Back to the Sons of the Tiger - a Review from DHoKF 3

Deadly Hands of Kung fu #3 (August 1974)
"The Trail of the Ninja!"
Gerry Conway-Dick Giordano/Frank McLaughlin

Hey, it's been awhile since we looked in on Master Kee's students. When last we saw the boys, we got an origin story, and were dealing with a tale of revenge. Master Kee had been murdered and Lin Sun, his student, had rounded up his friends Abe and Bob to assist him in meting out justice. So we're back in The Deadly Hands of Kung fu #3 (there was no Sons installment in the second issue), with the same creative team - although Frank McLaughlin joins the party this time as inker over Dick Giordano. Enough of this intro stuff - let's get to the story!

100-Word Review:

Lin Sun is on the trail of Master Kee’s killers. When his tracking takes him to a wharf in San Francisco, it looks like his revenge mission will end abruptly. Evading a speeding car bent on his death, Lin Sun is subsequently attacked by the same ninjas the Sons had fought previously. To Abe and Bob, we find Abe consumed with guilt for not offering to help Lin Sun. Talking Bob into assisting, they pursue Lin Sun. But when they find him, he is a prisoner of Lo Chin, possessor of the sonic cannon and bent on the deaths of the Sons of the Tiger!

I mentioned the first time around that I don't have a heckuva lot of experience in the martial arts comics. As a kid I passed over Shang chi's book, and Iron Fist as well. I liked Karate Kid as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, but did not own a single copy of his book; ditto Richard Dragon. You know by now that as a kid I owned not a single B&W magazine - so when I come to these stories now, it's with a sense of nostalgia only. The eyes are fresh.

The Good: This story, like the first installment, was 15 pages long. But there was a whole lotta fun crammed into that space. The plot carries over quite a few issues, however, so it would seem to me that once the day's agenda is set (in this case, pursue Master Kee's murderers, kick some arse, get into trouble, kick some more arse on the way out of trouble, and face the cliffhanger du jour), the pictures do the talking. And do they! I praised Dick Giordano's work back in December - the camera angles, panel layouts, choreography of the fights, and so on. Sure, the story is chock full of unbelievable moments - such as Lin Sun snatching a throwing star right out of space and hurling it back - but that's the point. These kung fu stories are just fun. It's sort of like watching hockey - did you care about the outcome, or just the fights? Most people, it's the fisticuffs.

Which is not at all to detract from Gerry Conway's words - they're fine. The plot's fun. I like seeing each issue how the boys get closer to their objective, only to find the plot thickening as new layers are added. I think the slow reveal of shorter stories and published on a bi-monthly schedule would have added to the savoriness of the adventure. I also enjoy that each character has his own voice, even if they do fall somewhat into racist stereotypes. I can get on board with these comics being a slice of the historical record. I don't need any disclaimers - they are what they are. No further judgments are necessary.

 

The Bad: The sound effects! Man, these made me laugh at times. They're actually very good in the two-page spread I included above. However, at the conclusion of that scene on the wharf, Lin Sun punches a ninja in the head. Not only does the dude recoil some 25 feet out into the harbor, but the punch has the sound of "BAWHOOM!" Dang... that's some punch... There are a few other instances that made me smile as well.

In my first review of the Sons of the Tiger, I'd knocked on the oath a bit - called it pretty hokey, basically. But here it was OK - sort of grew on me with a "Flame on!" or "It's Clobbering Time!" vibe. I used it more as an alert that it was game on, and the fists and feet would furiously fly very soon.

I wasn't entirely sure if Abe was exaggerating when he told Bob that Lin Sun was suspended about 100 feet in the air. I am going to assume it was 100% hyperbole. Otherwise, when Lin Sun is dropped and Abe catches him... well, I am not going to work out any physics equations, but I am going to say that 180 pounds of kung fu fighter descending rapidly from a height of 100 feet isn't going to be caught. Not a chance. Big time splatter is what that would be.

The Ugly: Ah, I suppose I can pick on the name of our baddie in this issue. Lo Chin seems more light a weight problem than anything scary. Not sure what to make of it. It's a humorous name, I'll give you that. Menacing? Nah...

At some point I'll dig back into the Deadly Hands of Kung fu Omnibus. I need to review a tale from the aforementioned Shang chi, as well as the Sons of the Tiger under the influence of a young George Perez.

The Many Styles of Rich Buckler

Rich Buckler has been called many things, notably a swiper of other artists' work or ideas. I'd prefer to call him a talent, able to produce whatever style the job demanded or his editors asked of him. For many Bronze Age Babies, we cut our teeth on Buckler's Fantastic Four. When I came to that mag, Buckler was just coming out of his phase where he aped Jack Kirby. One could do worse. But just before Buckler left the book (turning it over to a young George Perez), his style had changed, coming into a bit more distinct look.

Of course, Buckler was virtually omnipresent on Marvel's 1970s covers, competing with Gil Kane and Kirby for ubiquity. As the 70s gave way to the 80s, Buckler landed at DC where he again turned in stellar work. While Rich Buckler will most likely never be mentioned among the masters, he must be considered one of the Bronze Age greats, for sheer output alone. And if you dig deep, you may be surprised at just how much he put his hands on - corner boxes, covers on mags you'd least expect (the All-New, All-Different X-Men, for example), and big projects like DC's Limited Collectors' Edition treasuries.

Samples of Buckler's work (below) include:

Avengers 104 (1972), inked by Joe Sinnott
Fantastic Four 150 (1974), inked by Sinnott
Saga of the Original Human Torch 2 (1990), inked by Danny Bulanadi
All-New Collectors' Edition C-58 (1978), inked by Dick Giordano
Action Comics 486 (cover)(1978), inked by Frank Giacoia
Tarzan 25 (cover)(1979), inked by Bob McLeod

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Enjoy today's ready-for-press cover for Batman #239, by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano (courtesy of Heritage Auctions), and the second Giant Superhero Holiday Grab Bag, featuring pencils and inks by John Romita, Sr. All the best of the season to you and yours!  -Doug

Found at http://marvel1980s.blogspot.com/2013/12/1975-anatomy-of-cover-giant-superhero.html

The Origin of the Sons of the Tiger - a Review from DHoKF 1

Deadly Hands of Kung fu #1 (April 1974)
"Sons of the Tiger!"
Gerry Conway-Dick Giordano

My first exposure to the Sons of the Tiger was in Marvel Team-Up #40 (December 1975 cover date), which was actually the 16th appearance of the team. But as I've mentioned, the Marvel (and other publishers') B&W mags were at the same time forbidden fruit and an economic barrier to me. C'mon... 75c for no color? What dope would do that when he could get three full-color comics? Yeah, this all falls into the "If I had a time machine, I'd..." conversation. Anyway, I liked what I'd seen in that MTU, but really had no other color outlet for these guys. I wasn't a Master of Kung fu or Iron Fist reader, so I wasn't going to bump into them there. Thus it was around 40+ years until I got the Deadly Hands of Kung fu Omnibus, volume 1, for Christmas 2016. Better late than never, I say!

What would you think about launching this with a 100-Word Review of the 15-page story? I thought so.

We open on the streets of San Francisco, where a young Chinese-American named Lin Sun is attacked by ninjas near his martial arts school. Dispatching them quickly, Lin goes inside the school to find it ransacked and his sensei, Master Kee, near death. But before the old man passes, he gives Lin a talisman shaped like a jade tiger. Lin seeks out his friends Abe Brown and Bob Diamond. Both men were also attacked, and evidence leads to the ninja school of Sui Ti Kama. A battle ensues, with the newly-christened Sons of the Tiger victorious. But drugs deepen the plot…

As is typical of my reviews, I'd like to organize my assessment of the story in a 3-tiered format.

The Good: If I actually had a category called "Best", I'd give it to Dick Giordano for his art in this story. Wow! Really, really nice, as I think you can see from the page and panel samples I've included. As most of you know, Giordano was closely tied to Neal Adams as the Silver Age turned to Bronze and it really shows here. Panel shapes, camera angles, the human form, the depiction of motion (the fight choreography is exciting) -- all of this is just top shelf. Emotion is conveyed, tension is built, backgrounds are present on every page... Giordano really treated his readers here.

And a tip of the hat to Dick G., too, for his illustration of our three protagonists. I've read criticisms of various artists through the years in regard to characters of various ethnicities generally looking Caucasian with the only differentiation coming from the color palette. Not so here. It seems great care was taken to differentiate not only the White, Chinese, and African-American protagonists, but the background players as well. Giordano has told a story with many individuals, every character looking unique and honoring those characters' backgrounds - no caricatures or stereotypes.

Gerry Conway's script is a revenge tale, with Lin Sun leading his classmates from Master Kee's dojo on a mission to bring some semblance of justice and retribution for the teacher's demise. In that regard, it might be considered a bit formulaic, but overall I felt that the effort to establish specific personalities for the characters won out. With only 15 pages to work with, as a reader I left feeling that I had a handle on these Sons of the Tiger, that the plot was indeed thickening, and that I wanted to read the next chapter. That all of this transpired alongside the kung fu action - the magazine's purpose - was a credit to both Conway and Giordano.

The Bad: Whenever I get to these last two sections, I am really hard-pressed to come up with anything if I've even generally liked the story. That's definitely my predicament here. So I guess if I have one complaint, I'll offer it toward the oath that was crafted by Master Kee. As he lay dying, he pointed Lin Sun to a a box across the room. Inside Lin found a 3-part talisman in the shape of a tiger's head and two paws. An inscription was written beneath the jade ornaments:

"When three are called
and stand as one,
as one they'll fight,
their will be done...
For each is born anew,
the Tiger's son."

It's not a bad little poem - certainly reminiscent of the oath of the Green Lanterns. My problem with it (and really, it's a minor quibble in the whole scheme of this solid origin story) comes on page 13. In the midst of battle against Sui Ti Kama and seven of his ninjas-in-training, our three young kung fu fighters pause to recite the verse. There's payoff, certainly - we're told that after a crackle of electricity, each hero fights with the strength and skill of three men. But man... sometimes it's just going to be tough to get everyone together and on the same page with that incantation in the midst of flying fists and feet.

The Ugly: Sui Ti Kama was pretty ugly, but that's about it. Fun story!

For those in the market for the Deadly Hands of Kung fu Omnibus (and there's a volume 2 out now, featuring Iron Fist and the White Tiger), you may be happy to know that the magazines are reprinted in their entirety. If you yearn for the articles that accompanied the comics stories, then you're in luck. They're all here. This is not true of other high quality reprints of the Marvel mags, notably Boom Studios's Planet of the Apes Archives (four volumes), and Dynamite Entertainment's Doc Savage Archives. The print quality from each of those companies is outstanding - don't get me wrong. But if you want the magazines complete as originally sold, you won't find that in those sources.