Archival Site 2004-2006 see See http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #3

YELLOW CLAW was one of the books that Kirby did during his short stint at what became Marvel in the mid-1950s, before his longer run there starting in the late 1950s. Kirby did three issues (#2 - #4), each with four short stories with FBI agent Jimmy Woo foiling the plans of the Yellow Claw, often aided by the Claw's very conflicted neice Suwan.

The stories in #2 were reprinted in two issues of GIANT-SIZE MASTER OF KUNG FU in the mid-1970s, although changing the lettering so that Jimmy is now an agent of SHIELD rather than the FBI.

The third issue reprinted "Concentrate on Chaos", which has the Claw using a a crew of six mutants with mental powers to create havoc in the US. Kirby gets to do a nice Dali-esque page to show that. The stories all end rather quickly and aren't that satisfying, but they do often have great visuals.




Also reprinted in this issue is an untitled story where Jimmy is convinced to trail Suwan to the Claw's HQ, only to be captured. For no good reason, the Claw just lets him go rather than killing him, but it's kind of interesting that they toss him out of a boat in giant bubble, given Kirby's later fascination with THE PRISONER.

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