SONS OF THE TIGER PART 2 - THE MASTER PLAN OF FU MANCHU

As presented in DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU SPECIAL No. 1.

"TITLE PAGE" & "EPILOG"
Script: Tony Isabella | Art: John Buscema
Featuring supporting characters created by Sax Rohmer.

"CHAPTER 1: IRON FIST"
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Frank McLaughlin & the Crusty Bunkers

"CHAPTER 2: THE SONS OF THE TIGER!"
Script: Chris Claremont | Art: Herb Trimpe

"CHAPTER 3: THE HANDS OF SHANG-CHI, MASTER OF KUNG FU
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Mike Vosburg & Dan Adkins

For its first "Summer Special", DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU presents a serial starring all of of Marvel's 1970s martial arts characters in a "non" team-up, pitting them against the insidious Doctor Fu Manchu, archenemy and father of Shang-Chi. The story begins with a one-page prologue, a pin-up showing the Sons of the Tiger, Iron Fist, and Shang-Chi, with Fu Manchu's face hovering above them, as narration briefly explains who all our our protagonists are. From there, we move into the serial proper, starting with Iron Fist:

The Plot: Iron Fist is wandering the back alleys of New York when he comes across a Chinese U.N. delegate on the verge of death. Befor the man expires, he tells Iron Fist that his five compatriots were abducted. Iron Fist battles two of the kidnappers, who show up in search of the now-deceased delegate. One of the villains escapes, and Iron Fist pursues him to a warehouse, where he battles the kidnappers' master, a sumo warrior named Tsu-Gamo. Iron Fist defeats Tsu-Gamo and his men, but finds that the delegates have been spirited away.

Subsequently, Abe Brown, Lin Sun, and Bob Diamond arrive in New York for a martial arts tournament, but find themselves attacked at the airport by agents of Lo Chin and the Seven Silent Ones. The Sons defeat the men and escape, and the next morning see a news report about the missing Chinese delegates. When China's deputy foreign minister appears onscreen from the United Nations, Lin's tiger amulet tingles. He leads Bob and Abe to the U.N. to investigate, where they attempt to stop Chinese agents from kidnapping the American delegation. But the Sons fail, and the Americans are taken, leading the president to demand their return, lest China face the consequences. And unknown to all, the "Chinese" are actually agents of Fu Manchu's Si-Fan organization.

MASTER OF KUNG FU OMNINBUS VOLUME 1

Hardcover, 2016. Collects 1973-76's SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION #15 & 16, MASTER OF KUNG FU #17 - 37, GIANT SIZE MASTER OF KUNG FU #1 - 4, GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #2, and material from IRON MAN ANNUAL #4.

I've never read Marvel's MASTER OF KUNG FU, but I've heard very good things about it. And it's rare, though not unheard of, that I pick up a high-end collection for a series I've never so much as touched. To the best of my recollection, the only other times I've done so were with DC's NEW TEEN TITANS OMNIBUS series and Marvel's STAR WARS: THE ORIGINAL MARVEL YEARS OMNIBUS series. Of those, the former was critically and commercially acclaimed, while the latter -- well, it's some of the earliest Expanded Universe STAR WARS and I'd wanted to read it for years.

MASTER OF KUNG FU definitely falls into the "critically acclaimed" category. In certain scholarly comic book circles, it's ranked up there with the best of Marvel's late seventies/early eighties output; regarded at least as highly as the Claremont/Byrne X-MEN, Miller DAREDEVIL, and Simonson THOR. Still, given my lack of familiarity with the material, I probably would've waited for the inevitable Epic Collection trade paperbacks instead, except -- according to collection editor Cory Sedlmeier, these books are "...a special opportunity you don't want to miss out on." Working on the well-known knowledge that Marvel lost the rights to Fu Manchu, a prominent character in the series, decades back, and using that info to read between the lines, one might infer that perhaps Marvel has acquired a limited one-time reprint license, and after these Omnibus volumes are published, they may go out of print forever.

So, working from that assumption and trusting the numerous voices which have declared this one of the greatest Marvel runs of all time, I've bought volume 1 sight unseen and pre-ordered volume 2 as well, with full intentions to go for volume 3 too, when it's solicited.

THE UNBOXING - NOVEMBER 2015

It's a big, big November here, with some books from Marvel, a couple from DC, and one from Dark Horse, as well.

First up, Marvel provides the AVENGERS BY KURT BUSIEK & GEORGE PÉREZ OMNIBUS volume 2, closing out not just the 34-issue Busiek/Pérez run in Omnibus format, but the full 56-issue Busiek run. I reviewed Volume 1 some months back, and I'll try to get something up for this volume in the near future as well.

On the trade paperback front, Marvel brings the INFINITY WAR AFTERMATH and MOON KNIGHT EPIC COLLECTION: SHADOWS OF THE MOON.

The main appeal of AFTERMATH for me is the inclusion of WARLOCK AND THE INFINITY WATCH issues 11 - 17. This means that between the INFINITY GAUNTLET AFTERMATH, INFINITY WAR, INFINITY WAR AFTERMATH, INFINITY CRUSADE volume 1, INFINITY CRUSADE volume 2, and THOR: BLOOD AND THUNDER collections, INFINITY WATCH issues 1 - 25 are all collected in trade paperback format. Only six more issues are needed to round out Jim Starlin's run on the title.

MARVEL PREMIERE #19

”DEATH-CULT!”
Writer: Doug Moench | Artist: Larry Hama | Inker: Dick Giordano
Colorist: Jan Brunner | Letterer: Ray Holloway | Editor: Roy Thomas

Vengeance was yours, Iron Fist -- as certain as the power you wield and yet you have refused it!

But Harold Meachum is dead, slain by one whose motive was invisible -- unlike your former glaring lust for vengeance!

The Plot: Iron Fist leaves the Meachum Building to be greeted outside by a woman named Colleen Wing. She invites him to join her for a cab ride to Columbia University to meet her father. Meanwhile, Harold Meachum’s daughter, Joy, calls her Uncle Ward to enlist his aid in gaining vengeance on Iron Fist.

Outside Columbia, two assassins attempt to kill Iron Fist and Colleen, but Iron Fist sends them packing before Colleen even notices their presence. Within the school, Iron Fist meets Colleen’s father, the university’s Professor of Oriental Studies. Professor Wing explains that he has studied K’un L’un and knows of Iron Fist’s past. He urges Iron Fist to make peace with the Meachums. Iron Fist calls Joy, who asks to meet him at a Times Square arcade.

But Joy has her uncle send assassins to greet Iron Fist instead. As he fights off the first wave, a second group waits in the shadows, but they're defeated by the mystery ninja. Once all the killers are down, the ninja departs, but not before handing Iron Fist a newspaper which declares him to be a suspect in the slaying of Harold Meachum.

MARVEL PREMIERE #18

”LAIR OF SHATTERED VENGEANCE!”
Scripter: Doug Moench | Penciller: Larry Hama | Inker: Dick Giordano
Colorist: Petra Goldberg | Letterer: Artie Simek | Editor & Series Originator: Roy Thomas

You stand poised in shock, instinctively assuming the defensive cat stance, and you listen as your bizarre opponent speaks to you…

And you watch in awe as his weapon pulses with an aura of coruscating force.

The Plot: Iron Fist duels Triple-Iron and defeats him thanks to a clue provided by the mystery ninja. He makes his way at last into Harold Meachum’s office, to find the older man crippled, missing both his legs. Meachum explains that after knocking Wendell Rand off the cliff, he had wandered the Himalayas aimlessly until he was found by citizens of Katmandu. They nursed Meachum back to health, but his legs were lost to frostbite.

While he recovered, Meachum overheard a visiting monk describe his brief time in K’un L’un on the day it appeared. Thanks to the monk, Meachum learned that young Daniel Rand had made it to K’un L’un, where he was being trained in the martial arts and was expected to someday take up the mantle of Iron Fist. Now paranoid for his life, Meachum returned to the U.S. and set his deathtraps, then waited a decade for Iron Fist to come for him.

With Meachum’s story concluded, Iron Fist departs in pity, unable to follow through with his plan for revenge. Meachum tries to shoot Iron Fist in the back, but the ninja appears to spoil his aim, then kills him and escapes. As Iron Fist stands over Meachum’s corpse, his daughter enters the room and immediately pegs Iron Fist as her father’s killer.

MARVEL PREMIERE #17

”CITADEL ON THE EDGE OF VENGEANCE”
Writer: Doug Moench | Artist: Larry Hama | Inker: Dick Giordano
Letterer: Artie Simek | Colorist: Petra Goldberg | Editor: Roy Thomas

You stand before the towering skyscraper, dwarfed by it in size… but not spirit. You have battled -- and defeated -- time, distance, assassins, the berserker called Scythe…

…And now you are ready to confront the man named Harold Meachum, the man who waits within the gleaming steel citadel before you, the man who murdered your father…

…The man who caused you to become Iron Fist --

--And the man whose projected death is the sole reason for your existence as Iron Fist.

The Plot: Iron Fist arrives at Meachum Industries and makes his way upstairs, past multiple deathtraps, armed gunmen, more deathtraps, a wolf, another deathtrap, a katana-wielding janitor, and another deathtrap. He enters Harold Meachum’s office to find a costumed assassin awaiting him.

MOON KNIGHT #1

“THE MACABRE MOON KNIGHT!”
Writer: Doug Moench | Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz | Inkers: Bill S. & Frank Springer
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski | Colorist: Bob Sharen | Editor: Denny O’Neil
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: The diabolical mercenary Bushman raids an archeological site in Egypt along with his second-in-command, Marc Spector. The lead archeologist is killed by Bushman, but Spector lets his daughter, Marlene, escape. Bushman exiles Spector into the desert as punishment and he apparently dies beneath a statue of Khonshu, the Egyptian God of Vengeance. But he awakens later that night as Marlene looks on, and adopts Khonshu’s visage to hunt Bushman. Bushman is beaten, but escapes.

In the following years, Spector amasses a fortune and assumes the identity of Steven Grant and then Jake Lockley, as well as that of Moon Knight. Then, in the present day, Bushman arrives in New York to work his way into organized crime. Moon Knight tracks him down with the intent to kill him, but Marlene convinces him to spare the villain and leave him for the police.

Continuity Notes: Issue 1 retroactively introduces the Egyptian backstory and the concept of Khonshu to Moon Knight. Going forward, these elements will be revisited and developed by Moench and succeeding writers.

MARVEL PREVIEW #21

“THE MIND THIEVES” | “VIPERS”
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Bill Sienkiewicz & Tom Palmer
Additional Inking: Bill Sienkiewicz & Dan Green | Colors: Steve Oliff*
Editor: Lynn Graeme

The Plot: (part 1) At Steven Grant’s mansion, Marc Spector receives a box containing a corpse. Moments later, the mansion is firebombed by a mystery assailant. Having recognized the corpse as that of an old CIA ally named Amos Lardner, Moon Knight travels to a CIA facility in Montreal where Spector and Lardner had spent some time together. There, Moon Knight tussles with the same bomber, who escapes.

The next day, Spector meets with the facility’s director, who informs him that Project Cobra, the CIA mind control initiative which had led to Spector’s resignation, was shut down and its overseer, Charles LeBlanc, quit as well and returned to Paris. Spector orders Marlene to book a flight to France for Frenchie and himself.

(part 2) In Paris, Moon Knight confronts LeBlanc but their conversation is interrupted by Amos Lardner’s brother, James. Moon Knight stops the younger Lardner from killing LeBlanc and chases him out of the building. With Marlene driving his car, Moon Knight pursues Lardner until both vehicles crash. Moon Knight, Marlene, and Lardner are taken away by LeBlanc’s men.

HULK! MAGAZINE #17, #18, & #20

”NIGHTS BORN TEN YEARS GONE” | “SHADOWS IN THE HEART OF THE CITY”
”A LONG WAY TO DAWN”
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Bill Sienkiewicz
Inks: Klaus Janson (#17-18) | Colors: Olyoptics® | Editor: Rick Marschall

The Plot: (issue 17) A serial killer called the “Hatchet Man” buys a hatchet and mask and murders a nurse, the ninth in a string. Jake Lockley learns that the latest victim had a note pinned to her body, threatening “Lisa and her lover” and realizes who the Hatchet Man is. Later, Steven Grant explains to Marlene that ten years ago Marc Spector found himself hunting an unstable fellow mercenary named Rand who killed a nurse. Spector beat Rand, but caused him some brain damage in the process.

Marlene insists on helping Moon Knight draw out the Hatchet Man and dresses as a nurse. She walks a path proscribed by Moon Knight and sure enough, the Hatchet Man assaults her. But the police arrive and open fire, winging Marlene. Hatchet Man escapes with her and Moon Knight gives chase into Central Park, where his quarry delivers a hatchet to Marlene’s back. As the Hatchet Man escapes, Moon Knight vows vengeance on him, invoking his real name: Randall Spector.

(issue 18) Leaving Marlene with the police, Moon Knight pursues his brother deeper into Central Park. Hatchet Man kills a wino and takes a nurse’s assistant hostage. Moon Knight saves her, but is injured in the process. Hatchet Man then escapes into a rocky ramble. Moon Knight unmasks himself to appeal to his brother, but the Hatchet Man charged madly at him. Unable to properly counter the attack due to his wound, Moon Knight dodges instead. Hatchet Man is impaled on a gnarled tree branch.

Moon Knight travels to the hospital, where he is informed that Marlene is in critical condition and may not survive the night.

HULK! MAGAZINE #15

“AN ECLIPSE, WANING” | ”AN ECLIPSE, WAXING”
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Bill Sienkiewicz & Bob McLeod
Colors: Steve Oliff | Editor: Rick Marschall

The Plot: (story 1) Steven Grant pays a visit to his friend Jason, an amateur astronomer, at Jason’s estate on the night of a total lunar eclipse. But as they prepare to view the eclipse, Grant catches sight of three hoods approaching the house. He excuses himself, changes to Moon Knight, and finds one of the thugs, incapacitating him, but is unable to locate the others. After a fruitless search, Moon Knight is knocked unconscious by a lumbering behemoth during the full eclipse. Eventually he comes around and returns to Jason’s home as Steven Grant.

(story 2) Bruce Banner has traveled to upstate New York to keep the Hulk away from populated areas on the night of the total lunar eclipse. But Banner unknowingly wanders into the grounds of an estate, where he comes across three men preparing to rob it. The men chase Banner into the woods but he transforms into the Hulk and takes two of them out. The third escapes and Hulk goes looking for him but instead, at the height of the full eclipse, he runs into a caped figure and slaps him unconscious, then walks on, pleased to see the moon returning to normal.

Continuity Notes: Grant notes that Marlene was unable to come to Jason’s because “…she's free to live her own life” and goes on to imply that she's on a date. Up to now we always saw Marlene lounging about in Grant’s bedroom, dressed and otherwise, and they were clearly a couple. But based on these thoughts, apparently they have what’s sometimes called an “open relationship”.

HULK! MAGAZINE #13 & #14

”THE BIG BLACKMAIL” | “COUNTDOWN TO DARK”
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Bill Sienkiewicz w/Bob McLeod (#14)
Colors: Steve Oliff | Editor: Rick Marschall

The Plot: (issue 13) In a framing sequence, the mysterious Lupinar is briefed on Moon Knight by his assistant, Smelt. Meanwhile, Steven Grant leaves to deliver $250,000 to the Chilean ambassador’s terrorist friends in exchange for the missing Horus statue. But first Grant changes to Jake Lockley and visits his contacts, Gena and Crawley, for information. Soon after, Moon Knight makes the exchange and then follows the terrorists to see them ambush an armored truck. Moon Knight switches to Marc Spector and aids the villains to ingratiate himself with them.

Elsewhere, the Mayor of New York City receives a ransom demand complete with the threat of nuclear attack. Spector realizes that the terrorists have stolen uranium from the truck. Before he can take any action, however, someone dressed as Moon Knight, working for Lupinar, appears, ready to expose Spector. And back at his headquarters, Lupinar is shown for the first time in full, revealed as a wolfman.

(issue 14) Spector tackles the ersatz Moon Knight and both are gunned down by the terrorists. The imposter is killed, but Spector plays possum and changes into costume. The terrorists split up, so Moon Knight hitches a ride atop one car while Frenchie follows the other. Eventually Moon Knight’s car takes him to Lupinar’s home, where Moon Knight confronts the villain. As the pair duels with fencing sabers, Frenchie calls the federal nuclear response team to recover the stolen plutonium from the terrorists he had followed. With his nuclear threat canceled, Lupinar impales himself upon Moon Knight’s blade.

HULK! MAGAZINE #11 & #12

”GRAVEN IMAGE OF DEATH!” | “EMBASSY OF FEAR!”
Script: Doug Moench | Art: Gene Colan & Tony Dezuniga (issue 11);
Keith Pollard, Frank Giacoia & Mike Esposito (issue 12)
Editor: Rick Marschall

The Plot: (issue 11) Moon Knight witnesses a murder, then becomes embroiled in a chase around the city involving a key stolen by the murderer, the hijacked taxi cab of Jake Lockley, and a statue of the Egyptian god, Horus, which has been replaced with a fake. Finally, Moon Knight’s investigation leads him back to the mansion of Joel Luxor, who was murdered earlier in the evening, and where Marlene is now at the mercy of Crane, Luxor’s ex-partner turned killer.

(issue 12) Moon Knight rescues Marlene, who’s been shot in the arm, from Crane. They fail to find the Horus statue, but learn that Chilean ambassador Alphonse Leroux has it. Days later, Steven Grant and Marlene attend a gala at the French embassy, where Grant introduces himself to Leroux and expresses interest in acquiring the statue. Leroux invites Grant to his embassy at midnight, but Moon Knight arrives first, learns Leroux is in league with terrorists, and disables Leroux’s guards. At midnight, Grant shows up and tells Leroux he will pay half a million dollars for Horus, but only on the condition that Moon Knight deliver the money to Leroux’s terrorist allies.

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #28 & #29

”THE CRUSHING OF CONQUER-LORD!” | “THE DEADLY GAMBIT OF CONQUER-LORD!”
Writer: Doug Moench | Artist: Don Perlin
Letterers: Irving Watanabe (#28) & Debra James (#29) | Colorist: Irene Vartanoff
Editor: Marv Wolfman

The Plot: (issue 28) Moon Knight thwarts a break-in in Manhattan, unaware that the thieves are a group of corrupt police working to frame the mayor for a man named Mr. Quinn, a.k.a. Conquer-Lord. A pair of cops find their defeated fellows and, unaware of their dishonest proclivities, believe Moon Knight has turned against the police.

After a run-in with the honest cops, Moon Knight begins to investigate the break-in further and learns that Quinn is looking to install his own puppet mayor via the upcoming election. Moon Knight changes to his secret identity of millionaire Steven Grant and, with his secretary Marlene, heads to a ball at the mayor’s mansion. But Conquer-Lord shows up as well. Grant changes to Moon Knight, but the villain uses Marlene as a hostage and escapes. Seconds later, a servant announces that the mayor has been shot.

(issue 29) Medics arrive to tend to the mayor, who was tagged by a stray bullet when Moon Knight thwarted Conquer-Lord’s assassination attempt. Frenchie flies Moon Knight back to Steven Grant’s mansion, where Grant finds his new valet, Merkins, spying on him for Conquer-Lord. Grant allows Merkins to escape, then follows him to Conquer-Lord’s hideout, where the villain has Marlene in a death trap. Moon Knight enters the building, takes out Conquer-Lord’s men, and defeats the villain himself, rescuing Marlene.

WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #32 & #33

”THE STALKER CALLED MOON KNIGHT!” | “WOLF-BEAST VS. MOON KNIGHT”
Writer: Doug Moench | Artists: Don Perlin & Howie Perlin
Letterers: Ray Holloway (#32) & Debra James (#33)
Colorists: Phil Rache (#32) & George Roussos (#33) | Editor: Len Wein

The Plot: (issue 32) In Northern California, the werewolf, Jack Russell, is beaten within an inch of his life by the mysterious costumed Moon Knight. As they struggle, Russell flashes back to the chain of events which led him to this moment. Then, once more in the present, Moon Knight’s pilot Frenchie kidnaps Russell’s girlfriend and sister, while Moon Knight knocks the werewolf unconscious.

(issue 33) The werewolf comes around as Moon Knight ferries him back to the Committee, and another fight breaks out. But the sun rises and the werewolf reverts to Jack Russell, allowing Moon Knight to defeat him again. That night, the Committee observes Russell’s transformation into the werewolf and pays Moon Knight for his services. But Moon Knight takes pity on the werewolf and sets him free, and the pair takes out the Committee members. Moon Knight observes from a rooftop as the werewolf wanders away.

Continuity Notes: As this is the werewolf’s series, there are several references to his ongoing sub-plots to be found. Last issue he nearly killed a little girl and mauled his best friend, Buck, into a coma. Meanwhile, a Detective Northrop is on the way to Haiti with a lead on tracking down an ex-werewolf named Raymond Coker. And in Haiti, Coker, on the trail of a pack of zuvembies, is directed by a voodoo witch to seek out Jericho Drumm, a.k.a. Brother Voodoo. Also, apparently Jack’s girlfriend, Topaz, has latent psychic powers.

MOON KNIGHT: THE EARLY YEARS

In 1999, Marvel published a Moon Knight limited series entitled HIGH STRANGENESS (though the covers of all four issues mistakenly billed it as “HIGH STRANGERS”). The story was published weekly and I was in college at the time, branching out a bit in my Marvel reading, so I grabbed issue 1. I know I had heard of Moon Knight, but I really knew next to nothing about him. I liked his costume, though, and the series was drawn by Mark Texeira, an artist I appreciated.

Well, I was hooked immediately on the character as written in that story by his creator, Doug Moench. The funny thing is that now, having not read the mini-series in over a decade, I don’t really even remember the plot. But I fell for the trappings of Moon Knight more than the story: he’s an ex-soldier of fortune turned wealthy playboy with numerous secret identities, he resides in a sprawling mansion with his beautiful live-in girlfriend Marlene and his confidante/pilot, a fellow ex-merc named Frenchie, and he goes out at night in his stealth chopper to fight crime as the Moon’s Knight of Vengeance, to atone for his dark past.

In short, the guy is awesome.