This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog will examine the first eight issues of Iron Fist’s adventures in 1974 and 1975.
MARVEL PREMIERE Vol 1 15 (May 1974)
Title: The Fury of Iron Fist
Villain: Shu Hu the One
Comment: In the 1970s “Everybody was Kung Fu fight-iiiiing” and Marvel Comics jumped onto the bandwagon with a series of martial arts characters. By this point in 1974 the company had already introduced Shang-Chi the Master of Kung Fu, the female Avenger called Mantis and the Sons of the Tiger. Now would come Iron Fist, real name Daniel Rand, later modified to Daniel Rand-Kai.
Synopsis: The origin story of Iron Fist is told through flashbacks this issue and the next. This story starts with action and THEN delves into the superhero’s origin, a formula I think works best, but I’m not a comic book expert. In the Himalayan Mountains, in the mystical city called K’un-Lun, Iron Fist is battling four opponents under the watchful eyes of K’un-Lun’s ruler Yu-Ti the August Personage of Jade and his subordinate Dragon Kings.
NOTE: This K’un-Lun is not THE K’un-Lun from Chinese mythology but it uses the same name and many of the inhabitants go by names corresponding to Chinese gods. Yu-Ti is one of them, Lei Kung the Thunderer is another. This K’un-Lun is an enchanted city that appears on Earth only once every ten years before returning to its pocket dimension home for another ten.
Back to the story – Iron Fist defeats his four opponents and, having survived this Challenge of the Many, now asks Yu-Ti for permission to face the Challenge of the One (Shu Hu). Yu-Ti wants Iron Fist to be sure that is what he desires, so he tells him to contemplate the path that has led him to this Day of Days. Continue reading
TUILAKEMBA – This figure was the son of Tuilangi, the god who ruled over the Skyland, and a mortal woman. When Tuilakemba was a little boy he was often ridiculed by the other children for not having a father on hand like they did. One day the young demigod had had enough and threatened to kill his mother unless she told him who his father was. 
NAIA – 1. GRACE COLLEGE LANCERS ### 2. COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES ### 3. LANGSTON UNIVERSITY LIONS (should be Hugheses) ### 4. UNIVERSITY OF THE CUMBERLANDS PATRIOTS ### 5. SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE MOUNDBUILDERS ### 
AFTER THE THIN MAN (1936) – Previously, Balladeer’s Blog covered the neglected Sam Spade short stories that Dashiell Hammett wrote 
MAD JACK aka SIEGFRIED SASSOON (April 15th) – A 1970 British telefilm about the young poet Siegfried Sassoon, who was awarded the Military Cross during World War One, but while on leave in 1917 criticized what he saw as the corporate and other vested interests behind the entire conflict. 
DOWN GOES NUMBER SEVEN – The MADONNA UNIVERSITY CRUSADERS welcomed the number 7 team in the nation – the LOURDES UNIVERSITY GRAY WOLVES. The Crusaders dominated on both sides of the ball in the opening Half and held a 40-26 lead at the midpoint of the game. After the break the Gray Wolves weren’t able to overcome that deficit as Madonna U. won out 72-65. Brendan Young led the Crusaders with his Double Double of 26 points and 10 rebounds. His teammate Isaac Anderson had his own Double Double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. 
CAPTAIN ATOM 
ATOM-GIRL 
Powers: John Grant’s discovered “ray” gave Lynn a degree of super-strength and made her invulnerable to bullets, other weaponry and deadly gasses. 
QUENTIN DURWARD (1971) – This French-German television series ran for 13 half-hour episodes in Germany but just 7 52-minute episodes during its initial French run. 
Amadeus August stars as Quentin Durward, a fighting young Scotsman who is the sole surviving male from his Scottish clan after a brutal clan war wiped out the rest of his family. At present he is being sheltered in a monastery where the monks have told him the only way to stop the enemy clansmen from killing him to blot out his entire bloodline is to become a monk under a vow of celibacy.
TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF JAMES MASSEY (1714) – This is Part Two of 
I’ll spare all of us any details of the actual cockfights. When the fighting was over, the family whose cock lost the fight welcomed the winner’s family over to their home. The winner’s family brought along all of the food they had prepared for this eventful day, and the two families feasted and drank together the rest of the day. 
Gina Carano has proven how impressive she can be in action roles, and that got me thinking about various roles I’d like to see her in. 
BELIT, THE QUEEN OF THE BLACK COAST – For people who aren’t fans of Robert E. Howard I’ll mention that the female pirate captain was the great love in the life of Conan the Barbarian. 
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