ABC's Wide World of Maniac Death Cults. Thoughts: Okay, first off, the art isn't that bad, although it has every right to be. It works well enough, for as quickly as it had to have been thrown together. What doesn't work is Moench's story, if you pause for even a second. One, the Nazis are hanging out in the jungle in swastika t-shirts. Really? The Israeli Boy Scouts would have wiped these guys out in 5 minutes, earning their Mivtza Za'am Ha'el merit badges. Two, their entire defense is to wall themselves up behind sandbags, with limited field of fire (blocked on two sides by the quonset huts) and no rear guard posted. They have no outerlying guard patrols, no patrols of any kind, around their secret compound, with the Mossad and Simon Wiesenthal hunting for them, let alone journalist Peter Miller (ODESSA File). All the Si-Fan have to do is hang back and drop mortar rounds on top of the Nazis, or fire rockets into them. Instead, they open fire and charge, and seem to kill a ton of Nazis, then they didn't. Then, the flanking team attacks from the rear and catches the Nazis by surprise, yet don't kill them all, despite being caught in a crossfire. the Si-Fan then get into the sanbag position and get hit by a crossfire between the two aluminum quonset huts. These things have the thickness of a can of soup. A hail of bullets is going to pierce the walls ad hit whoever or whatever is inside, including the V-2. And, yet, somehow, there are Nazis still alive to catch Fu Manchu. I mean, comics or no comics, that's just crazy! There's a good idea at the center of this and this would have made a much better Fu Manchu film than any of the Jess Franco's and most of the others (except Face of Fu Manchu and maybe Vengeance of Fu Manchu). It doesn't make great use of Shang-Chi. You can see that Moench is still figuring out where he is going with all of this; but, he needs to get rid of Fu for a while, to get things headed in the right direction. Then, he can bring Fu back with a much more sinister plan and presence, which is what happens over the next two years. We still have to navigate 4 more issues before all of that starts, though. I thought this conclusion to last issue's story was a disappointment. I agree with you that the art was surprisingly good, considering the army of pencillers.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 20, 2021 16:22:37 GMT -5
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #7Thoughts: Pretty ho-hum issue. The Shang-Chi one tries to tie into the past issue; but is kind of scattershot. Vosburg's art is improving; but isn't especially spectacular. His women look way better than his men. Moench's stories still serve no purpose and there is little continuity between stories in the mags, beyond location and the reference to MR Man and the ex-Si-Fan freaks. Sons of the Tiger is a bit more creative, though still highly cliched. Mantlo isn't adding much to this, other than an over-the-top adversary. Perez's art looks way better, with McLeod. Frank McLaughlin continues to be the best part of things and provides the best art, through his illustrated articles. If only he would do the stories. Agreed on all counts.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 25, 2021 12:44:19 GMT -5
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #8Thoughts: Shang-Chi tries to be philosophical; but, kind of loses the point that the dude is a serial killer, if reports are correct. Weird story that seems a bit unfinished (or just badly edited, if even looked at). Art is usual Vosburg, with some experimentation in splt pages, to match the story. Sons of the Tiger is back to ugly Perez art. Don't know if Milgrom is hacking the job or McLeod was just that much better at fixing it. I know Perez has said his work on this mag was pretty bad and it shows. Just a big difference when McLeod inked it, last issue. Maybe he was doing far more of the art than Milgrom is. There are traces of the future Perez, in a few panels. Articles continue to be a mixed bag. The paperback one offers up tidbits for fiction lovers. I've heard that the Kung Fu tv books were decent and same with Black Samurai. The Christopher Wood book is a reissue of something done before the kung fu craze. Piers Anthony on a martial arts book sounds intriguing. Lot of authors got started doing cheap quicky paperback series, though most had to work under a house name. The cops were way too trigger happy in that Shang-Chi story. That slasher wasn't too smart, attacking Shang-Chi like that in a crowded gym. How'd he get so strong, anyway? I couldn't work up a whole lot of sympathy for the guy (obviously a loon) but it was nice that Shang-Chi ended it without violence. Also nice to see a Shang-Chi story at this point without Fu Manchu. This is obviously a raw George Perez, but the weird thing is, from what I noticed in the letter columns, the reviews on his art were mostly favorable.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 29, 2021 15:40:05 GMT -5
Giant Size Master of Kung Fu #3Shang-Chi vs either patriot, musketeers, or pirates. Can't quite tell. Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Vince Coletta-inks, Tom Orzechowski-letters, Bill Mantlo-colors, Len Wein-edits Transition has taken place, in the EIC front. Synopsis: Shang-Chi is in New York, looking at a toy store window, when a man comes up to him and shows credentials, stating he is with Her Majesty's Secret Service and that he has been sent by Nayland Smith to fetch Chi. he gets in the vehicles, which is a trap, as the doors lock and gas fills the back (doesn't it always?) Chi smashes through the roof and the man tries to shake him off, causing the car to crash, but Chi miraculously defies the laws of inertia and vaults away safely..... He finds an amulet on the dead man, marking him as Si-Fan, then runs away when the cops show up. he makes it to Nayland Smith's townhouse base, where the butler lets him in to wait for Sir Dennis. It is there he studies the amulet, only to be interrupted by a new figure, an agent of Smith's, named Clive Reston.............. CLIVE RESTON IN THE HIZZOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has barely been introduced before the windows erupt with the arrival of phansigar (a northern India term for Thuggee, based on the use of a scarf or garrotte for strangling victims, before robbing them). Clive proves to be a chip off the old block, as he handles mayhem just like his old man........... (Who is Reston's father? Here's a hint.............) They kick ass, shake martinis, and take names. In the battle, many treasures are destroyed, including a jade elephant, which dumps liquid all over the floor. Clive and Chi fly to London, the meet up with Smith, at the British Museum. It has been smashed up, but nothing taken. Another amulet is found. Smith believes it is the work of Fu Manchu and the Si-Fan,. He and Reston debate Fu's aim.... Reston thinks it is to convenient that they keep finding phansigar amulets and thinks it is a distraction fro Fu's actual target. Smith dismisses him and Tarr shuts him up. Then, they are all attacked bythe paleolithic man exhibits. Chi, Tarr and Reston beat the stuffing out of them. Later, a police constable is guarding a curio shop, when he is attacked by phansigar and garotted. They smash up the place, then Chi turns up, opens up the Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu to the chapter on wholseale whoop-ass, and applies the teachings. he captures a phansigar alive and drags him away for interrogation. He gives up the words Buckingham Palace. meanwhile, Fu gives an assignment to Shadow-Stalker, one of his more colorful assassins.. (in more ways than one) The gang heads for the Palace and their tyre is hit by a blowgun dart. Chi chases after the phansigar, which allows Shadow-Stalker to take out Tarr... Apparently, Shadow-Stalker is the Si-Fan Hwt Champion, judging by his title belt. Reston gets knocked out and Sir Dennis is carried off by the bruiser. Chi returns to find Reston waking up. Tarr is taken away in an ambulance. Reston and Chi go to Buckingham Palace. Inside, two guardsmen spot a phansigar and give chase, but get knocked out. The phansigars attack reston and Chi, and they disrupt the Queen's watching of Coronation Street (or possibly World of Sport, if the Queen mum was choosing things). it turns out the phansigars have a secret passageway that leads under BP, to Fu Manchu's lair! there, Chi finds his father............and DR PETRIE? ? Yup, turns out Fu faked his death with a creation of his own, while he held him the whole time. he is searching for a stolen jade elephant, which nayland Smith took. Chi is forced to play a game of tetherball, against Shadow-Stalker... THE DUDE HAS TWIN MORNINGSTARS, TUCKED IN HIS TOP KNOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, with a chop chop here, a kick kick there, here a chop, there a sock, Old McShang-Chi busts up the joint and S-S. Then Fu hits a button and sicks vipers on him. Then reston shows up and Fu takes a powder. They pull Chi out of the pit and Smith is reunited with the freed Petrie. he tells them that Fu had been down here for weeks, about to take control of England. he also tells him he was looking for the jade elephant, as it contained elixir vitae. The same elephant that was smashed in the fight with the phansigar, dumping the liquid over the floor. The letters pages are filled with praise of GSMOKF #2, including a letter from dean Mullaney, future publisher of Eclipse Comics. Thoughts: Bang up, action-packed issue which really shows the direction in which the series would move. It also features the debut of my favorite supporting character (after Leiko...........RRROWWWRRRRRRRR!!!), Clive Reston. In snippets of dialogue, and a trademark pipe, we learn that Clive is the grand-nephew of Sherlock Holmes and the son of James Bond... The car trap and the secret lair under Buckingham Palace are old trademarks of the Fu Manchu stories and the Christopher Lee films. The phansigar attire is a bit of a puzzler, since it isn't traditional Indian. It seems a weird mash up of Indian, Chinese, and western costuming, for a bunch of guys who stepped out of Jonny Quest. They make for good assassins, though, striking all over the place, causing death and mayhem, wherever they go. Aside from the racist yellow coloring, Shadow-Stalker is one of the coolest henchmen to come along in the series. He's pretty memorable and sets the stage for future bizarros, like Razor Fist and a certain hat wearing servant of a mad killer. We'll get to those guys soon. Fantastic issue, best so far, in my book. Yellow Claw is back, drawn by Jack Kirby!!!! Roz assisted with inks!!!!!!!!!!!! Newspapers are filled with eyewitness accounts from farmlands and small tons: hovering cows, strange animal hybrids, flying canoes. It is the work of Yellow Claw, who has assembled a group of mentalists. next, in the city, buildings go haywire.... Jimmy Woo talks to his chief and says it is the work of mutants and that Suwan aleterd him in a note. He goes off to meet her. Suwan shows him the entrance into Yellow Claw's lair. The mutants mess with his mind, until Suwan awakens them, with a gong, releasing them fom yellow Claw's hypnotic power. The mutants disappear in a flash and YC escapes with Suwan. Jimmy is going to be in dutch with his boss... A second story find Jimmy alerted to sabotage by YC's agents. His boss forces him to use her to get to YC and Woo requests a meeting... Jimmy tracks Suwan to a secret entrance to YC's lair (an elevator which drops from street level to a bunker below). he gets the drop on YC, but gets nabbed by a henchmen, dumped into an oversize hamster ball and tossed in the ocean........ YC escapes. Thoughts: Fun, if light stories from Kirby, though Al fFldstein's more developed plots are missed. These are all fairly common Fu Manchu and pulp mystery tropes. Yes, this was an excellent Shang-Chi story. Yes, probably my favorite Shang-Chi story so far (up through MOKF #25) with perhaps the exception of his debut in Special Marvel Edition #15. Here's some foreshadowing though, Reston will get on my nerves a bit for constantly referencing his great-uncle.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 1, 2021 16:37:36 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #26Thoughts: Pretty good story, with lots of pulpy touches, mostly borrowed directly from Rohmer (after a fashion). Fah Lo Suee was the star of the novels Daughter of Fu Manchu and Mask of Fu Manchu, which features Shan Greville as the hero, rather than Nayland Smith and Petrie (who mainly have cameos; even Fu is barely in them). They revolve around Egypt and ancient treasures and such stuff. Mask is infamous for inspiring the movie, with boris Karloff as Fu and Myrna Loy as an especially sultry Fah lo See (spelling changed), which was a pre-Hayes Code film. It gets kind of steamy, pretty gruesome, and massively racist and was condemned by Chinese-American community leaders. The Chinese government launched a campaign against the film, via their Washington Embassy. Fah Lo Suee is pure femme fatale and Pollard does a decent job with her, though Gulacy probably would have handled her better. She shows plenty of leg and has the stereotypical tight dress of the Dragon Lady persuasion. Fah Lo Suee was the template for many a femme fatale, beyond just the Asian ones, like the Dragon Lady and Yellow Claw's daughter, Suwan. We also learn that Nayland Smith had a weakness for her, which was not in the books. Petrie had a thing for Karameneh, who was one of Fu's agents (whose role Ducharme has usurped). This is one of the better pulpy MOKF tales, story-wise and a so-so one, art-wise. Pollard does an okay job, but, he's not Gulacy or Starlin. We will have to wait for some more Gulacy. I thought the story here was one of the better ones. Agree on the art - Pollard is OK here but no Gulacy or even Starlin.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 3, 2021 12:49:38 GMT -5
Deadly hands of Kung Fu #9Thoughts: 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). 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. The Shang-Chi story was decent. Not great, but decent. However, I felt that this was perhaps Shang-Chi's best fight to date. I'm no martial arts expert but I thought Vosberg did a really good job here, plus that fight was actually in doubt for a while. Too many of Shang-Chi's fights are basically him kicking somebody in the face and fight over, I really enjoyed this fight. Yeah, Perez's art is getting better.
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Post by berkley on Feb 3, 2021 15:41:07 GMT -5
Shadow-Stalker is one of things that I thnk could never work anywhere but on the comic-book page: it makes no sense whatsoever, but in the hands of an artist like Gulacy it just looks so cool.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 5, 2021 15:52:53 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #28Shang-Chi vs Shadow-Stalker, in an arcade.... Thoughts: Kind of anti-climactic end to the Fah Lo Suee storyline, though with a nod to Steranko and a bit of a swerve, with Shadow-Stalker. The art is all over the place, with some good panels and some bad. Thankfully, this is the end of the meandering of the series. From this point forward, it gains laser sharp focus, as Moench and Gulacy turn it into something legendary, and it all begins next issue. Shadow-Stalker really needed an artist who could choreograph some really gonzo action. Agreed. The story was decent, the art not so good, frankly. And this series really takes off next issue with Gulacy's triumphant return!
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 8, 2021 16:18:26 GMT -5
Giant Size Master of Kung Fu #4
Thoughts: The Tiger Claw plot doesn't work that well and Rufus T Hackstabber is Doug homaging Groucho Marx, with so-so success. Quite frankly, the ony comic person to really capture his voice and personality was Dave Sim, with Lord Julius. Rufus is a decent attempt and it is amusing to see Chi irritated by him. trying to tack that onto a serious plot, with Fu Manchu and bank robberies just doesn't work. Should have just gone for pure comedy. I am inclined to agree that this story was not that great. By the way, Tiger-Claw is going on about fighting with honor, yet he is fighting with poison tiger claws! Really, dude?
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 8, 2021 22:36:22 GMT -5
Giant Size Master of Kung Fu #4
Thoughts: The Tiger Claw plot doesn't work that well and Rufus T Hackstabber is Doug homaging Groucho Marx, with so-so success. Quite frankly, the ony comic person to really capture his voice and personality was Dave Sim, with Lord Julius. Rufus is a decent attempt and it is amusing to see Chi irritated by him. trying to tack that onto a serious plot, with Fu Manchu and bank robberies just doesn't work. Should have just gone for pure comedy. I am inclined to agree that this story was not that great. By the way, Tiger-Claw is going on about fighting with honor, yet he is fighting with poison tiger claws! Really, dude? But....they have the proper FDA warning labels............
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