Sunday, January 07, 2007

You would think karate-chopping a shark to death would be more impressive, somehow.
Take that, suspension of disbelief!

I thought I posted this before, when I was badmouthing his appearance in Brave and the Bold. Oh well. From Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter #6, "Island of the Inferno!" Written by Denny O'Neil, art by Ric Estrada and Wally Wood. Even with Wally Wood and Lady Shiva, Richard Dragon just doesn't seem to have the charisma of Marvel's kung-fu characters. Kind of telling that Shiva has gone on to more appearances.

Actually, I have the issue before this, which I believe is Shiva's first appearance. Spoiler warning: it's not very good. There's Shiva introduced under a fake name, to avenge the death of a sister that would never (to the best of my knowledge) be mentioned again. There's Dragon working for the curious organization GOOD ("No one knows what GOOD stands for--and maybe no one ever will!") although not only are their goals mysterious, but their agents are dicks. And I think there's a kung-fu death arena--with lasers! I might be misremembering, but that could only help this series.

Long story short: you'll see DC's Karate Kid series collected before Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter.

1 comment:

CalvinPitt said...

True, that shark-punching just isn't as cool as it ought to be.

At the end of the most recent Batgirl series, we learn that Cassandra's father, David Cain, is the one who killed Shiva's sister. This was part of an elaborate scheme to make her seek him out, seeking vengeance, because he wants to help her unleash her true potential ('cause she had been holding back for her sister's sake), and father his Ultimate Fighter Child, i.e, Batgirl.

I never considered the "sister dying" thing to be previously established. I thought Gabrych just came up with it as an explanation.