Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #3 : SuperMegaMonkey : chronocomic

1975-03-01 00:09:20
Previous:
Giant-Size Man-Thing #3 Up:
Main
1975 / Box 9 / EiC Upheaval
Next:
Marvel Team-Up #32

Issue(s): Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #3
Cover Date: Mar 75
Title: "Fires of rebirth / London / Crucible of deceit / Test of loyalty"
Credits:
Doug Moench - Writer
Paul Gulacy - Penciler
Vincent Colletta - Inker

Review/plot:
This issue introduces two important characters. The first is Clive Reston, a member of Sir Denis Smith's organization...

...and the grandnephew (or is it great-nephew?) of Sherlock Holmes...

...and son of James Bond.

Neither relationship is explicitly said, for copyright reasons, but it's totally clear.

The second character is Shadow-Stalker, a member of Fu Manchu's Si Fan, and the one he places the greatest trust in.

Also the only one to tie a pair of flails into his hair.

Note that Shadow-Stalker doesn't always use the flails; they're not in the first scan above, and he doesn't use them in his first attack on Shang-Chi and company.

It's hard to know if Shadow-Skin's yellow skin is yet another attempt at Asian skin tone or if he's really supposed to be yellow. During his first attack Reston says he was so fast he might not have been human and Shang-Chi thinks that he may be more accurate than he realizes.

It'd be difficult to top either the introduction of a Sherlock Holmes/James Bond relation or a guy with spiked balls on his head, but the other big revelation in this issue is that Dr. Petrie, the man that Shang-Chi seemingly killed in his first appearance, is in fact still alive.

Shang-Chi killed a duplicate created by Manchu to hide the fact that he had kidnapped the original and to test Shang-Chi and ensure that he'd be hunted by the law.

Failing to gain what he wanted from Petrie, Fu Manchu kidnaps Sir Smith in this issue, but after defeating Shadow-Stalker...

...Shang-Chi and Reston are able to rescue them both. It's said that Fu Manchu was after an elephant statue that Smith had taken from a previous raid on one of Fu Manchu's Si Fan bases. The statue was hollow, and contained some of Fu Manchu's Elixer of Life. Shang-Chi warns Smith not to use the Elixer, and Smith seems to agree.

Moench makes good use of the larger size of this issue and provides a nicely paced (if sometimes a little too wordy) story, and Gulacy is looking great as well.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Clive Reston & Shadow-Stalker. Dr. Petrie revealed to be alive.

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places this issue (along with Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #2, which i don't have) between non-Giant Size Master of Kung Fu #27-28. But in Master of Kung Fu #27, Shang-Chi makes a comment suggesting that he knows that Dr. Petrie is alive, which means that this takes place before that. This is Clive Reston's first appearance; he next appears in #28.

References: