Watching the Man with the Iron Fists got me thinking about the ways in which the west has viewed and tried to reproduce the martial arts in popular culture. From a cultural perspective there is something lost when designing or presenting martial artists to western audiences. This was most apparent in comic books. Characters like Judomaster and Shang-Chi got the ball rolling for young men just getting exposed to early martial arts cinema, and of course a lightning quick character named Kato in the Green Hornet TV series. Other characters were eventually introduced including the Iron Fist and Richard Dragon.
It could be argued that some writers and artists were "whitewashing" the martial arts and fighters so they would be more appealing to western audiences. The choice in costumes and character designs were dubious at best. Many heroes and villains looked like they were distilled from a mash of western comic book heroes like Spider-Man and the long-haired stars of Shaw Bros. Hong Kong films. The publishers were often making up scenarios and purposes for the heroes as they went along instead of embracing Eastern mythologies and cultures and trying to explain those to audiences. The esoteric fighting styles were often the selling points for these comics. They featured characters that could perform incredible things and didn't necessarily have the super powers associated with traditional comic book heroes. The idea that any person could become extraordinary by learning the techniques from the East was certainly appealing to young readers. It was something that made real fighters like Bruce Lee and awe-inspiring and even underground characters like Count Dante appear larger-than-life. They influenced several generations of fans in the west, including the Wu-Tang Clan.
RZA's film the Man with the Iron Fists was his take on the kung-fu genre. It featured characters and scenarios that were inspired by the classic films. Undoubtedly many of the designs had been floating around in the mind of the RZA for decades. As fun as the movie was I would hardly call it a martial arts classic. There was actually a title that I thought did a better job of paying homage to the classic kung-fu films while adding a twist of Hip Hop stylings as well. Kagan McLeods Infinite Kung Fu was possibly the best, non-Chinese, produced martial arts comic of the past decade.
Kagan, like the RZA, is an artist filled with tremendous love and knowledge of the classic films. He puts this to work in crafting a story that combines the modern zombie genre with classic kung-fu fable. He goes so far as to talk about the kung-fu immortals and then make contemporary representations of them. The setup of the story is simple. Due to conflict and disease there were too many souls sent to the afterlife. When hell filled up there was no place for the souls to go to so they returned to the mortal plane and became reanimated corpses. Bullets eventually ran, as did gas and oil out so humanity was forced to return back to traditional weapons and martial arts to fight off the hordes. A young soldier, Lei Kung inadvertently burnt the body of a person he assumed was dead to prevent him from returning from the dead. The body belonged to a Buddhist that was meditating and about to achieve true enlightenment. Lei is tasked with mending wrongs by putting an end to the all-powerful Emperor by the ghost of the monk.
The comics have a distinct flair. Kagan's style, his figure work and character designs are not unlike a graffiti artist. Lending a great deal of street vibe to the look of the comic. The characters are not all stylized after Shaolin heroes from the Hong Kong films, others looked like the afro-sporting characters from 1970's Blacksploitation movies in the US. This blend of Eastern and Western films must have influenced Kagan as a young man. The comic does have some graphic depictions of violence, as all good zombie books should. Some characters are torn apart in battle, others are devoured by zombies. Some of the special kung-fu techniques in the comic allow the martial artists to poison people and have them killed from the inside-out by centipedes. Remember that was the technique exploited by the classic villain Half-Iron Face from the film the Furious Buddha's Palm? The action is well staged and the characters are personable. On top of the violence and martial arts each comic is preceded by a review of a classic film or clever puzzle designed for kung-fu geeks.
The individual issues of Infinite Kung Fu are hard to track down. Thankfully readers can pick up the collected trade paperback or even download a copy for their mobile device from the publisher. There is even a forward written by the great Gordon Liu. The story, art and character designs from Infinite Kung Fu are perfect for a film. They tell a story that is rooted in multiple cultures and respectful of all the modern and classic influences. If the RZA or Tarantino decide to collaborate again then I hope they adapt this to the big screen.
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