SONS OF THE TIGER PART 1

As presented in DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU Nos. 1, 3, and 4.

"THE SONS OF THE TIGER!" | "THE TRAIL OF THE NINJA!"
"NIGHT OF THE DEATH-DREAM!"
Author: Gerry Conway | Editor & Advisor: Roy Thomas
Artists: Dick Giordano & Frank McLaughlin (pts. 1 & 2) | Don Perlin & Dan Adkins (pt. 3)

The Plot: (DEADLY HANDS #1) One night in San Francisco's Chinatown, on his way home from a martial arts tournament, a young man named Lin Sun is attacked by a group of ninjas. He fights them off, but upon entering the dojo where he trains, finds his Master Kee dying thanks to the ninjas. Kee tells Lin to take the three jade tiger amulets that he keeps in the dojo, and to go seek out the school's two other best students, Abe Brown and Bob Diamond -- then Kee dies in Lin's arms. Lin takes the amulets and locates Abe first, helping him to fight off a group of drug dealers. The two move along to the penthouse apartment of Bob, a movie star, and save him from a ninja attack as well.

Bob and Abe each take one amulet and the trio sets out for the only ninjutsu school in San Francisco, where they fight its master, Sui Tu Kama. Using the mystical amulets to triple their individual fighting skills, the "Sons of the Tiger" defeat Kama and his ninja followers, and discover a hidden opium den in the dojo as well. Abe believes Master Kee has been avenged, but Lin states that Kama had a master, and vows to find him.

(DEADLY HANDS #3) Following a lead, Lin Sun arrives at Janto Imports on the San Francisco waterfront. He is attacked by ninjas and holds his own, but is eventually defeated. Meanwhile, Abe and Bob, who abandoned Lin to continue his mission alone after they felt they had sufficiently avenged Master Kee, have a change of heart and go after their friend. They find Lin about to be killed by an old man named Lo Chin and his minions. Abe and Bob rescue Lin and the group fights together once more, defeating Lo Chin's men and destroying his stolen sonic cannon -- but in the aftermath of the fight, Lo Chin has vanished.

(DEADLY HANDS #4) Following yet another lead, the Sons arrive at the airport, where they try to stop Lo Chin from boarding a plane. But the craft takes off with Lin having chased Lo Chin aboard. Bob and Abe hitch a ride as it rises into the air, leading to a battle aboard the plane. Eventually it crashes, apparently with Lo Chin aboard, but the Sons bail out to watch the wreckage burn.

Continuity Notes: Lin Sun, Abe Brown, and Bob Diamond all make their debuts here, along with the tiger amulets. Though none will go on to much stardom beyond these DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU stories, they have all popped up very sparingly in the years since, most often in Iron Fist stories.

When he first appears, Sui Tu Kama mentions a group called the "Seven Silent Ones", who will be "displeased" by his ninjas' failure to eliminate Lin, Abe, and Bob. Later, Lo Chin also mentions the Seven Silent Ones, claiming that he will soon rule the world beside them. Lo Chin also informs the Sons that his masters have a plan to take control of America's youth with drugs: namely, heroin.

Lin Sun is at Janto Imports to start chapter two, and we get a flashback showing that he got the name of the place from one of Sui Tu Kama's ninjas before he passed out. That's fine. But in part three, the Sons are jsut randomly at the airport. At the end of the previous chapter, Lo Chin escaped without a trace, then at the start of this one, the Sons have determined that he's coming to the airport, and have even found the exact plane he will be using to depart -- with no explanation for how they figured this out.

These first three chapters of the "Sons of the Tiger" serial were, as noted above, published in DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU issues 1, 3. and 4. DHoKF was a bi-monthly publication, so the first two installments appeared four months apart!

My Thoughts: So far we're off to a fine start. Weird plot hole aside, this is a fun, gritty martial arts exploitation story done in the Mighty Marvel Manner. Free of the Comics Code, Conway is able to go a bit further in some spots than one would normally expect from a comic of this vintage; there is some mild cursing from our protagonists, and Lin Sun is shown to kill at least five men throughout these three chapters.

The artwork in the first two installments is wonderful. Dick Giordano, who had inked several of Neal Adams' DC stories by this point, turns in a very photorealistic effort worthy of Adams. I love his moody depiction of San Francisco by night, and all of his Tiger-Sons move like martial artists. The art takes a step down in the third chapter, though. Don Perlin is fine for superhero stuff, but his depictions of martial arts moves look weird, stiff, and lifeless.

The story is what really engrosses me here, though. I'm a sucker for long, drawn-out serials like this, where our heroes' goalposts keep getting moved. Every time the Sons meet a character who seems to be the "big bad", it's revealed that he has someone else pulling his strings. I don't know where Conway was originally planning to take his saga, but unfortunately we'll never find out, as he only ever wrote these three chapters. But before we move along with the Sons' serial proper, next week we'll examine 1974's DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU SPECIAL, which featured a three-part story, each chapter spotlighting a different protagonist -- Iron Fist in part one, the Sons of the Tiger in Part two, and Shang-Chi in part three.