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Master of Kung Fu Omnibus
Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Omnibus, Vol. 2
Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu easily ranks as one of the most iconic series in Marvel history. Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy's blend of kung-fu action and globe-trotting espionage raised the already high standard set by the title, and in this second volume, believe it or not, it gets even better! The cinematic Hong Kong showdown with Shen Kuei, the Cat; the tense "Oriental Expediters;" the mystery of MI-6's mole; the sweeping scale of "The Return of Fu Manchu"; the epic "Saga of War-Yore"; each effort is a masterpiece of action, intrigue and drama, and none has ever looked better than in this painstakingly restored Omnibus.
COLLECTING: MASTER OF KUNG FU (1974) 38-70; MASTER OF KUNG FU ANNUAL (1976) 1
COLLECTING: MASTER OF KUNG FU (1974) 38-70; MASTER OF KUNG FU ANNUAL (1976) 1
664 pages, Hardcover
First published September 27, 2016
5 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Doug Moench
2,071 books122 followersDoug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok. Moench has worked for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics and many other smaller companies; he has written hundreds of issues of many different comics, and created dozens of characters, such as Moon Knight. In 1973, Moench became the de facto lead writer for the Marvel black-and-white magazine imprint Curtis Magazines. He contributed to the entire runs of Planet of the Apes, Rampaging Hulk (continuing on the title when it changed its name to The Hulk!) and Doc Savage, while also serving as a regular scribe for virtually every other Curtis title during the course of the imprint's existence. Moench is perhaps best known for his work on Batman, whose title he wrote from 1983–1986 and then again from 1992–1998. (He also wrote the companion title Detective Comics from 1983–1986.)
Moench is a frequent and longtime collaborator with comics artist Paul Gulacy. The pair are probably best known for their work on Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, which they worked on together from 1974–1977. They also co-created Six from Sirius, Slash Maraud, and S.C.I. Spy, and have worked together on comics projects featuring Batman, Conan the Barbarian and James Bond.
Moench has frequently been paired with the artist and inker team of Kelley Jones and John Beatty on several Elseworlds Graphic Novels and a long run of the monthly Batman comic.
Moench is a frequent and longtime collaborator with comics artist Paul Gulacy. The pair are probably best known for their work on Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, which they worked on together from 1974–1977. They also co-created Six from Sirius, Slash Maraud, and S.C.I. Spy, and have worked together on comics projects featuring Batman, Conan the Barbarian and James Bond.
Moench has frequently been paired with the artist and inker team of Kelley Jones and John Beatty on several Elseworlds Graphic Novels and a long run of the monthly Batman comic.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 7, 2018
Marvel really flooded the market with martial arts characters in the 1970s with Iron Fist, Sons of the Tiger, The White Tiger, and Shang-Chi, plus. A host of lesser martial arts based heroes and villains. Most are gone now, faded into obscurity. But the Madter of Kung Fu still is a stand out character from that era. Nice collection of his early stories. Recommended
March 9, 2021
The series really hit its stride when it veered away from monthly assassination attempts on Shang-Chi by his father which mired the previous volume into repetition. And also Paul Gulacy's art really started to shine as well. It truly defined the look of the title. When Doug Moench steered it into the other popular genre besides Kung Fu at the time, spycraft. The stories became more mature and complex at this point. Moench also had a tendency to write multi-part epic stories of up to six parts, unheard of at the time in Marvel. That's a storyline that would run half year and with a "to be continued..." at the end of those issues, it was no surprise that the comic was one of the most popular at the time.
February 16, 2021
This omnibus contains the first Shang Chi story I ever read. The Moench-Gulacy story “Fight Without Pity” is simply amazing. The art is stylish and atmospheric. The art is also extremely cinematic; Paul Gulacy is simply masterful. His faces are expresive, his action sequences are dynamic and impactful, his women are beautiful, and his backgrounds are full of detail, and evocative.
The characters all have unique voices, and the plot moves along smoothly.
The smaller arcs all come together into an epic magnum opus.
The characters all have unique voices, and the plot moves along smoothly.
The smaller arcs all come together into an epic magnum opus.
November 29, 2019
It's amazing how well done this series is. Artistry, writing, characters, etc., if you love kung fu movies, if you love spy movies, then you will LOVE Shang Chi:MOKF. They hold up amazingly well for having been written a 'few years ago' (koff, koff). Some of the racial slurs make me cringe, but it is what it is. Doesn't ruin the stories. Highly recommended. Great stuff, Maynard!
June 19, 2022
I was kind of dreading getting into this one but it turned out to be quite a treat. Especially the early issues with Paul Gulacy. A very nice surprise to be sure.
January 23, 2024
First - for a Marvel omnibus this is a smaller one with roughly 660 pages of actual comic book content BUT I actually prefer the slightly smaller omnibuses. I find the regular sized ones are too big to easily read.
Second - we get a lot of great Doug Moench martial art/spy stories in this. I feel Shang Chi does best when he is surrounded by his team, Clive Reston (who weirdly is related to James bond and Sherlock Holmes), Black Jack Tarr and his sometime love interest Leiko Wu. Being so silent shang chi needs supporting cast around to make the quips and have some personality. And a lot of these stories have the full team in them.
Third - so many great artists. Some at their peak like Gulacy (who stays for half of this volume) and who are good and went on to long careers Jim Craig (Canadian) and some who are just starting out and you can see them start to transform into brilliance before your eyes (Mick Zeck) and evenb a quick showing by an artist who I feel is very underrated Pat Broderick.
Fourth the stories are just fun. They are spy movies come to life on the comic book page. Some of the inner musings of the philosophical Shang Chi does get a tad tiresome at times but overall it is good fun and some great action. There is a looong arc that is the highlight of the book where Shang Chi faces off against his father Fu Manchu but there are also plenty of stand alone stories and shorter arcs.
Overall, highly recommended. Due to the rights of Fu Manchu being tied up we might not get these reprinted again until Fu Manchu becomes public domain. Oh wait...I think that happened in 2022...maybe we will get these reprinted soon :).
Second - we get a lot of great Doug Moench martial art/spy stories in this. I feel Shang Chi does best when he is surrounded by his team, Clive Reston (who weirdly is related to James bond and Sherlock Holmes), Black Jack Tarr and his sometime love interest Leiko Wu. Being so silent shang chi needs supporting cast around to make the quips and have some personality. And a lot of these stories have the full team in them.
Third - so many great artists. Some at their peak like Gulacy (who stays for half of this volume) and who are good and went on to long careers Jim Craig (Canadian) and some who are just starting out and you can see them start to transform into brilliance before your eyes (Mick Zeck) and evenb a quick showing by an artist who I feel is very underrated Pat Broderick.
Fourth the stories are just fun. They are spy movies come to life on the comic book page. Some of the inner musings of the philosophical Shang Chi does get a tad tiresome at times but overall it is good fun and some great action. There is a looong arc that is the highlight of the book where Shang Chi faces off against his father Fu Manchu but there are also plenty of stand alone stories and shorter arcs.
Overall, highly recommended. Due to the rights of Fu Manchu being tied up we might not get these reprinted again until Fu Manchu becomes public domain. Oh wait...I think that happened in 2022...maybe we will get these reprinted soon :).
August 12, 2024
(Zero spoiler review)
Taking just about everything that disappointed me from volume one and turning it on its head. Master of Kung Fu omnibus volume 2 ditched the repetition of Chang Chi and Fu Manchu's relationship and all the silver age silliness it entailed, and instead gave me what I had been hoping for from the off. A much more grounded, gritty and street level collection of stories. And whilst there is still a dollop of absurdity here and there, it's delivered by Moench to such a degree that it didn't even bother me all that much.
The absolute highlight here has to be the six issue arc. How it wasn't collected and distributed whilst showing that absolutely god awful Shang Chi movie a few years back I'll never know. No, wait a minute, I know completely. Marvel has no interest in promoting its rich history and building a fiercely loyal customer base. If it did, masterworks like this would have been the script for the movie, and not whatever god awful dreck they spaffed onto the screen.
Paul Galucy does around half the artwork here, and the man is an absolute master. Jim Craig and Mike Zeck are commendable replacements, but Galucy's artwork (along with some great inkers and colourists) absolutely own this book.
The second half doesn't quite match the first, hence why you are looking at four stars and not five, but this is still must read material. Shame the first book didn't start out this strong. 4/5
OmniBen.
Taking just about everything that disappointed me from volume one and turning it on its head. Master of Kung Fu omnibus volume 2 ditched the repetition of Chang Chi and Fu Manchu's relationship and all the silver age silliness it entailed, and instead gave me what I had been hoping for from the off. A much more grounded, gritty and street level collection of stories. And whilst there is still a dollop of absurdity here and there, it's delivered by Moench to such a degree that it didn't even bother me all that much.
The absolute highlight here has to be the six issue arc. How it wasn't collected and distributed whilst showing that absolutely god awful Shang Chi movie a few years back I'll never know. No, wait a minute, I know completely. Marvel has no interest in promoting its rich history and building a fiercely loyal customer base. If it did, masterworks like this would have been the script for the movie, and not whatever god awful dreck they spaffed onto the screen.
Paul Galucy does around half the artwork here, and the man is an absolute master. Jim Craig and Mike Zeck are commendable replacements, but Galucy's artwork (along with some great inkers and colourists) absolutely own this book.
The second half doesn't quite match the first, hence why you are looking at four stars and not five, but this is still must read material. Shame the first book didn't start out this strong. 4/5
OmniBen.
August 4, 2022
Shang Chi's comics, in spite of the weird because of the orange color of his skin and the yellow of many of the other Asian within the pages (having read about the inking issue at the time--not sure what to believe-- I thik Doug Moench did a fantastic job of keeping his character, the stories outside of the Marvel universe, but still Marvel-like in tone, in villains and more.
This volume takes further the steps away from the "dead" Fu Manchu into territory of corruption with in the spy community. The idea of who are your friends, who are your enemies and the fact that there are times that those lines blur.
Wonderful collection. Volume 3 is coming up.
This volume takes further the steps away from the "dead" Fu Manchu into territory of corruption with in the spy community. The idea of who are your friends, who are your enemies and the fact that there are times that those lines blur.
Wonderful collection. Volume 3 is coming up.
April 30, 2024
The Moench/Gulacy issues (up to issue 50) are mostly brilliant and well worth the read. After Gulacy left, the series went through a mess of consistency issues, flipping between artists Jim Craig, Mike Zeck, and finally Pat Broderick and deadlines were missed and for most of the next 15 issues, the series suffered.
But overall, Moench is a good enough author (if a tad long-winded and with a propensity to get a bit silly at times), to at least hold my interest, if not fully engage me in the back half of this collection.
But overall, Moench is a good enough author (if a tad long-winded and with a propensity to get a bit silly at times), to at least hold my interest, if not fully engage me in the back half of this collection.
September 16, 2018
3.5 stars
One of Marvel's most enjoyable, and underrated, series mixes classic martial arts action with Bond-like stories of espionage and intrigue. Would easily earn 4 stars, or more, if the art was more consistent. When Paul Gulacy is the penciller, this is one of the best-looking comics of it's era, but the rest of the art is competent but uninspired (although Mike Zeck and Pat Broderick would both get better with time).
One of Marvel's most enjoyable, and underrated, series mixes classic martial arts action with Bond-like stories of espionage and intrigue. Would easily earn 4 stars, or more, if the art was more consistent. When Paul Gulacy is the penciller, this is one of the best-looking comics of it's era, but the rest of the art is competent but uninspired (although Mike Zeck and Pat Broderick would both get better with time).
February 28, 2017
3.5 Stars
I enjoyed this volume much more than the last. The first half (up to issue 50) is one long spy story, in the vein of a 60's James Bond film with a villain who has a grand plan that is just crazy enough to work, hidden base, and a vast army. It ties up most of the long running plots from the previous volume. The interesting thing is that Shang-Chi isn't really the protagonist and doesn't drive the plot. He's there of course, mainly used to battle key henchmen and it seems most fans liked him for 1) his personal beliefs/spiritualism 2) his fighting style/ability. Chi speaks very little in the entire series and you get a little bit of his thoughts in captions, mostly preaching his non-violence and distaste for the deception in the spy game, but he remains shrouded in mystery.
It's during this first half that I really began to appreciate Gulacy's art. Every character looked different and he has tremendous creativity with panel designs and showing movement. He leaves the book at this point except for a few covers later.
The rest of the book is hit or miss, with a couple multi-part stories, primarily drawn by Mike Zeck, a worthy replacement who has his own strengths which are different than Gulacy's. But these are interwoven with fill-ins stories NOT written by Moench OR drawn by Zeck. Their work is serviceable but nothing above average.
The second half of the book has more of Shang Chi, many times flashing back to his youth, giving some background to a new character. His love interests come to the forefront as well, although not in a great deal of depth.
He has some of the most outrageous villains in his rogue's gallery though. I'm not sure who designed their costumes but they are the most outlandish designs I've ever seen.
I'm intrigued enough to keep reading, curious where they will take him. This series is certainly different from any other Marvel one I've read from the 60's or 70's.
I enjoyed this volume much more than the last. The first half (up to issue 50) is one long spy story, in the vein of a 60's James Bond film with a villain who has a grand plan that is just crazy enough to work, hidden base, and a vast army. It ties up most of the long running plots from the previous volume. The interesting thing is that Shang-Chi isn't really the protagonist and doesn't drive the plot. He's there of course, mainly used to battle key henchmen and it seems most fans liked him for 1) his personal beliefs/spiritualism 2) his fighting style/ability. Chi speaks very little in the entire series and you get a little bit of his thoughts in captions, mostly preaching his non-violence and distaste for the deception in the spy game, but he remains shrouded in mystery.
It's during this first half that I really began to appreciate Gulacy's art. Every character looked different and he has tremendous creativity with panel designs and showing movement. He leaves the book at this point except for a few covers later.
The rest of the book is hit or miss, with a couple multi-part stories, primarily drawn by Mike Zeck, a worthy replacement who has his own strengths which are different than Gulacy's. But these are interwoven with fill-ins stories NOT written by Moench OR drawn by Zeck. Their work is serviceable but nothing above average.
The second half of the book has more of Shang Chi, many times flashing back to his youth, giving some background to a new character. His love interests come to the forefront as well, although not in a great deal of depth.
He has some of the most outrageous villains in his rogue's gallery though. I'm not sure who designed their costumes but they are the most outlandish designs I've ever seen.
I'm intrigued enough to keep reading, curious where they will take him. This series is certainly different from any other Marvel one I've read from the 60's or 70's.
November 12, 2017
I think this is my favorite 70's Marvel series. It's great that they have taken such pains to bring these stories back into print. Otherwise, I would not have know anything about them. The art is up and down in this volume. Paul Gulacy and Jim Craig turned in amazing work that was much better than most of their contemporaries. Not as much of a fan of Mike Zeck, but it looks like his stuff was starting to improve, in much the same way as Gulacy did. The stories are at their best when they do the spy-intrigue-with-added-kung-fu thing. Any time they broke away from this it was slightly less interesting. Also, add some juvenile romance and some bad guys that are so stupid looking that they were somehow awesome and you have a fun comic.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews