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Post by Icctrombone on Jul 7, 2019 9:30:50 GMT -5
Codystarbuck-
Denny Wan Chang O'Shaugnessy O'Neil has a review of Alan Block's The Legend of Bruce Lee, which hardly sounds authoritative. Block worked for Miami News and this sounds like a quickie paperback to exploit Lee's recent death, a common practice in the lower rungs of the publishing world (pretty much the equivalent of tabloid newspapers). It poo-poos the official finding, that Lee had a reaction to a headache tablet, with no medical evidence to back up a contrary idea, and examining the murder conspiracy theories that blossomed. The idea of a health nut suddenly dying just shows a lack of medical knowledge. Running guru Jum Fixx died of a heart attack, while jogging. the founder of the Atkins Diet died on a sidewalk, with clogged arteries.
It's not my intention to highjack the thread but I will state that Atkins died from a fall and that although he was overweight, it just indicates that he probably wasn't following his own diet advice. I have done High fat /low carbs and have experienced weight loss and energy with great numbers after a medical check up. The eating discipline works , as long as you work it. I also read hat he had a history of heart disease, so you are correct in stating hereditary factors are a big deal.
Love the reviews. Bruce Lees death was a shocker, as he was poised to become a MAJOR superstar in the states.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 7, 2019 20:21:52 GMT -5
Codystarbuck- Denny Wan Chang O'Shaugnessy O'Neil has a review of Alan Block's The Legend of Bruce Lee, which hardly sounds authoritative. Block worked for Miami News and this sounds like a quickie paperback to exploit Lee's recent death, a common practice in the lower rungs of the publishing world (pretty much the equivalent of tabloid newspapers). It poo-poos the official finding, that Lee had a reaction to a headache tablet, with no medical evidence to back up a contrary idea, and examining the murder conspiracy theories that blossomed. The idea of a health nut suddenly dying just shows a lack of medical knowledge. Running guru Jum Fixx died of a heart attack, while jogging. the founder of the Atkins Diet died on a sidewalk, with clogged arteries.
It's not my intention to highjack the thread but I will state that Atkins died from a fall and that although he was overweight, it just indicates that he probably wasn't following his own diet advice. I have done High fat /low carbs and have experienced weight loss and energy with great numbers after a medical check up. The eating discipline works , as long as you work it. I also read hat he had a history of heart disease, so you are correct in stating hereditary factors are a big deal. Love the reviews. Bruce Lees death was a shocker, as he was poised to become a MAJOR superstar in the states. No, i know about Atkins (we paid attention to the details, at B&N, since we had sold his books consistently). My point is that the idea that Bruce was super-fit doesn't preclude hereditary defects, undiagnosed conditions, or plane accidents. Fixx was the more direct comparison, though I can't recall if he had a family history of heart issues or had been a smoker, before running. O'Neil's description of the Lee bio says it poo-pooed the official story and spent more time examining the BS conspiracy theories, despite the greater likelihood of the medical angle. It did dispense with the ridiculous idea that the cannabis in his system could have done it and pointed out the amount needed to consume to do something like that would choke a horse. The theories of assassins and what not are laughable. Lee was not the first to teach Westerners martial arts, as a native Asian (Chinese or otherwise), it wasn't an organized field, and his teaching had no economic bearing on other schools. In fact, his popularity boosted martial arts interest across the board, leading to an influx of new (paying) students. My favorite ridiculous theory involves dim mak, aka the "death touch," of such noted martial arts frauds as Ashida Kim (a Westerner named Radford Davis) and Frank Dux (of bloodsport BS fame). The idea is that the dim mak masters know of secret pressure points that will kill instantly when stuck by blows. It has been debunked left and right (as have so called Qi masters, who supposedly transmit powerful energy without touching an opponent) and other such nonsense.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 7, 2019 20:31:18 GMT -5
I'm enjoying your very thorough reviews, cody. I know squat about martial arts, so all I can contribute is the occasional piece of behind-the-scenes trivia. To wit: Lu Sun looked a whole lot more like David Caradine/Caine before Marvel's legal department ordered editorial to add the mustache. Also, Karamenah will be showing up in the series but not until MOKF #81. Cei-U! I summon the job well done! Yeah, I was reading something about the moustache after posting the entry. I really think Marvel missed out on a great opportunity by not creating a Jim Kelly-style martial arts character, either for MOKF or as a spin-off. He was so memorable in Enter the Dragon and Black Belt Jones. It probably would have sold well in urban areas, alongside Conan and, if done right, better than Luke Cage. Abe Brown was never high profile enough and the Sons of the Tiger weren't used much, outside of Deadly Hands and Li Sun seemed to be the leader of the group. Forgot to mention, in regards to the Enter the Dragon examination, by mcGregor; when Kelly is introduced and flashes back to leaving his school, to go on the trip, you see two legendary African-American martial artists (besides Kelly): Steve Muhammad and Donnie Williams. Muhammad was the founder of the Black Karate Federation, and is the teacher who Kelly says goodby to. Williams is the guy with the sideburns and receding hair line, who is leading the katas, with the students. he worked as a stuntman in many films (especially martial arts) and can usually be spotted as a black guy, in a knit cap, who gets beat up by the hero. He was one of the inspirations for Tommie Davidson's "Sweet Tooth" Jones character, on In Living Color.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 7, 2019 21:36:10 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #20Okay, Chio has to be propped up somehow, to achieve that stance! Meanwhile, the Manhunter costume was closer to a samurai's garb than that cover figure. How long before he fights some Shaolin monks? Mostly, I want him to fight these ninja.... Creative Team: Gerry Conway-writer (part 1), Doug Moench-writer (part 2), Paul Gulacy-pencils, Al Milgrom-inks, Dave Hunt-letters, George Roussos-colors, Roy Thomas-edits Synopsis: Chi is contemplating life, on a beach, when he is attacked by frogmen. That's what happens when you come to Florida, during the height of the tourist season! They have the amazing ability to run and fight, while still wearing flippers! I don't know if you have ever tried flippers; but, walking is a challenge, let alone running or fighting! The leader of the bunch proves highly skilled; but, ends up with a dislocated shoulder (it appears) and coughs up the name of the man who hired them, in exchange for Ch to use some pressure point healing touch or some other bullshido technique. Chi walks away to find one Demmy Marston ( any relation to William?), a Miami-based crime lord, out to hit Chi, to impress Fu Manchu. We next meet Demmy and what a class guy he is. After hearing that his mercs failed, he orders his henchman, Bufford Jones, to go get Korain. Then, his girl Diana comes around for some lovin' and he slaps her to the ground, making her bleed. Class act, all the way. Bufford goes to a private island, in the Keys (with an Asian castle on it!), where he meets Korain... who does a bit of tailoring for him. Korain is supposed to be a samurai and is sent to kil Chi. Meanwhile, Chi sneaks aboard Demmy's yacht, by climbing the anchor chain (easy trick; but, trying getting through the hawsepipe!) He walks past the guards, which ticks them off and they attack. Chi decks them. That's the pacifist way: goad them into attacking, then kick their butt. One of my cats used that technique to egg on her partner! Only acting in self defense! Chi confronts Demmy in his floating casino room, while he is making up with Diana, and interrupts, asking why for he try to kill him? Demmy pulls a gun and Chi tells him that it is a chop fight. and HIYAA! HO! HA! WAAAAAAAAA! disarms Demmy. Then Korain shows up, starts swinging katanas and Chi is in trouble. he recognizes Korain as an old soldier of Fu, who was retired due to age. He sees why, as Korain has to break off his attack, after pinning Chi to the wall, to swig down his Elixir Vitae energy drink. He rushes Chi and dies of a heart attack, in mid-AIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! His katana goes flying and impales Diana. Geez, talk about abuse! Thoughts: Well, first, the frogman attack is fun, though it looks like they have yellow hands, until you see the yellow swim fins, which must mean they are gloves. These guys fight with masks and flippers on, which adds a bit of a handicap, if you ask me. Apparently, they though carrying their tanks would be overdoing it! Demmy Marston makes a new wrinkle, as we see American criminals working in league with Fu Manchu, not just his Asians. The violence against Diana is pretty nasty and her dying seems a bit much. Would have been a better turn to have her help take him down; but, she had to die for Marston to suffer tragedy and rethink his alliance with Fu. Sucks to be the sacrificial goat. Korain is the most un-samurai samurai I have ever see. He looks like a character from a Chinese kung fu film, who is supposed to be Japanese; but looks little like someone in a Kurosawa film. Maybe Fu had him Chinese-ified, to better match his drapes, or something. This is the first indication that Fu has let others drink the Elixir Vitae, the source of his longevity. That bit was famously stolen for Denny O'Neils Fu Manchu, aka Ra's al Ghul, with his Lazarus Pit. Ra's is straight out of the Fu playbook, complete with traitorous daughter, army of killers, secret lairs, and immortality potions/chemicals (just different containers for the stuff). Not sure why Conway is only filling in for a chapter and not the whole book; but, the second half is Doug Moench's debut (published, at least). No idea who conceived the plot. Gulacy's art is mixed. Fight scenes look great, some of his other scenes are a bit off. The panel of Demmy's unconscious guard looks really weird. Gulacy didn't seem to know how to make him slump properly and it looks like rigor mortis has set in, and he isn't dead! Fu exists only in the background in this one, as this is still Shang-Chi dealing with his father's empire, deliberately or accidentally. The book is now a monthly, which means sales must have been good. They're gonna get better; but, it will take a few issues.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 7, 2019 21:57:42 GMT -5
It's funny when I think of several different instances where Steve Englehart left a series, and Gerry Conway replaced him, with a decided PLUMMET in quality accompanying it (AVENGERS, CAPTAIN MAR-VELL, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA).
I've read that Englehart and Starlin, who were both doing MOKF part-time (bi-monthly), balked at having to do it on as MORE-than monthly schedule (the book went monthly, they added DEADLY HANDS and the GIANT SIZE book, all at once). Conway may have been just filling in, or perhaps saw what he was getting into... and balked.
Doug Moench, however, strikes me as a guy who started out "okay" at best, but became a VASTLY-better writer as he went, on the basis of sheer BULK of output. He did TONS of work, and almost couldn't help but improve, because, I guess, he cared.
I do recall that when he realized what he was up against with MOKF, he decided he could do that, OR, IRON FIST, but not both, and so left IF after only a handful of episodes. A shame, as IF's 8-part origin story wound up going thru 4 writers, 3 pencillers and 4 inkers. (I've always thought, despite that, that those 8 episodes should have been adapted-- VERBATIM-- into a feature film.)
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 7, 2019 23:08:26 GMT -5
Giant Size Master of Kung Fu #1Shang-Chi vs Ultraman...... WHAT? Shang-Chi doesn't grow to giant size? Aw, man.........rip-off!!!!!! Creative Team: Death Masque: Moench & Gulacy,Adkins-inks, Simek-letters, P Goldberg-colors; Frozen Past, Shattered Memories-Moench & P Craig Russell; Yellow Claw-Al Feldstein & Joe Maneely; Reflections in a Rippled Pool-Moench & Ron Wilson, Esposito inks. Roy Thomas edits. Synopsis: Death Masque-Chi is walking downa foggy street, when he finds a dummy, hanging from a streetlight, dressed in his pajamas. A knife is thrown and he evades it, but notices a note around the hilt. Instead of reading he chases the thrower and decks him. The dude disrobes to reveal a Si-Fan assassin, who has a partner. They try to kill him and end up FUBAR, and chomp down on a cyanide breath mint. Chi reads the note and it is a birthday card from his father... You know, you could have just sent a gift certificate, or something. Fu is at home and and Ducharme brings him is (water)pipe and slippers (no idea if he had any herb or not) and a visitor, who informs him of the two Si-Fan deaths. Fu, surmises that they took their own lives. He goes to a chamber, addresses the remaining 5 members of the Si-Fan Council of Seven and adds two new members. They then plan Chi's death. So, no cake, then? Chi heads for Fu's hidden fortress, inside a NYC office building. He passes an Asian hooker, ignores her, then gets attacked by something from the sewers. It's a turtle, in a mask....no, wait, it's another Si-Fan, who Chi fights in the sewers and defeats. He also dies (more death pills). The hooker helps Chi out of a manhole and then gets a shuriken to the thigh. Chi beats the attacker, who swallows cyanide. He carries her to her pad, bandages the wound and she tries to kill him, with a garotte. He strangles her with her own hair, until she lets go. She then jumps out the window, to her death. Fu has 3 more vacancies. His HR department pulls out more hair. A dummy appears with another birthday message. Chi decides to deliver a thank you note in person, and kicks his way through a plate glass window. Fu calls a glazier. Chi goes skulking around the place, then sees the Council of Seven (with three new members) go into the council chamber, where the lights are put out. The chamber is relit and Fu calls for Chi's death, 'cause fun is fun; but, this party is getting expensive. A guard runs in to alert Fu of two unconscious Si-Fan, and the dummy Chi slumps forward and the real one throws off his disguise robe. Then it is "Dog Pile on Shang-Chi," which results in 7 vacancies on the council and Fu does a Zoltar and flees the place, in a helicopter, leaving a rather baked Ducharme to inform Chi that Dad was called away on business. Cats in the cradle, man...... Frozen Past, Shattered Memories-Chi, in Miami, finds a newspaper, that mentions a religious statue on display at a museum. He goes to see it and overhears three men plotting to steal it. he tells a guard who says, "Get lost, hippie!" Chi stakes out the place and stops the three men; but, the statue is stolen by Fu Manchu. Shaolin Temple Boxing-Frank McLaughlin writes and illustrates two pages, devoted to Shaolin 5 Animal Kung Fu.... He uses Iron Fist to demonstrate. He brings up the alleged history of martial arts, as the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma crosses the Himalayas and brings the techniques to China, founding the Shaolin temple, from which all other martial arts spring. Buddhist tradition says Bodhidharma brought Chan Buddhism to China and founded the Shaolin Temple, which spread onward. However, most of the history is so mixed with legend it cannot be verified, short of time travel. A Greco-centric theory, not illustrated here, suggests that martial arts were brought to Asia with Alexander, bringing Greek pankration, a early mixture of wrestling, boxing and submission techniques, that was part of the Ancient Olympics. Many bouts ended in death. This theory says Alexander brought pankration to India, where it was modified and spread to China and other parts of Asia. The reality is more likely that similar observations of animals fighting, plus man's habit of fighting his neighbors, led to similar techniques being developed, with differences more often related to terrain, and the personal attributes of the particular finder. For instance, Indonesian Pencak Silat features forms that suggest sliding and falling, which are probably related to the soft terrain in the Indonesian island chain. Also, Egyptian hieroglyphs depict wrestling techniques well before the Greeks. Anyway, we get Iron Fist, but no Master Po (the awesome Keye Luke, who also voiced Zoltar and played Kato, in the Green Hornet serials, and was Number One Son to Charlie Chan). Yellow Claw-reprint of a story from Yellow Claw #1, from Al Feldstein and Joe Maneely. The Commies want to invade Formosa (Taiwan); but, the US 7th Fleet sails the waters to protect the island haven of the remnants of the Chang Kai-Shek government (who were a pretty corrupt bunch and probably ruled by Madame Chiang). They need to weaken America, first. One Commie speaks of an old wizard who could help, the Yellow Claw. They go to recruit him and are met by his daughter, Suwan. They agree, after demonstrating hypnotic powers, and sneak over to California, where Claw blackmails Fritz Voltman, aka Karl Von Horstbaden, commandant of Auschwitz, into aiding him. Meanwhile, FBI agent Jimmy Woo is briefed in Washington, to fight the Yellow Claw. Reflections in a Rippled Pool-Chi is still in Miami and tries to rent a room and is turned away by racist landlords. He is stopped by a blind beggar, who is shot by a sniper, from a roof, aiming (badly) for Chi. Chie goes after the assassin (wo must be ambidextrous, as he keeps switch from right to left handed and back), sneaks up the side of the building to fight the assassin, while the guy's accomplices follow into the building. the fight ends up in the racists landlord's place and Chi saves them, then tells them to get bent. Thoughts: Death Masque is a great little tale of Chi taking down Si-Fan, one by one (well, two in one go, at the start) and helping the rest to advance to the Council of Seven. Not the greatest birthday present in the world. Gulacy gets to handle plenty of action, with a nice little "And Then There Were None..." Once again, the suggestion is made that Fu likes to imbibe in a bit of narcotic recreation. Ducharme is depicted as Fu's most loyal servant. Keep that in mind for a future epic. Fu is depicted in all his racist glory, with pale yellow skin and demonic pointed ears, claw-like fingernails and such. Later, when you see the Yellow Claw story, with its racist caricatures (everyone looks like a ceramic doll, with yellow skin), you see how little has progressed between 1956 and 1974. At least the Yellow Claw can claim it is a product of its time. There is no excuse 20 years later. The Moench and PCR story is very slight, and is played more for comic effect, with a fat redneck guard getting duped, then Fu puts one over on Chi. The Zoltar reference is in regard to the villain in Battle of the Planets (known as Berg Katse, in the original Gatchaman version), who always escaped the destruction of the Spectra battle mecha, at the end of an episode (except in Gatchaman, where a deadly confrontation ends the series, after 105 episodes). Fu escapes the battle with the Si-Fan and is whisked away by helicopter. There is no explanation for Chi being in Miami, so we can assume that the Birthday is before he runs into Nayland Smith again and stows away on the flight to Miami. No reference to the regular series events is made. Everything stays in Miami from there. The Moench and Ron Wilson story shows how green Wilson was, at the time. His sniper is depicted aiming asboth a lefty and a righty, with no continuity. It is also apparent that Wilson had never fired a rifle, as the character holds it rather clumsily. The point of the story is for Chi to save the racists; but, it is rather clumsily executed. The Yellow Claw tale is a product of its time. It was Atlas' answer to Fu Manchu and the Lev Gleason Claw. Yellow Claw is Fu, Suwan is Fah Lo Suee, and Jimmy Woo is Nayland Smith. Where it is actually kind of progressive is in depicting one Asian-American chasing an Asian villain, rather than a white hero. Unfortunately, no one told the colorist that it was innovative and they get a yellow wash that even Flash Gordon had abandoned, in the 30s. Maneely was an excellent artist and it really shows in the decorative architecture of Claw's castle. His characters are a bit cartoony, as it seems that he was a devotee of Milton Caniff (who wasn't?) Suwan looks very Caniff; not quite Dragon Lady; but, not too different from other love interests in Terry & the Pirates. She will fall in love with Jimmy Woo. Woo being a top FBI agent, in 1956 was probably more progressive than the reality of the Bureau. J Edgar Hoover had a tight fist on the Bureau and he was racist as Trump is orange. Weird mix of forwards and backwards thinking; but, very well written and detailed by Feldstein and Maneely. Kirby would also do an issue or two of the Yellow Claw, as we will see in future GSMOKF. Yellow Claw only got 4 issues, though. It was enough to make an impression on Jim Steranko, who added YC to SHIELD, after HYDRA had run its course. He had Suwan, Jimmy Woo, and Voltzmann all there. After a few additional appearances, the Claw lay low, though Woo continued with SHIELD. In recent years, they have popped up in Agents of Atlas, which brought in other 50s Atlas characters, such as Marvel Boy,Venus, and more. Pretty decent 1/2 to 2/3 of an issue. Gulacy will work on the first 3 GSMOKF's, requiring fill-ins on the regular book, when he works on these. Later, it will be deadline issues that will interrupt his string of books.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jul 8, 2019 15:13:37 GMT -5
I really think Marvel missed out on a great opportunity by not creating a Jim Kelly-style martial arts character, either for MOKF or as a spin-off. The closest they came was probably Rufus "Super Mignight" Carter, introduced toward the end of Mike Zeck's run.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jul 8, 2019 15:17:29 GMT -5
The British reprint Avengers series used the original version of Kane and Giacois's cover to MOKF #20, from before John Romita retouched it.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 8, 2019 18:39:53 GMT -5
Quite a few years back, I did a whole series of "fantasy" covers for many of these issues, where I either cleaned up the bad text design, or replaced the art entirely with Paul Gulacy art, since I pretty much HATED every single one of Gil Kane's covers on these things. It's a shame I don't have them posted anywhere online to link to right now. I pretty much figured out that the 2 MOKF back-ups stories in the GIANT took place before the lead story, since they both take place in Florida, which is where the first several Gulacy issues took place. Dan Adkins remains my FAVORITE inker for Gulacy on MOKF. The 2 issues Gulacy inked himself, unfortunately, the CHEAP paper they were printed on made the art look too dark, while Adkins lighter inks just GLEAMED. Gulacy was in full-force "JIM STERANKO" mode on the GIANT. This really continued, until MOKF #29, when I believe he began to move away from the heavy Steranko influence and pick up some influences from other artists... particularly, Alberto Giolitti (whose work I once confused with Gulacy's, before I realized it was someone else!!).
It wasn't until I saw THE ADVENTURES OF FU MANCHU tv series from the 1950s that i realized that Marvel's YELLOW CLAW comic series was a BLATENT swipe of it. Martin Goodman loved doing that sort of thing... publishing books that were openly ripped off of whatever was popular that moment.
The funniest thing was seeing that the opening credits of the TV series had Fu playing chess... which was what we saw in the FINAL panel of Jim Steranko's Yellow Claw epic. I'm convinced that it was editorial interference that made that storyline far more confusing than it should have been. Not only were the intial 2-parts set around the Statue of Liberty NOT originally meant to be a flashback... but I believe revealing Dr. Doom was behind it all was something pushed on him by the editor. The story would have made SO MUCH more sense if on the final page, we had seen The Yellow Claw, playing chess, and saying the line Chris Lee said in all 5 of his Fu Manchu films... "THE WORLD-- SHALL HEAR FROM ME AGAIN!"
It's also crossed my mind that Marvel could have avoided a lot of legal and licensing problems... if Shang-Chi had simply been the son of The Yellow Claw.
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Post by kirby101 on Jul 8, 2019 20:04:34 GMT -5
McLaughlin was mainly an inker at Marvel. But his Judo Master from Charlton was a fun book.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 9, 2019 0:56:56 GMT -5
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #3Is Jim Kelly the next Bruce Lee? Damn sure should have been! Okay, he had a tendency to overact; but, his action sequences were on par with Bruce and his kicks (especially with the longer legs) were something to see. Here's my favorite scene, from Black Belt Jones... (Warning some NSFW language....) "Batman, mother@#$^%^&*!" The movie climaxes with a huge brawl in a car wash, compete with sids and a garbage truck. ps One of the guys at that conference table looks like Roy Thomas, sort of. Wonder if Neal was using some of the bullpen for the non-Burce & Jim characters? Creative Team: Sons of the Tiger-Gerry Conway-writer, Dick Giordano-pencils, Frank McLaughlin-inks, Tony Isabella-edits, Marv Wolfman-consulting edits. Roy Thomas-Lord of Strange Deaths Shang-Chi-Moench, Gulacy & Milgrom. First up is a piece by John Warner about San Francisco theaters and the city being the US Gateway to China. It is illustrated with a photo still from the first Lone Wolf and Cub movie, from Japan (Sword of Vengeance). Nothing shows authoritative writing by having the wrong cultural illustration! Sons of the Tiger Synopsis: Li Sun is poking around a waterfront warehouse, in San Francisco, when a car tries to run him down. he launches a flying kick through the windshield, then defies the laws of physics to escape having his leg torn off... Next is a flashback to the fight with the ninja, as one gives up the name Janto, the warehouse where Li Sun is now. The others beg out about hunting drug dealers. Li Sun goes it alone; but, Abe has a change of mind, after rescuing a falling kid from a tenement fire. Abe sees he has high responsibilities to his fellow men. Li Sun is poking around when some snorkel ninjas come out of the water and attack, and Li Sun catches a shuriken and throws it back! Let's see Bruce do that! He consults the Hing Kong Book of Kung Fu and tries the Quetong, Ping-Pong, Ding-Dong attack. HIYAA!! Abe turns up at Bob's place and interrupts some horizontal mambo and Bob leaves his honey to go help Li Sun. priorities, man; priorities! He didn't even say goodbye to the lady. That's just rude! They find Li Sun strung up by Lo Chin, a fat, wheelchair-bound Fu Manchu wannabe, who has a sonic cannon(!!) and who drops Li Sun from a ceiling crane. Abe and Bob rush in and catch Li (we never do see how he was captured). They rub the amulets, consult the HKBOKF, and open up a case of whoop ass. Lo Chin fires the sonic cannon; but, Bob destroys it with a kick. When they look up, Lo Chin is gone. Tony Isabella reviews Jim Kelly's Black Belt Jones (awesome film). There is a still of the above film clip, which confirms that the guy who Kelly hits, in front of the flag of Japan, is Donnie Williams (wearing his trademark knit hat). Williams did a bunch of these things and can usually be spotted by his sideburns, knit hat, and the way his body snaps around, when the hero hits him (kind of a whip motion). It's a great film, which would have you believe Scatman Crothers is a karate master (he was the voice of Hong Kong Phooey). Gloria Hendry (Live and Let Die) is the foxy love interest, who gets to kick butt, in a pool hall and at the end. Eric Launeville is also in it; he was a regular on Room 222, including an episode where he learns martial arts techniques from Chuck Norris, to fight back against a bully. John Warner has an article about Angela Mao, who plays Bruce's deceased sister, in Enter the Dragon. It mentions that her style is Hapkido, which Warner misidentifies as Chines. It's a Korean style, most notably practiced and taught by Bong-Soo Hong, who trained Tom mcLaughlin and choreographed the fights in the Billy Jack films (and Hong appears in the second film). Frank McLaughlin returns with some judo techniques. Don McGregor continues his examination of Enter the Dragon. He mentions Jim Kelly's new film, Black belt Jones, and kind of trashes it. Must have seen a different movie than I did. There are a couple of stills showing Bruce Lee choreographing John Saxon's fight, during the tournament. Shang-Chi Synopsis: Chi is walking around Chinatown when he trips over Jake Gedes. He is told "Forget it, it's Chinatown," and moves on. He runs into a woman, who is not Faye Dunaway (or her sister or daughter) She is running from goons and the tell Chi to step off. He WAAAAAs and HAIs them all over the place. more goons show up, the girl runs, smack into a mob of them, who have her at knifepoint and move her into a waiting truck. Chi is forced in the trailer and locked up. The truck ends up at yet another Chinese pagoda house, where the girl is tied up (of course) and sees hot coals standing by, while the torturer wants to know who she told, while escaping. She swears she told no one (about what, we don't know yet). Chi busts out of the trailer, locates the torture chamber, and faster than you can say, "Thanks, Spot," he chops, socks and kicks his way through the killers and whops the butt of the torturer. He asks what is going down. The girl is Linda Fong. The dead guy is the Adder, a rug lord, in Chinatown. He is also her father. Chi says he understands. Linda says how could you and storms off. Thoughts: Neither story is anything to write home about. The Sons of the Tiger makes up for it with excellent action and art from Giordano and McLaughlin. Gulacy's art on the Shang Chi strip is pretty weak, for him. not sure if it is all his problem or Milgrom is contributing. Adkins seemed a better fit; but, Gulacy is still pretty green. He's doing a lot of work between the regular series, the Giant Size and this story, in deadly Hands. The articles add some additional value to the magazine, though the amount of info they have is minimal. it's of a review format, than anything else, other than McLaughlin's judo instruction (a regular feature of his Judomaster comics, at Charlton) Kind of a slight issue, storywise.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 9, 2019 1:08:26 GMT -5
ps That car stunt, in Sons of the Tiger, matches one from Chuck Norris' Good Guys Wear Black...
(Norris didn't do the stunt).
Norris' movies never had the fight choreography of Bruce Lee's, Jim Kelly, or Jackie Chan and his acting is pretty bad. He got better, over time; but, I had trouble sitting through them. They were favorites of the crew, when we went to sea (and, horror, Steven Seagal, master of Bullshido). Give me Jet Li ofr Gordon Liu, any day.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 9, 2019 12:01:04 GMT -5
McLaughlin was mainly an inker at Marvel. But his Judo Master from Charlton was a fun book. I have that issue!!!
McLaughlin did a TON of inks at DC as well, including a LONG run on JLA, where I always felt he murdered Dick Dillin's pencils, and was one of the few inkers who almost managed to murder George Perez' pencils. I thought he did much better later on over Carmine Infantino, whose "layouts" had become faster, rougher, lighter, and more than ever in need of a real "finisher" to come in and over-power the work. He did this on Carmine's last run of THE FLASH, as well as DANGER TRAIL (which, funny enough, had Paul Gulacy covers-- that's like a reverse of having Gil Kane do all those covers over Gulacy's MOKF).
I got the strong impression that Frank McLaughlin was scheduled to take over IRON FIST when he graduated to his own B&W magazine, as he drew both the IF episode of "The Master Plan Of Fu Manchu" and the main story intended for IRON FIST #1 which instead wound up as the all-IF issue of DEADLY HANDS. "The Crusty Bunkers" (Neal Adams' shop) inked the first one very nicely (I suspect Dick Giordano may have been in there somewhere) but Rudy Nebres did the later story, and changed to feel of the art immensely. Im afraid I've never been a big fan of Nebres' work, but that IF story was my first exposure to his "flowery" linework.
Anyway, I rank McLaughlin up there with Larry Hama among my favorite IF artists. Way, WAY better than Gil Kane, Don Perlin, Arvell Jones, Pat Broderick or John Byrne. I wish we'd seen more of his IF.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 9, 2019 12:13:52 GMT -5
I'll tell you what's funny-- or strange-- about GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK. It was Chuck Norris' 3rd film-- and his first where he was the hero, not a villain. My best friend Jim, who was into "chop socky flicks" (his favorite term for them) more than me, told me about this film, and showed me the novelization of it, somewhere around 1975, and the book dated a year or two before that. In the movie, it starts in the final days of Viet Nam, then jumps ahead to several years later-- in the near future-- when a political candidate decided to have Norris' team MURDERED to cover up his own involvement in an illegal deal they were ordered to take part in. The film came and went with almost no notice at all. UNTIL a few years later. It was REISSUED in theatres, which was when Jim and I both went to see it together. Looking at the reissue, the opening scenes of the film appear to be a flashback... and the rest of the film, "the present day". But if you look this film up online, like at the IMDB site, there is NO CLUE to this at all!!! But on the basis of this "Sons of the Tiger" tribute, the film MUST have come out around 1973 or 74... not 1978. He made "GOOD GUYS..." before "BREAKER! BREAKER!", not after.
I think what was outstanding about "GOOD GUYS" was, it was a well-written, well-made "serious" film that happened to involve some martial arts action... as opposed to a cheaply-made, badly-written foreign "martial arts" film with bad dubbing.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 9, 2019 12:53:42 GMT -5
No, Good Guys Wear Black was after this. That type of stunt had been used before, but not with the martial arts angle (at least, in the US). Norris' career took time to build. He had connections in Hollywood, thanks to his dojo and had small appearances (the Room 222 episode, a bit part in The Wrecking Crew, in the Matt Helm film series) and then low budget movies. Comics have had people jumping through car windows since they began.
Quite frankly, I'll take more of the Hong Kong films over Norris most days. It varies quite a bit and there were plenty of low grade ones, including many of the Shaw brothers' films; but, there are far more good ones. Golden Harvest had a better batting average, putting out movies with Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Chung and a few others. I generally find the acting in the American films is as bad as the dubbing in the hong Kong (and Taiwan) films. Low budget doesn't get you the best. Norris' films get bigger budgets, by the 80s, but he still ends up mostly working with people like Cannon films, who can usually afford only one more star. Delta Force probably had the best casting of any of his movies. That thing has Oscar winners in it! Many of the Hong Kong films were done as comedies, which gets misunderstood and the dubbing tends to lose some of the jokes. Others are subject to poor translations. The technical side is way better, by the 80s, with people like Tsui Hark creating epic stories, with wire stunts, intricate choreography, and sensitive stories. The Once Upon a Time in China series displays this best (mostly in the earlier Jet Li films, before they had to recast). The 5th one is a ton of fun, with Wong Fei Hung and his band of assistants (like an Asian Doc Savage) fighting against pirates. (much like Jackie Chan's Project A).
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