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| Mike Nasser's (Michael Netzer's) awesome frontispiece. |
It was 38 years ago today that the
real master of kung fu,
Bruce Lee died oh-so-mysteriously. His life,movies, philosophy, and fighting style became, not only the stuff of legend, but made the late actor a cult-hero--no, a full-fledged icon. Books, magazines, articles, and films too numerous to mention have been made about the life of the young man who made himself known to the world playing Kato on the short-lived but highly-influential
Green Hornet TV show. Thanks to his movies (and yes, the tons of imitators), Lee had made the words "kung fu" not only household words, but a full-out craze. It was a rare instance, indeed, if Young Groove made the trek to the local newsstand without seeing some sort of Bruce Lee related magazine cover on the racks during the 1970s. But as far as Ol' Groove can tell, there was only one biographical comicbook based on the life and times of the founder of Jeet Kune Do during the Groovy Age, and that was in Marvel's
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #28 (August 1976).
It was only fitting that Marvel would create such a comic, since without Lee,
DHoKF, one of Marvel's most successful b&w mags, would never have come into existence. They had done many articles about Lee, but never thought to create comicbook stories about him. That idea, according to John Warner, came from the fans. Outgoing editor Archie Goodwin got the ball rolling, planning the concept of doing a comicbook version of Bruce Lee's life, but it was under incoming editor Warner that the issue actually saw print. Marvel went outside their deep talent pool and tapped journalist Martin Sands to write the script, but the art fell to two well-known, but wildly different, artists: penciler Joe Staton and inker Tony DeZuniga (aided by The Tribe). Only during the Groovy Age did Marvel have the freedom and vision to produce a comic like..."Bruce Lee". Enjoy, Groove-ophiles!
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| Ken Barr's iconic cover. |
Thank Gorn for the scans!
