An Entire House of Assassins

Master of Kung Fu #105 (Marvel, October 1981, 50 cents)
"The Razor-Fist Connection" Writer: Doug Moench, Artist: Gene Day, Colors: C. Scheele, Letters: Jim Novak, Editors: Denny O'Neil and Jim Shooter.

The hero of the comic book is one Shang-Chi, son of Dr. Fu Manchu, and the series features supporting characters created by Sax Rohmer, who wrote 13 Fu Manchu novels between 1913 and 1959. This might be the first issue of this series that I've read despite having several in my collection. For some reason, I'd neglected it as a Bruce Lee knockoff and didn't know about the Rohmer connection. That connection is important. This title's pulp fiction lineage mught make it one of the longest-running tie-in or licensed comics, among Conan the Barbarian, Rom, and Star Wars.

The highlight of the issue is Gene Day's artwork. His line is quite fine; he can pack a lot into a panel without making it overly dense. But it is Day's sense of motion that impresses. Be it a person walking around another over the course of several panels, Shang-Chi jumping over a wall or his enemy Razor-Fist in combat, or Razor-Fist's blade slicing through air, Day's artwork is cinematic in style. He also knows how to anchor a page: the reflection of an anguished face, Pavane centered on an explosion, or Juliette sitting in a wicker (rattan?) chair. Day's figures move through the panels, and the panels move through the page.



As for story, Razor-Fist, working for the reportedly dead Carlton Velcro, search for Shen Kuei, Pavane, and Shang-Chi. He leaves Hong Kong for London, where he finds the latter two, as well as Leiko Wu. There are also parallel subplots detailing the background of Velcro and Razor-Fist, and an exchange between former MI-6 operative Nayland Smith and Fah Lo Suee, daughter of Fu Manchu.

The story is solid, even dropping in at #105, and Day's artwork is wonderful. The letter column features a note from T.M. Maple, whose comments are among the best in fan activity.

Master of Kung Fu #106 (Marvel, November 1981, 50 cents)
"The Assassin Master" Writer: Doug Moench, Artist: Gene Day, Inker: Armando Gil, Colorist: C. Scheele, Letter: Jim Novak, Editor: Denny O'Neil, Editor in Chief: Jim Shooter.

Another excellent issue featuring the artwork of Gene Day, this time with Armando Gil inks, a worthy combination.

After questioning Razor-Fist with Pavane, Shang-Chi and Leiko Wu continue to the Marquesas in search of Carlton Velcro's island base, "an entire house of assassins." They reach the mansion and take on Velcro's guards, then face another Razor-Fist (!!!) and Velcro himself, who proves himself a most disappointing employer.

Day's hallmark fluid motion throughout the page and dominant page anchors are wonderful, and the story resolves well.



Availability: Master of Kung Fu #105-106 are reprinted in Shang-Chi: Master of Kung-Fu Omnibus Vol. 4.

Heathphemera: Aug. 8, 2008

Written four days before I got married:

• Get suitcase
• Get car
• Call Becky
• Driving to Fort
• Go to bathroom
• Drive to hotel
• Lunch

Heathphemera: Aug. 7, 2008

Written five days before I got married:

1. Gift Police tickets
2. Pack for trip
3. Call car for 5:15 a.m.
4. Notebook guy coming at 8
5. Check hotel for gym
6. Set autorespond
7. Get Chris's mailing address

Packing

• Dop kit
• Suitcase
• Trunks
• 3 days clothes
• Boxers
• Socks
• Gym shoes
• Suit
• Shirt
• Tie
• Dress shoes

Newsprint Gourmet

Not infrequently, I cut recipes out of newspapers or tear them out of magazines, setting them aside for later use. I don’t always end up making them. This month, I did, making a recipe clipped from the Dec. 26, 2013, edition of Culver City News: Crispy chicken cutlets with pears and shallots. It’s a winner.

• Four small boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Salt and pepper
• ¼ cup flour 
• Olive oil
• Three tablespoons butter 
• Two shallots, thinly sliced 
• Two pears, peeled, cored, and cut to half-inch dice 
• ¾ cup chicken stock 
• One lemon, juice thereof 
• One teaspoon Dijon mustard 
• Four teaspoons chopped fresh thyme 
• Two tablespoons chopped parsley 
• Spinach 

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and coat with flour. Sauté in oil and butter until golden brown on both sides and cooked through. Transfer cooked chicken to a plate, warming in oven if necessary.

Cook the shallots and pears until lightly translucent and golden. Add the chicken stock, lemon juice, mustard, and any plate drippings. Simmer until the sauce reduces by half. Add the thyme and parsley, stirring in any remaining butter until just melted.

Meanwhile, wilt the spinach.

Spoon the sauce over the chicken cutlets and serve over wilted spinach.

(This previously appeared in Karma Lapel Vol. 3, No. 2. If you'd like to receive the perzine monthly, send me The Usual.)  

Hike of the Month: February 2014

On New Year’s Day, J. and I did our first walk from Charles Fleming’s book Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles. We chose Walk #40:Santa Monica—Rustic Canyon Loop, a three-mile loop that includes 1,069 stairs. (RunKeeper tells me it was 3.37 miles and two hours and 11 minutes, but we went off track a little toward the park along Ocean Avenue above the Pacific Coast Highway.

Parking in the pay lot between the beach and the PCH just south of Entrada Drive, we located the pedestrian tunnel and made our way to the first set of stairs. The two longest staircases—from East Ocean Avenue and Entrada Drive to Adelaide Drive (the latter set of 166 wooden stairs is particularly neat)—were relatively crowded with joggers and others exercising; the rest of the walk was calm.

The remaining staircases were less trafficked and felt almost private as they wended their way up and down between people’s homes, along fenced-in yards, and otherwise in between and behind residential buildings.

Along the way, we saw a Little Free Library on a small traffic island. Both of us stepped into its shadowy cool to browse, but we didn’t find anything worth taking with us. We also met a family doing much the same walk. The man had grown up in the area and was showing his wife and two young daughters the staircases, while sharing memories of having the run of them and the neighborhood as a child. It would be a neat place to grow up, for sure. We bumped into them again a
couple of times, once in an alleyway that featured a small trampoline.

J. and I found the staircases in the second half of the walk to be most interesting: more weathered and worn, less traveled, and going more interesting places. At the end, after 1,069 stairs, we were well ready for lunch when we returned to our starting point, taking another pedestrian tunnel back to the parking lot, the beach, and the ocean.

Recommendation for an after-hike repast: Patrick’s Roadhouse on Entrada at the PCH in Santa Monica. The homemade potato chips are delicious, but overly plentiful.

(This previously appeared in Karma Lapel Vol. 3, No. 2. If you'd like to receive the perzine monthly, send me The Usual.)

Comix Index: Rip Off Comix #2

Publisher: Rip Off Press, Inc.
Publication year: 1977 (includes material created between 1974-1977)
Cover price: $1
Purchased: For $8 at Dreamworld Comics

Cover
Wonder Warthog takes a block of stone from the Great Wall of China. Promotional boxes for other material within. (color, art assumed to be by the respective artists)

Interiors are black and white.

Inside cover
Griffith Observatory: "Kids of Today (Tsk, Tsk)" by Bill Griffith
"There's a time and a place for everything -- but for the kids of today (tsk, tsk), the time is always now and the place is always here."

Pp. 1-5
The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers: "Phineas Goes to the Store" by Gilbert Shelton (story by Don Baumgart)
"Wow! My very own head shop!"

Pp. 6-13
Dorman's Doggie By Foolbert Sturgeon
"Live outside! I thought outside was just a big open air potty!"

P. 14
Rowdy Noody By Justin Green
"I'd play a warped record over n' over again, and I wouldn't give the dirty bastid anything 'cept egg water and halvah until he croaked!"

P. 15
Griffith Observatory: "Religious Nuts" by Bill Griffith
"Boss, I can't do no diggin' today -- my chart says my 'air' sign is dominant so I'm goin' to the track!!"

P. 16
Nerds by Dave Sheridan
"Ha! How do we do that? The UFO Society won't even recognize us!"

P. 17
The Forty Year Old Hippie: "The Rip" by Ted Richards
"Sure! Me him! You want buy autograph poem? Me just publish. Fifty dollar money."

P. 18
The Adventures of Fat Freddie's Cat by Gilbert Shelton (two six-panel strips)
"That's a neat stunt, but how do you know that the car will swerve like that?"

P. 19
Griffith Observatory: "The Doomsters" by Bill Griffith
"Your tofu and yeast sandwich is ready... anything in the paper today?"

Pp. 20-24
Terror Under the Bed by R. Diggs
"Get out in that kitchen an' rattle those pots an' pan's!"

Pp. 25-28
The Year Is... 3711 by Dave Sheridan
"We don't know, sir! It just sort of oozed up out of the sewer, sir!" (best panel in the issue)

P. 29
The Forty Year Old Hippie by Ted Richards
"I'm sorry, but I think you've had enough!"
Business name: The Catharsis Coffeehouse

P. 30
The Casebook of Doctor Feelgood by Foolbert Sturgeon
"Things used to be a lot easier for guys like me... you beat up the bad guys and everybody liked you!"

P. 31
Griffith Observatory: "The Geniuses" by Bill Griffith
"An artist, eh? And he rented number nine for the weekend?"

Pp. 32-48
Wonder Warthog: "Epidemic" by Gilbert Shelton
"Just enough to cause a few isolated cases! Our P.R. department will take it from there!"

Inside back cover
Advanced Motoring Tips #149 by Gilbert Shelton
"Radio signals would be sent to change the lights in the vehicle's path. The transmitter would take coins."

Back cover
On a Perfectly Clear Day by Gilbert Shelton (color, house ad)
"If you look long and hard enough, it is said, you can see the back of your own head."

Beyond Petroleum

(Courtesy Howard Bloom)

Travis Millard: Authors@Google

I helped organize this talk by Los Angeles-area comics artist Travis Millard at work in Santa Monica. It took place in February 2010 and just hit YouTube recently.

Dennis Woodruff at the Post Office

Dennis Woodruff is a Hollywood icon of sorts. For the last few decades, he's been making homemade movies about himself and the Hollywood experience -- as well as his search for Hollywood experience. At first they were available on VHS -- I have a thrift store copy of Double Feature -- and now they're on DVD-R.

He sells them out of his art cars, and he'll sell them to you if he meets you on the street. A friend reports that he spends much of his time chatting up pretty girls and overdressed men in Hollywood cafes. Apparently, he also goes to the post office.

Here's what my wife learned about Woodruff while she stood in line ahead of him:

1. He'd like to meet Eddie Murphy.
2. He thinks black men might know Eddie Murphy and isn't too shy to ask them if that's the case. ("Ask for an introduction," he says.)
3. He's impatient. (He said, "If this line doesn't move any faster, I'm going to blow up this place."
4. He writes his URL on his bills when he pays them through the mail.
5. He considers talking to people in public being an entertainer.
6. He doesn't like to waste money on Express Mail and doesn't think you should either.

Ladies and gentlemen, Dennis Woodruff.

Sardonic Motto Card #1

The Greatest Salesman in the World

The first book I read in 2010 was a slim volume, the 111-page 1968 parable written by Og Mandino. I first -- and last -- read the book about eight years ago, near the end of January 2002, on the recommendation of a friend who sold faucets and fixtures for Kohler. I often pick up books on the suggestions of friends. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. With Mandino's classic motivational tale The Greatest Salesman in the World, even though I've read it twice, it's a mixed bag.

As a book, pure and simple, it's a quick read. I read it in one sitting yesterday evening before going to bed. It's a clear and clean story about a successful merchant more than 2,000 years ago -- and the lessons he learned that helped him become a success. The major themes are pretty basic Positive Mental Attitude stuff, with a Christian corollary (and Christmas tie-in!) thrown in for good measure. The main thing (though a minor thing) that rubs me the wrong way is the text's focus on business and sales as the vehicle for success. Readers should feel free to replace "salesman" with whatever they're striving to be the best of: father, husband, son, brother, worker, friend.

Mandino, who went on to author other similar books and become a sought-after motivational speaker, overcame a struggle with alcoholism by diving into some of the best PMA writers of the early 20th century: Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone, and Emmet Fox. In fact, this book so impressed Stone that he hired Mandino as editor of Success Unlimited magazine. Success Unlimited continues today in the form of Success magazine. You can learn more about Mandino's ideas thanks to Dave Blanchard's work.

Also of potential interest is the book's relationship to other business parables such as Animals Inc., Miller's Bolt, The Radical Edge, Sandbox Wisdom, and Who Moved My Cheese? I'm not the biggest fan of the subgenre, but if you're going to read one, go to the source.

Taking a Break

It's been a month since my last post, and I've decided that I'm going to take a blogging hiatus of indeterminate length. Rather than blogging, I'll be focusing my energies in participating in several print-based micromedia, including zines, amateur press associations, mail art, and related projects. I might post occasionally, but in general, there will be other places you can find me. If you're really curious what those are, let me know, and I'll point you in the right direction.