The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu

The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu

Issue #17 (Oct. 1975). Painted cover art by Neal Adams.
Editor	Various
Categories	Martial Arts
Frequency	Monthly
Year founded	1974
Final issue — Number	1977 33
Company	Magazine Management
Country	United States

The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu was an American black-and-white, martial arts comics magazine published by Magazine Management, a corporate sibling of Marvel Comics. From 1974 a total of 33 issues were published from 1974 to 1977, plus one special edition. Additionally, a color Marvel comic titled simply Deadly Hands of Kung Fu was published as a 2014 miniseries.

The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu was published in the mid-to-late 1970s by Magazine Management, a corporate sibling of Marvel Comics, amid the martial-arts movie fad of the time. Launched in 1974 as part of Magazine Management's line of black-and-white comics magazines, it ran 33 issues through 1977. Recurring characters included:

Each issue had comics stories featuring these characters, both single issue stories and multi-issue arcs. Most issues also included a review of a recent martial-arts film. Other issues had interviews with martial-arts instructors, while others had interviews with movie or television celebrities related to martial arts.

Early issues had a martial-arts instructional section which described some elementary fighting techniques. These were provided by comics illustrator/martial artist Frank McLaughlin. The magazine was in black-and-white except for the cover. The cost of the magazine was 75 cents for issues #1–14. Issue #15 was a "Super Annual" (all reprints) issue and cost $1.25. Issues #16–33 were $1.00, as well as the 1974 Kung Fu Special (Summer 1974; cover-titled Special Album Edition: The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. Issue #28 (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.