Master of Kung Fu #34
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMaster of Kung Fu #34 is the second chapter of the celebrated three-part 'Mordillo's Island' arc — widely regarded by fans and critics as one of the creative high-water marks of Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy's Bronze Age run — in which Shang-Chi and Clive Reston navigate a surrealist funhouse island bristling with deadly toy-themed traps while Leiko Wu is held captive in a giant hourglass. The issue introduces Brynocki, Mordillo's shape-shifting robot henchman, a deliberately cartoonish creation whose visual contrast with Gulacy's hyper-cinematic realism made him one of the book's most memorable recurring supporting villains, returning in issues #73–75 and even #119. Adding a layer of publishing history to the story content, this is the first issue of the title to carry Marv Wolfman's editorial credit, marking his simultaneous assumption of the editor-in-chief role at Marvel Comics — a changing of the guard at the top of the company captured in a single issue's indicia.
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Writer Doug Moench and artist Paul Gulacy were already well into their critically admired collaborative stretch, having joined the series together around issue #22, by the time they conceived the 'Mordillo's Island' trilogy spanning issues #33–35 (cover-dated October–December 1975). Gulacy, a self-described film obsessive who modeled his characters on cinema icons and drew heavy inspiration from Jim Steranko, constructed Mordillo's island as a deliberate visual riff on the funhouse-island set piece from the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun — a connection noted by collectors and forum readers who observed that Mordillo and his dwarf-like robot Brynocki mirror the Scaramanga/Nick Nack dynamic. The issue was inked by Dan Adkins and colored by Janice Cohen, with lettering by John Costanza, and its cover was produced by Eli Katz and Al Milgrom. The editorial transition from Len Wein — who had served as editor-in-chief since 1974 — to Marv Wolfman, who moved over from Marvel's black-and-white magazine line when Wein departed, is formally logged beginning with this issue.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Brynocki (Earth-616): Mordillo's robot servant, designed to resemble a playful early-animation cartoon figure, debuting in this issue as the antagonists' whimsical henchman; he survived the trilogy and reappeared in issues #73–75 and #119.
- Carlton Velcro appears only in flashback in this issue — Brynocki screens film footage of Shang-Chi destroying Velcro's French operation (depicted in issue #31) — establishing narrative continuity between the Velcro and Mordillo story arcs. Velcro's first living appearance was in issue #29.
- First appearance of the Death-Hand weapon (Earth-616), a Marvel universe item introduced in this issue.
- The issue's story title is 'Cyclone at the Center of a Madman's Crown!' It was released August 12, 1975, with a November 1975 cover date.
- Creative team: Written by Doug Moench, penciled by Paul Gulacy, inked by Dan Adkins, colored by Janice Cohen, lettered by John Costanza; cover by Eli Katz and Al Milgrom.
- Beginning with this issue, Marv Wolfman took over as both the book's editor and editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, succeeding Len Wein who had held the EIC position since 1974.
- The issue is part of the three-part 'Mordillo's Island' arc (issues #33–35), in which the villain Mordillo — a mad inventor who maintains an elaborate funhouse island in the East China Sea — captures Leiko Wu and threatens to deploy a Solar-Chute weapon capable of stripping away sections of the ozone layer.
- The issue's content and characters were later reprinted as part of Marvel's Master of Kung Fu Epic Collection series (specifically the 'Fight Without Pity' volume), giving a new generation of readers access to the Moench/Gulacy run.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Meester der Kung Fu #13 (1976), Eclipso #73 (1980), Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Omnibus #1 (2016), Master of Kung Fu Epic Collection #2 (2019), Μάστερ Κούνγκ Φου [Master of Kung Fu] #20, Mestre do Kung Fu #8, Shang-Chi Maestro del Kung Fu #18
Key issues in Master of Kung Fu
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