@SolitaireRose One of my all-time favorite series/runs! I read them as they came out, off the newsstand, and could not WAIT for the next issues. The whole sequence with the toy/robot guy on the island freaked me out as a kid.
Parts of that run would have been a brilliant Bond/Bruce Lee cross-over movie. If only...A run of those issues was one of the few things I kept when I sold off most of my collection recently.
Can't be reprinted to due legal rights to Fu Manchu, right?
I saw Gulacy at SDCC a couple years ago and bought his art book from Vanguard (I believe) and had him sketch Shang-Chi inside it. Prized possession...
That's what Marvel says...although I see the first set of books is Public Domain, so it's probably very messy to deal with.
I've always wondered why they don't just use The Yellow Claw, change the names and move on with reprinting the books.
CGS Episode #1237 reminded me that I have the program from the 1976 Marvel-Con, the Marvel-run comic convention held in NYC a couple times in the mid-70's. I was lucky that my step-father was willing to take the whole family all the way up there from the Philly area!
As you'll see, some of the folks there were John Romita, Sr. and Roy Thomas (see signatures).
The program is digest-sized, 48 interior pages, check out the TOC and credits! I find the pages where Marvel is promoting their #1 market share especially odd and interesting.
One funny story -- Marvel-Con was my first experience with convention panels. I was awestruck seeing the creators I worshiped in person. But the thing that sticks with me is when a kid asked a question from the audience about what was coming up in "What If." I loved What If (like that other kid)! Hey, I was a little kid! And I clearly remember the person on the panel, and I wish I could remember who, saying "Who Cares?" and the audience laughing. I laughed too, but felt embarrassed inside...and so that was my first introduction to industry cynicism (LOL!). Up to that time, everything I knew of Marvel was via Stan Lee's Soapbox, and it never occurred to me that they didn't love everything they produced.
One other -- I waited in line to have John Romita, Sr. sign my Superman vs Spider-Man Treasury edition. When I finally got up there -- TERRIFIED -- Romita looked at the book and me and said "you know I only drew the back cover on this, right?" To which I replied (embarrassed!) "sure, can you sign the back cover?" which he did. It never occurred to me I should only have him sign something he drew -- I just wanted his signature on one of my favorite Spider-Man books. Thank goodness he had done the back cover! But, he was SUPER nice about it all -- I was just a terrified little kid. (ha) As you can see, he also signed the program.
Finally, I remember my "civilian" mom being somewhat horrified by how alternative/hippy/nerd/whatever everyone was. And I remember thinking something along the lines of I've found my people!";)
Anyway, enjoy, if you haven't seen before...I included an original two-page Spider-Man story that was in there...
As a comic loving kid in the Midwest all those awesome east and west coast shows advertised in the books seemed amazing and completely unattainable. How cool it must have been to be a kid in the area. My group of friends would rotate the parents we would convince to take us just to little hotel shows in the city for a few hours on a Saturday.
The 12 year old in me is still in awe whenever I go to sdcc or another big show.
Here's a bit of Bronze Age fun, which I thought of after reading an article about the Mighty Marvel Calendars in BACK ISSUE #49.
The first Marvel Calendar I ever owned was the one published in 1975. I was a kid and I LOVED that calendar. It had all sorts of creators birthdays, milestones, and/or bits of art on each day. According to BACK ISSUE, that first one was written by Roy Thomas.
I picked one up on eBay yesterday for $8 (+shipping).
1975's calendar will be repeated in 2014. The next time after that won't be until 2025.
So, yes, I plan ahead. And YES...in 2014 I'll hopefully be enjoying the 39 year anniversary of enjoying that calendar the first time.\:D/
(And for anyone interested in the Marvel calendars that followed, 1976 won't be repeating again until 2032, and 1977 in 2022. Darn it! I was hoping for sooner for that fun bicentennial one, in particular.)
So, for Christmas, I "received" the above-mentioned Marvel 1975 calendar...and as the calendar weeks/days in 2014 exactly match the weeks/days in 1975...I'll be enjoying this calendar again...nearly 40 years after the first time.
Here's a stitched-together shot of January. Happy New Year!
My other "retro" gift this year was a reproduction of the 1975 Marvel Convention poster by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. Although I attended the 1976 convention, I had this 1975 poster on my walls for years. So glad to have the reproduction now, even if it is somewhat smaller than the original. This isn't my scan, but it's from the site where I got it!
I'm just reading some of the old posts here. Master of Kung Fu is one of my all time favorite comic book runs. It's a shame Gene Day died toward the end of the run because he did some of the best comic art ever on this series.
I've been collecting Bronze and Silver Age Wonder Woman since the Straczynski New Wonder Woman run got me interested in the 60's New Wonder Woman run when she was just Diana Prince. A couple of Ebay lots later, I was hooked on the whole series, even the bad stuff. I wasn't collecting much DC back then, so there were a lot to fill in. I've been reading some Bronze Age issues I just got in a lot on ebay. Wonder Woman is interesting because it seems they've never known what to do with her for very long, particularly in the Bronze Age, so the character changes a lot. I'm starting to see some movement in price on back issues, now that there's a strong current series. I actually paid more per issue for a Wonder Woman lot than the two Batman Bronze Age lots I bought from the same seller. I never thought I'd see that happen. I can't say these issues are very good in story or art, but I'm still enjoying them. I think I still like bad Bronze Age books better than what's out there now. I guess it's the smell of the newsprint, the feel of the books and the simpler outlook on the world. I still love my new Image books, but they're sitting in a pile, while I read these crappy old Wonder Woman stories. Make mine Bronze Age.
Oh, yeah. I meant to mention just replacing Fu Manchu won't make republishing Master of Kung Fu possible because a lot of the other characters, like Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie, came from the Fu Manchu books too.
Oh, yeah. I meant to mention just replacing Fu Manchu won't make republishing Master of Kung Fu possible because a lot of the other characters, like Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie, came from the Fu Manchu books too.
Huh, I never knew that! Thanks for sharing that, but what a bummer.
You'd think they'd be able to work out at the very least a one-time deal to with the Sax Rohmer estate to publish those Shang-Chi stories, but I've read before that they're a pain to deal with. I suppose that's probably why we don't see Fu Manchu being used at all these days. Granted, the character is generally viewed as racist today, but you'd think a company like Dynamite could revamp him somehow.
According to Wikipedia, it looks like his last authorized use was in 1980.
I'm just reading some of the old posts here. Master of Kung Fu is one of my all time favorite comic book runs. It's a shame Gene Day died toward the end of the run because he did some of the best comic art ever on this series.
Day died after being removed from the series by Shooter, who assigned him to Star Wars. He completed one issue of that before he passed, and at the time, Doug Moench said that the heart attack was caused by Day being so upset being pulled off the book. There was a HUGE fight over MoKF between Moench and Shooter, where Moench claimed that Shooter told him to kill off Shang Chi or make him a villain, and replace him with a ninja to halt a sales decline. He quit, rather than write it, and went to DC as soon as his contract allowed. All of this was in an interview with the Comics Journal back in the 80's.
I think the story of Day dying because of being pulled off the book was Moench being upset over both the book being pulled from him and the grief of his friend's passing. Dave Sim has told stories about how Day simply didn't take care of himself, drawing for days with next to no sleep and eating crap.
It's a damn shame. Day was a wonderfully innovative artist, whose work got better issue by issue, and while he wouldn't have been able to grow much while drawing Star Wars, it would bring in more money and maybe he would have been able to better take care of himself.
Mike Zeck was also pretty damn good, and it sucks that he's not working in comics any more.
Thanks for the background info on Gene Day leaving MOKF. I didn't know any of that. I did know sales were down. I think at the time a non-Super Hero book was a tough sell anyway and MOKF was striving to be an intelligent reading experience, which wasn't going to be all that popular either. It's a shame because it was really one of the best books at the time. Moench was really at the top of his game and most of the artists working with him were top notch. I can see why Day wasn't getting any sleep. The detail in his art toward the end was intense.
I'm just reading some of the old posts here. Master of Kung Fu is one of my all time favorite comic book runs. It's a shame Gene Day died toward the end of the run because he did some of the best comic art ever on this series.
Day died after being removed from the series by Shooter, who assigned him to Star Wars. He completed one issue of that before he passed, and at the time, Doug Moench said that the heart attack was caused by Day being so upset being pulled off the book. There was a HUGE fight over MoKF between Moench and Shooter, where Moench claimed that Shooter told him to kill off Shang Chi or make him a villain, and replace him with a ninja to halt a sales decline. He quit, rather than write it, and went to DC as soon as his contract allowed. All of this was in an interview with the Comics Journal back in the 80's.
I think the story of Day dying because of being pulled off the book was Moench being upset over both the book being pulled from him and the grief of his friend's passing. Dave Sim has told stories about how Day simply didn't take care of himself, drawing for days with next to no sleep and eating crap.
It's a damn shame. Day was a wonderfully innovative artist, whose work got better issue by issue, and while he wouldn't have been able to grow much while drawing Star Wars, it would bring in more money and maybe he would have been able to better take care of himself.
Mike Zeck was also pretty damn good, and it sucks that he's not working in comics any more.
Gene Day’s run was probably my favorite, though I love Zeck’s stuff too. As far as I know, Zeck is still working mostly for DC’s licensing department, à la José Luis García-López.
Comments
I've always wondered why they don't just use The Yellow Claw, change the names and move on with reprinting the books.
Have you ever suggested that to someone at Marvel? We need to find a reprints editor who's a die-hard fan of the series. ;)
As you'll see, some of the folks there were John Romita, Sr. and Roy Thomas (see signatures).
The program is digest-sized, 48 interior pages, check out the TOC and credits! I find the pages where Marvel is promoting their #1 market share especially odd and interesting.
One funny story -- Marvel-Con was my first experience with convention panels. I was awestruck seeing the creators I worshiped in person. But the thing that sticks with me is when a kid asked a question from the audience about what was coming up in "What If." I loved What If (like that other kid)! Hey, I was a little kid! And I clearly remember the person on the panel, and I wish I could remember who, saying "Who Cares?" and the audience laughing. I laughed too, but felt embarrassed inside...and so that was my first introduction to industry cynicism (LOL!). Up to that time, everything I knew of Marvel was via Stan Lee's Soapbox, and it never occurred to me that they didn't love everything they produced.
One other -- I waited in line to have John Romita, Sr. sign my Superman vs Spider-Man Treasury edition. When I finally got up there -- TERRIFIED -- Romita looked at the book and me and said "you know I only drew the back cover on this, right?" To which I replied (embarrassed!) "sure, can you sign the back cover?" which he did. It never occurred to me I should only have him sign something he drew -- I just wanted his signature on one of my favorite Spider-Man books. Thank goodness he had done the back cover! But, he was SUPER nice about it all -- I was just a terrified little kid. (ha) As you can see, he also signed the program.
Finally, I remember my "civilian" mom being somewhat horrified by how alternative/hippy/nerd/whatever everyone was. And I remember thinking something along the lines of I've found my people!" ;)
Anyway, enjoy, if you haven't seen before...I included an original two-page Spider-Man story that was in there...
How old were you at the time?
As a comic loving kid in the Midwest all those awesome east and west coast shows advertised in the books seemed amazing and completely unattainable. How cool it must have been to be a kid in the area. My group of friends would rotate the parents we would convince to take us just to little hotel shows in the city for a few hours on a Saturday.
The 12 year old in me is still in awe whenever I go to sdcc or another big show.
Despite my location, I only made it to a couple cons, and never one like the Marvel-Con, other than that one...so I remember it well. ;)
Here's a stitched-together shot of January. Happy New Year!
My other "retro" gift this year was a reproduction of the 1975 Marvel Convention poster by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. Although I attended the 1976 convention, I had this 1975 poster on my walls for years. So glad to have the reproduction now, even if it is somewhat smaller than the original. This isn't my scan, but it's from the site where I got it!
I've been collecting Bronze and Silver Age Wonder Woman since the Straczynski New Wonder Woman run got me interested in the 60's New Wonder Woman run when she was just Diana Prince. A couple of Ebay lots later, I was hooked on the whole series, even the bad stuff. I wasn't collecting much DC back then, so there were a lot to fill in. I've been reading some Bronze Age issues I just got in a lot on ebay. Wonder Woman is interesting because it seems they've never known what to do with her for very long, particularly in the Bronze Age, so the character changes a lot. I'm starting to see some movement in price on back issues, now that there's a strong current series. I actually paid more per issue for a Wonder Woman lot than the two Batman Bronze Age lots I bought from the same seller. I never thought I'd see that happen. I can't say these issues are very good in story or art, but I'm still enjoying them. I think I still like bad Bronze Age books better than what's out there now. I guess it's the smell of the newsprint, the feel of the books and the simpler outlook on the world. I still love my new Image books, but they're sitting in a pile, while I read these crappy old Wonder Woman stories. Make mine Bronze Age.
According to Wikipedia, it looks like his last authorized use was in 1980.
I think the story of Day dying because of being pulled off the book was Moench being upset over both the book being pulled from him and the grief of his friend's passing. Dave Sim has told stories about how Day simply didn't take care of himself, drawing for days with next to no sleep and eating crap.
It's a damn shame. Day was a wonderfully innovative artist, whose work got better issue by issue, and while he wouldn't have been able to grow much while drawing Star Wars, it would bring in more money and maybe he would have been able to better take care of himself.
Mike Zeck was also pretty damn good, and it sucks that he's not working in comics any more.