Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #3
Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #3 (cover-dated March 1975) is a structurally pivotal chapter in the Shang-Chi mythos because it introduces Clive Reston — the MI-6 agent whose lineage was unmistakably designed to evoke both James Bond and Sherlock Holmes — as a permanent fixture in the supporting cast he would occupy for the remainder of the series. The issue also delivers a crucial retcon that cleared Shang-Chi of what many Sax Rohmer fans and the Rohmer Estate had loudly objected to: the apparent murder of Dr. Petrie in his very first adventure, here revealed to be an impersonation engineered by Fu Manchu, which simultaneously restored a licensed character and deepened the father–son deception at the core of the book. Taken together, the dual debut of Reston and Shadow Stalker alongside the Petrie revelation transformed the Giant-Size quarterly into a meaningful narrative engine rather than an extended side-story, cementing the Moench–Gulacy run's reputation as one of the Bronze Age's most cinematically sophisticated espionage comics.
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Doug Moench and penciler Paul Gulacy had been collaborating on the Shang-Chi franchise since late 1974, when Gulacy joined the main Master of Kung Fu title and Moench took over scripting duties for the Giant-Size companion series. The issue was released with a December 1974 on-sale date and a March 1975 cover date, inked by Vince Colletta, with Bill Mantlo credited as colorist and Tom Orzechowski as letterer — the cover itself was painted by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott, with Len Wein serving as editor. The Petrie retcon was not merely a storytelling choice: the Sax Rohmer Estate had formally complained to Marvel through the Society of Authors after Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin's inaugural Shang-Chi story appeared to kill off a licensed character without authorization, and Moench was tasked with crafting an in-continuity resolution. The issue's back-matter also reprints two complete stories from Jack Kirby's 1956 Atlas Comics series Yellow Claw #2 — relettered throughout to update Jimmy Woo's affiliation from the FBI to S.H.I.E.L.D. — continuing the Giant-Size format's function as a vehicle for reintroducing the Atlas-era Yellow Claw material to a 1970s readership.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Clive Reston, a British MI-6 agent created by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy who went on to become a central supporting character throughout the remainder of the Master of Kung Fu series.
- Clive Reston was deliberately coded as the son of James Bond and grand-nephew of Sherlock Holmes — strongly implied across multiple issues but never explicitly named due to copyright restrictions on both properties.
- First appearance of the real Doctor Petrie: the issue reveals that the Petrie whom Shang-Chi believed he had assassinated in Special Marvel Edition #15 was actually a Fu Manchu-created duplicate, and that the genuine Petrie had been held captive all along.
- First appearance of Shadow Stalker, a Si-Fan martial artist described as Fu Manchu's most trusted assassin, who recurs in the ongoing Master of Kung Fu series and is introduced here wielding a distinctive twin-mace weapon worn in his topknot.
- The new 40-page lead story by Moench and Gulacy is told in four titled chapters and spans New York, London, the British Museum, Scotland Yard, and a secret chamber beneath Buckingham Palace — a scope unusual for mid-1970s Marvel.
- The issue reprints two complete stories from Yellow Claw #2 (1956), with Jack Kirby as writer-artist on both, including 'Concentrate on Chaos!' featuring six reality-altering mutants; the reprints were relettered to reclassify Jimmy Woo as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent rather than the FBI operative he was in the original Atlas stories.
- The full creative credits for the lead story are: writer Doug Moench, penciler Paul Gulacy, inker Vince Colletta, colorist Bill Mantlo, letterer Tom Orzechowski, cover by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott, and editor Len Wein.
- The issue has been reprinted in the Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Omnibus Vol. 1 (Marvel, 2016) and in Master of Kung Fu Epic Collection Vol. 1: Weapon of the Soul (Marvel, 2018), making the lead story broadly accessible in collected editions.
Cast · 18 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
vs Fu Manchu. Dr. Petrie appears, alive. (Remember Shang Chi's first foray into the world was to assassinate Petrie, which he thought he did until this story.)
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).