Back in 2021 I reviewed the first 12 1970s stories featuring Marvel’s martial arts hero Shang-Chi HERE. Then in 2024 I reviewed several stories which teamed up Shang-Chi and another 70s Marvel kung fu hero – Iron Fist, HERE.
For newbies to this IP, in 1973 Marvel licensed the use of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu plus other characters from the Fu Manchu tales. Rather than just churn out a Fu Manchu comic book series “the House of Ideas” instead combined it with the Kung Fu craze of the time and created Shang Chi, the son of Fu Manchu.
Shang Chi, as a surrogate Bruce Lee, and Sir Denis Nayland-Smith, as a surrogate Braithwaite from Enter: The Dragon, were the core of the new series. Shang Chi started out as an operative of his evil father Fu Manchu but realized the error of his ways and threw in with Sir Denis and his team to battle his father’s malevolent schemes.
Many of Sax Rohmer’s other characters showed up in the series, including Fah Lo Suee, the daughter of Fu Manchu. The series expanded from just Fu Manchu storylines. Writer Doug Moench and artist Paul Gulacy churned out some of the best stories in this title, with Gulacy often drawing Shang-Chi to resemble the late Bruce Lee.
Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu had its own inimitable style and was largely one of the most innovative comic books of the 1970s and early 1980s. “Largely” is the key word.
Idiotically, Marvel depicted Shang-Chi forever barefoot and forever wearing a goofy outfit like he was advertising a local martial arts academy. It mars the MOKF series as surely as the artwork for Ebony drags down 1940s and 1950s Spirit stories. So, when possible I will sprinkle in pics of 1970s martial arts movie star James Ryan who genuinely looked like Shang-Chi but wearing regular clothing.
MASTER OF KUNG FU Vol 1 #29 (Jun 1975)
Title: The Crystal Connection
Villains: Velcro and Razor-Fist
Synopsis: Sir Denis Nayland Smith has Shang-Chi join him and other team members in a mission against international heroin dealer Carlton Velcro. The other team members are series regular Black Jack Tarr, former Royal Marine Commando, and semiregular Clive Reston, a walking meta reference.
NOTE: Clive Reston is a capable espionage agent whose schtick was that offhand references he makes establish something that is never specifically spelled out – his father must be James Bond and his grand-uncle must be Sherlock Holmes. It was kind of clever at first but eventually grew tiresome.
Our heroes take a seaplane to Velcro’s mansion in a grotto near France’s Gulf of Lions. Reston poses as a buyer of a large amount of heroin who then burns all of his purchase and an enormous amount of the drug dealer’s additional inventory of smack.
All this was a distraction to allow Shang-Chi and Black Jack Tarr to infiltrate the mansion. Reston ends up captured and Shang-Chi comes face to face with Velcro’s bodyguard Razor-Fist in their VERY FIRST encounter. Continue reading
PEACEMAKER
Powers: Peacemaker was in peak physical condition and was a master of armed and unarmed combat. He designed and tested his own weapons in his secret “Peace Palace” lair in the Swiss Alps. Peacemaker’s action outfit included body armor, a jetpack for flight, plus a helmet for protection AND for radio communication. This hero’s weapons included his powered laser gun and the sonic beams shot from his helmet.
FIGHTIN’ FIVE Vol 1 #40 (Nov 1966) 
The following day Christopher attends an embassy dinner in Geneva, at which Bork and Smith needle each other. Smith dons his Peacemaker outfit and assembles his weapons, then flies out to Bork’s mansion in the Alps. Bork’s private army tries to kill Peacemaker but he outfights them all. 
WHITE THUNDER 
CANADIANA 
Jennifer proved strong enough to rebel against Robertson and use her powers against him and against his other female acolytes. She adopted the costumed identity Canadiana. 
CREATURES ON THE LOOSE Vol 1 #22 (Mar 1973) 
Synopsis: Thongor (at right), as always wielding his father’s god-forged sword Sarkozan, is working as a thief in the city-state of Zangabal. During one caper Thongor comes close to being captured by the authorities but is given shelter by Kaman Thuu, a Priest of the Seven Gods of Zangabal. 
TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #32 (Apr 1971) 
When they return to their own time period it turns out that Gnarrk’s death caused a butterfly effect and the “present” is now ruled by an evil version of Loren Jupiter called Jupiterius. He rules the world with Lilith’s (on stairs) sorcery, monsters and the evil counterparts of what would have been the other Teen Titans. 
This weekend’s superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at some of the earliest comic book adaptations of the iconic character the Green Hornet. That figure originated on radio in January 1936 and in a very early example of a shared universe, the Green Hornet’s secret identity was Britt Reid, grand-nephew of John Reid – the Lone Ranger. 
And just as the Lone Ranger show’s theme music came from classical music – the William Tell overture – the Green Hornet show’s theme came from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee. 
The police and even Daily Sentinel crime reporter Mike Axford (formerly of the 1932 radio series Warner Lester, Manhunter) misunderstood the Green Hornet’s vigilante activities and suspected the masked hero of being a criminal himself. The Hornet took advantage of that misperception by convincing some of his gangster foes that he was indeed an outlaw and wanted a cut of their illegal operations. 
HULK! Vol 1 #11 (Oct 1978) 
UNCLE SAM
Powers: This hero had Superman-level strength and invulnerability. He could fly in a sense by making enormous Hulk-sized leaps. He had a mystic ability to know where he would be needed. Due to his supernatural nature, Uncle Sam could not be photographed or filmed.
NATIONAL COMICS #1 (July 1940) 
INHUMANS Vol 1 #1 (Oct 1975) 
Blastaar flies to Attilan, the Great Refuge and fights his way in past the airborne guards. In the Royal Palace, a long-buried device rises from the lowest depths below Attilan and sits, apparently waiting for a clearly missing component to complete it. Black Bolt and Triton dive into the watery depths below Attilan to see where the machine originated from. 
THOR Vol 1 #225 (July 1974)
Meanwhile, a being called Firelord arrives on Earth and enters Krista’s hospital. People attack Firelord, who injures them, prompting Hercules to fight him.
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