Master Of Kung Fu - Weapon Of The Soul!

The fact is that Marvel probably did not need to license Fu Manchu, but I'm glad they did. Like Conan and Kull, the literary context of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu allowed the creators to make a somewhat isolated "microverse" for Shang-Chi's many adventures. He was part of the greater Marvel Universe, but also apart from it. Fu Manchu wasn't likely to pop up in the Avengers or the Fantastic Four. When they did bring the worlds together it was something of a special event, such as the giant-size Spidey issue which is contained in this handsome Epic collection - Master of Kung Fu - Weapon of the Soul. 

Joe Maneely

The main reason Marvel didn't really require the Devil Doctor himself is that they had a fantastic substitute in Yellow Claw, a Marvel villain from the old Atlas days. In four splendid issues from the late 50's Yellow Claw proves quite the formidable menace, defeated in his schemes only by his treacherous niece Suwan and the stalwart FBI man Jimmy Woo. For a closer look at this classic "Yellow Peril" villain check out this historical Dojo link. 

Jack Kirby

Also in the Marvel Universe there was Iron Man's implacable foe the Mandarin. Mandarin with is ten rings of power was a heavy weight bad guy, able to strike out from the protection of the Chinese mainland which at that time was well and truly run by Communists without a hint of the modern Chinese state's efforts to blend some capitalism into their economic brew. 

Jim Steranko

Yellow Claw had been revived in the pages of Strange Tales in a multi-part attack on NYC, which was forestalled by Nick Fury and the Agents of SHIELD with a little help from Captain America. These issues are perhaps the strongest Jim Steranko available to the comic book reader. Weirdly it turns out that the Yellow Claw and his allies in this one were in fact robots operated by Doctor Doom in a strange chess game with a robot called the Prime Mover. I guess Steranko was injecting some of The Prisoner paranoia into the SHIELD brew with this move, but it did suggest that Yellow Claw was part of Marvel history. For more see this vintage Dojo link. 

Sal Buscema

The real deal Yellow Claw shows up in the pages of Captain America and the Falcon in an action filled adventure throwing Yellow Claw's forces against Cap, the Falcon and of course SHIELD. In an action-filled yarn drawn by Steve Englehart and inked (in some episodes) by Judomaster's creator Frank McLaughlin, this story by Steve Englehart appeared on the comic book stands almost immediately before the debut of Master of Kung Fu in the pages of Special Marvel Edition. Marvel was converting many of their reprint comics, adding fresh material and Special Marvel Edition had been hosting Thor and Sgt. Fury stories before the coming of Fu Manchu. 

Once again Marvel was able to tap the public nerve effectively. This story which used the background established in the copious Fu Manchu novels introduces Shang-Chi, whose name we are told means the "rising and advancing of the spirit", is a dutiful son to Fu Manchu as the story opens and follows his father's orders to find and to slay a man named Petrie. Soon thereafter Shang-Chi encounters Sir Nayland Smith who reveals to the naive young man the true nature of his father. There is a confrontation with much battle, but in the end, Shang-Chi is now the implacable enemy of Fu Manchu. So Englehart and Starlin neatly bonded the then furor over martial arts with the classic "Yellow Peril" menace.  

In the second issue Shng-Chi is forced to confront a lifetime friend who fights under the faceless mask of "Midnight". Their battles are furious and can end in only one way, or so we are led to believe. 

The third issue is remarkable in several ways. For one the title of the comic is changed to Master of Kung Fu. The success of the character seems to have been almost immediate. For another Shang-Chi battles a man who will become an ally by the name of Blackjack Tarr. The most important thing though is that this is the last regular issue drawn by Shang-Chi co-creator Jim Starlin. The art on these issues had been absolutely stellar, telling complicated stories effectively and presenting the martial arts in some creative ways. Steve Englehart wanted this series to be a companion of sorts to his work on Dr. Strange in that both books were filled with philosophy as well as more mundane struggles. 

The next issue is most important in that it saw the debut of the artist most closely associated with the series -- Paul Gulacy. This is Gulacy in his earliest days and not unlike Barry Windsor-Smith, we will have the privilege of watching him mature as an artist and find his own distinctive approach over time. Al Milgrom who had inked Starlin stays around for several issues to help ground the work. 

Shang-Chi's offbeat encounter with the Man-Thing is I suppose an attempt to get some crossover buzz with the character and to show in a small way that he was indeed part of the larger Marvel Universe. It's notable that MoKF rarely if ever featured on of Marvel's classic heroes in its pages. Steven Englehart wraps up his tenure on the book with the nineteenth issue, but will leave it in good hands as we shall soon see. It's also worth noting that in this final issue Shang-Chi meets a man in the Everglades named "Lu Sun" who seems for all intents and purposes to be Kwai Chang Kane from the Kung Fu television series, albeit shifted forward in time and space. He sure looks like David Carradine and performs in the same languid manner. It's fair enough that he appears since the television show was an inspiration for the series. 

Gerry Conway writes a single issue to transition to the new scribe. The art is again by Gulacy and Milgrom. The utter weirdness of the menaces that Shang-Chi will encounter thanks to his father are well represented in this one. 

Doug Moench becomes the new regular writer on Master of Kung Fu and he will remain so for the life of the series. Once again, I want to note that Moench had become a workhorse for Marvel in the Bronze Age, a talent all too often overlooked. The art this issue is by Ron Wilson though Al Milgrom is there to add some small continuity. As much as I like Wilson, he like many artists who will draw the book from time to time really feels out of place with styles developed for more bombastic superheroes. 

An indication of the instant success of the MoKF series was the addition of a Giant-Size version of the comic. The team of Moench and Gulacy appear for the first time in the lead story which has Shang-Chi confront his father, having of course to kick and punch his way in. Dan Adkins becomes Gulacy's inker with this story. The second story by Moench is drawn by effectively by P. Craig Russell and the third is another Moench script drawn by Ron Wilson, who also produced the quite effective cover. 

Shang Chi gets some major crossover push when he guest-stars in the giant-size version of Spider-Man's comic. This book was effectively a version of Marvel Team-Up but the co-stars were drawn from the furthest reaches of the MU, such as Dracula, Doc Savage, and of course Shang-Chi. Ross Andru does a magnificent job on this story, making me realize he'd have been great on the main series should he get the opportunity. Len Wein wrote this story which had the duo of course fight a bit before joining forces to confront the persistent Devil Doctor. 

Moench, Gulacy and Adkins produce their first issue of the regular comic under a potent John Buscema cover. Gulacy's style is developing and his Steranko-esque art seems well suited to the international intrigue atmosphere of the comic. In this one Fu Manchu wanted to blow up the Mount Rushmore. 

The second giant-size comic features Moench, Gulacy and inker Jack Abel. In this every long and exceedingly well-crafted tale, Shang Chi gets a love interest named "Sandy", but alas love is not in the cards for our high-kicking hero. 

In a potent three-part tale Shang-Chi follows Nayland Smith and Blackjack Tarr to South America and deep into the Amazon jungle where they discover some unreconstructed Nazis as well as a scheme to ignite a nuclear war. Al Milgrom draws the first issue and the "diverse hands" of Milgrom, Starlin, Alan Weiss, and Walt Simonson handle art chores. Clearly producing both the regular and giant-size series is putting immense pressure on the creative team. Moench, who wrote all three issues, is rejoined by Gulacy for the finale, this time with inker Sal Trapani on hand. I was surprised how much I liked Trapani's inks. It looks to me like Ron Wilson and Gil Kane handled the covers. 

In the third giant-size issue we get a fantastic yarn by Moench, Gulacy and Vince Colletta. This is the best comic featuring Shang-Chi since Starlin left, as Gulacy's style has developed and gotten more sophisticated. This spy yarn introduces Clive Reston, a character who is supposed to be the son of James Bond and grand-nephew of Sherlock Holmes. Colletta does some of his best work, giving the pages gentle attention. This is one handsome comic. 

It's all hands on deck for the next trio of stories which focus on Shang Chi's sister and Fu Manchu's daughter Fah Lo Suee. She is plotting against Fu Manchu as they vie for some rubies which help hypnotize men. Fu Manchu is seeing his loyal troops abandon him for her side and a war is brewing. Shang-Chi does various things to confront both sides, but he cannot of course bring himself to kill either his father or his sister. Moench wrote all three tales, but Keith Pollard drew the first, John Buscema the second and Ron Wilson and Ed Hannigan (among others) drew the third and final episode. 

The fourth and final giant size issue is written by Moench and drawn by Keith Pollard with inks by Sal Trapani. I'm a Keith Pollard fan, but like Ron Wilson, he is not at his best in this martial arts environment. Moench delights us with his confection of a character named "Rufus T. Hackstabber", a cabbie who is meant to evoke Groucho Marx. This is a wild ride, almost literally as Shang Chi confronts a powerful enemy called Tiger-Claw. I can only imagine how good this one would've have been if Gulacy had been able to draw it. 

This volume closes out with a little five-page tale from the pages of an Iron Man Annual. It's a story by Roger Stern and art inked by Don Newton which gives us another glimpse of Midnight as he battles against the Vietnamese Iron Man villain Half-Face. The story was a try out for new talent, but did reveal to the reader that Midnight was not done. 

These earliest issues of Master of Kung Fu are fascinating. In the beginning Englehart and Starlin seemed to have a tight beam on what they wanted the series to be, but as they were drawn away by other projects it fell to Doug Moench and to a lesser degree Paul Gulacy to hold the vision together. Moench made this title his own and when Gulacy returns at last the duo will knock off our socks. But that's in volume two which I'll get around to later this month. 

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