...two orphaned Chinese toddlers are rescued from WWII-era Japan by their grandfather, but are exposed to radiation by an atomic bomb during the escape.
One of two children is disfigured by the blast, and as the duo grow up and learn martial arts, becomes bitter, eventually turning to evil as the criminal "Cobra"!
Vowing to redeem his brother, the other kid becomes a tv reporter to have unfettered access to information which will lead him to his sinister sibling!
Assuming the masked identity of "Dragon", he discovers Cobra now works for the terrorist Dr Nhu.
Realizing Nhu and Cobra are about to strike, he declares...
We'll never know how things turned out since there was no next issue.
Note: the second panel on the first page refers to the Dragon as a "green figure".
Obviously, his "gi" was meant to be green, probably with yellow/gold highlights, but the colorist and editor changed that, likely in order to avoid legal conflicts with Marvel's Iron Fist's costume.
Jim Craig worked infrequently for DC and Marvel after Atlas/Seaboard folded, including runs on Master of Kung Fu and the three-issue introduction of The 3-D Man in Marvel Premiere!
He moved on to storyboarding movies (The Big Hit, Johnny Mnemonic), TV (Twilight Zone and Robocop) and animation (Ewoks, Inspector Gadget)!
1) What sort of self-respecting villain actually considers himself evil?
Answer: one who isn't self-respecting!
2) Why was a Chinese citizen (especially an elderly one) in wartime Japan?
Answer: To rescue his two grandchildren after their parents were killed due to unexplained circumstances!
Were his son and daughter-in-law spies?
Answer: We don't know.
Perhaps later issues would've clarified the reason...but there were no future issues!
If they were, why did they bring their kids along?
Answer: We don't know.
But it seems likely they were "cover" to make the couple seem more innocent!
3) There was a third atomic bomb dropped on Japan?
Answer: Apparently!
And it was aimed at a volcano?
Answer: See above!
And it didn't go off upon impact?
Answer: See above!
4) Was the name "Dr Nhu" meant to be a play on "Dr No"?
Answer: Seems likely,but since writer Ed Fedory passed away, we may never know.
5) Why are all the Asians in this story a "Donald Trump" orange?
Answer: because Marvel had started the trend by making their Asian hero, Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu that same shade due to the limitations of color separation technology at the time!
(Only 64 color combinations were available for use.)
Neither Marvel nor Seaboard wanted to use the usual bright lemon-yellow skin coloring usually-associated with Asians in comics, so this "golden-skinned" look (50% Magenta/25% Yellow) with a more intense magenta than the usual Caucasian skin tone (25% Magenta/25% Yellow) was used.
Oddly, heroic Asian characters like Kato, Chop-Chop, and Jimmy Woo in the 1940s and 1950s were colored with 25% Magenta and 100% Yellow, producing a more "suntanned" look!
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