I’ll admit to some bias considering it’s one of my all-time favourite movies, and it’s equally possible this look was more prevalent during that era than I suspected, but doesn’t Mr. Man bear a striking resemblance to Z-Man from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?

I say it’s about time for a revamp.

From Steve Englehart and Alan Lee Weiss’ tribute to Ballroom Blitz, starring Shang Chi and appearing in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #2.

I finished Bruce Thomas’ biography of Bruce Lee a week ago, so the story that Lee was passed over for Carradine for the part of Caine was fresh in my mind as I watched the pilot for Kung Fu.

It’s pure speculation as to whether the series would have been more successful with Lee in the lead role. I like to think that his martial prowess would overcome the racism the networks believed would work against his acceptance by the mainstream audience of the early 70s, but we’ll never know for sure.

Aside from that, I think Lee’s involvement would have ensured that Kung Fu would have been a much bigger cult hit over the years, particularly now as a DVD box set. Every frame of publicly available footage that exists of Bruce Lee has already been studied to the point of exhaustion. An entire television series starring Bruce Lee, even if the network executives were right and it only lasted a season or two, would be devoured by his legion of admirers and the fans yet to come. While it’s possible that Kung Fu starring Bruce Lee had been a bust in the short term, in the long term it would have been a juggernaut.

From Bill Mauldin’s Army.

The only known Wintle Newsstand still in operation is situated in Gotham City, just over Sprang Bridge on Finger Street.

Image taken from the first page of Jenny Everywhere: Miss Adventure, a comic jam initiated by Scott D. M. Simmons. Thanks for making my day, Scott.

I haven’t read an X-title in years, but the promise of future Gordon Liu action prompted me to give the first issue of Wolverine: Manifest Destiny a try. Unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the very worst martial arts comics I have ever read.

Two things that are almost mandatory in the execution of a decent martial arts comic are placing the characters in relation both within their environment and to one another. Wolverine: Manifest Destiny fails on both counts, with angles skewed without thought across mostly featureless backgrounds. It gives the impression that San Francisco is still suffering from the effects of the earthquake of 1906. And where other reviews have made comparisons to Leinil Yu, Stephen Segovia’s haphazard fight choreography reminded me more of Rob Liefeld’s work.

The Drunken Mantis’ magic window, from three non-linear panels.

It’s not as if decent martial arts comics haven’t been published by Marvel in the past few years, with both The Immortal Iron Fist and House of M: Avengers as recent examples. But right now the only thing that would make me consider purchasing the next installment of Wolverine: Manifest Destiny would be to find out how Lin Sun of the Sons of the Tiger became Caucasian, Gordon Liu be damned.

“Jimmy Yang Wu is the Donnie Yen of the 70s.” – J.

This Halloween, J. and I went to prom. Trash Palace was screening the Canuxploitation slasher classic Prom Night, an event we were anticipating since we first heard about it in August. As you can see, we went as prom night victims, though we were continually mistaken for zombies.

The night was a blast, and we were both left impressed by the movie itself, which has easily entered my top ten slashers. We won the costume contest, though the competition wasn’t all that fierce considering third place was won by a guy with a box on his head.

Thanks for being my date, baby!