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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 12, 2019 1:29:57 GMT -5
Here are the scores from the big martial arts tournament: Dragon's Two, Warriors Three! Warriors advance to the semi-finals, where they meet the Frightful Four.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 12, 2019 19:05:40 GMT -5
Best line in the film-"What's up with the singer?" "She's the director's sister!" and Keenan Wayans kind of hides his face, as Kim butchers "When the Saints Go Marching In.." I have a suspicion that was a bit of tribute to the scene in " LIVE AND LET DIE" where another female singer is murdering Paul McCartney's theme song.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 12, 2019 19:09:11 GMT -5
Back in '74, I did my own "blaxploitation" mini-comic while I was in high school. A lot of years later, I did this JOKE cover, inspired by a joke in " ...SUCKA!" Who knows, maybe someday I'll actually do this story...
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 12, 2019 22:13:22 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #22Apparently, Shang-Ch is a Texas Longhorns fan! Creative Team: Doug Moench-writer, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Dan Adkins-inks, Artie Simek-letters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Roy Thomas-edits Now we have Dan Adkins inking his protege, which was a good result. Synopsis: Shang-Chi goes into a Chinese restaurant for a taste of home (after earning money as a laborer) and finds strange dishes, including weird little biscuits with pieces of paper inside. he opens one and gets a not about a man about to kill him and a sword slices through the table... Before you know it, Chi and the weird poser are fighting. He tries to use a spear from the wall decorations and finds out it is a fake. he then grabs steak knives, which work a little better and he is able to counter the swordsman enough to grab a chandelier and swing a kick into the dude's face, knocking him out. The wait staff then attacks and Chi tells them there will be no tip. Finally, his obsequious waiter attacks and gets bused up and run on a serving trolley, right through a plate glass window. Outside, Chi runs into Nayland Smith and Tarr, who came to warn him of another attack from Fu. they are off to his HQ to attack him and want Chi's help. he tells them to stay away and they speed off anyway, getting there before Chi does. He goes inside, takes out a guard and then sees that Fu has Nayland Smith and Tarr bound and gagged and is having them dragged into an elevator. Chi waits in the shadows and opens the doors after the elevator departs. he hitches a ride on the undercarriage cables, then smashes through the floor (which would be a lot thicker than shown; but, comics!) He exits the elevator to see Fu order the two men to be put into his VT-1 Steranko aircraft... Chi slips into the craft via a cargo hold door and finds a whole lot of explosives. When the plane lands, an unseen muscle takes off a crate of dynamite and Chi sees Nayland Smith and Tarr being marched up a mountainside, to a cave. Inside, he finds his father lighting a trail of gunpowder, which leads to a stack of TNT, dynamite, and nitro glycerin, to which Tarr and Smith are bound. Chi consults the Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu and springs into action. HIIYAAAA!!!!!!!!!!! With a chop-sock here, a quick kick there, here a hop, there a sock.....Old Mac Shang-Chi has a fight ,,,,E-I, E-I WAAAAUUUUUUUUWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chi stops the burning gunpowder just before it reaches the keg; but, beakers of highly volatile nitro have been jostled. he grabs them and throws them at the cave entrance. he frees Smith and Tarr and they head out another way, to discover what Fu's target was.... Dang, Abe Lincoln almost got a shave! Thoughts: 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. We then switch into James Bond territory, with some Steranko touches, as we get the first shadowy meeting between Nayland Smith, Tarr and Chi, which will become a common thing, as we progress. Now, they have met before; but, this has the staging that Gulacy will revisit, routinely. The V-1 Steranko is my addition, as it is a vertical takeoff aircraft that looks like it was designed by Steranko; so, why not name it after the inspiration> Gulacy is in Steranko mode, yet we are seeing more of what is to come, especially with his mentor, Dan Adkins inking him. The characters look more like his own, though his fight choreography isn't refined, yet. His panel layouts and staging are getting there, though and this is taking on the classic look. Moench and Gulacy have already teamed up; but, this is their first full issue and Adkins is a bonus. On the negative side, the racial coloring continues and stereotypes rule. Once we get into the classic stories, the letters pages will rage with the issue, especially from fan William F Wu, who takes particular exception to the problem, while other are fine with Chi's orangish coloring. Everyone decries the yellow and it is mostly dropped. Moench makes a nice comment on the Americanization of "Chinese" food, in the restaurant scenes. Most dishes that Americans think of as Chinese were created in restaurants within the US. Fortune cookies appeared here, as did chop suey (though it was based on an actual Chinese provincial dish, toisan.We are still sort of in Rohmer territory, sort of in Bruce Lee/kung fu film territory and reaching the frontiers of James Bond territory. Fu will morph from evil "Yellow Peril" diabolical genius into Bond megalomaniac, which kind of goes in hand with the Christopher Lee films, which took their cues from the Bond films (on much smaller budgets and weird anachronistic time frames). Things are beginning to look up, though the idea that Fu Manchu has an office building HQ, in NYC and it isn't subjected to a massive MI-6/FBI/SHIELD aid is a bit much. Thankfully, Moench will dispense with that soon.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 13, 2019 12:53:52 GMT -5
"a sword slices through the table..."There's a scene in the movie " HELP!" just like this...
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Post by BigPapaJoe on Jul 13, 2019 17:49:15 GMT -5
For my money, the best comic of the 70s was Master of Kung Fu, especially the run of Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy. It was everything you could want, with mystery, intrigue, sexy women, well choreographed fights, moody atmosphere, great visuals, and complex characters. It was also James Bond-meets-Bruce Lee, melding the spy-fi thrills of the Connery Bonds (more than Roger Moore, who was mostly getting started in the role). However, it didn't start out that way and it didn't originally have Fu Manchu in mind, as the villain. Marvel attempted to acquire comic book rights for the new tv series, Kung Fu, starring David Carradine. They were unable to secure them; but, wanted to still do a martial arts comic. So, instead, they licensed Fu Manchu, Nayland Smith and Dr Petrie, from the Fu Manchu pulp novel series, first begun in 1912. Fu Manchu was the creation of Arthur Henry Ward, aka Sax Rohmer, a civil servant turned-writer. He was also a bit of a con man, claiming connections to the Rosicrucians and Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (an occult group that was an off-shoot of Masonic societies). No evidence exists supporting those claims. He claimed to have conjured up Fu Manchu after asking a ouija board what the most dangerous competition of the white man and it spelled out CHINAMAN. Riiiiggggghhht. He also claimed to have seen a notorious Chinese crime lord in London's Limehouse district, who would then be the physical basis of Fu Manchu. Uh-hunh. The Yellow Peril was in full swing, as political unrest in China was rife, with events such as the Boxer Rebellion, fighting against Western Imperial powers who sought to exploit China and carve up its lands for themselves. The character, himself, blends the already established Moriarty and newly created Fantomas into a yellow Peril villain. Fu Manchu is a master of ancient and modern sciences and secretly controls a society of assassins, the Si-Fan (he is introduced as an agent of the group, though he is the obvious master through the series). He seeks to conquer and control mankind, and especially China and the East, which brings him in conflict with Police Commissioner Dennis Nayland Smith, of Burma, and his friend and associate Dr Petrie. Nayland Smith is Sherlock Holmes to Fu's Moriarty, and Petrie is his Watson and the narrator of the first 3 novels. Later, Nayland Smith is knighted and serves the British government and the British Secret Service. The Holmes model had also been appropriated by Fantomas, with his chief opponents being the journalist Fandor and police inspector Juve. Fantomas carried out diabolical crimes, much of which provided a template for Fu Manchu, with poisonings and grisly murders. Where the Fu Manchu series took them further was in adding nightmare horrors of scientifically modified animals and insects, with giant poisonous spiders, rats, serpents and other creatures that suggested death and terror. It is this world that sets the stage for our new martial arts hero, as Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin introduce us to the son of Fu Manchu: Shang-Chi, the Master of Kung Fu. Special Marvel Edition #15 Cover is by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom, under the name Gemini Creative Team: Steve Englehart-writer/colors, Jim Starlin-pencils, Al Milgrom-inks, Tom Orzechowski-letters, Roy Thomas-edits Synopsis: Our story opens, as a one-man army invades a fortress..... It is Shang-Chi and the defenders seek to prevent him finding his father, Fu Manchu. Chi reflects back on their last meeting, as Fu summons his 19 year-old son before him, at his Honan retreat. he has been trained by the best teachers, under Fu's supervision, to turn his son into a living weapon, of great intellect, melding mind and body into single force. he tells Chi that one man, the world's most evil man, stops Fu in his pursuit of the betterment of mankind: Dt Petrie. He sends Shang-Chio to slay him, that humanity may prosper. For the first time, Shang-Chi leaves the Honan retreat and goes to Mayfair, in London, to confront Petrie, his father's enemy. He silently enters Petrie's home, via an upper floor window. Inside he finds his target... an old, enfeebled man. He strikes and is halted by Sir Dennis Nayland Smith, who is confined to a wheelchair; but, holds steady aim with a Colt 1911 automatic. Chi calmly and switly aims a kick which knocks aside the weapon, stunning Smith. Smith weeps for his friend as he chastises Chi. Chi asks how he can weep for one so evil and Smith loses his s@#$ and goes off about Fu and the Si-Fan, his evil organization of dacoits, thuggee, hashishin and other nasties.... Smith describes how he, with the help of a man named McKay, discovered a list of Si-Fan lodges and ran them to ground. However, Fu captured them, murdered McKay and had a Sumo, named Tak destroy Smith's legs. Chi, already torn by the idea of killing, despite his honorable father telling him that Petrie was evil, finding only an old man. Smith's revelations and the evidence of his crippled legs convince Chi that his father lied. he goes to confront him. However, he first has a word with mommy.... mom was an American, chosen to breed the perfect son (Um, I'll get to that one, in a minute). So, he goes off to find pop and give him a piece of his mind. So, we are back to the fortress, with Shag-Chi busting heads and kicking booty. Then he runs into Tak and it is time for some payback, for Smith... Chi cheats and pulls Tak's hair to throw him through a door. Bad enough he uses those sissy kicks. He is violating the Code of the Playground (no pulling hair, no sissy kicks, an no luggies after drinking milk). He then runs into a crazed gorilla, one of Fu's experiments. He then comes face to face with pops and gets ready to tiger claw his face. Except Pa talks him to death, with tales of restoring China to its former glory, getting rid of the Communists and bringing the West to its knees, so that China can stand supreme. Shag-Chi says pops is nuts and walks away. Fu says you're on your own buddy, and my men will get you (and your little dog Toto, too). Fue walks out of the fortress, which is actually a warehouse in NYC. Thoughts: So, bang up debut, as we meet Shang-Chi, immediately see that he is a human whoop-ass can opener, and that Fu is nuts, though he his a focused vision of insanity. Nayland Smith and Petrie are tied to the past of the novels and we are given a Cliffs Notes version of their history, with Fu's Elixir Vitae and assassins, monstrous creatures, and Smith and Petrie trying to bring him down. We also meet Shang-Chi's mother, a blond American woman. The Fu of the novels is pretty much as racist as his enemies (and Nayland Smith is pretty racist in the early novels, with the whole series pretty damn insulting to Asians) and the Chinese were just as known for looking upon outsiders as barbarians and gwailo. Since Shang-Chi is a new character, she is, too. The idea is probably cribbed from Kung Fu, as Kwai Chang Caine is the son of a white man and a Chinese woman. Englehart (and Roy, who had a big hand in this) swaps it and gives Shang-Chi a white mother and Chinese madman father. This is about it for Moms Manchu for many years to come. We also see the rather unfortunate continuation of an insulting practice, as Fu and Shang-Chi are depicted with different skin colors than the other characters. Fu is given a pale yellow, much as the Yellow Claw had, in the 50s, and Ming the Merciless had in Flash Gordon, in the earliest days (they abandoned it within a few years of the strip). Chi is given a more orange look, much like Adam Warlock. That will vary a bit, though Marvel will stick with the orange look for several years. The martial arts is hardly Chinese, as most of the moves are basically judo, plus some generic kicks and punches. This also continues the myth that sumo were martial artists. Sumo is not as much a combat art as Western Greco-Roman, freestyle and catch-as-catch-can wrestling. The object in sumo is to push or throw your opponent out of the circle or to the mat, and involves more massive size and brute strength than combat technique. The fact that Shang Chi tooks so long to take out a sumo suggests he isn't all that. Let me put it this way, 2 sumo have fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship: Teila Tuli and Emmanuel Yarborough. Tuli fought in UFC 1, losing to savatte and kickboxing fighter Gerard Gordeau (who he outweighed by a high margin). Gordeau landed a kick to the mouth that sent Tuli's tooth flying under the announce table and then proceeded to pummel Tuli until the ref stopped the fight. Yarborough fought in UFC 3, against Kieth Hackney, a kenpo karate practitioner. Hackney landed a shot to the face that staggered Yarborough, who dropped to his knees and Hackney proceeded to repeatedly punch Yarborough in the side of the head, until he tapped the mat. So, don't use sumo wrestlers for bodyguards! It may look cool with some big guys in diapers standing on either side; but, when they throw down, they tend to go down (Race Banon kicked one's butt, too). Really memorable debut, though we are firmly in the novel world of Rohmer, moved up a few decades. it will be a while before we get to the spy-fi -meets- chop-sockey. Shang-Chi is inspired by Kwai Chang Caine and there is a superficial resemblance to Caine, though his features are fairly generic. The hairstyle is the same and he looks much as Caine did, when he was in his robes, at the end of the pilot film (fighting fight choreographer David Chow). Fu is a mix of the novel illustrations and Christopher Lee, who played Fu in a series of films, in the 60s, beginning with the excellent Face of Fu Manchu and ending with the terrible Castle of Fu Manchu (spoofed on MST3K). Boris Karloff was the other notable cinematic Fu, playing him in The Mask of Fu Manchu, with Myrna Loy as a very sexy Fah lo See (instead of Fah lo Suee). These films will also have a lot of influence on how these stories are done, as they were supposed to be set in the 1920s and earlier, yet looked purely 1960s, when they were shot. They will influence Fu's plots, until moench takes over and mixes in the Bond villain stuff (which drew from Fu, especially Dr No). Next, Fu meets Midnight Sun, his adopted brother! I liked the first issue. It was decent, not great. Thought it started stronger than it finished. After Shang Chi left London, I thought the drama dipped a little for whatever reason. The fighting bits dragged on a little too much for me in the second half when he takes on Tak and then a gorilla. There was a funny moment during the part when Shang Chi was fighting that the panels were decorated with what I guess was supposed to substitute as Chinese characters, but they clearly aren't. I guess it's a cool design element, but I'd rather them leave it out than just make up fake ones. Only way I could see them spinning it, is if it's some part of an ancient mystic language or whatever. However, there aren't any indications of that. Anxious to continue reading the issues though, and your reviews.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 13, 2019 19:48:01 GMT -5
Giant Size Master of Kung Fu #2Wait, if they were both trapped inside that hourglass, how does Shang-Chi have enough room to swing a kick? he'd be banging into the glass of the dude's legs. Best he might do is bruise his shins. Creative Teams: Shang-Chi- Doug Moench-writer, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Jack Abel-inks, Jean Simek-letters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Roy Thomas-edits; Yellow Claw- Al Feldstein-writer, Joe Maneely-artist. Synopsis: Shang-Chi- Chis walking down the street (getting the funniest looks from, everyone he meets.....). Some drunk guy, who looks a bit like Jack Kirby, accosts him and takes a poke at him... Chi sidesteps and the drunk runs into the window of a martial arts dojo and ends up out cold. A hot chick instructor (in a gi top and tights/leotard) surveys the damage, then invites Chi to dinner, then comes back looking like she has an evening job, if you know what I mean. Her name is Sandy and they go to a restaurant, even though Chi was supposed to be meeting someone. they have dinner and go for a walk, in Central Park, where Sandy all but puts her tongue down Chi's throat and discovers that he just likes being with her and talking and has no expectations of anything. Okay, there is monk and there is dead. Someone check Chi's pulse. Meanwhile, the drunk dude reports into Fu Manchu... The girl seems not to be part of Fu's plan. She has her own plans and finally succeeds in waking Chi up. However, like a younger sibling who is spying, the S-Fan turn up to interfere. Sandy jumps to the defense and starts kicking S-Fanny! Chis is stunned, then also puts his foot into some glutei. However, Sandy is a bit rougher than Chi, which makes him uneasy. Sandy says they attack her, they go down with the loss of the family jewels (and other parts). Chi asks ignorant questions and gets a feminist retort and realizes he parroted his father's attitudes and apologizes. Then, Smith and Tarr show up, in a handsome cab. Smith is perturbed and Chi joins him, then Sandy also hitches a ride. Tarr is beside his misogynistic self. Smith wants Chi to go to Peking to protect a scientist, who is about to defect. Fu has showed interest in him. Sandy begs off and Chi agrees and flies off. Inflight, a stewardess tries to garotte him, then he is attacked by others... chi kicks but and heads to the flight deck, takes out the pilots, then finds the real crew bound and gagged. he releases them and they are Smith's men. They brief him and send him on his way, in China. Chi walks through Peking, for the first time. He soon finds himself a target and fights back... Shang HWAAAAA, Kiyai, and HIYAAAAAAs his way through the mob. He moves on to his rendezvous point, thinking of Sandy. he meets his robed contact and follows, getting into a car, to find out it is Sandy. She is one of Smith's agents and he is there to protect her father. Sandy ontroduces Chi to her father, Prof. Chen, who avoids talking in front of the help. the next morning, Sandy and the help leave in a car. He stops later and her unconscious form is removed. Chi watches beetles and a praying mantis, then notices a door ajar. he investigates and finds Prof Chendead and gets bonked. He awakens of Pop's house, where Chi is dumped into the hourglass trap. Fu wants to know the secret that Chen imparted to him. Chi falls through sand, to waiting spikes below; but, catches hold... He escapes the spikes, then ends up in a maze, where he faces skeletons and Si-Fan, and Fu's questioning. Gulacy tries a Sterako effect and fails.... He emerges from the maze, seesa vision of death and strikes it down, leaving Sandy on the floor. he is interrogated by Fu and reveals that Chemn failed in his research to find synthetic nourishment, to feed the world (and let them know it's Christmas time). Fu reveals that Chi killed Sandy and then Tarr and his men show up for the big third act Bond assault... Smith confirms Sandy's death and Chi walks away, wracked with grief. Yellow Claw- YC arranges for the escape of a prisoner, who suits his needs. he contacts him, disguised as an old man and makes him an offer of arranging an escape, in exchange for working for him. The man agrees and YC tells him he has left some smokes with the warden and to smoke the one without a brand name on it. The man does and appears dead to a guard. Voltzman is then sent to retrieve the body. meanwhile, FBI agent Jimmy Woo (relettered here as "SHIELD agent" checks with contacts in Chinatown, hunting for YC. He is directed to a curio shop that recently and suddenly changed hands. YC revives the con and Woo comes into the shop and Suwan is sent to deal with him. They flirt and the girl tells him her grand-uncle recently acquired the shop. Woo leaves and stakes out the place. He sees the con come out and tails him and Voltzmann tails Woo. The con attacks a government curio and steals his documents, then is surprised by Woo, who is surprised by Voltzmann and waks up tied to a chair. Woo tries to tell the con that he is working for an enemy agent. Voltzmann tells him to shut it. Woo keeps talking. Voltzmann pulls a gun and the con attacks, taking a 9mm slug in the gut. He dies, but Woo is rescued. the con goes out like a Murican, dammit! Thoughts: the Shang-Chi story is a great little piece, though the thing is pretty obvious, from the time that Chi meets Sandy. She is given caucasian skin, even though her father is colored pale yellow. She almost seems like a prototype Leiko. The death maze is swiped from Strange Tales #166, where Fury must navigate a maze of corridors in Yellow Claw's lair, filled with traps. Steranko was way more developed, technically, and his effect is better; but, this is innovative. Gulacy is showing great improvement and is really starting to come into his own. Moench makes it all work in the story, though, so far, things are a little too formulaic Marvel. He's playing with the Fu tropes; but, not quite ready for epics, yet. He also doesn't have far to go. Yellow Claw, despite the cliches and racism, is very well done. It is fitting that it failed, due to the insulting nature of things; but, that doesn't mean that Feldstein doesn't produce a superior story and Maneely gives it visual husto. You aren't likely to ever see a Yellow Claw reprint, which makes these Giant Size issue worth seeking out (you can find the Yellow Claw material on the internet, though, if you just want to read it). Again, you can see why Steranko put him in Nick Fury. It was his chance to bring Fu into the Bond age. Now, Moench and Gulacy are playing around with that, with the real Fu.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 13, 2019 19:53:32 GMT -5
ps, That image of Tarr, during the assault, makes me chuckle. Comic artists always seem to show guys like Tarr firing weapons, with ammo belts slung across their torsos, yet never show any crew-served machine guns! Guess he just wants to look cool!.
Gulacy tends to draw his characters with odd stances, when they fire submachine guns. They are almost always in full profile, rarely 3/4 view. Lack of experience, I guess.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 13, 2019 21:12:46 GMT -5
"THE DEVIL-DOCTOR'S TRIUMPH" has long been my single FAVORITE episode of MOKF. Paul Gulacy really came into his own, Jack Abel was my 2ND-favorite inker for him (after Dan Adkins), and I just really, really liked Sandy. So, of course, the ending of the story ALWAYS hurts. (I'm afraid I never liked Lieko as much as her.)
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 14, 2019 12:29:49 GMT -5
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #5I see Shang-Chi is crosstrained in Bullets & Bracelets. Man, bring back Neal Adams! Creative Teams: Shang-Chi- Doug Moench-writer, Kieth Pollard-pencils, Bob McLeod-inks; Manchurian-Mary Skrenes-writer, Paul Gulacy-pencils, Duffy Vohland-inks; Batroc-Stan Lee-Plot & script, Jack Kirby-plot & pencils, Frank Giacoia-inks No Sons of the Tiger; everyone has left the series. Instead, they announce author Jim Dennis will take over writing, with an artist to be named later. Jim Dennis was the creator of Richard Dragon and was a pseudonym for Denny O'Neil and James R Berry (Jim + Dennis= Jim Dennis). I assume O'Neil will be the writer, rather than Berry. We start with an inside cover illio (to be a regular feature) with Frank McLaughlin illustrating various martial arts weapons. He is so-so on the names and uses, best with traditional Japanese weapons, not so good on the Okinawan ones. Figure one has a pair of kama, which McLaughlin just calls sickles. They are; but, the Okinawan name for them was kama, and that is what is used in Okinawan martial arts. Figure 4 shows iron fan vs darts. That is probably more folklore than reality. Such things existed; but, were not used much outside of entertainments. Figure 6 does not have a sai tied to a pole; it's a spear. You can see that tyle of spear in Karate Kid 2, when Chozen threatens Daniel and Miyagi kicks his ass. Synopsis: Shang-Chi- Chi is walking around LA and decides to take in a kung fu flick, at the Orzechowski Theater (cute). Being an honorable man, he slips in the back door, without paying for a ticket! Like father, like son? He watches and is annoyed by the comical manner in which violence is being treated, when he notices the serious nature of the star and recognizes him as Kwai Loo, an old opponent from his younger days... Chi used to beat Kwai Loo, who fought too much with anger and hatred. Chi decides to find him and tracks down the studio. He sneaks in and finds Kwai Loo. KL takes him to his plush dressing room and then relates how he left the service of Fu Manchu. He had been summoned to Fu, after Chi turned on his father. Fu ordered him to kill Chi and Kwai Loo reacted poorly... He made his way to Hong Kong and got into films; then, came to the US. Fu has tried to kill him for defying him; but he survives. They go back to the set and film a fight scene, where one of his opponents has real knives and slashes him. Kwai Loo kills the man, which drives the director insane. Now there will be cops and filming will be delayed. Chi spends the night in KL's dressing room and KL returns from talking to the police. There will be no charges. Chi tries to stop him, as he expects more attacks and Kwai Loo sucker kicks him and goes to shoot his scene. more Si-Fan are there and Chi jumps in to aid him. They defeat them; but, KL is mortally wounded. In anger, Chi destroys the film that was shot and walks off. On the letters page, Don McGregor gets called out for a faulty memory, in his summary of Enter the Dragon. Frank McLaughlin writes & illustrates a piece on kung fu vs karate. His verdict?: This is not the real question. Cop out. Basically, he discusses the underlying philosophy of martial arts and that mastery over another is not the goal. He perpetuates some fallacies, like martial arts traveling from India to China & Japan. That is a theory and certain techniques surely did' but, research generally shows that all areas developed a native fighting system, based on the particulars of their people and environment. Contact with others (friendly and combat) led to cross pollination of ideas and weapons. He also states that the Bodidharma brought zen buddhism to China. Um, no, zen was an offshoot to Mahayana buddhism, which evolved in China and spread to Japan, where it was further refined. Anyway, master Po would be proud. Next, Chris Claremont has a piece about the film Lightning Swords of Death, which is actually the third film in the Lone Wolf & Cub series of adaptations. the original title was Baby Cart to Hades, which was called Shogun Assassin 2: Lightning Swords of Death. Shogun Assassin was a compilation of scenes from mostly the second film (Baby Cart at the River Styx) and about 11 minutes of the first (Sword of vengeance). These films were generally the first introduction of Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's masterpiece, Lone Wolf & Cub, to an American audience. Claremont waxes over the literary nature vs the Shaw Brothers kung fu flicks, but criticizes dialogue (could say the same about some of his comics). He misses the point that any dialogue heard or subtitled is translated, so fault is less with films than translation. Manchurian- Ts-ui Shang sits in his ancestral home, looking at an inheritance, The Casket of Hsien Hang... He is interrupted by a hooded assassin, with a funky firearm. Ts-ui Shang hits him with the casket, killing the man, who turns to bones. the casket has supernatural powers. Spooky! He goes and visits his master, who lives atop a mountain, with a bad access trail. He tells him of his grandfather passing on the legacy to father and now to son, then gets a knife in the back. Ts'ui Shang sees his father's old frenemy, Wu Chow, who poisoned him. Well, kung fu films dictate swearing of vengeance for killing fathers and masters, so it's time to chop and sock! Chow has more hooded goons, with weird guns. Shang takes them down (making them shoot each other) then gets hit from behind with a chair! Gorilla Monsoon asks where the referee was and Bobby Heenan says Chow was just getting a chair for the tired Shang and slipped. Looks like we will get a rematch at Kung Fu Mania 7. Chow opens the casket (never do that; just ask Belloque) and gets attacked by some lizard-looking thing and is killed. Our hero wakes up and collects his casket. David Anthony Kraft looks at the paperback book series K'ing of Kung Fu (Venus Freeway Press), by Marshall Macao (no, that's not a pen name) which features covers from Barry Windsor-Smith. These were Men's Adventure pulps, jumping on the kung fu bandwagon. & books were produced, before it ended. DAK covers 5 of them and says more are to follow, with Dick Giordano covers. There was also a series, from manor Books, called Mace, which was set firmly in the 70s, while K'ing of Kung Fu is set in the 60s. Don't know much about the publisher, other than they also put out the two-volume sci-fi pulp The Savage Report and some cheap "erotic" books. There were a lot of low end book publishers in the 60s and 70s, churning out junk for different markets, from paperback spinners in grocery and drug stores to porno paperbacks for adult bookstores and theaters. Batroc, Tales of Suspense #85- Sharon Carter ws delivered to HYDRA, by Batroc and they must now let him have Captain America, to fight. Cap falls through a trap door and narrowly misses a dropkick by Batroc. They fight, without the master of savate ever displaying a single savate technique. HYDRA just wants to shoot Cap; but, a promise is a promise. Sharon is tied to a chair, as you would expect in these things. Cap uses a bit of judo and some boxing, while Batroc mainly tries different kicks, though he does execute a pretty good leg sweep... KIRBY!!!!! HYDRA can't wait any long and starts taking potshots at Cap. This angers Batroc and he turns babyface, joining with Cap to fight the HYDRA goons. Kind of like Bill Dundee joining Jerry Lawler, after the Moondogs interfere, for any Memphis wrestling fans out there. After they kick butt, Batroc says au revoir and goes to find some place that serves snails. Thoughts: Shang-Chi ends up in a kung fu film, Manchurian kind of underwhelms, and Batroc is thrown in to fill out the issue. The Chi story is fine, though Chi sneaking into a theater, without payig, is hardly the stuff of heroes. Then again, he stows away on aircraft. I'm starting to think he has a sliding scale of honor. The story is mostly a jab at Hollywood and directors who are bullies. The idea that Kwai Loo is in "big budget" Hollywood martial arts films is a bit of a laugh. Apart from Enter the Dragon, most Hollywood martial arts films were about as low budget as their Hong Kong and Taiwanese brethren, and less imagination. There are a few exceptions; but, even Chuck norris' films had miniscule budgets, even after he was a known commodity. For Hollywood, it was mostly the domain of Robert Clouse. Manchurian has Gulacy; but, is looks rather amateurish, especially with Vohland's inks. It looks like fanzine material, really. Duffy Vohland was part of the CPL Gang and Gulacy contributed to their fanzine. They were out of Indiana, michigan and Ohio, as was Adkins and Gulacy. Mary Skrenes came into comics via a connection with Alan Weiss, at the univ. of Nevada. This was actually her first solo byline, as a writer, under her own name. She had uncredited scripts for DC's romance line and a horror story under the name Virgil North. Manchurian looks like an interesting idea; but, the hero is taken out quickly and a monster ends the thing. Not exactly how you want to sell a possible recurring character. It's also pretty thinly sketched, as far as the character. It needs work, if it is to continue. The Batroc reprint is thrown in because he is supposed to be a master of savate; but, no one at Marvel knew what savate was, from Kirby on up. It if a form of kick boxing , derived from a street fighting style of sailors, particularly in the port city of Marseilles. its origins are debated, but the likely source of some techniques is Southeast Asia, while Persian wrestling was also a component, before it became a sport. Savate uses punch and kick combinations, with whiplike kicks, blocking techniques, and kick combinations that strike several spots, usually landing a more solid final shot to a vulnerable area. Here's a sample... The French have several martial arts styles, including savate. Related to it are canne de combat and baton francese. Canne de combat was another streetfighting style, using walking sticks. Basically, it is an adaptation of fencing techniques, using the stick like a foil. They are often used in pairs. Baton francese is a quarterstaff discipline, derived from medieval times. Then, there is parkour. Parkour is a martial arts discipline, in the sense that it was a training technique for military obstacle courses. Soldiers were taught the most efficient means for overcoming different obstacles. In recent years, it has evolved into a kind of ballet, with flips and flourishes designed for effect, rather than efficiency, which has led to all kinds of Youtube videos of idiots falling on their asses and nearly breaking their necks. It was made famous globally in Casino Royale, though it had been used in French films; most prominently, District 13 (Banlieue 13, in France), with David belle and Cyril Raffaelli. Belle is credited as one of the modern revivalists of parkour and does some amazing stuff in the film, which was written and produced by Luc Besson. the film features a future extension of the French housing ghettos (banlieues), with walled in settlements and police checkpoints. rival gangs fight for supremacy. An undercover cop has to find a stolen nuclear device, which one of the gangs possesses. It's a very entertaining film, with a lot of wild and innovative action and a pretty good story. It has been likened to the Thai film Ong-Bak. Marvel has never really developed Batroc well and utilized his backstory. He is supposed to be an ex-Legionnaire, master of savate. A recent era Bucky Cap story utilized parkour, but, savate has not been shown. Instead, Batroc usually just jumps around and throws wrestling dropkicks or similar comic book moves. Legionnaires are tough guys, with rigorous training and lots of combat experience. The Legion paras are the elite of the French military and their go-to for special operations. That is a great recipe for a deadly fighter; but, he has been treated more as a comical figure, at worst, or a skilled fighter who switches sides, often, at best. In Winter Soldier, he was portrayed by French Canadian MMA fighter Georges St-Pierre. The film uses wire-fu stuff, with a mixture of styles and acrobatics; but, no real savate. There are blocks and kicks; but, more of a generic nature than savate. You can see savate techniques in Lethal Weapon 2, during the climactic fight between mel and the South African killer, plus, in the 2004 French film Arsene Lupin, based on the literary gentleman thief. Deadly Hands continues to be a so-so magazine, with average stories and fanzine-level articles. It has suffered from the revolving nature of the magazine line and the editors. Isabella is trying but is already appealing to fans to give him ideas. Art has been the only real saving grace.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 15, 2019 12:35:17 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.
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Post by profh0011 on Jul 15, 2019 15:09:23 GMT -5
Marvel doing their usual "flooding the market" thing was really working to undercut the quality of this series. Paul Gulacy could well have handled the monthly schedule, but adding the GIANT-SIZE issues in made this impossible. On this particular sort-of 3-parter (well, 3 episodes in a row all take place on the Amazon), it starts out with Al Milgrom-- the last remaining member of the original creative team-- and then on part 2 they have one of these patented "deadline doom" tag-team affairs with FOUR different pencillers joining in, all inked horribly by Sal Trapani. (There was a HUMAN TORCH issue around 1941 or so done like this, an entire team of artists crammed into a hotel room who managed to knock out a 64-page comic in 2 days flat.) And then part 3 is by Paul Gulacy, with the worst inks he got up to this point, again, from Sal Trapani. It's frustrating, because under those horrible finishes, you can just barely make out that Gulacy was getting better with each episode he did. And then Gulacy's next story was inked by VINCE COLLETTA !!!
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 17, 2019 22:09:55 GMT -5
Deadly hands of Kung Fu #6
Not one of Earl Norem's best covers. Creative Teams: Sons of the Tiger- Jim Dennis (Denny O'Neil)-writer, George Perez-pencils, Frank Springer-inks; Shang-Ch- Doug Moench-writer, Mike Vosburg-pencils, Bob Mcleod-inks, Tony Isabella-edits Frank McLoughlin writes and illustrates more martial arts techniques. Synopsis: The inside cover has a piece on aikido, by Frank McLaughlin. Aikido os a "soft" style martial art, from Japan, created by Morihei Ueshiba, in the late 1920s. it was derived from Daito-ryu jujutsu, adding Ueshiba's personal philosophy of peace to the techniques. it is defensive in nature and uses the opponents own weight and momentum against them, and places great emphasis on ki (or qi or ch'i, in Chinese), which is spiritual energy. This has led to a lot of bullshido in the martial arts world of "masters" who claim to have such powerful qi that opponents are knocked aside, when they attack. They demonstrate this with their own students, yet can never successful demonstrate it when attacked by someone who isn't in on it. Among the more notable aikido practitioners is Steven Seagal, who talks more bollox than any politician, claiming everything from working for the CIA to running the first Western dojo, in Japan (he helped manage his father-in-laws Japanese dojo, before hitting Hollywood). Despite the philosophy of peace that is central to aikido, Seagal was notorious for not protecting stuntmen on the sets of his films. He got a bit of payback on the set of Out for Justice. The story goes that he was crowing about how none of the stuntmen could put him down and one of them, a middle aged fireplug of a guy, said he could and proceeded to choke out Seagal. There are a couple of variations of what occured after. One is that he was woken up, said it couldn't be done again, when he was ready and was proven wrong; the other says he was awakened and stormed off the set. Som accounts also claim that Seagal had lost control of his bowels, when he was put down. The man who took down Seagal? "Judo" Gene Lebell, 1954 and '55 AAU Judo champion, in the heavyweight and open classes. Winner of what is considered the first modern MMA fight, against boxer Milo Savage, in 1963. Professional wrestler, whose family promoted Los Angeles and who had trained in submission wrestling, with Strangler Lewis. LeBell acted as the family enforcer, to keep the boys in line. If someone started causing problems for the promotion, they found themselves booked to wrestle Gene, who would stretch them (if they didn't take off).LeBell taught grappling techniques to bruce Lee and conducted seminars for law enforcement personnel, as well as trained students in judo and grappling, including such noted martial artists and fighters: benny "The Jet" Urquidez, Chuck Norris, Bob Wall, Ed Parker, Roddy Piper, and was a trainer and family friend of Rhonda Rousey, the former women's UFC champion. LeBell was also a noted stuntman, who worked with bruce Lee, on the Green Hornet tv series, did tons of movies and tv (including episodes of Kung Fu) and was the wrestling coordinator for the movie The One and Only, with Henry Winkler (and plays the champion, who Winkler's The Lover, defeats in the climax) Oh, LeBell was 61 when he taught Seagal that lesson. Anyway..... Sons of the Tiger- We open with Bob Diamond being caught in a net and getting the s@#$ beat out of him by a bunch of ninjas. We flash back to Li-Sun convincing the others to enter a martial arts tournament to make themselves visible to the Silent Ones. The others think he's nuts but go along. The tournament is supposed to demonstrate form and only be soft contact; but, Li-Sun's opponents is laying his shots in.... Li-Sun fights defensively and blocks the attacks and learns that the ref is the teacher of his opponent. Fix! Li-Sun appeals to a judge an gets an okay for full contact and KIYAAHs him to the ground. Later, Paan, the ref, is berating his students and uses a female, Emmy Jo, to lure Bob Diamond into a trap, which takes us back to the start. He gets dragged off to a circus ring (the Circus was seen on posters, in the background, when Bob gets his diamond split). Abe and Li-Sun are lured to the circus and forced to fight Paan's students, with a handicap. Bob and Abe are forced to climb to the high wire, which will be set aflame, if they interfere. The girl's throat will be cut if Li-Sun doesn't fight 4 armed men. Who's booking this, Vince McMahon? Li-Sun fights, and Abe and Bob get to a nearby catwalk and sneak down, catching the thugs unaware and they join amulets and start kicking ass. Pan ends up sniveling on the floor. On the letters page, Tom Harrison, of Archibald, PA corrects the team about the Angela Mao peace ad hapkido, mentioning it is Korean, not Chinese. A Ms Chris Marx suggests checking out Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy's Destroyer series of men's adventure pulps, with its martial art sinanju, from which all others sprang, according to Chiung, the master who teaches remo Williams. It is actually a pretty darn good series of pulp novels and the basis for the film, with Fred Ward (and Joel Grey, in yellow face). There is an ad for the Iron Fist magazine, which will not be published. This is followed by a piece about a triple feature on the drive-in movie circuit: Chinese Connection, Fists of Fury and Enter the Dragon, all with bruce Lee. Frank McLaughlin has a karate piece, about foot attacks (kicks). That's all well and good; but, we seem to have a lot of Japanese karate in this Chinese kung fu magazine. Jim Dennis promotes his own Richard Dragon novel, which would be turned into a comic, at a rival company: Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter. Jim Dennis is Denny O'Neil and Jim Barry, as we all know by now and O'Neil was the comic book writer; so, I assume this is all him. Nice to promote your own non-Marvel book at Marvel. Dragon first appeared in a novel (supposed to be a series; but, only one ever appeared), before the comic book series, at DC. O'Neil mentions messing around with Japanese martial arts. Be nice if someone on this book knew something about kung fu. So far, Gulacy has been about it. Shang-Chi- Chis is still in LA an he stops at Bennie's Jetburgers for some food (I assume this is more a play on the song then Benny Urquidez, the karate champion and world champion kickboxer). He asks for vegetables and is offered fries, then jokingly says it will be interesting to see which vegetable these "fries" originated from. It's called a potato, a tuber that is native to the American continents and was brought to Europe from there. So there, mister smarty pants. Of course, it is also a starch and if you want complex carbohydrates, a burger joint, in the mid-70s, isn't going to offer much. Try a grocery store, dude. Some bikers are making fun of him, until one of their old ladies decides that Chi is cute. She goes over to flirt, her old man follows and yanks her out of Chi's booth and it is Kwai Chang Caine time... 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. Thoughts: Pretty bad issue. The Sons of the Tiger story has no logic to it whatsoever and Perez's art is pretty bad. In his defense, this is one of his first jobs, after working as an assistant for Rich Buckler. Still, woof! You have to really squint to see any sign of the future superstar. O'Neil's story is just bad and way below his standards. Someone fire that Jim Dennis guys and get Sergius O'Shaugnessy to take over. The Shang-Chi piece is also pretty cliched and Vosburg's art is more accomplished than Perez'; but, it's no great shakes, either. Continuity Associates haven't been near this magazine for a couple of issues and it shows. Marv Wolfman always said the magazine line had no support and no one wanted to work there and it sure looks like it by this issue. I assume Moench isn't wasting time on continuity with the regular series, by choice, which is understandable. However, he isn't exactly trying to make it mirror the types of things he is doing there. The articles continue to be filler and not particularly great filler, either, apart from McLaughlin's technique material. He's the only guy on this book with a clue about the martial arts, yet he isn't handling the stories. Something backward, here.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Jul 18, 2019 14:36:54 GMT -5
Not one of Earl Norem's best covers. It's by Bob Larkin. Not one of his best, either.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 18, 2019 20:59:07 GMT -5
Not one of Earl Norem's best covers. It's by Bob Larkin. Not one of his best, either. Going by the issues credits, which stated Norem, though GCD notes the error. It took Marvel until issue #9 to note the mistake. 6 was Tony Isabella's last issue as (brief) editor; so, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some charlie-foxtrot behind the scenes. That would seem to be par for the course for the magazine line.
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