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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 9, 2021 10:26:02 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #29Now we go to school! Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Paul Gulacy-art, Tom Orzechowski-letters, Janice Cohen-colors, Len Wein-edits Now, the cover we should have had.... Gulacy's splash pages were way better than the actual covers, bringing to mind the Bond movie posters, from Robert McGinnis and others. Synopsis: Shang-Chi arrives at Nayland Smith's Central Park townhouse. Smith asks his help in stopping a drug lord, one Carlton Velcro... Clive Reston is going to his Gulf of Lions estate, on the French Mediterranean coast, as mr Blue, code name of a heroin buyer. his job is to destroy the entire load. Smith asks Chi to help him escape velcro's fortress. Chi s reluctant, since this is not a law enforcement raid, but a covert mission, outside the law. Smith shows him the effects of heroin on addicts... Tarr and Chi will go in by sea, to get reston out, after he sets pryotechnic charges to destroy the raw opium, being processed into heroin. They overfly Velcro's estate... Reston, as Mr Blue, arrives at the estate and meets Velcro. He is then introduced to his enforcer, Razor Fist, who gives a demonstration of his talent. Later, Chi and Tarr hit the water for a scuba insertion onto Velcro's estate, while reston takes out guards and heads for the opium. Alarms go off and Velcro's men are waiting for tarr and Chi, though Tarr has a concussion bomb for them. Reston sets the charges. Tar and Chi cross the estate, to a land bridge into the compound. Chi faces two men and takes them out... Reston is caught by Velcro's guards, and Chi comes face to navel to Razor Fist. Thoughts: Hooo boy; is this great stuff or what? Gulacy has been transformed and the Steranko touches come alive, as Moench delivers a James Bond thriller, starring Bruce Lee (with Sean Connery in a supporting role). Gulacy has altered Chi's look to more of bruce Lee, with deeper expressions. Moench has added a new villain, carlton Velcro, a sophisticated dandy, who is the French Connection, bringing raw opium from Asia, through Turkey, to his estate, to be refined into heroin, then transported to Latin America, to then be smuggled into the US. The real French Connection was a long running operation by the Corsican Gang, bringing heroin from Turkey to Marseilles, then into the US. They had collaborated with the French gestapo, during the occupation, stealing assets which financed the operation. They were protected after the war by the CIA and french intelligence, to fight the communists from gaining control of Marseilles' shipping operations, via union strikes or other means. The operation was busted in the 1960s and early 70s, inspiring William friedkin's the French Connection, in 1971. Moench uses the French Connection to set up a Bond villain, giving him the requisite henchman, and one the films couldn't easily duplicate, with razor Fist, who has blades grafted to both arms. Meanwhile, he looks like he uses the same tailor as Killraven (circa Neal Adams' beginning), with a wrestling singlet and thigh boots. moench and Gulacy gives us a taste, then has Chi run into him, at the end, after easily disposing of Velcro's mercs. This has all of the pacing and trappings of the classic Connery-era Bond films, which were, sadly, over, yet played constantly on ABC tv. By this point, Roger Moore had starred in two Bond films, Live and Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun and george Lazenby had his single outing in On her Majesty's Secret Service (after which, Connery was enticed back, with a truckload of money, to play Bond in Diamonds Are Forever). Moore had demonstrated a lighter touch in these films, largely transferring his persona, from the Saint tv series (which had a two-part episode, spoofing the Bond films, in the Fiction-Makers, which was released theatrically, as a movie). His first two outings were a bit more serious, though filled with stunts (the boat jump and the corkscrew car jump, respectively) and jokes, plus emphasis on gadgets. Connery would deliver the one liners, but was deadly serious in his delivery (until Diamonds Are Forever, which got rather jokey, which Connery hated). This is Connery Bond. Meanwhile, Gulacy also adds actual kung fu techniques, with plenty of actual Bruce Lee movements, from his films and martial arts books (he had released several volumes of Jun Fan Gung Fu, as well as The Tao of Jeet Kun Do). Gulacy also upgraded the weaponry to more realistic-looking, though not actual depictions of existing weapons, until he gives Reston the Walter LP-53, the air pistol used for publicity photos of Connery. Gulacy modified the look of it, but used it for several MI-6 operatives. Steranko had created something similar for Nick Fury's needle gun, which Steve Epting later used for SHIELD and Bucky. This is where Master of Kung Fu became a classic, with touches of Steranko, James Bond, Bruce Lee and plenty of storytelling techniques from Steranko and eisner, filtered through Gulacy's pencil. Faces became more refined and models were used, which became a sort of spot the cameo. Action was choreographed on the page, lighting was moody, characters were more expressive, plots were deeper. moench had found his muse, as had Gulacy. They became a team that was compared to Lee and Kirby and O'Neil and Adams. Not sure who Gulacy's model is, for velcro. No actor immediately comes to mind. I do think that this is when MOKF breaks through, especially in terms of Gulacy's art. He was gone for a few issues and comes back new and improved! However, I do have to say that I think Razorfist is a pretty ridiculous looking character. I won't bother asking how he goes to that bathroom or does much of anything that doesn't involve cutting things. Certainly a Bond influence there, but a bit too out there for me.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 9, 2021 10:37:29 GMT -5
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #12Thoughts: RIP Archie, we miss you. Goodwin has really brought change to this magazine. Both features are vastly improved. Shang-Chi features a bit of mystery, some of it swiped from the Maltese Falcon and some from Scooby Doo ("I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for that meddling kung fu master!") The plot does kind of bring to mind big Trouble in Little China, with the opening abduction; but, not much else. It's a good, solid story and Rudy nebres' art is a refreshing change. Vosburg was okay and grew into a much better artist; but, nebres is so far ahead of him. he also knows how to work in black & white reproduction. It just looks fantastic. Honestly, I really didn't care for Rudy Nebres's art here, or in the Chris Claremont Iron Fist saga that he'll draw in this mag in a few issues. I mean, he certainly knows how to draw, but I thought his storytelling abilities needed work. I found things unclear, and had some trouble following the action. Maybe that's just me, though.
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Post by berkley on Feb 9, 2021 11:06:56 GMT -5
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #12Thoughts: RIP Archie, we miss you. Goodwin has really brought change to this magazine. Both features are vastly improved. Shang-Chi features a bit of mystery, some of it swiped from the Maltese Falcon and some from Scooby Doo ("I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for that meddling kung fu master!") The plot does kind of bring to mind big Trouble in Little China, with the opening abduction; but, not much else. It's a good, solid story and Rudy nebres' art is a refreshing change. Vosburg was okay and grew into a much better artist; but, nebres is so far ahead of him. he also knows how to work in black & white reproduction. It just looks fantastic. Honestly, I really didn't care for Rudy Nebres's art here, or in the Chris Claremont Iron Fist saga that he'll draw in this mag in a few issues. I mean, he certainly knows how to draw, but I thought his storytelling abilities needed work. I found things unclear, and had some trouble following the action. Maybe that's just me, though. Nebres was a talented artist but something about his style never worked for me. Just a matter of my personal taste, not a reflection on his ability. My dislike of his work spoiled a lot of comics for me that I otherwise might have enjoyed, at least for the writing., if not the art. But the whole look of his stuff was a turn-off for me, as an inker as well as a penciller.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 11, 2021 10:59:48 GMT -5
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #13Shang-Chi vs the Flying Wallendas! Creative Teams: Shang-Chi- Moench & nebres; SOT-Mantlo, Perez and Abel; Archie Goodwin-edits Thoughts: Shang-Chi continues its intriguing mystery, with excellent art by Rudy Nebres. The plot sucks you in and the action is exciting, with Nebres giving it a moody quality. Sons of the Tiger continues to be mediocre. Last issues improvement is let down by this cliched mess, which reads like Mantlo watched Chinatown too many times and perpetuates stereotypes of Chinatown be a corrupt den of vice (though with the twist that this is a frame job). it reads like the worst 70s tv script (and there were plenty of those, without Mantlo doing and even more cliched job). Perez' artwork is okay, not really developed enough to do much with the locale or the fights. Martial arts action is still mostly stereotyped poses. Shang-Chi continues to carry the magazine, from a story standpoint, while the articles have some more interesting stuff than yet another Bruce Lee article. Unfortunately, next issue is all Bruce Lee articles. That is a dry well, even in 1975. The thing that blows me away is, when they had those reader polls in this magazine, the Son of the Tiger stories were allegedly running neck and neck with the Shang-Chi stories for popularity. Well, there's no accounting for taste.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 11, 2021 11:05:04 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #31It's Lt Gruber and his little tank. Here's the real cover for this issue... Pure James Bond! Thoughts: Now that's a climax! If Marvel does actually get a Shang-Chi film in production and it doesn't feature action like this, they can go Fu Manchu themselves! This was a bang-up 3-parter that grabbed you from the start and said "This is something brand new and comics will never be the same, again. Gulacy excels in the action sequences and stages the action well across the panels. Pavane proves to be another intriguing character, though she is seen only briefly. Gulacy makes her a hot number, full grown cat with a whip! The name Pavane comes from the classic form of processional dance.... Not sure what that really has to do with the character, other than it is a really cool and exotic name. She doesn't exactly bring to mind dancer, so much as dominatrix, which is deliberate, as many a domme has been a villainess in a pulp adventure. We don't get much of her here; but, she will return, soon. Smith proves a duplicitous old bas...ahem...devil, as he planned on ramming the complex with explosives anyway, regardless of whether Reston achieved his mission of not. Tarr and Chi were there to get him out, though it turns out that Chi was needed to get the boat to target before Velcro could launch a nuke. Velcro proved a pretty interesting villain; but, moench would definitely improve upon him with his next epic, going from James Bond into the Avengers, and I don't mean the superheroes. I don't know why Marvel didn't use Gulacy's splash pages as the covers, as they are so much more evocative. At least they should have been turned into posters. One of my lottery fantasies is commissioning a series of Master of Kung Fu "Bond" posters for the four big epics that the team produced. Well, the art in this one is phenomenal (and I agree with you that the splash pages would make much, much better covers than the actual covers) but I have t say that Pavane is pretty ridiculous looking, coming right on the heels of the ridiculous looking Razorfist. The dominatrix look just doesn't do it for me. I'm also not sure why Shang-Chi thought Razorfist's life was in danger and why he risked his life to save him. Still, overall a cool spy story.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 11, 2021 11:08:56 GMT -5
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #14A Bruce Lee, all the time! Neal Adams doing Bruce, here. Thoughts: Chi beat the death trap a little too easily, with the spikes breaking rather conveniently. A little more ingenuity would have been more memorable. I totally agree. That was my main issue with this story.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 11, 2021 11:10:54 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #32Fill in issue, so Gulacy can get caught up. Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Sal Buscema-breakdowns, Mike Esposito-finishes, Karen Mantlo-letters, George Roussos-colors, Len Wein-edits. Thoughts: Too convoluted and not as clever as it wants to be. This reads like one of the throwaway stories from DHOKF, which it fulfills the same function, to let nothing important happen until we get to the next real story, next issue. The artwork is nothing to write home about. Not anyone's best. I liked the story well enough but yeah, the artwork was not very good.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 11, 2021 11:13:52 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #33Confession time: this was my very first Master of Kung Fu comic and cemented my love of it from the start (imagine how disappointed I was when I got some of the earlier issues). We'll get to why, in a bit) Here's what should have been the cover.......... Chi fighting an Auton/Cybernaut is cool; but, Gulacy drawing Chi and Leiko in a mesh bathing suit? Priceless! Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Dan Adkins-inks, John Costanza-letters, Janice Cohen-colors, Len Wein-edits Thoughts: Fantastic issue, 40 years later! Moench has really upped the game and Gulacy runs apace. There is a ton of mystery here, and a ton of eposition. Moench uses the briefing to unload much of it; but, the images that Gulacy uses keeps you interested, visually, until they bring you to action scenes. There is a darn good mystery here, and the Project Ultraviolet hook actually has real logic to it. Targeting the ozone layer over an enemy location could have devastating effects to te population. Isolating the effect would be the hard part. This was the era when the public began to learn the damage that had been done to the Ozone Layer and the long term effects, which we are dealing with today. Mordillo is by far the best villain yet. At this point, he is an unknown; but an extremely deadly one, as conveyed by his robot assassin and the various dead agents described in the briefing. This is not a man to take lightly, yet he is obviously psychotic, as well. He has advanced technology at his disposal and seems to be bankrolled largely by the Red Chinese. That's a dangerous combo. At the end, we learn he is a rogue MI-6 agent, which means he probably had access to all kinds of secrets. not only may he have the secret to project Ultraviolet, he may have compromised all kinds of operations, ala Kim Philby and the rest of the Cambridge 5. I've never seen Moench of Gulacy confirm this; but, it is my belief that the name Mordillo is an homage to Argentine cartoonist Guillermo mordillo, who was known simply as Mordillo, whose pantomime cartoons have been published all over the world. there were book collections of his work available in the US, prior to the writing of this issue. Sadly, Mordillo passed away in June, of this year. We don't see bretnor/Mordillo, until the very end; but, he was visually based on James Coburn. gulacy doesn't quite get the likeness down. however, he has refined Reston and he looks very much like Sean Connery, with a hint of Basil Rathbone's nose. Shang-Chi fluctuates a bit, between Bruce Lee and a more generic face. Supposedly, at one point, Marvel got served notice by Linda Lee to stop using Bruce as the likeness for Shang-Chi. Gulacy would use likenesses when he felt moved to do so and more will pop up, down the road. I've never seen mention of any physical basis for Leiko, though there is something vaguely familiar about her face, in the bathtub scene. May have just been someone that Gulacy knew, as he has used friends as models. This is my favorite storyline of all of the MOKF stories; it has everything, from action, mystery, sex appeal, drama, and even a spot of humor. Great atmosphere and memorable new characters. That's what made this a classic. If Velcro started them on that path, Mordillo cemented it. Next issue, we will meet the other character that transcended all others and has never been duplicated. This was a great all around comic. My only question is, why are scientists trying to come up with a way to intentionally put holes in the ozone layer???
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 11, 2021 11:38:50 GMT -5
Same reason they came up with nuclear weapons.................sometimes science forgets to ask whether something should be done.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 15, 2021 10:42:40 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #34Shang-Chi vs Toyland! Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Dan Adkins-inks, John Costanza-letters, Janice Cohen-colors, Marv Wolfman-edits Thoughts: Did I mention this was my favorite storyline? This issue reeks of awesomeness and Steranko. Gulacy is homaging up a storm, with Steranko tech and Steranko couture, with a bit of Mother Goose. Moench crafted an original adventure, by swiping from James Bond and the Avengers. The basic plot is taken from the then-recent Bond fim The Man With The Golden Gun. You have a deadly freelance assassin (Scaramanga), with a diminutive and psychotic sidekick (Nick-nack), a kidnapped love interest (Mary Goodnight), a private island in Southeast Asia (the Thai islands of Ko Khao Phing Kan and Ko Tapu) and a McGuffin of a solar weapon (the Solex Agitator). See what I mean... The only thing missing is Sheriff JW Pepper and the flying car! Now, Moench takes the Bond plot and filters it through the storybook lens of the Avengers (the tv series, with John Steed and Emma Peel), with touches of the Cybernauts, The House That Jack Built, and Game, and the New Avengers episode, House of Cards. All deal with psychotic madmen and gimmick houses and deathtraps, in a surreal mix of death and childhood toys. You could also add Dr Who, with episodes like the Celestial Toymaker and the Auton episodes, from the Jon Pertwee era (where the Doctor was a sort of secret agent adventurer, with UNIT). It's tons of func, action and intrigue. I mention Leiko's hair, which suddenly turns an auburn red and she looks more caucasian. Not sure what happened there, whether Janice Cohen got mixed instructions or Gulacy got characters mixed up, or if Leiko had a henna accident on the way to Mordillo's island. It will only be this issue, though. I deduct 10 points off a total of 100 for not letting reston shoot the mime. Otherwise, it's a solid 90. They even make fun of the overuse of Fu Manchu when Reston shoots the Fu-in-the-box. Now, the ebst part of the whole issue: BRYNOCKI!!!!! He is inspired by herve Villechaize, from Man With The Golden Gun, as far as his role; but, the design is inspired by......... The Big boy restaurant chain was pretty widespread, at the time and the Adventures of Big Boy was a long published comic, given away in the restaurant, with comic strip adventures, puzzles and games. Moench and Gulacy add the brilliant touch of having Mordillos jack-of-all-trades reflect that visually, with appropriate headgear and costumes. It makes for a fun character and one of the best ever created at Marvel, in Moench's hands. sadly, he hasn't fared as well in others, though he has had other appearances, in Iron Man and Rom, though Dan Slott used him pretty well in his Thing mini-series, as a partner to Arcade, who had turned Mordillo's island into a Murderworld. Before all of that, he will get another crack at Shang-Chi. Any Shang-Chi movie franchise has got to have Brynocki, if not Mordillo. Alas, I wouldn't bet on it. Next up, the conclusion to the Mordillo Saga. Awesome story and art! What's up with Shang-Chi and Reston's shoes, though? High heels? Well, I guess platform shoes were all the rage at the time, so there you go. Speaking of Leiko looking more Caucasian, it drives me crazy in comics seeing so many characters of Chinese, Korean, and even African descent with green or blue eyes! I've seen (Wally West's girlfriend Linda, a Korean-American with green eyes and I'm pretty sure I've seen Shang-Chi with blues eyes though that may have been a coloring error) plenty of that in comics. Apparently nobody has brown eyes in the world of fiction. Not to mention most Caucasians in comics seem to have blue eyes, even though the plurality of Caucasians in the real world have brown eyes. I used to love Big Boys restaurants (used to look forward to going there with my parents for a burger and a Big Boy comic!) but I never noticed the Brynocki/Big Boy resemblance before. Cool!
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 15, 2021 11:03:19 GMT -5
Deadly hands of Kung Fu #17Oh look, something new; a Bruce Lee issue. Nice Adams cover, though. If only Continuity had been providing the interiors! No Sanho Kim this issue, or Frank McLaughlin. Rudy Nebres does a great job and Perez is improving; but, neither are specialists in this genre and McLaughlin and Kim were. Both were great storytellers, with both exciting and poetic styles. Creative Teams: MOKF-Moench & Nebres, SOT-Mantlo, Perez & Abel; Don McGregor-edits. Thoughts: The Shang-Chi story is being dragged out too long and it's getting more esoteric and philosophical, which is weighing it down. It had about 3 or 4 chapters of plot and they are exhausted, which is making the chapters seem repetitive. next issue has the final chapter. It looks great and is a nice idea; but, stretched to fit beyond its natural length. And you thought decompression was a modern thing. Sons of the Tiger has some nice emotional stuff; but, it is so badly put together that it undermines the story. This thing keeps see-sawing back and forth to the point of being ridiculous, like 6 chapters of a Republic serial strung together. It would have made a better solo Abe story, with Blackbyrd, which is why I say dump the other two and makes this about an ethnic hero, in an urban environment. However, Mantlo isn't the writer for that; McGregor is. Perez has some great moments here, and some panels look fantastic. Not really the George we know, but very accomplished, in these few shots. To me, part of the problem is he struggles with the mundane. When he gets more into the fantastical, he comes alive. The better panels capture expressions and emotions well. That will be a trademark for him, but in more fantasy situations, compared to this. i do think this is giving him a grounding in emotional content he might not get in a superhero series, which serves him well, down the road. I still am not a fan of this series and I think mantlo is the weaker element of the two. Perez with McGregor or Moench would probably be a more satisfying SOT. The other element is the whole concept. These guys just don't really work, as street heroes. Bob Diamond isn't a street figure and Lin-Sin was better served in the revenge themes of the earliest stories, where he was the focus. Abe works better as a street character, as he is from the streets. he's a nice mix of Power man and iron Fist, in one package. i really think Marvel missed the boat, here. Next issue promises Iron Fist, with the SOT. Shang-Chi will conclude and we are left to wish Chi was teaming with Iron Fist, as it would be more natural. Yeah, I'm not digging this Shang-Chi story. I agree that it's being dragged on too long. I agree it's getting too esoteric, and I also find it a little confusing and the Nebres art isn't helping me out in that regard. I though Mantlo did a decent job on SOT earlier on, but as the series progressed, I eventually got tired of it.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 15, 2021 11:17:02 GMT -5
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #18Nick Cardy cover and the blessed end of the Golden Dragon serial (about 2 issues 2 late, if you ask me). Creative Team: MOKF- Moench & Nebres; Iron Fist/SOT- Mantlo, Pat Broderick & Terry Austin; Archie Goodwin-edits. Thoughts: Well, Shang-Chi comes to a merciful end to his serial, which just got weird and esoteric, in the end. I don't know; it had moments; but, I kind of feel like Moench needed to cut back on what he was smoking. It started well, as a great little mystery (touch of Dashiell Hammett and The Maltese Falcon and some stage magic misdirection), then ended up in oddball philosophical territory. Yeah, I didn't much care for this Shang-Chi "epic". Kinda confusing for me. The best thing about this issue was a letter from Fred Hembeck!
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 15, 2021 16:19:19 GMT -5
Sorry about how late this has been: been working on the Other Guys stuff and getting ready for vacation (which I am now on). Plus, I wasn't looking forward to fill-ins. Ah, well; suck it up, sailor. Master of Kung Fu #36-37Thoughts: This is why I was avoiding this. This is one weird, pointless story, with few redeeming qualities. And it wasted two months of the comic and more than enough of mu time. This actually makes me look forward to a Sons o the Tiger story! Agreed. This was not a very good story. And I think Shang-Chi used his bracelets like Wonder Woman, to deflect a dangerous projectile, and not for the last time, as I believe he does a little "bullets and bracelets" in MOKF #57.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Feb 15, 2021 17:48:32 GMT -5
And I think Shang-Chi used his bracelets like Wonder Woman, to deflect a dangerous projectile, and not for the last time, as I believe he does a little "bullets and bracelets" in MOKF #57. It's preferable to the current state of affairs, where he can catch a bullet.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 15, 2021 19:16:10 GMT -5
And I think Shang-Chi used his bracelets like Wonder Woman, to deflect a dangerous projectile, and not for the last time, as I believe he does a little "bullets and bracelets" in MOKF #57. It's preferable to the current state of affairs, where he can catch a bullet. Oh brother! See why I don't read new comics?
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