The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #22

Name: The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #22
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Mar 1976 · Marvel · 1.00 USD

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“To Storm the Gates of Hell”

★ 1st appearance — Jack of Hearts★ 1st appearance — Jack Hart

About this Issue

Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #22 (March 1976) is a double-barreled Bronze Age milestone: it delivers the first full appearance of Jack of Hearts — a character who would go on to headline his own mini-series and serve as an Avenger — while continuing the early adventures of Hector Ayala, the White Tiger, Marvel's first Hispanic superhero and what comics scholar Frederick Luis Aldama has called the first 'fully realized Latino superhero' in American comics. The issue's central story forces two landmark characters into immediate, charged conflict: Jack of Hearts, wrongly convinced that White Tiger murdered his father's killers, attacks Hector at precisely the moment Hector himself is piecing together that he and the White Tiger are the same person — a dramatic irony that crystallizes the street-level, socially conscious storytelling that set the magazine apart. Published in Marvel's black-and-white magazine format, outside the restrictions of the Comics Code, the issue exemplifies the creative latitude that allowed Mantlo and his collaborators to explore urban poverty, identity, and addiction in ways the color comics of the era rarely attempted.

writer Chris Claremont · artist, inker Rudy Nebres · cover Ken Barr

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The Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu Comic $65 1974-1977 The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Curtis Magazine Marvel Comics "YOU PICK!" $125

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History

The issue sits within the editorial tenure of Marv Wolfman, who oversaw Marvel's black-and-white magazine line and had tasked Bill Mantlo with transitioning Deadly Hands of Kung Fu away from the Sons of the Tiger toward a new lead in White Tiger. Mantlo later recalled that he and artist George Pérez worked with minimal oversight from Marvel's color-comics editorial department, giving them unusual creative freedom to shape Hector Ayala as a grounded Puerto Rican protagonist rooted in the South Bronx. For the White Tiger backup in this issue, Mantlo wrote alongside penciler Keith Giffen — an early high-profile assignment for Giffen, whose layouts were finished in ink by Rico Rival — while Chris Claremont and Rudy Nebres handled the concurrent Iron Fist lead story, and Pérez contributed a frontispiece poster. The cover was painted by Ken Barr.

Trivia · 9 facts

Cover date: March 1976; published by Curtis Magazines (a Marvel corporate sibling) as a black-and-white magazine, not subject to the Comics Code Authority.
First full appearance of Jack of Hearts (Jack Hart), created by writer Bill Mantlo and penciler Keith Giffen; he had appeared only as a silhouette in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #21.
First appearance of Nestor Ayala, Hector's brother, who appears in the White Tiger backup story.
The White Tiger backup story, titled 'Who Is the White Tiger?', is written by Bill Mantlo with breakdowns by Keith Giffen and finished inks by Rico Rival; letters by Karen Mantlo.
The Iron Fist lead story, 'To Storm the Walls of Hell!', is Part IV of the Firebird story arc, written by Chris Claremont with art by Rudy Nebres.
George Pérez contributed a black-and-white frontispiece/poster featuring the Sons of the Tiger and White Tiger; the cover was painted by Ken Barr.
Jack of Hearts is introduced as an antagonist who believes White Tiger is responsible for his father's murder; his hero origin is established in the following issue (#23).
The entire run of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, including this issue, was collected for the first time in the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Omnibus Vol. 2 (Marvel, 2017), which collects issues #19–33 and material from Bizarre Adventures #25.
Hector Ayala (White Tiger) was adapted for the MCU in Daredevil: Born Again (Disney+, 2025), played by Kamar de los Reyes, bringing renewed attention to his original Bronze Age stories.