Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Spider-Woman #40
Issue(s): Spider-Woman #40
Cover Date: Oct 81
Title: "Flying Tiger-- kills!"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Writer
Stephen Leialoha - Penciler
Bob Wiacek - Inker
Review/plot:
Spider-Woman is attacked by the super-powered assassin the Flying Tiger.
His comments make it clear he was a former professional football player, but now he wears a tiger suit that has body armor and claws, and he can fly. He thinks he's killed Spider-Woman, and he returns to his employer, General Nguyen Coy (The not-yet-a-New-Mutant Karma's uncle).
Spider-Woman isn't actually killed, but her spine is pretty badly injured. She's rescued from the San Francisco bay by a Captain Paul Morrel, who is introduced as a potential love interest, who sees her out of costume but vows to not abuse the information.
He's also brother to Sabrina Morrel, the potentially Yakuza police officer that pursued David Ishima last issue.
Jessica spends the next few weeks learning and practicing tai-chi to help her back heal.
She's able to defeat the Flying Tiger in the rematch...
...but she doesn't do anything to actually hurt Coy's crime empire, and at the end of the issue she's harassed by another manifestation from Morgan Le Fey.
I love that you can partially see Flying Tiger's face through the mouth of the tiger mask. "Mommy, that tiger ate that man!"
Quality Rating: B
Historical Significance Rating: 2 - first Flying Tiger
Chronological Placement Considerations: Pushed back in publication time a bit to account for Spider-Woman (and more specifically, Sabrina Morrel's) appearance in Avengers annual #10.
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
Paul Morrel is also the name of the lead character in Sons and Lovers but that seems a bizarre reference to have in Spider-Woman.
Flying Tiger, in particular the design of his mask, might owe some inspiration to the 70s manga 'Tiger Mask'.
I think the Flying Tiger was a fantastic villain for Jessica. I mean, he nearly broke her back, and she had to spend weeks on recovery. This was a serious setback for her,so it must have been very satisfying to her to finally defeat him when she was ready to take him on again.
Flying Tiger bears a strikingly close resemblance to the DC Comics super-villain-turned-hero Bronze Tiger. They even share the same ethnic background.
Flying Tiger always struck me as one of those characters where the name and visual were supposed to carry a completely generic baddy. He's not much more than muscle-for-hire who flies and has super-strength.
The Bronze Tiger was Denny O'Neil's creation, and he edited this issue. I notice he also used the Flying Tiger in Iron Man.
