DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU / SAVAGE FISTS OF KUNG FU "Master Plan of Fu Manchu" Prologue

In 1974, Marvel did something they excelled at...a crossover...

...this time, involving their newest batch of heroes, kung fu experts Shang-Chi, Iron Fist, and the Sons of the Tiger in a Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Special one-shot b/w magazine, illustrated by a plethora of veterans and up-and-comers!

It was so successful that Marvel took the unprecedented step of reprinting the story within a year of publication, this time in color and in the prestigious oversized Treasury Edition format!

Starting Wednesday, you'll see the never-reprinted color version of that story!

Don't Miss It!

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Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Omnibus

Volume 1

(which includes the b/w version of this story, but not the color version!)

DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU "Fu Manchu, Sax Rohmer, and Shang-Chi"

Before We Begin Our Final Summer Blogathon Entry...

...a brief history of the story's primary villain, Fu Manchu!

NOTE: May Be NSFW / NSFS due to Racial Stereotypes.

One other note...

Back Cover of Marvel's Savage Fists of Kung Fu Treasury Edition (1975) by Gil Kane and Dan Adkins.

The tabloid-sized, cardboard-covered comic reprinted the story from Marvel's one-shot b/w magazine Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Special (1974).

Fu himself is colored a bright "lemon" yellow, though his son, Shang-Chi and Sons of the Tiger leader, Lin Sun, are colored a light orange.

"Heroic" Asians such as the Green Hornet's Kato, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Jimmy Woo, as well as innocent Asian supporting characters were colored with normal Caucasian skin-tone or light-orange skin, while villains (like Marvel's Yellow Claw) and henchmen (as well as Japanese soldiers during World War II and North Koreans during the Korean War) were colored that bright yellow.

This was largely-due to limited color printing technology which only offered a 64-color range consisting of cyan, magenta, and yellow in solid and screened color.

That changed in the 1980s, when hand-painted, then computer-generated, color with the full-color range of photography and printing became the norm for comics!

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Serial Fu Manchu

Chinese SuperVillain and the Spead of Yellow Peril Ideology

MARVEL's Kung-Fu Fighter, Richard Dragon?

Though DC gave Richard Dragon his own comic book in 1975...

...the character was initially-presented to comics fans via the Marvel magazine Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #6 (1974)!

A year later, DC would debut Richard Dragon in his own title.

Considering the lead time required to produce a comic, much less one starring a totally-new character, was the book in preparation when the article appeared?

Was it offered to Marvel first, or did O'Neil, who was working steadily for DC, offer it to Marvel's competitor as a counterpoint to Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu and Iron Fist?

We'll never know...

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Kung-Fu Master: Richard Dragon

Dragon's Fists

RICHARD DRAGON: KUNG-FU FIGHTER "Coming of a Dragon!" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Martial Artists...

...fifteen years earlier, orphaned teen thief Richard Dragon tried to steal a jade figurine from a retired martial arts master.

It does not go well for Dragon, who's decked by both the man known as O-Sensi and his pupil, Benjamin!

Seeing potential in the kid, O-Sensi offers to teach him.

Six years later, the old man is about to send both his students out into the world when they encounter several intruders on the property, whom Rich and Ben trash easily.

They were sent as a test by the O-Sensi's ex-employer, Barney Ling, who's the head of an international undercover peacekeeping force called G.O.O.D. (Global Organization of Organized Defense).

He recruits them to battle evil on a global scale!

Now, let's join them on their first mission...

Despite Kung-Fu Fighter lasting only 18 issues, many of the characters introduced in it became part of the fabric of both the DC TV/movie and comics universes!

Dragon himself would train a number of major characters in martial arts including Lady Shiva (who debuted in Kung-Fu Fighter), The Batman, Batgirl/Oracle, both of the characters called The Question (Vic Sage and Renee Montoya), The Huntress, Robin/NightWing/Target/Agent 37, and Green Arrow II.

Lady Shiva, a major character in DC Comics, though she's never had her own strip, debuts in Kung-Fu Fighter #5.

Ben's full name is Benjamin Turner, who eventually becomes the hero/villain Bronze Tiger!

Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva and Bronze Tiger have made multiple appearances in both live-action and animated DC series, though never together!

Denny O'Neil wrote this fascinating "bio" about "Jim Dennis" (a pen name for himself and Jim Berry)...

Tomorrow:
Richard Dragon's Premiere Appearance...
...in a Marvel Magazine!
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Kung-Fu Master: Richard Dragon
Dragon's Fists

RICHARD DRAGON: KUNG-FU FIGHTER "Coming of a Dragon!" Part 1

With the success of Marvel's Shang-Chi: Master of Kung-Fu and Iron Fist...

...DC sought a concept which could compete, which they found in a paperback novel from author "Jim Dennis"...

The martial-arts mayhem continues...
TOMORROW

"Jim Dennis" was a pseudonym for writers Jim Berry and a creative you're probably familiar with...Denny O'Neil, who was already one of the top scribes at DC!

Apparently, O'Neil sold DC the rights to the Richard Dragon property when an ongoing paperback series didn't materialize.

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Kung-Fu Master: Richard Dragon
Dragon's Fists