I’m a big fan of Paul Gulacy’s art and absolutely love the particular issue - MOKF #40 - so naturally I watched your video with great interest hoping to experience your observations in regards to the beautifully inked pages. Gotta say I was disappointed. Right from page one, you had NO comment on this awesome title page. You could’ve mentioned Paul’s use of filmstrip sprocket holes as panel borders to reinforce Paul’s cinematic approach to his page layouts. Or, further in the book, note how he used Marlon Brando and Sean Connery as character models. And how those stunning likenesses are dead-on. You do mention the Bruce Lee inspiration - that’s good. And how his furniture and room designs are far more realistic and detailed than 99% of most Marvel artists working in the 70’s. I also liked how you focused on the one panel during a shoot-out action scene - a brilliant sequence - you really get a sense of movement frozen for just a moment in a frenzy of violence. I also would have appreciated your insights into how Paul inked these pages and got so much next level detail into his work. Anyway guys, thanks for covering Paul’s stuff. I like watching your videos because it’s great to see genuine artists commenting with both affection and professional knowledge of what goes into the creation of the art. One last thing, I’ve watched several of your videos and still have no idea what the name Kayfabe means. Just FYI. Thanks, guys.
One of the things that I enjoyed about Paul’s artwork was the way he would cast famous actors in the roles of his characters in the comic book. Look closely you can see Sean Connery you can see Marlon Brando you can see Bruce Lee…brilliant.
I can--and never will--get enough of Gulacy's all-too-brief run on Master Of Kung Fu! Gulacy's incredible artwork combined with Doug Moench's rock solid hard scripts were undoubtedly a perfect match!
I love this run. Gulacy’s splash pages alone are a treat - the best B-movie posters you could want. And for all of Moench’s verbosity, he plays with time and structure in this book in a way that was pretty unusual for mainline comics at the time.
Paul Gulacy was a dynamo during this period but only inks himself on very few occasions! Issues 29,The Crystal Connection is a favorite and is where the book really started to take a Espionage/James Bond direction! Doug Moench /Gulacy would work in 3 issue stories with fill in stuff between by different artists and Doug would write all of it! 40 is the beginning of a magnum opus where all the pieces of previous stories would come together! Gulacy was fortunate to get a great inker like Dan Adkins or Pablo Marcos but most times very uneven ink jobs! Nature of the beast monthly shit grind especially in the 70’s!🎯👍😎
For the next stage of Gulacy's evolution as an artistic giant see "Six From Sirius" vol 1 and 2 where Paul not only draws and inks his art but he colours it as well - by hand! Blew my socks off when I picked up these issues back in the day.
I'm glad Ed mentioned Petra Goldberg's coloring. I first noticed her work on Kirby's Black Panther #2 (let's hear it for the dollar bin!) She really seemed to put a lot of thought into her choices and got the most out of that limited palette of colors. It's always a treat to pick up a Bronze Age book and see her name in the credits. Gulacy is awesome as well, but I most appreciate him for the huge influence he had on Steve Rude's work.
Check out the Graphic Novel SABRE (1978) by Don McGregor and artist Paul Gulacy. Gulacy inked hit himself and it's amazing. He also based the main Hero look like off Jimi Hendrix.
Fantastic. I’d like to see you guys look over the issues immediately before this one. Shang-Chi encounters The Cat. When I was 7, I was given the first of the 2 issue arc. I couldn’t make sense of the story for years but the art always captivated me.
Steve Engleheart and Jim Starlin created Shang Chi and did the first few issues before Moench took over. But it started at #15 and was converted to Shang Chi from a different Marvel title.
Shang-Chi made his debut in Special Marvel Edition #15 in the summer of 1973. Special Marvel Edition was originally an anthology title reprinting old Thor and Sgt. Fury issues, if my memory serves me correctly...once the martial arts chopsocky fad was in full swing, Marvel eliminated the reprints and changed the title of the series from Special Marvel Edition to Master Of Kung Fu beginning with the seventeenth issue in early 1974.
Love love love his work! A good one to find are the 2 issues of Nightmares published by Eclipse in the late 80s that collected some of his Eerie work. Tight!
I wonder if the writers felt like they had to put more words on the pages and extend the reading experience in order to give the reader the feeling that they were getting their money’s worth-especially since they seemed to be aiming at a slightly older audience. The art style and the density of the text both communicate: “Hey Billy, this comic may not be what you’re looking for.” However, they probably also knew that a certain percentage of kids would pick it up because they wanted to read something with the sheen of something more mature.
Indisputable that he is at his best when inking himself. However, somehow, someway, I really like in his later work when Palmiotti inks him. I don't have anything against Palmiotti, but his inking work usually does nothing for me, but it really goes well with Gulacy's wonky style you start seeing post 2000ish.
Engleheart and Sterling created Shang Chi, but there would be no movie without Moench and Gulacy. They took the characters to a movie legacy. Although The movie sucked, because they were fearful of Fu Manchu. FM may have been stereotypical in the past, but in the 70s and 80s ( during MOKF)he became a “Darth Vader”, and a bad ass villain. He was worthy to show the ingenuity and intelligence of Chinese and Chinese Americans. Not a evil China man. Respectfully please consider and correct me. Thanks And no, I have never read a Fu Manchu book… neither have I read many other books that were extremely racist of that area.
This was the Shang-chi that I wanted to see on the big screen!
I’m a big fan of Paul Gulacy’s art and absolutely love the particular issue - MOKF #40 - so naturally I watched your video with great interest hoping to experience your observations in regards to the beautifully inked pages. Gotta say I was disappointed. Right from page one, you had NO comment on this awesome title page. You could’ve mentioned Paul’s use of filmstrip sprocket holes as panel borders to reinforce Paul’s cinematic approach to his page layouts. Or, further in the book, note how he used Marlon Brando and Sean Connery as character models. And how those stunning likenesses are dead-on. You do mention the Bruce Lee inspiration - that’s good. And how his furniture and room designs are far more realistic and detailed than 99% of most Marvel artists working in the 70’s. I also liked how you focused on the one panel during a shoot-out action scene - a brilliant sequence - you really get a sense of movement frozen for just a moment in a frenzy of violence. I also would have appreciated your insights into how Paul inked these pages and got so much next level detail into his work. Anyway guys, thanks for covering Paul’s stuff. I like watching your videos because it’s great to see genuine artists commenting with both affection and professional knowledge of what goes into the creation of the art. One last thing, I’ve watched several of your videos and still have no idea what the name Kayfabe means. Just FYI. Thanks, guys.
Finally! Paul Gulacy! Thank you for covering him
One of the things that I enjoyed about Paul’s artwork was the way he would cast famous actors in the roles of his characters in the comic book. Look closely you can see Sean Connery you can see Marlon Brando you can see Bruce Lee…brilliant.
I can--and never will--get enough of Gulacy's all-too-brief run on Master Of Kung Fu! Gulacy's incredible artwork combined with Doug Moench's rock solid hard scripts were undoubtedly a perfect match!
5:25 - The James Larner character looks more than a bit like 'A Streetcar Named Desire' era Marlon Brando...
I love this run. Gulacy’s splash pages alone are a treat - the best B-movie posters you could want. And for all of Moench’s verbosity, he plays with time and structure in this book in a way that was pretty unusual for mainline comics at the time.
Guy in the white shirt is definitely Marlon Brando!
Paul Gulacy was a dynamo during this period but only inks himself on very few occasions! Issues 29,The Crystal Connection is a favorite and is where the book really started to take a Espionage/James Bond direction! Doug Moench /Gulacy would work in 3 issue stories with fill in stuff between by different artists and Doug would write all of it! 40 is the beginning of a magnum opus where all the pieces of previous stories would come together! Gulacy was fortunate to get a great inker like Dan Adkins or Pablo Marcos but most times very uneven ink jobs! Nature of the beast monthly shit grind especially in the 70’s!🎯👍😎
Paul Gulacy, great artist and very cool man. I still want him to draw my Madame X cover.
Love Paul Gulacy's Master of Kung Fu's run, excellent comic and story! His Sabre was great too! His comics feel like paper movies.
Gulacy inked himself on his first DC job, Batman 393-394, written by Moench. Whenever he inked, you could feel the air grow colder...
I had those comics. I loved Gulacy's art. I never understood the marketing behind them. The cover is so important to sales.
My intro to PG was Prey from Legends of the Dark Knight..I was in awe!
Feat. Marlon Brando at the bottom of pg.15
For the next stage of Gulacy's evolution as an artistic giant see "Six From Sirius" vol 1 and 2 where Paul not only draws and inks his art but he colours it as well - by hand! Blew my socks off when I picked up these issues back in the day.
I originally bought this issue off the spinner rack, and wore it out several times! Amazing work!
I'm glad Ed mentioned Petra Goldberg's coloring. I first noticed her work on Kirby's Black Panther #2 (let's hear it for the dollar bin!) She really seemed to put a lot of thought into her choices and got the most out of that limited palette of colors. It's always a treat to pick up a Bronze Age book and see her name in the credits. Gulacy is awesome as well, but I most appreciate him for the huge influence he had on Steve Rude's work.
Check out the Graphic Novel SABRE (1978) by Don McGregor and artist Paul Gulacy. Gulacy inked hit himself and it's amazing. He also based the main Hero look like off Jimi Hendrix.
Fantastic. I’d like to see you guys look over the issues immediately before this one. Shang-Chi encounters The Cat. When I was 7, I was given the first of the 2 issue arc. I couldn’t make sense of the story for years but the art always captivated me.
Steve Engleheart and Jim Starlin created Shang Chi and did the first few issues before Moench took over. But it started at #15 and was converted to Shang Chi from a different Marvel title.
Shang-Chi made his debut in Special Marvel Edition #15 in the summer of 1973. Special Marvel Edition was originally an anthology title reprinting old Thor and Sgt. Fury issues, if my memory serves me correctly...once the martial arts chopsocky fad was in full swing, Marvel eliminated the reprints and changed the title of the series from Special Marvel Edition to Master Of Kung Fu beginning with the seventeenth issue in early 1974.
Love love love his work! A good one to find are the 2 issues of Nightmares published by Eclipse in the late 80s that collected some of his Eerie work. Tight!
Yep. My favorites are his Warren stories and his Black Widow story for Bizarre Adventures.
yep watching this later today
Can you sometime cover Carl Barks' Only a Poor Old Man it's one of my favorite comics ever and I need more people to talk about it
I wonder if the writers felt like they had to put more words on the pages and extend the reading experience in order to give the reader the feeling that they were getting their money’s worth-especially since they seemed to be aiming at a slightly older audience. The art style and the density of the text both communicate: “Hey Billy, this comic may not be what you’re looking for.” However, they probably also knew that a certain percentage of kids would pick it up because they wanted to read something with the sheen of something more mature.
It looks like Steranko and I think I thought it WAS
No shade because God knows I need to use reference, but does anyone else see Sean Connery and Marlon Brando in those faces?
Not a total surprise, considering the fact that Gulacy was a film buff; hell, he modeled his rendition of Shang-Chi after Bruce Lee, for God's sake.
Indisputable that he is at his best when inking himself. However, somehow, someway, I really like in his later work when Palmiotti inks him. I don't have anything against Palmiotti, but his inking work usually does nothing for me, but it really goes well with Gulacy's wonky style you start seeing post 2000ish.
I can't believe I just found this channel, subscribed!
Welcome!
Engleheart and Sterling created Shang Chi, but there would be no movie without Moench and Gulacy. They took the characters to a movie legacy. Although
The movie sucked, because they were fearful of Fu Manchu. FM may have been stereotypical in the past, but in the 70s and 80s ( during MOKF)he became a “Darth Vader”, and a bad ass villain. He was worthy to show the ingenuity and intelligence of Chinese and Chinese Americans. Not a evil China man. Respectfully please consider and correct me. Thanks
And no, I have never read a Fu Manchu book… neither have I read many other books that were extremely racist of that area.
THIS IS THE REAL SHANG-CHI! the film is an abomination!