Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Omnibus Vol. 1 Hardcover – 15 Nov. 2016

Brilliant work, takes me right back to my youth :-)

To be clear from the start, I'm not by any means a a kung fu fan, so the text and photo articles about martial arts (and there are a lot of them in this huge omnibus edition) leave me pretty cold. Also, I don't like books that are so heavy you need to take a years' body building course just to lift and read them; also be advised that apart from the 18 magazine covers this book is entirely in black and white (and shades of grey). But... ( there had to be a but ) I am a huge fan of Marvel's Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu and Iron Fist series' and within these pages are numerous fascinating examples of the early efforts to establish their respective styles and directions. Shang Chi dominates the first half of the book and early on we get two Steve Englehart stories (one with Jim Starlin), and a very early Doug Moench / Paul Gulacy story. For those who don't know, Englehart and Starlin created the Master of Kung Fu colour comic series but very quickly passed it on to Moench, who (with Paul Gulacy and later Mike Zeck and Gene Day ) produced a phenomenal run of stories and it is fascinating to see the early development of writer and artists styles. Also present in this volume are The Sons of the Tiger, created by Gerry Conway but developed by Bill Mantlo and the legendary George Perez. But don't expect to see the dazzling artwork we've come to expect from Perez. George was just at the beginning of his Marvel career and though the art is adequate enough there are only glimpses of the grandeur to come. . Back to Shang Chi and regrettably a lot of the remaining stories here are also pretty ordinary. Moench seems to be sleep-writing and the art, primarily by Mike Vosburg,, is not very exciting., The exception is the six part story The Blood From The Golden Dragon. While the plot is, to say the least, a bit ropey the art, by newcomer Rudy Nebres is a glorious improvement. True, sometimes perspective and anatomy suffer a little, but the overall effect is pleasingly creative and fluid. So, in conclusion, I would suggest that if you are new to Shang Chi you get hold of the first Shang Chi Master of Kung Fu Omnibus edition which is far superior to anything in this volume (and in full colour, and not so heavy) and only having read that decide if these nascent tales are for you. (unless of course you are a 70's kung fu / Bruce Lee fan; in which case you might just want to get this volume for the text articles!) and if you want to read some absolutely top notch Iron fist stories buy the ridiculously cheap Epic volume. (sadly, to the best of my knowledge, there are no really good Sons of the Tiger stories) I gave the book a 4 star rating but, if I'm honest, apart from it's historical / early works of value, it only rates about a 3and a bit.

Apart from the dust jacket and a few random pages, the entire omnibus (over 1,100 pages) is in Black & White. Thjis was never mentioned anywhere in the item description. What a disapointment, will re-sell it...