A few years ago, I looked at something different for the
blog: a magazine. It wasn’t any ordinary magazine, though. The Deadly Hands of
Kung Fu was a black-and-white comic magazine that Marvel published for 33
issues. The Kung Fu craze was at full force in the 70’s, so Marvel not only
created characters like Shang-Chi and Iron Fist, they also had this magazine. The
magazine contained reprints of comics, “how-to” articles, and reviews on stuff.
After I looked at the one from a few years ago, I thought I'd watch out for these.
Today’s issue is #15 and it’s the magazine’s annual. It was released during the Summer of 1974. We
actually get three regular-paged reprints in here this time. An artist named
Nick Cardy handled the pretty cool cover of Shang-Chi and Iron Fist kicking
butt. If only they had actually teamed up in the magazine. "Midnight Brings Dark Death” was first printed
in Special Marvel Edition #16."Heart of the Dragon" first came out in Marvel Premiere #16. Finally, "Retreat" originally came out in
Master of Kung Fu #19.
Enter the Letters
Here’s the letter section. Some readers state their opinion on how
the magazine is going. One of the letters even tears into Archie Goodwin (the
editor) on how the last few issues have been. I gotta say that they are
interesting.
Ancient Oriental Weaponry
We get one page talking about different weapons. It’s
nothing too special since it’s really brief. The drawn pic of someone who looks like Bruce
Lee and others brandishing weapons looks cool, though.
Shang-Chi in “Midnight Brings Dark Death!”
Story: Steve Englehart
Art: Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom
Shang-Chi’s just
hanging out in Central Park when he’s accosted by thugs. After he takes care of
them easily, he then sees someone familiar: Midnight, his only friend. We find
out that Shang-Chi and M’Nai (Midnight) grew up together and was taught by the
notorious Fu Manchu, Shang’s father. Since Shang-Chi has turned against his
father, Fu Manchu has sent Midnight to kill him. They spend the rest of the
issue in a fight. Their fight moves from one part of town to a construction
site. Shang-Chi can’t bring himself to kill his former friend, but Midnight
doesn’t have that problem. Fortunately, Midnight kills himself in trying to
kill Shang-Chi. The story ends with Shang-Chi getting his butt out of there.
Looks like dude took stuff from the Shadow, Black Panther, and Zorro. Coycat!
This was a fine story. There’s not too much to it
since most of it is full of fighting. We learn a little bit about Shang-Chi’s
backstory with his father. We also had a villain with an interesting backstory
to him. When Fu Manchu found M’Nai, he basically had him in a black mask since
his face was apparently scarred or something. His current look also hearkened
to other heroes like Black Panther, Zorro, and the Shadow. The artwork was
pretty solid with Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom doing some good action.
Overall, it’s an okay one.
“Catching a Killer Red-Handed!"
Movie Review by John David Warner
This was pretty much a too-detailed review of 5 Fingers of
Death, a movie I’ve never heard of till now. It was actually one of the first
kung fu movies released over here in the U.S. during the 70’s. Warner gives the
movie a nice but fair review. He thought it was alright. I’ll probably think
the same whenever I see it. I will say that he spoils it bit, though. I ran
into this last time as well.
Iron Fist in “Heart of The Dragon!”
Writer: Len Wein
Art: Larry Hama and Dick Giordano
Daniel Rand, aka the Iron Fist, is walking through New York
in search of Harold Meachum, the man who killed his parents. Unfortunately, someone put a bounty on his head, so thugs attack him. He also gets
attacked by a villain named Scythe. During the fights, we pretty much find out
how Danny became the Iron Fist. He gets trained by Yu-Ti and the Thunderer at K’un
Lun. Even though he achieved great things at the hidden city, he still thirsted
for revenge, so he left. In the present day, Iron Fist interrogates Scythe and
finds out that Meachum hand put the bounty on him. The story ends with Danny leaving
Scythe and going to confront Meachum.
Drunk Vagrant: Saaay, Jjjimmm. That's a baaaaaaadddd outfit (burp)!
This was a little average but not bad. This was a part of
Iron Fist’s first appearances, so that’s why his origin takes up most of the
page count. Danny’s origin in becoming Iron Fist was actually pretty
entertaining and better than the present story of him fighting thugs. The
artwork was pretty cool. The action scenes were nice but Danny’s and Scythe’s
fight looked off. It may have been the fact that some of the art didn’t look
too good in black-and white. Overall, this was nice.
What Makes the Martial Arts Work?
Here, we got a group of tutorials from Frank McLaughlin, a
martial arts instructor. He basically goes over what makes karate work. A lot
of images are shown on how to do certain moves. It looks interesting, at least.
If I was some dude who didn’t have the money to go to some classes, these might
work. I don’t know.
Lee’s Life
This is a review on The Legend of Bruce Lee, a book written
by Alex Ben Block. It’s pretty much a biography on Bruce Lee’s life. Block even
looked into the circumstances surrounding Lee’s death. The reviewer, Wan Chang
O’Shaugnessy, gives it a fair but nice review.
Shang-Chi in “Retreat!”
Story: Steve Englehart
Art: Paul Gulacy and Al Milgrom
The final story starts off with Shang-Chi running into
Man-Thing in the Everglades. Before this, he was on the run from two assassins
sent by his father, the evil Fu Manchu. Man-Thing almost kills Shang Chi, but a
stranger by the name of Lu Sun saves him. Those three travel together and
Shang-Chi tells Lu Sun about his life. After a weird moment involving Fu Manchu
escaping federal agents (that’s just weird to say), the assassins catch up to
Shang-Chi and his acquaintances. Shang-Chi puts up a fight but falls into
quicksand. They try to fight Man-Thing but they die since Man-Thing’s touch
will kill you. After the fight, Shang-Chi tends to Lu Sun’s wounds and heads
out.
Uh... what's going on?
This story was on the same level as the other Shang-Chi
story. The story’s average but not bad. It’s a bit of a team-up since Man-Thing
shows up for a bit. I guess that’s cool since “Whosoever knows fear burns at
the Man-Thing’s touch” sounds funny. Shang-Chi even gets a little philosophical
with the David Carradine look-alike, Lu Sun. The artwork is nice for the most
part. I’ll say that I liked Starlin’s stuff a little better, though. In the end, this last story does its job.
…………………………………………………
In the end, this was a fine annual issue. We got three
regular sized stories as well as some fine articles. I’d say to check this out
on Marvel Unlimited since it looks like all of the issues are there, but I can’t.
This one issue isn’t on there. In fact, none of Shang-Chi’s regular series,
Master of Kung Fu, is on there. I know MU doesn’t have everything, but that
seems weird to me. Does anyone know why? Anyway, that’s all I got for now. Next
time, I’ll be looking at something more current and a little weird. Until then,
Peace, God Bless, and don’t touch the Man-Thing. That is one burn you don’t
want!
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