Special Marvel Edition #15

History

Writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin originally pitched Marvel on adapting the television series Kung Fu into a comic, but Warner Communications owned those rights; DC Comics, approached first, passed on the concept entirely. When the duo brought the idea to Marvel, editor-in-chief Roy Thomas approved it on the condition that they incorporate Sax Rohmer's pulp villain Dr. Fu Manchu — a character Marvel then freshly licensed from the Rohmer estate specifically for this project — and that the new protagonist be depicted as half-white, the son of that villain. Starlin handled both plotting and penciling duties while Englehart wrote the script and also served as colorist; Al Milgrom inked the book, Gaspar Saladino lettered the distinctive splash page, and Tom Orzechowski handled the remaining pages. The issue repurposed the existing Special Marvel Edition anthology title, previously oriented toward reprint and romance material, to launch the new character — a notably unconventional launchpad — with Roy Thomas and Englehart contributing an in-issue text piece on the genesis of Shang-Chi in lieu of a letters column.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Shang-Chi (Master of Kung Fu), Marvel's first Asian lead superhero, created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin; cover-dated December 1973, on sale October 1973.
• First Marvel Comics appearances of Fu Manchu (here Shang-Chi's father), Sir Denis Nayland Smith, Tak, and the Si-Fan secret society — all characters rooted in Sax Rohmer's pulp novels, incorporated under a license Marvel secured from the Rohmer estate specifically for this series.
• The 'Dr. Petrie' who appears to be killed in this issue is later revealed to be a robot; the canonical, living Doctor Petrie does not make his first genuine appearance until Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #3.
• Full creative credits: Steve Englehart (plot, script, colors); Jim Starlin (plot, pencils, cover pencils); Al Milgrom (inks, cover inks); Tom Orzechowski (lettering, pages 2–19); Gaspar Saladino (lettering, splash page); Roy Thomas (editor).
• The series proper launched just two issues later: with issue #17 (April 1974), the title was retitled The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, running for 125 issues until June 1983. Englehart departed after issue #19; Starlin after #17.
• The issue was reprinted in black and white in The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #2 (June 1974), and again — this time in color — as part of the oversized tabloid Special Collector's Edition #1: Savage Fists of Kung Fu (1975). It is also collected in the Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu Omnibus Vol. 1 (2016) and the Master of Kung Fu Epic Collection Vol. 1: Weapon of the Soul (2018).
• The Fu Manchu licensing decision created a long-term reprint problem: when Marvel's license from the Rohmer estate lapsed after the series ended in 1983, stories featuring Fu Manchu — including this issue — became difficult to reprint legally for decades. Marvel eventually resolved this by retconning the character's name to Zheng Zu in Ed Brubaker's 2010 Secret Avengers run.
• Englehart derived the name 'Shang-Chi' from the I Ching, combining ideograms intended to mean 'the rising and advancing of a spirit,' a deliberate philosophical grounding that shaped the character's ethos from the outset.

Cast · 6 characters

Full credits

Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers