CHUCK NORRIS AND THE KARATE KOMMANDOS "Super Cruiser" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Karate Kommandos...

Junior Karate Kommando, Too Much (who daydreams about assisting Chuck Norris in his crime-fighting work) along with his teacher and classmates, are taken hostage by terrorists who demand Norris' newest weapon against crime, the Super Cruiser, as ransom!

Norris agrees to trade the vehicle for the hostages...

Written by Mary Jo Duffy, penciled by Steve (Spider-Man) Ditko, and inked by Art Nichols, Star Comics' Chuck Norris and the Karate Kommandos #1 (1986) was the first of four issues based on a five-episode animated mini-series which promoted a line of Kenner action figures shown HERE!

Note: Star Comics was Marvel's "juvenile" division including licensed animation/toy properties like Ewoks, Droids, Defenders of the Earth, Barbie, Masters of the Universe, and original characters like Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, Royal Roy, and Misty, from 1984 to 1988.

As a result, the comic is less violent than other toy/cartoon adaptations by Marvel like Rom: SpaceKnight or Shogun Warriors!, and of course, any of Marvel's other maertial-arts series like Iron Fist or Shang-Chi: Master of Kung-Fu!

CHUCK NORRIS AND THE KARATE KOMMANDOS "Super Cruiser" Part 1

We Offer Our Condolences to the Family of Chuck Norris on His Untimely Passing...

...and wish to offer his legions of fans a look back at the long out-of-print comic book, penciled by the co-creator of Spider-Man, Steve Ditko and based on the 1980s animated TV series he did, as a tribute.

To Be Concluded...Tomorrow!

Writer Mary Jo Duffy, penciler Steve Ditko, inker Art Nichols...and, of course, Chuck Norris know the response to that statement...and you're not gonna like it, terrorist!

Halloween Horror THRILLING ADVENTURE STORIES "Temple of the Spider"

Many ASIAN martial arts Stories also involve the supernatural...

...such as this half-century old tale written by Archie Goodwin and illustrated (pencilling and inking) by Walt Simonson.

The short-lived (1974-75) Atlas/Seaboard line of comics and b/w magazines produced a lot of forgettable crap.

But, thanks to page rates that equalled Marvel & DC's, it also lured top talent who wanted a little more creative freedom, including established pros like Wally Wood, Steve Ditko, Pat Boyette, Russ Heath, Howard Nostrand, Ernie Colon, and Archie Goodwin!
Plus talented youngsters like Howard Chaykin, Larry Hama, Bernie Wrightson, Pat Broderick, and Walt Simonson!
The b/w magazine this story appeared in, Thrilling Adventure Stories, was a multi-genre anthology, offering a smorgasbord of very good strips!

Sadly, Atlas/Seaboard fell apart due to poor sales which led to even worse editorial choices.
Note: there weren't any local comic shops back then, and comics were entirely-depenedent on newsstand/candy store sales and mail-subscriptions.
If you didn't "click" with the audience fast, you were history!
And Atlas disappeared within two years.
No book got past #4!
This particular tale was produced around the time Goodwin and Simonson created their ward-winning Manhunter strip for DC, updating the Golden Age character to the 1970s!
That strip featured a lot of superbly-visualized and choreographed armed and unarmed martial arts, with a heavy emphasis on Asian disciplines!

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Manhunter by Archie Goodwin & Walt Simonson

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Halloween Horror DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU "Corpse Rider"

Many stories involving martial arts also involve the supernatural...

...as shown in this unusual one-shot feature from Marvel's Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #16 (1975)!

Mahwah artist Sanho Kim had been making a rep for himself at Charlton with both supernatural and romance tales (and in a couple of cases) stories combining both, like THIS!
He came over to Marvel to do martial arts-related stories, and sadly, despite his experience, couldn't find work there in any other genre.

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Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Omnibus

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JUDOMASTER "Part III: JudoMaster is Born"

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Rescuing a villager from the Japanese, Sgt Rip Jagger is shot and wounded.
As the Japanese close in on him, a number of guerrillas, armed only with poles, knock out the heavily-armed soldiers and take Jagger and the villager to their hidden base, where he learns the person he rescued was the leader's granddaughter!
To reward him, Rip was trained in martial arts by Bushuri, the field commander of the guerrillas and second in-command of the group...

The first issue of JudoMaster (#89* in 1966) was out six months after this tale appeared in the final issue of Special War Series in 1965.
The series would continue until #98 in late 1967.

We mentioned previously that Frank McLaughlin had created 2-3 page features about martial arts in Charlton's spy comic, Sarge Steel.

This issue presented another of those features...

Note how McLaughlin, like any true martial artist, emphasizes that the best path is, when feasable, to not fight!

Trivia: Bushuri may look familiar to readers who know the Japanese films of the 1950s/60s...

..which made their way to American art houses and television.

I'm very sure McLaughlin had seen some of them including, likely, Yojimbo and Seven Samurai, so he used the actor I consider the "Sean Connery of Japan", Toshiro Mifune, as the visual model for Bushuri!
Sadly, though DC has reprinted other 1960s Charlton Action Heroes, they haven't done so with JudoMaster!

*Charlton took an existing Western comic called GunMaster (which, ironically, McLaughlin was inking) and retitled it JudoMaster.

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Batman: Soul of the Dragon

Animated feature with the only appearance of Rip Jagger in any DC movie/TV project.

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