Today is Bill Mantlo‘s 56th birthday, and in celebration of a guy who characterizes the two-fisted comics of Friday Night Fights more than anyone else (with the possible exception of Bahlacus), the ISB proudly presents this sequence from Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #19, starring Mantlo and a little-known artist called George Perez:
And now, this week’s Friday Night Fight, from the same:
Nobody brings the ruckus like Mantlo!
And That’s REAL!
Sadly, the stories of DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU have never been collected, but you can celebrate the career of Marvel’s face-kickingest writer in the pages of The Champions
STAMMM!!
It makes my night knowing that Bill Mantlo in the 70’s was a kung fu Geddy Lee.
I know so little about the work of Bill Mantlo other than what I’ve learned here at the ISB. Which one of the collections would you suggest I get? I’m thinking Power Man and Iron Fist since you turned me onto the current Iron Fist.
Poor Bill. He was one of my favorite comic writers growing up.
Where’s my Rocket Raccoon trade Marvel? Mantlo’s favorite furry son and the break out star of Annihilation: Conquest needs a trade!
Drat. I was hoping for “Bob Diamond vs. Abe Lincoln”.
(And Lin Sun appears to be missing from these panels. Invisible force field?)
Lin Sun is present during the fight, and since he’s referred to in the dialogue (as the “chinaman” that’s making Bob Diamond so mad), I thought it was best to include him.
So, Mantlo, would you say that everybody is kung-fu fighting?
Man, there so needs to be a Sons of the Tiger comeback. Aren’t the Enforcers in the mix again? There’s a rockin’ Iron Fist book out, a good deal of nostalgia for the late ’60s/early ’70s era of Marveland just a general openness for kicks to the face amongst the readership.
I’d like to see a SOTT reunion – maybe in Heroes For Hire, if just to make it an interesting book finally – perhaps even more than I long for the return of U.S. 1 AND Team America. Am I the only one?
No chance the STAMMMM! ends in “INA” off the crop, is there?
Oh well, still awesome!