Bruce Lee has been portrayed in comics form in both comic books and syndicated newspaper strips.
Issue #28 of the Magazine Management black-and-white comics magazine The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu (Sept. 1976) was an all-Bruce Lee special, including a 35-page comic-format biography written by Martin Sands, and drawn by Joe Staton and Tony DeZuniga.
Al Davison produced a 32-page one-shot titled Bruce Lee: the Elusive Dragon, released by Warrior Publications in 1983.
Bruce Lee | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Malibu Comics [1] [2] |
Publication date | 1994 |
No. of issues | 6 |
Creative team | |
Written by | Mike Baron |
Artist(s) | Val Mayerik |
Collected editions | |
Bruce Lee | ISBN 978-1852866136 |
Bruce Lee was a 1994 six-issue comic book miniseries published by Malibu Comics and written by Mike Baron and illustrated by Val Mayerik. It focused on a fictional Bruce Lee character striving his way through gangs and rival dojo owners, while building a movie career. Malibu included a Mortal Kombat short story in the first and fifth issues. [1]
Writer Mike Baron had previously written three issues of the Green Hornet comic published by NOW Comics, about Lee's Kato in the 1966 TV show. Val Mayerik had previously illustrated the second Kato limited series (also published by NOW). Baron states inspiration for the comic came from the 1970s Marvel Comics series Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu . [3]
Titan Books collected the miniseries into a trade paperback, simply titled Bruce Lee, in 1995. The publisher Edizioni Star Comics translated the series into Italian for its ongoing series Mortal Kombat & Bruce Lee, published in 1995–1996.
In 2013, Bluewater Productions published Tribute: Bruce Lee, a one-shot comic book biography written by Chris Canibano and illustrated by Joon Han.
In 2016, Magnetic Press published four issues of Bruce Lee: The Dragon Rises, co-written by Lee's daughter Shannon Lee and Jeff Kline, and illustrated by Brandon McKinney. The fictional story takes places in 2012 with Bruce Lee escaping from a science lab. [4]
In 2018, Magnetic Press/Darby Pop Publishing released the one-shot Bruce Lee: The Walk Of The Dragon, also written by Shannon Lee.
The Legend of Bruce Lee | |
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Author(s) | Sharman DiVono |
Illustrator(s) | Fran Matera, Dick Kulpa |
Current status/schedule | Daily and Sunday; concluded |
Launch date | May 23, 1982 |
End date | 1983 |
Syndicate(s) | Los Angeles Times Syndicate |
Genre(s) | martial arts adventure |
The Los Angeles Times Syndicate launched The Legend of Bruce Lee comic strip, featuring fictional stories about the deceased actor and martial artist, in May 1982.
The syndicate had originally approached veteran comic strip creators Milton Caniff and Noel Sickles about doing a Bruce Lee strip in 1978. The project never got off the ground, and five years later the syndicate tried again. [5]
Intended for "downscale, . . . very young audiences", The Legend of Bruce Lee was intended to "help boost newspaper circulation by attracting younger or less well-educated readers who don't normally read newspapers". [6] It was written by Sharman DiVono (who herself had martial arts training), [7] and illustrated by Fran Matera [8] (with uncredited assists from Dick Kulpa).
The Legend of Bruce Lee only ran until late 1982 or early 1983. [5]
The strips were collected by Nostalgia World in 1983 in two 24-page magazine-sized issues. [9]
The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The character has been adapted for television, film and video games.
The Green Hornet is a superhero created in 1936 by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, with input from radio director James Jewell.
Howard the Duck is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik. Howard the Duck first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 and several subsequent series have chronicled the misadventures of the ill-tempered anthropomorphic animal trapped on a human-dominated Earth. Echoing this, the most common tagline of his comics reads 'Trapped In a World He Never Made!'.
Mandrake the Magician is a syndicated newspaper comic strip, created by Lee Falk before he created The Phantom. Mandrake began publication on June 11, 1934. Phil Davis soon took over as the strip's illustrator, while Falk continued to script. The strip was distributed by King Features Syndicate.
Kato is a fictional character from The Green Hornet franchise. This character has appeared with the Green Hornet in radio, film, television, book and comic book versions. Kato is the Green Hornet's crime-fighting sidekick, and Britt Reid's manservant in civilian life, and has been played by a number of actors. On radio, Kato was initially played by Raymond Hayashi, then Roland Parker who had the role for most of the run, and in the later years Mickey Tolan and Paul Carnegie. Keye Luke took the role in the movie serials, and in the television series, he was portrayed by Bruce Lee. Jay Chou played Kato in the 2011 Green Hornet film.
Stephen Ross Gerber was an American comic book writer and creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck. Other works include Man-Thing, Omega the Unknown,Marvel Spotlight: "Son of Satan", The Defenders,Marvel Presents: "Guardians of the Galaxy", Daredevil and Foolkiller. Gerber often included lengthy text pages in the midst of comic book stories, such as in his graphic novel, Stewart the Rat. Gerber was posthumously inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2010.
Black Fury is the name of several fictional comic book characters published in the Golden Age of Comics.
Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc. was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. Notable titles published by Malibu included The Men in Black, Ultraforce, and Night Man.
Bruceploitation is an exploitation film subgenre that emerged after the death of martial arts film star Bruce Lee in 1973, during which time filmmakers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea cast Bruce Lee look-alike actors ("Lee-alikes") to star in imitation martial arts films, in order to exploit Lee's sudden international popularity. Bruce Lee look-alike characters also commonly appear in other media, including anime, comic books, manga, and video games.
NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comic books.
Jungle Jim is the fictional hero of a series of jungle adventures in various media. The series began on January 7, 1934, as an American newspaper comic strip chronicling the adventures of Asia-based hunter Jim Bradley, who was nicknamed Jungle Jim. The character also trekked through radio, film, comic book and television adaptations. Notable was a series of films and television episodes in which Johnny Weissmuller portrayed the safari-suit wearing character, after hanging up his Tarzan loincloth. The strip concluded on August 8, 1954.
Reg'lar Fellers is a long-running newspaper comic strip adapted into a feature film, a radio series on the NBC Red Network, and two animated cartoons. Created by Gene Byrnes (1889–1974), the comic strip offered a humorous look at a gang of suburban children. Syndicated from 1917 to January 18, 1949, Byrnes' strip was collected into several books. Branding also extended to such items as baseball bats and breakfast cereal.
Val Mayerik is an American comic book and commercial artist, best known as co-creator of the satiric character Howard the Duck for Marvel Comics.
The Los Angeles Times Syndicate was a print syndication service that operated from c. 1949 to 2000. Owned by the Times Mirror Company, it also operated the Los Angeles Times Syndicate International; together the two divisions sold more than 140 features in more than 100 countries around the world. Syndicated features included Pulitzer Prize-winning commentators and columnists, full news and feature services, editorial cartoons and comic strips, online products and photo and graphics packages.
Hilary Barta is an American comic book writer and artist.
Francis A. "Fran" Matera was an American comic strip artist best known for his King Features Syndicate adventure strip Steve Roper and Mike Nomad from 1984 to 2004. In addition to his extensive experience in newspaper strips, Matera also spent many years in the comic book industry, particularly for Charlton Comics. His influences include Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, Milton Caniff, Al Capp, and Bud Fisher.
This is a list of comics regarding the Star Trek media franchise.
Miss Fury is a fictional superheroine from the Golden Age of Comics. She first appeared as The Black Fury on April 6, 1941, a Sunday comic strip distributed by the Bell Syndicate, and created by artist June Tarpé Mills. The strip was retitled Miss Fury in November 1941.
Martial artist and actor Bruce Lee has been subject to extensive media coverage.
The Green Hornet is an American action television series broadcast on ABC during the 1966–1967 television season, starring Van Williams as the Green Hornet/Britt Reid and Bruce Lee as Kato. It was produced and narrated by William Dozier.