Friday, April 29, 2011

Making a Splash: Paul Gulacy's Master of Kung Fu, Round Three

Here it is, Groove-ophiles! The rapturous wrap-up of our lingering look back at the scrumptious splashes supplied by Peerless Paul Gulacy for his mucho-loved turn as artist-par-excellence on Master of Kung Fu. This final flourish of comicbook fine art comes from issues 40, 42-46, 48-50 (February, April-August, October-December 1976) of MOKF.  Who loves ya, baby?










But that's not all! Nosiree! Ya think Ol' Groove is some kind of piker or somethin'? I've also tossed in Paul's splashes for the first three issues of Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu (July-December 1974) for you color comic completists out there. (As for Mr. Gulacy's artistry on the b&w Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, keep your eye out for a yet-to-be-determined installment of Black and White Wednesdays!)





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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 29, 2011 at 4:58 AM

    Thanks for showing these amazing Gulacy splash pages, its been a while since I have seen these. I vividly remember reading this strip in the pages of the UK Avengers comics (in B&W) it was so good it was the only US comics I avidly searched out in the Glasgow comic shops even although I was reading it in the UK comic at around the same time (US books to us in Scotland & UK were "exotic"). I have to say I thought the UK reprints showed his work of better as the pages were much bigger and in black and white. Have Marvel reprinted any of the Shang Chi strips at all (Essentials etc)? - great site I really enjoy it brings it all back.

    Paul McScotty

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  2. Mike MikulovskyApril 29, 2011 at 10:33 AM

    Thanks for the great memories. I forgot how powerful & beautiful these comics were. I loved MoKF as a boy/teen. Gulacy rocked, even if he was sort of a Steranko clone, who cares! It was like watching a movie! Very Groovy indeedy! The villians & supporting characters were all very cool as well.

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  3. Geoff GroganApril 29, 2011 at 5:48 PM

    groovy great stuff oh grand and glorious g-meister!I too remember these pages from way back when--& it's a treat to see them again! Back in the mid-70's, Gulacy gave us Steranko when there was none-but they're more than mere imitation, they have an energy all their own.-Now I'm going to have to search these issues out at the next Big Apple Con!

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  4. HEHApril 30, 2011 at 10:43 AM

    More Gulacy splashes! Whatta treat! Thanks Groovy Agent!

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  5. HEHApril 30, 2011 at 10:49 AM

    So, is there no Essential collection for Master of Kung Fu? I was getting set to purchase a copy at Amazon, but it appears it doesn't exist?!? Bummer...

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  6. Ursula 1000April 30, 2011 at 11:57 PM

    There hasn't been reprints because the rights to the character I believe are still owned by Sax Rohmer, who created Fu Manchu, where these characters were developed from. Beautiful work by Gulacy!

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  7. HEHMay 1, 2011 at 10:45 AM

    Ah. Thanks, Ursula.

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  8. UnknownOctober 29, 2018 at 4:48 PM

    This is an amazing post. It shows the development of Gulacy's art through the years.

    With all due respect to Mr Dan Adkins, no one inked Gulacy better than Gulacy. And, I think his work on "The Murder Agency" was his best output during his scintillating MOKF run.

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