shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 12, 2015 13:25:19 GMT -5
Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #3  "Fires of Rebirth" writer: Doug Moench pencils: Paul Gulacy inks: Vince Colletta letters: Tom Orzechowski colors: Bill Mantlo editor: Len Wein grade: B- It's funny to consider that, while Moench's earliest Shang-Chi scripts are still seeing publication in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, with Shang-Chi still slowly walking back to New York from the Florida Everglades, Moench's newest scripts, also seeing publication, have him jetting off to England at the same time. Just goes to show how quickly Moench's Shang-Chi story is evolving. And yet this is still a pretty crude story, designed primarily to erase Shang-Chi's defining sin: the murder of Dr. Petrie. Now, years before anyone dared to try the same stunt with Jean Grey, it turns out that the man Shang-Chi killed was simply a clone, and Petrie is now back, alive, well, and surprisingly not traumatized after months of captivity, experiments, and torture. It's a pretty silly stunt, and it takes away the source of the little personality Shang-Chi has at this point. Though he holds on to the guilt at the end, still sorry that he intended to kill Petrie, the memory will now be a weaker, less defining one, and where does that leave Shang-Chi other than opposed to his father? From a writing standpoint, Moench still hasn't quite hit his stride. The beginning narration falls back into that awkward philosophical wordplay Moench employs from time to time which seldom manages to come off as anything other than forced, and the final confrontation between Shang-Chi and Fu Manchu is so markedly different from the face to face they shared in MoKF #24 (just two months back). There, Shang-Chi seemed to have moved past his anger towards his father and almost felt a begrudging sympathy for him while rescuing him from imminent death. Here, he's brimming to the fill with rage. Both are reasonable ways to depict their reunion, but they don't seem congruous with one another. I'm still waiting to understand Shang-Chi and his relationship to his father, and I'm still not getting a clear sense of either. The one shining positive in this issue, though, is Gulacy's art, which really evolves throughout this issue, even with Colletta inking (and possibly erasing). Not only is he the first artist to really nail Shang-Chi's face in all its depth and humanity:  but those amazing marriages between Moench's words (and possibly breakdowns) and Gulacy's art grow more frequent and evocative than ever. I'm a particular fan of this one, in which both motion and intensity are brilliantly conveyed while only the smallest of movements occur:  Important Details: - Return of Dr. Petrie; revealed Shang-Chi killed a clone created by Fu Manchu to test his loyalty - Murder charges against Shang-Chi for Petrie's death are dropped - 1st appearance of Clive Reston Minor Details: - lots of little logic gaps, the most annoying of which was how Fu Manchu can personally create a car designed to trap Shang-Chi and not consider that Shang-Chi has the strength to punch through the roof. plot synopsis in one sentence: Fu Manchu is employing the help of an East Indian assassin cult to ransack Oriental artifact exhibits across England and the United States, presumably in search of something, Shang-Chi, Clive Reston, Sir Nayland Smith, and Blackjack Tarr team up to figure out what they're after and to pursue the possibility that Dr. Petrie might not be dead after all; after many drawn out fights, they end up uncovering a hidden base beneath Buckingham Palace where Fu Manchu has been keeping Dr. Petrie alive and explains both that he's looking for his remaining supply of Elixer of life and that Shang-Chi killed a clone instead of the real Dr. Petrie, and, as Fu Manchu flees, Smith realizes he is in possession of the elixir, and Shang-Chi persuades him to destroy it instead of using it on himself. This issue is more about the intro of Clive Reston. The supporting cast is a major, major, focus of the book and in many ways Moench makes them co-stars. That may prove true in hindsight, but little is done to develop Reston here beyond showing his impulsivity and a tension between him and Nayland Smith over differing methods. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 13, 2015 6:02:54 GMT -5
Forgot to note that, as Gulacy's visual depictions of Shang-Chi become more and more lifelike, I find his repeatedly being colored yellow more and more off-putting. I have never understood that stereotype. I've known a lot of Asian folk over the years, and none of them has ever had a yellow hue to their skin.
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Post by paulie on Feb 13, 2015 10:28:26 GMT -5
Forgot to note that, as Gulacy's visual depictions of Shang-Chi become more and more lifelike, I find his repeatedly being colored yellow more and more off-putting. I have never understood that stereotype. I've known a lot of Asian folk over the years, and none of them has ever had a yellow hue to their skin. There is quite a lot of banter about the skin coloring in the letter column. I hope that you are reading them. Marvel was trying to get the coloring correct but couldn't. I do seem to recall that one issue they finally got the tan color down pat and then the next issue, through some egregious printing error, Shang was a garish yellow again. Pioneers get all the arrows I guess because Shang and Leiko are still light years ahead of what was going on with Chop-Chop over at DC. That poor guy had buck teeth and a top knot until Mike Grell did the Blackhawk series in Action Comics Weekly. (Chaykin wiped it out first but Chop-Chop was barely seen in the Prestige Format mini in 1988).) Even during Evanier and Spiegel's terrific run on Blackhawk in 83-84 Chop-Chop was depicted in the worst way.  |
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Post by Cei-U! on Feb 13, 2015 12:34:00 GMT -5
Sorry, paulie, but that's incorrect. Chop-Chop lost the buck teeth, pot belly and queue when the series made the jump from Quality to DC in '58 and stopped speaking in pidgin about the time George Kashdan took over as editor. As for Evanier and Spiegle, they did anything BUT "depict him in the worst way": they addressed the racism question directly, gave the character some much-needed dignity, and ultimately put him in a standard Blackhawk uniform, a move even his teammates admitted was long overdue.
Cei-U!
I summon the straightened record!
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Post by paulie on Feb 13, 2015 14:12:27 GMT -5
Sorry, paulie, but that's incorrect. Chop-Chop lost the buck teeth, pot belly and queue when the series made the jump from Quality to DC in '58 and stopped speaking in pidgin about the time George Kashdan took over as editor. As for Evanier and Spiegle, they did anything BUT "depict him in the worst way": they addressed the racism question directly, gave the character some much-needed dignity, and ultimately put him in a standard Blackhawk uniform, a move even his teammates admitted was long overdue. Cei-U! I summon the straightened record! You are absolutely correct. The pajamas cloud my memory. To me, the pajamas are depicting him in the worst way. I will clairfy and say that I love the Evanier-Spiegle Blackhawk as much as anything put out in the 80s and I hope no one is dissuaded from reading that series because Chop-Chop is illustrated the way he is on the cover of #252. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 15, 2015 9:26:25 GMT -5
Paul Gulacy inked by Vince Colletta? I fully expected that to be a disaster. Gulacy needs an inker who favors clean black lines to scritchy scratchy little dashes. But you know what? I was pleasantly surprised! Colletta still might not be comparable to Adkins when it comes to inking Gulacy but he did a honorable job with this book!
Altogether, the Giant-size Master of Kung Fu was a pretty good series. The concept of these bigger (and more expensive) comics might have been to milk more money from the fans' pockets, but in many cases they were definitely worth it!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2015 4:20:58 GMT -5
Master of Kung Fu #24 At this point, Al Milgrom was supposed to be the new artist on the regular series, and the letter column says as much, but the fact that the penciling chores for this issue were passed around to no less than four artists suggests that something went awry. Of course, Gulacy just proved he's the perfect partner to Moench in GS #2, so it only makes sense to bring him in as a permanent replacement next issue. It's interesting, by the way, that Starlin was one of the pencilers who assisted on this issue, as Shang-Chi began with Starlin and Englehart. Clearly, this is not the kind of book Starlin was looking to do at this point in his career, though. Playing catch up on this thread now that I have picked up reading the main series and Giant-Sized again. Not sure if anyone mentioned it, but I think Weiss, Starlin, and Milgrom were still sharing an apartment in NYC at this point since it was all they could afford, so if one met deadline issues it is not a surprise that the roomies would chip in and do the issue together. They have moved out by this point though, but they all remained pretty close during their time at Marvel together, so it's not a surprise those 3 appear en masse in an issue. Not sure how Uncle Walt fit into it all though at the time, but it's after Manhunter ended so he could have just been looking to pick up work form a Marvel editor who said hey we've got this rush job can you help a brother out with a few pages.... -M |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2015 4:41:46 GMT -5
I seem to have caught up and passed Shax in my MoKF reading. I won't spoil anything, and I know Shax has been trying to piece together a framework of an ongoing narrative of Shang Chi between MoKF, the GS issues and Deadly Hands, but I am not convinced there is one until the new direction hits a few issues later when Moench and Gulacy settle in as the regular team and consciously move the book into a new direction. Before that it just feels kind of like a casebook, or series of short stories/novels, where each story stands on its own and loosely connects to the others but are not really parts of a whole. The plots seem pretty formulaic as well with option a) Fu Manchu has a new plot that Shang gets recruited to stop or b)Fu Manchu sends Si Fan assassins to kill/test Shang and it leads to a confrontation, wash, rinse, repeat, then shake it up a little with Fu Manchu's daughter mixed in but essentially keep the formula. You could shuffle these up in any order and it wouldn't change how they read. They were meant to stand alone and independent of the other titles featuring Shang Chi I think. Marvel was putting out a ton of Shang Chi stories to feed the kung fu craze, and Moench was writing the bulk of them with a rotating crew of artists (Gulacy on GS and the occasional MoKF issue when his schedule allowed, everyone and his brother on the monthly MoKF as needed to avoid the DDD, and I don't even know the Deadly Hands stuff as I don't have many of the issues). Their goal was to feed the beast it seems, not necessarily to tell a single Shang Chi narrative, until things settled down. The GS issues ended, Gulacy came on board, and a new direction was conceived and executed for the main title allowing for a more coherent and flowing narrative. Before that, it seems quantity of stories was more important than quality, and it's to Moench's credit that so many of them were as good as they wee considering the production line circumstances of their creation it seems.
-M
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 26, 2015 18:37:38 GMT -5
I seem to have caught up and passed Shax in my MoKF reading. I won't spoil anything, and I know Shax has been trying to piece together a framework of an ongoing narrative of Shang Chi between MoKF, the GS issues and Deadly Hands, but I am not convinced there is one until the new direction hits a few issues later when Moench and Gulacy settle in as the regular team and consciously move the book into a new direction. Before that it just feels kind of like a casebook, or series of short stories/novels, where each story stands on its own and loosely connects to the others but are not really parts of a whole. The plots seem pretty formulaic as well with option a) Fu Manchu has a new plot that Shang gets recruited to stop or b)Fu Manchu sends Si Fan assassins to kill/test Shang and it leads to a confrontation, wash, rinse, repeat, then shake it up a little with Fu Manchu's daughter mixed in but essentially keep the formula. You could shuffle these up in any order and it wouldn't change how they read. They were meant to stand alone and independent of the other titles featuring Shang Chi I think. Marvel was putting out a ton of Shang Chi stories to feed the kung fu craze, and Moench was writing the bulk of them with a rotating crew of artists (Gulacy on GS and the occasional MoKF issue when his schedule allowed, everyone and his brother on the monthly MoKF as needed to avoid the DDD, and I don't even know the Deadly Hands stuff as I don't have many of the issues). Their goal was to feed the beast it seems, not necessarily to tell a single Shang Chi narrative, until things settled down. The GS issues ended, Gulacy came on board, and a new direction was conceived and executed for the main title allowing for a more coherent and flowing narrative. Before that, it seems quantity of stories was more important than quality, and it's to Moench's credit that so many of them were as good as they wee considering the production line circumstances of their creation it seems. -M I still hold to my theory that the Deadly Hands stories were all written over the course of one or two weeks prior to Moench taking over the color Master of Kung Fu title. It fits both because the Deadly Hands stories have less of a grasp on Shang-Chi and the genre and because Shang-Chi is still walking back from Florida in those stories whereas hes already back in New York when Moench's Master of Kung Fu run begins. We also know that, when Moench first started at Marvel, he took on as many b/w magazine stories as he could to cover bills and expenses and wrote them in crazy late night marathon sessions over a very short period of time. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2015 23:13:52 GMT -5
But the regular title and Giant Size don't flow together at all really, and GS issues come out between parts of stories in the regular book, unlike say Avengers where Englehart was weaving one epic story that moved from regular issues to GS issues and back all as part of one continuous narrative. If you were only reading the regular monthly MoKF, missing the GS stories wouldn't hinder your story in any way, whereas with Avengers, you would be missing a chapter of the overall storyline if you missed the GS issue.
-M
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Feb 27, 2015 5:53:07 GMT -5
But the regular title and Giant Size don't flow together at all really, and GS issues come out between parts of stories in the regular book, unlike say Avengers where Englehart was weaving one epic story that moved from regular issues to GS issues and back all as part of one continuous narrative. If you were only reading the regular monthly MoKF, missing the GS stories wouldn't hinder your story in any way, whereas with Avengers, you would be missing a chapter of the overall storyline if you missed the GS issue. -M I don't pretend to have an explanation for how the GS issues fit in with the regular ones. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 27, 2015 6:56:12 GMT -5
I thought the GS books fit in quite well in the pre-Carlton Velcro era of the book... (the return of Petrie in a Goant-Size book is even a prerequisite read if one doesn't want to be puzzled by the sudden appearance of the good doctor, alive, in the regular book!)
By the way, I've just read what Marvel had planned for Shang-Chi during its current reality-shaking event. Oh, ye gods, is it possible to more completely miss the point about this character???
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Post by berkley on Feb 27, 2015 9:49:23 GMT -5
I thought the GS books fit in quite well in the pre-Carlton Velcro era of the book... (the return of Petrie in a Goant-Size book is even a prerequisite read if one doesn't want to be puzzled by the sudden appearance of the good doctor, alive, in the regular book!) By the way, I've just read what Marvel had planned for Shang-Chi during its current reality-shaking event. Oh, ye gods, is it possible to more completely miss the point about this character??? Is that the thing where he's supposed to be a washed up drunk or something like that? Yeah, makes no sense whatsoever, but when has that ever stopped them. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 27, 2015 10:17:24 GMT -5
That's the Marvel way these days though, they create a character first, then super-impose that character on an existing property to see if it sticks... they're the ultimate in abandoning continuity and history for story, sadly.
Incidently, do you mean Petrie, as in Dr. Petrie... the narrator of the novels? That's neat, I didn't realize he made it over to the comics. Is Smith there as well?
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 27, 2015 13:39:08 GMT -5
That's the Marvel way these days though, they create a character first, then super-impose that character on an existing property to see if it sticks... they're the ultimate in abandoning continuity and history for story, sadly. Incidently, do you mean Petrie, as in Dr. Petrie... the narrator of the novels? That's neat, I didn't realize he made it over to the comics. Is Smith there as well? Yes, it's the same Petrie; and his wife Karamaneh (renamed Karamenah, for some reason) also shows up even though they're not together anymore. Smith is there too (acting as a mentor to Shang Chi) and his secretary Miss Greville is, I assume, a relative of Shan Greville who narrated The Daughter of Fu Manchu.It's a wild, wild wold Newton out there. |
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