DC looked upon the Kung Fu craze of the early 1970's and saw that it was good. And then in 1975 when the fad was in retreat, they decided to dive in. Their offering was Richard Dragon Kung-Fu Fighter. This was a series created by Denny O'Neill and in its earliest days was drawn by a wildly disparate range of artists, including the legendary Jack Kirby.
Richard Dragon though did not come from nowhere. It's source is Kung Fu Master Richard Dragon -Dragon's Fists, a novel written by "Jim Dennis" in 1974. "Jim Dennis" was Denny O'Neill and Jim Berry, a cartoonist famous for his long-running Berry's World feature.
That novel (more or less) supplied the story for the first four issues of the comic book. The first issue was written by Denny O'Neill. O'Neill wrote all the issues save for a couple during the original run. The first artist to tackle the series was Leo Duranona. We meet Richard Dragon, a spiteful teen-age orphan and thief who is taken in by the martial arts master O-Sensei and another young student named Ben Turner. These two men study under O-Sensei for six years and then are sent off into the world to do good. They encounter an organization named G.O.O.D. (we are never told what that represents) led by a character named Barney Ling. He recruits them to put an end to a white slaver overseas.
The artists for the second issue are Alan Weiss and Jim Starlin with Carl Potts pitching in. In this tale Richard and Ben encounter a young woman named Carolyn Woosan, who is O-Sensei's goddaughter. She is being pursued by "The Swiss" and international villain who wears only white suits and is particularly vicious. Ben is shot in the leg so it's up to Richard to save Carolyn.
The third artist to tackle the series in as many issues is Jack "King" Kirby inked by D. Bruce Berry. Somehow or other this book fell into his lap as he was wrapping up his time at DC and was in need of pages to fulfill his contract. In this story we first learn of the jade claw necklace that Richard wears which when stroked the right way gives him extra power. He attacks the Swiss's hideout but fails to save Carolyn or capture he Swiss after a massive explosion.
In the fourth issue we finally get an art team that will linger for more than one issue. Ric Estrada steps into the position, supplying layouts for Wally Wood and his studio. While Ben Turner recovers from his leg wound Richard once again tracks down the Swiss and attempts to free Carolyn but there is a tragic turn of events. And that wraps up the first saga.
It is to be noted that Dick Giordano has done all but one cover for the series and they look great. It's truly unfortunate that he or Frank McLaughlin couldn't have been available for the insides of the book at some point. In the fifth issue, the first not to adapt the novel, we meet Carolyn Woosan's sister Sandra who is upset about the fate of her sister. Ben is recovering still and has found some romance at the Dojo. The man who hired the Swiss is named Guano Cravat and he tricks Sandra into fighting Richard under the identity of "Lady Shiva".
Barney Ling of G.O.O.D. shows up again and employs Richard and Lady Shiva in a mission concerning a nuclear bomb. Barney thinks it's a good idea to drop said bomb into an active volcano. On the same island as the volcano is "Slash" the leader of a gang of pirates who knock down planes with a giant magnet. (Goofy enough for you yet.) Despite all this madness Richard and Shiva survive.
Ben is still on the mend. (Actually, he seems to have taken a backslide since he's on crutches again.) So once again he is sidelined while Richard and Shiva take on Guano Cravat and his new partner Dr. Moon who supplies him with super-powerful henchmen.
Slash is back and he schemes to trap Lady Shiva and Richard in a trap which will blind them, making them open to his attacks. But Richard is able to tap into the O-Sensei's training which included dealing with the loss of the senses. Despite my adoration of Wally Wood, I must say the inking in these last several issues has been sleek but uninteresting. There has been little depth to the art.
That changes in the ninth issues which sees Ric Estada come out in a blaze of glory doing both pencils and inks. This might be my favorite issue so far, largely due to Estrada's extremely energetic artwork. In this one Richard, a recovered Ben and Shiva investigate a strange villain who dubs himself "The Preying Mantis".
Alas, the art takes a slide back when Jack Abel joins up as inker. In a strange story in which Ben gets some land deep in logging territory, he and the gang come up against a baddie named "Hatchett" who does his best to chop up our heroes to keep them from claiming the land. Ben meets up with his nephew who has lost his mother thanks to Hatchett and his gang. Richard is hurt when he is forced to run through some fire.
The next issue begins with Richard in the hospital when a Samurai attacks Ben for reasons unknown. This issue was guest-edited by Gerry Conway and scripted by David Anthony Kraft, who will also write the next issue. The trio head to Barney Ling for answers and are sent to China to stop a scheme called "Moonage Daydream". There is much intrigue and betrayal as the trio parachute into China and weirdly find themselves fighting a samurai.
Under a cover by Jose Delbo, we get the end of the China story. Jack Abel is still inking Estrada's pencils with diminishing effects. Our heroes encounter a villain named Madame Sun and an unreliable agent named Blodwyn. In a story which seems to ramble along and then wrap up with incredible speed, they bring down the plot and save the day. Ben alas after all this still doesn't know who is trying to kill him.
Ernie Chan and Vince Colletta gives us the next cover. Inside Ric Estrada is unleashed again and the art looks wonderful. Ben is gunned down at the opening of the story and will spend the next several issues recovering from that. O'Neill seems intent on keeping Ben Turner out of the mainstream of the adventures, preferring to have Lady Shiva be Richard Dragon's partner. Ben has been poisoned and the source seems to be a chap named Viper who is hidden in Mongolia. Using the resources of G.O.O.D. Shiva and Richard head there and fight furiously but with little effect.
Then in a bit of cross-promotion The Brave and Bold gives us a teaming of Batman and Richard Dragon by Bob Haney and Jim Aparo. In this one an assassin named "The Stylist" is after Richard on the behalf of a villain who is scheming to keep a fortune which he imagines might be willed to Richard by an eccentric billionaire Richard assisted a year before. This is not one of Haney's better efforts but Aparo's art always looks magnificent.
Rich Buckler is the cover artist in the next regular issue (and the next one as well) in which Richard Dragon must battle a man who claims to have been trained by Bruce Lee. It's 1977 and this martial arts comic is finally getting around to referencing the source of the Kung Fu fad who had died four years before. After much bumbling around Ben is saved from the poison.
The Axeman cometh in a story which sees Ben Turner seek the hand of a lovely young woman we've seen just once before I think named Janey. During an attack on Janey's Dad she is killed and Ben swears vengeance. Ben and Richard go Ninja to try and stop the theft of a submarine which might be linked to the attack and learned startling news about who was behind the attack. Estrada is still unrestrained and the book is looking excellent at this point.
Al Milgrom steps into supply the next two covers for the series. Richard and Ben and Lady Shiva head to the Arctic to try and capture the villains who have stolen a submarine. We meet the leader of our gang of miscreants who goes by the name of "Professor Ojo" and who wears a stupid looking hat he calls the "Orb-Helmet".
Our team battle ferocious Killer Eskimos and other villains. They are set upon by a hailstorm of knives directed by magnetic power which Professor Ojo controls. In the end they end a world threat to shipping but the villains escape. Ben stays behind to look for the killers of his beloved Janey. Richard and Shiva return to NYC.
In the final issue of the run, sporting a cover by Rich Buckler we see that Ben Turner is captured by the villainous Professor Ojo but then seemingly killed when the Arctic base explodes. Richard is distraught and falls apart in the months which follow over the loss of his friend. He eventually enters a martial arts tournament which has some unsavory aspects and encounters a fighter named the Bronze Tiger. It will come as a shock to no one that the Bronze Tiger is Ben who has been brainwashed since falling into the hands of the ultimate villain, the man who has been trying to kill him all along. But the series comes to an abrupt halt, and that mystery will have to linger.
Then in 1981, nearly three years after the last issue of Richard Dragon Kung Fu Fighter we find out what happed in a series titled appropriately enough "Whatever Happened To,,," which appeared in the back pages of DC Comics Presents. In issue thiry-nine of that comic in a story by Mike Barr and Alex Saviuk, we find out that Barney Ling was the man behind the curtain all along and had been using Bronze Tiger for his own purposes. Apparently G.O.O.D. didn't live up to it's anagram.
Richard Dragon Kung Fu Fighter is a breezy read which gives some mild attention to the details of martial arts. What we really have is a character who seems to know anything he needs to know whenever he needs to know it. It serves the purposes of the plot but does make a mangle of the martial arts aspect of the series. I do love the partnership between Richard and Lady Shiva, who fight together many more times than do Richard and Ben. After introducing him, O'Neill seems to want to get Ben off stage as quickly as possible in most stories. He comes back in the last several issues of the run, but with mixed effect. I'm used to series from the Bronze Age to have a feeling of haphazardness in plotting and direction, but that's usually because of changes in the creative team. Aside from two issues O'Neill writes them all and after the first three Ric Estrada draws them all, but the direction of the series still feels wobbly. It was strange to read a novel adaptation which was drawn by four different talents. I do enjoy Estrada's artwork though, especially when he inks himself, the high point of the series for this reader.
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