The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #8
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeIssue #8 marks the first appearance of Lotus Shinchuko, who immediately becomes a permanent fourth member of the Sons of the Tiger's supporting cast and a catalyst for the romantic tensions that would eventually fracture the team. The issue also delivers a rare crossover cameo from Matt Murdock into the kung-fu magazine corner of the Marvel universe, quietly demonstrating how the black-and-white magazine line was weaving its own continuity threads. Published outside the Comics Code Authority, the book gave Bill Mantlo and a young George Pérez room to tell a grittier, more street-level superhero story than the color comics of the era permitted. It stands as an early showcase for Pérez's ability to choreograph martial-arts action across the page, years before he would transform into one of Marvel's most celebrated pencilers.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue carried a January 1975 cover date but was released in early December 1974, edited under the oversight of Don McGregor (who held editorial duties on issues #7–8) with Marv Wolfman serving as editor-in-chief of the Magazine Management line. The black-and-white magazine format, published through Magazine Management — a corporate sibling of Marvel Comics — freed the creative team from Comics Code restrictions and allowed the book to operate as a genuine anthology, pairing a Doug Moench–written Shang-Chi story (drawn by Mike Vosburg and Jack Abel) with Mantlo and Pérez's Sons of the Tiger feature. Bob Larkin, then becoming the defining painted-cover voice of Marvel's magazine division, provided the cover art.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Lotus Shinchuko, who becomes a recurring supporting character in the Sons of the Tiger storyline beginning with this issue.
- The Sons of the Tiger feature, 'A Storm of Vengeance,' is written by Bill Mantlo with art by George Pérez and Al Milgrom — an early Pérez credit on the series.
- The Shang-Chi story, 'A Hatred for All Seasons,' is written by Doug Moench with art by Mike Vosburg and Jack Abel.
- Matt Murdock (Daredevil's alter ego) appears in the Sons of the Tiger story, crossing Marvel's street-level heroes into the kung-fu magazine universe.
- Harrison Budge dies in this issue, per the Grand Comics Database character index.
- The Midnight Slasher makes his first and only appearance, also dying in the Shang-Chi segment of this issue.
- Cover by Bob Larkin, whose painted covers were becoming the visual signature of Marvel's black-and-white magazine line in the mid-1970s.
- Stories from this issue were later collected in the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Omnibus Vol. 1 (Marvel, 2016), which gathers issues #1–18 of the original run; individual stories were also reprinted in German (BSV-Williams, 1976) and Australian (K.G. Murray) editions.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Die tödlichen Hände des Kung Fu #4 (1976), The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #7 (1976), Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Omnibus #1 (2016), Mästaren på karate #4/1975
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