Deadly Hands: Martial Arts in Comic Books
Savage Fists of Kung Fu
Deadly Hands: Martial Arts in Comic Books by Jerry Whitworth
Martial arts have existed for almost as long as humanity has existed. Defined most simply as a combat-based fighting system, martial arts is a broad, sweeping term encompassing so-called Western martial arts like wrestling, boxing, and Savate and so-called Eastern martial arts like Karate, Kung Fu, Judo, and Muay Thai. However, earliest known martial arts regardless of its region of the world resemble wrestling and boxing (such as those used in the ancient Olympic games of Greece) and today blending of different martial art styles such as in Jeet Kune Do, American Kenpo, and Mixed Martial Arts make the distinction rather moot. Though, the term martial arts generally encompass in the mind of most people as the described Eastern forms, which will be the basis of this piece, it will be the term most often employed in this manner. That said, a number of early comic book heroes like Batman, Wildcat, and Captain America employed boxing, wrestling, and tumbling/acrobatics. Further, various early characters in mediums like comic strips, pulp novels, and serial radio programs like the Shadow, Green Hornet’s Kato, and Mandrake the Magician’s Hojo employed Eastern styles but they often were generalized (writers hearing of stuff like Karate and Kung Fu but knowing too little to describe them); such was the same with early comic book characters like the Sandman, Doctor Mid-Nite, and Captain Marvel’s enemy Nippo (in the Silver Age, there was also others like Doctor Strange, Mandarin, Karate Kid, Peter Cannon – Thunderbolt, and Judomaster). Where martial arts became a point of interest in American comics generally line up with what was called the “Kung Fu craze.”
Read MoreArrow: From Page to Screen
Arrow: From Page to Screen by Jerry Whitworth
Arrow
This Fall, DC Comics’ Green Arrow property is being adapted for the CW television series Arrow. In this adaptation, the series follows the basic premise of Green Arrow where the affluent Oliver Queen is marooned on an island over the course of several years where he learns to adapt by discovering a natural affinity with a bow and arrow. Eventually, Queen would gain rescue and return to Star City where he uses his fortune to begin a war on crime as the Green Arrow. Where the television series diverges is that Queen inherits his father’s sins, having grown his fortune through corruption and regretting these choices at his demise as part of the series of events that left Queen on the island. With a book outlining the names of his father’s associates in hand, Queen seeks to take down all those that fostered his father’s villainous ways. Green Arrow was previously featured in the CW television series Smallville. Several supporting cast members of the Green Arrow series will have roles adapted for the series.
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