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Cover: Gil Kane & Frank Giacoia

Master of Kung Fu #38

Name: Master of Kung Fu #38
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Mar 1976 · Marvel · 0.25 USD

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“Cat”

★ 1st appearance — Juliette

About this Issue

Master of Kung Fu #38 marks the debut of Shen Kuei, alias the Cat — a morally ambiguous Hong Kong spy and martial artist whose skill rivals Shang-Chi's own, making him one of the most durable foils in the series' entire run. The issue also introduces Juliette, the British double agent whose love for the Cat drives the story's emotional core, and it opens the long 'Games of Deceit and Death' story arc (#38–50) that multiple critics have identified as the creative high-water mark of the Moench–Gulacy collaboration. Multiple reviewers across collector and literary sites have placed the two-part Cat storyline (concluded in #39) alongside Jim Steranko's Nick Fury run as a rare instance of genuine cinematic artistry within a Bronze Age Marvel comic. Issue #38 thus functions both as a key-character first-appearance issue and as the narrative gateway to the title's most celebrated era.

writer Doug Moench · writer, artist Paul Gulacy · inker Dan Adkins · colorist Petra Goldberg · letterer Annette Kawecki · cover Gil Kane, Frank Giacoia

ComicBooks.com Value

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CGC 9.8 · 5 in census $220

CGC 9.6 · 18 in census $77

CGC 9.4 · 7 in census $44

CGC 9.2 · 2 in census $34

CGC 9.0 · 2 in census $26

CGC 8.5 · 2 in census $24

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CGC 8.0 · 1 in census $21*

CGC 7.5 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 6.5 none in existence

CGC 6.0 none in existence

CGC 5.5 none in existence

CGC 5.0 · 1 in census $20

CGC 4.5 none in existence

CGC 4.0 none in existence

CGC 3.5 none in existence

CGC 3.0 · 1 in census $20*

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Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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FN/VF $3.48 VERY FINE $7.99 VF $14.4 Editions Heritage Master Of Kung Fu Hands Shang-Chi No. 38 1977 Very Condition $17.46

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History

By the time issue #38 was released with a cover date of March 1976 (on-sale December 9, 1975), writer Doug Moench and artist Paul Gulacy had been collaborating on the title since issue #22, steadily elevating it from a martial-arts-fad cash-in into a character-driven espionage thriller. The story was jointly plotted by Moench and Gulacy, with Moench alone handling the script — a collaborative approach that gave Gulacy unusual creative latitude to develop the book's distinctive photo-realistic, film-influenced visual style. Gulacy, a dedicated film buff, consciously modeled Juliette's look on Marlene Dietrich, embedding the same cinematic sensibility that defined his entire run. The issue was edited by Marv Wolfman, inked by Dan Adkins, colored by Petra Goldberg, and lettered by Annette Kawecki; the cover was drawn by Gil Kane with inks by Frank Giacoia and Danny Crespi.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Shen Kuei (the Cat), created by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy; cover-dated March 1976, on-sale December 9, 1975.
First appearance of Juliette, a British MI-5 counter-agent and nightclub singer who has fallen in love with the Cat — she is consciously designed by Gulacy to resemble Marlene Dietrich.
Story title is 'Cat' (alternately known as 'The Claws of the Cat'); plot by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy, script by Doug Moench alone; inked by Dan Adkins, colored by Petra Goldberg.
Shen Kuei is conceived as a structural mirror to Shang-Chi: a 'good bad guy' against Shang-Chi's 'bad good guy,' with a name whose meaning is described by sources as both similar and opposite to the hero's.
The issue opens the 'Games of Deceit and Death' arc (roughly #38–50), regarded by contemporary and retrospective critics as the finest sustained storyline of the Moench–Gulacy run.
Marv Wolfman served as editor; the cover was penciled by Gil Kane, inked by Frank Giacoia and Danny Crespi — a long-disputed credit that was resolved via Grand Comics Database correspondence.
An early attribution of inks by Jim Steranko on page 14 was publicly refuted by inker Dan Adkins in a letter printed in Amazing Heroes #167 (June 15, 1989).
The issue has been reprinted in: the French Eclipso anthology #74 (Q4 1980, black-and-white and reframed); Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Omnibus Vol. 2 (Marvel, 2016); and Master of Kung Fu Epic Collection Vol. 2: Fight Without Pity (Marvel, 2019). Shen Kuei later received an entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #1.