Well, they do know Kung Fu. Made up kung fu, but kung fu.
Monday, March 12, 2012
The Invincible Four of Kung Fu & Ninja #1
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102 comments:
Hmmmm...I thought Manhwa was for Korean "Manga", is it also for Chinese comics?
Regarding the "fire" around the spear, I believe it's more of a decorative design of having feather like stuff around it. At least this I see a lot in some kung fu movies. Could be wrong though.
Great to see Dschinghis Khan in a video. Also it was odd that you didn't make fun of Kim saying "By careful" with Poor Literacy
O____O
Not sure if ending was legit story segment or just comedy. Still funny, I'm just hoping we don't get an "evil ninja empire" arc. I'm excited for the magic gun war thing you've hinted at.
"Not sure if ending was legit story segment or just comedy. Still funny, I'm just hoping we don't get an "evil ninja empire" arc. I'm excited for the magic gun war thing you've hinted at."
Just comedy. XD
I believe that the cover is referring to the Four Symbols of Chinese astrology, with the Vermillion Bird, the Azure Dragon and the Black Tortoise being there. The Qilin on the guy's hoodie could be a reference to the Yellow Dragon, since that is what often replaces it in Japan, because China and Japan have a different element system, but why would they use a Japanese element for something that takes place in China? Also, there are technically five of the beings total in China (the one not mentioned is the White Tiger), and it just makes me wonder what they were thinking when they made it. The Yellow Dragon is usually the one that is the odd one out. Keep in mind that I got most of this from Wikipedia (look up the "Four Symbols" and "Wu Xing"), so take it with a grain of salt.
The horse dragon is a kirin or qilin as it's apparently supposed to be called. I basically knew it as a Chinese unicorn as it was presented in the D&D monster manual (talk to Spoony for more on that) and only recently did I learn it's supposed to be more dragon like (learned that from an episode of Detective Conan). Anyway, here's the wikipedia page for both if you're really curious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qilin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ki-rin_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)
That's not fire on the spear on the cover, it's some sort of decoration. I don't know precisely what it is, but I have seen it on some spears before in Asian films.
Jim Carrey FTW!
"Caffiene'll kill ya!"
Really, I'm surprised you missed some obvious joke opportunities, like for example...
(1) They constantly refer the leader as Big Boss, Metal Gear anyone.
(2) Two of the main characters are named Kim and Rocky, who also have animal themes to their techniques, and you didn't make another Power Rangers joke, I mean it was staring you right in the face.
Regarding the cover: the three animals are also the symbols for three of the four compass directions. The tortoise, also known as the black warrior, stands for north.. The Phoenix stands for south. The dragon stands for east. The white tiger, which stands for the west, appears to be missing and is probably the fourth character and ninja that the title refers to.
8:10 - The clothes on the black man appear to be vaguely middle-african or middle-eastern, which would be western from the perspective of china.
11:00 Holy hell. Knocking a tooth out with a slap? Jeez, that girl must have incredibly strong wrists.
15:09 I did not see that crossover coming. Awesome.
15:44 Okay, I have seen purple annoying talking rats in at least five media now. Can anyone explain what the hell is up with those things?
17:20 Have you actually tried to use that move? It doesn't allow you to punch hard, because your body is turned to the left. A much better solution is to use your right arm to elbow the enemy.
22:32 To be fair, ninjas are actually a fairly modern (about a century old) story concept, though heavily based on real historical spies and assassins, who later also become known as ninjas. The original ninja legends had them walking over water and turning invisible, so weird magic powers are perfectly in-keeping with the term. Though I'd forgive a lot more if they hadn't used real terms.
24:02 Remember, phoenix is a western mythical creature. There is also a mythical eastern bird that is often referred to as Phoenix, but it has little to no connections with the western phoenix (much like eastern and western dragons, really). Red bird would probably be more accurately translated, but would look silly.
26:14 And yet all are acceptable translations (or rather, romanizations, as the original word is kept). One of the hardest things about translating from asian symbols to western is that there are no direct counterparts, just letters which sound mostly similar.
28:10 Auntie, at least in japanese (which shares many elements with chinese due to a common heritage), is a general term used to address women between 25 and 45 years old and you are close to.
Loved the review. Are you planning on looking at any of the other issues later on?
Nice reference to Team Four Star.
Good thing it was just the Plad Ninjas instead of the Denim Ninja Clan.
The fire around the spear would be colored fur or feathers placed around the base of the spearhead.
I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say the animal on the guy's head is a tiger. In the cover, 3 of the 4 elemental gods: Dragon, Phoenix, and Turtle. The missing one is a tiger. At least I think that's what those 4 particular animals are called. Its a part of the Chinese Zodiac.
There is a legitimate form of martial arts where Shaolin monks have had wooden swords broken over their backs, and had spears bent while being pushed into their throats without breaking the skin. http://youtu.be/4-vR_VfEriI You can even see the colored material around the spearhead mentioned earlier in the video. Though I don't think its quite the LOL-INVULNERABLE! they show in the comic.
You are correct that manhwa (also spelled manwha and manwa) are Korean comics, but I believe Linkara was actually saying "man hua," Or "manhuwa," as it was spelled in the article he showed. Those are Chinese comics.
At least that's what animenewsnetwork.com says.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/lexicon.php?id=67
So the comic had characters named Kim and Rocky who know a form of martial arts and you didn't referance MMPR season 2? You have more restraint than I do sir.
One more thing, the four animals on the cover are supposed to represent the Four Symbols Chinese constellations which represent a direction and season of the year: Suzaku the Vermilion Bird for the South and summer, Seiryuu the Azure Dragon for the East and spring, Genbu the Black Tortoise for the North and winter, and Byakko the White Tiger for the West and autumn. Earlier I said "supposed to" because for some reason Byakko is either missing or has been replaced with a kirin.
In case you're curious, I know all this from watching Fushigi Yugi, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Digimon.
One more thing, the four animals on the cover are supposed to represent the Four Symbols Chinese constellations which represent a direction and season of the year: Suzaku the Vermilion Bird for the South and summer, Seiryuu the Azure Dragon for the East and spring, Genbu the Black Tortoise for the North and winter, and Byakko the White Tiger for the West and autumn. Earlier I said "supposed to" because for some reason Byakko is either missing or has been replaced with a kirin.
In case you're curious, I know all this from watching Fushigi Yugi, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Digimon.
Ah, Chi Quang, aka Chi Kung, or "Breath Control". You're right, it is primarily about medtitative techniques. And guess what? It is the primary fighting style used by the infamous "Ricky" of "Riki-Oh"! I'm surprised you didn't crack a joke using footage from that infamous movie.
Another great episode! This comic doesn't look like the kind of thing I'd like! I like manga but I like the Japanese kind that the martial arts are so over the top like Rounoni Kinten(sp?)! Where a character can be knife-proof thanks to Kung-Fu training but yet be easily killed by an old time-y musket ball!
On that joke about using the same move over and over I thought you were going to show some one playing like Mortal Kombat and getting their ass kicked by some one just hitting the kick button over and over!
Yeah, from what I've seen of thsi comic and old 70s-80s era Kung-Fu movies they were quite racist!
The title of this just brings me back to the Marvel Mangaverse with their version of the Fantastic Four! Another great subject for you! Hell just buy the Mangaverse trade and dedicate a month to that!
I like Ninja the Mission Force series they're doing! Maybe you can cameo in an episode!?
YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD YOU... took a german song that rips of Russia... :-)
(@ 10:14)
Nice! (Greetings from Austria)
But can evil ninjas stand up to the fearsome skills of... the hoodie ninja?! *Suspenseful music*
Also, I noticed a severe lack of "ZUP!" when Ninja-Style Dancer was attacked XD
For some reason the martial artist in me won't let this one go without putting in atleast my two cents. It's already been said the four chinese gods, the way of pronouncing Manhua but then it goes into a deeper area. Rocky; who was shown to be a practicioner of Qi-gong is not completely wrong, same for Kim as there have been times explained that there are two different types of qi-gong; Light and Hard, seem self explanatory from that alone. Hard allowing for the person to harden their body to become resistant to attacks and light to where you can lighten the body to the point of almost feather weight. There have been exagerations for these techniques but they do exist. such as walking on blades and eggshells without damage and being able to withstand a spear to the throat without any penetration.
This comic however feels the desire for these two characters to make them Wu-Xia characters. Wu-Xia (Martial heroes) is basically super hero fiction before comics came around. Wu-Xia has a poenchant for taking established martial arts and taking them to levels that are sometimes laughable when explained. Also making up their own styles such as "the sword of the nine yangs", a style made famous by Wu-Xia writer Jin Yong.
Ting Lung is no exception; while the sun fist is a traditional technique and wing tsun (Also called Wing Chun and Wing Tsung)is probably one of the more prolific styles of chinese martial arts today the way this comic portrays it is more than wrong. There are stances in Wing Chun where they don't take a traditional fighting stance like closing the legs together at the thigh and spreading the lower legs. His power seems to take a more internal power approach which is not uncommon despite Wing Chun being more of an external style of kung fu. That munch however would've only knocked him to the ground and broke more than a few bones as well as rupture some internal organs with how they present it.
On the cover it pretty clearly looked like the spear head had broken off from the impact with Rocky's chest and it had a tassel, not on fire. And calling someone "aunty" is a cultural thing. An equally respectful and kind manner of addressing someone older than you. A lot of cultures have terms like this.
The peacock/pheonix connection does make sense as Fenghuang (the phoenix of Chinese myth and folklore) is quite similar to peacock (as you can seen in this link: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RABR... Also on Qi-gong: It can be used to resist blow as seen in NG documentary piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.... Ita feat quite commonly present in various shows and documentary features.
You always have some interesting choices for music for your reviews. Oh yeah and the review was good too.
In reference to the "He only does one punch!" thing, I give you Bruce Lee- "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
(Love your show, btw) :)
I wonder if the flipping of the dialogue when they're lost is because they were using the original speech bubbles? It would make more sense, I guess, for Kim to ask Rocky, who seems to be in a servant position, where they are.
Comics like this always bring up so many questions. How much of certain character's dialogue looks weird because they're supposed to be speaking Chinese poorly? Is Rocky translating for her when repeating her lines? We know she can speak Chinese, but how well, is she too upset and defaulting to English?
Are there four main characters who are invincible in their kung-fu or ninja skills, or are their four invicible people and a ninja they happen to hang out with? Is that why there's no fourth animal on the cover, he doesn't show up until later, so right now it's just the invincible three and ninja? Or is the ninja one of the invincible four?
Also, was that the Ninja-Style Dancer's voice, or just a narrative dubbing caused by the power of the technique he was using? Inquiring minds need to know!
as others have pointed out that wasn't fire, but some decorative "things" I found a picture of it:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2147/1929938088_a13ff9a98a.jpg
I remember seing a documentary once about some asian munks that hardned their bones, by constantly hitting stuff, to the point that some could even snap swords on their heads, though they used the flat sides for that. Maybe Rocky's invincibility is a exaggeration of that?
I suspect the ninja will be the fourth member of the group. The throwing starts were a test of his ability and part of the requisite 'meet and fight' before teaming up.
This spear is Guan dao - they suppose to have cloth that is used to confuse opponent. ^^ What's weird is that I read about it when I was watching Shaman King :D
The fight at the end was more entertaining than the fights in the comic.
Krillin ownage count, old references, and other fun bits made this almost bearable.
Huzzah to Team Four Star reference!
But O-o wow is this comic insulting though I'm pretty sure their is a possibility of Martial Arts in forms of meditation that can make you resistant to heat or cold(for a certain amount of time) O-o But not by a freaking Knife stabbing you.....Not even Anime gets that ridiculous unless your a robot or an android.
"Also, was that the Ninja-Style Dancer's voice, or just a narrative dubbing caused by the power of the technique he was using? Inquiring minds need to know!"
Narrative dubbing. ^_^ I never want the Ninja-Style Dancer to ever officially speak on the show.
Ok, the red bit on the spear is, or rather was, dyed horse hair.
Nowadays, synthetic fibers are used, more likely.
So why are they even attached to the spear, you may ask?
Well, back in the days when spears were used to actually kill people, the brightly coloured horse hair was used to absorb the blood that people seem to like to release when you stab them so it doesn't cover the shaft ad make it slippery and hard to hold/control.
It was also used to deceive, because the red flailing hair would draw the eye and you would focus on that and not the sharp, pointy, stabby metal tip that protruded some 10-20 cm from the hair that was stuck in the base of the tip.
Now I'm sad.
I will never have my very own Horse-Dragon for a mount.
Man,I prefer when my kung-fu comics admit it is fantastical bs.
As someone pointed out the missed chance for a Power Rangers joke with two of the characters being 'Rocky' and 'Kim', I'll refrain from mentioning it. Wait...
Anyways, there was one that I thought of that you could have used. For the 'black Chinese' part, you could have cut to a clip from the movie Rush Hour, where Chris Tucker's character claims to be 'Blackenese'. If you've seen that movie, that is.
Also, loved the Batman Forever clip there.
So this comic had poor translation, terribly executed action scenes, and ludicrous martial arts protips played straight... and it's a foreign knock-off? And Issue #3 is even more of the same?!
The next time you review something in this series, I'll be very disappointed if it isn't a Kung Tai Ted crossover. He'd better get a cameo at the very least, because this crap is right up his alley.
Still, I'll give partial credit for the "Ninja: The Mission Force" cameo/plug.
Shu-shu to sanjou! (sorry, had to be said with the Hurricaneger/Ninja Storm clip in this episode)
You know the idea of a properly dressed woman kicking butt is a cool idea...sadly it probably is best left to the French and involving dinosaurs and mummies. (see this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Aventures_extraordinaires_d%27Ad%C3%A8le_Blanc-Sec) Regardless of that silliness, this comic really felt like one of those cheesy kung-fu movies in comic form combined with manga-styled super-powers and improbabilities. I have little to no knowledge of Manhua, but this really isn't a good introduction considering how utterly ridiculous this got.
BTW: good sneak of "Muscow" into the review, it actually sounded Chinese in style from the intro thus making the clip's usage hilarious and unexpected.
One more thing: is it just me or does the random 4th wall jokes (like the purple rat) seem to be similar to the ones from "Sinnamon #7", like the part with the flying fish with the atomic bomb?
Wow. You promised dreck last week and you didn't disappoint. I admit I don't know squat about Kung Fu but accuracy or no accuracy, this was just dull and poorly drawn. They didn't even try to get you to care about the characters.
Plus, I am POSITIVE that sooner or later SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE is going to defend this. Wait and see. :/
Here's an article about the "phoenix". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenghuang
(I suspect you may be familiar with this mythical animal since you once replaced the word "phoenix" with "houou" while reading the dialog in this episode.)
Wow. That was just... that was just bad. It almost wasn't even funny-bad, just bad-bad.
Ah well. You managed to make something interesting out of it, anyhow.
I think I have both of those beanie babies. xD
The entire fight with Rocky and Kim made think this had turned into a crossover between Marvel and Nintendo. I'm not kidding, I keep reminded of both Luke Cage and Peach's Smash Bros. moves in that fight.
It should be pronounced chi-gung regardless of spelling. It's just a matter of translation method.
Great review! Fun cameo with Gordon.
Say linkara, why do you like the Cybermen so much. I mean they are threatening and all, but why do you prefer to reference them instead of more famous Doctor Who villains like the Daleks or The Master.
I mean you have a cybermat that you built yourself for Christ's sake
Speaking of which, I saw you had two cybermats in the video, does that mean the one you ordered came in by now.
"Say linkara, why do you like the Cybermen so much. I mean they are threatening and all, but why do you prefer to reference them instead of more famous Doctor Who villains like the Daleks or The Master.
I mean you have a cybermat that you built yourself for Christ's sake
Speaking of which, I saw you had two cybermats in the video, does that mean the one you ordered came in by now."
Pretty much for similar reasons why I like the Borg - the fear of what technology can do to us that transforms us into something less than human.
Plus they're more quotable than the Daleks.
Been meaning to ask you, Lewis, what are your favorite DS games? I highly recommend checking out The World Ends With You and Radiant Historia if you haven't yet.
The moment that I hard Moskau I immediately flashed back to Spoony's Lets Play S.W.A.T 4 Mission #10 cause he uses it in his death montage
I'd say the translation for this thing went off the rails when they were talking about how Rocky managed to avoid getting hurt by that knife. That was Iron Shirt, not what they said it was. As for the other techniques used... The only one I have doubts on is the wall walking thing. I've only every seen it in movies that involved wire work.
Fiery little One
bookworm, do you refer to the episode, where Conan was knocked out by Kaito KID?
@ Lewis: It was a great review.
Greets
Cal
Regarding the spearhead breaking off on the guy's chest on the cover: I don't think it's on fire; I think it has red feathers under the spearhead. This was relatively common for spears back then. The red would distract the opponent while the spear-wielder is waving the thing around.
@Calvin That's exactly it :)
Come to think it that episode of Detective Conan also had the Four Symbols in it. What a weird coincidence...
Hey there, you have a great blog. I've especially enjoyed your post about the Legion of Super-Heroes.
In case you're interested I'm reviewing the Legion by Waid & Kitson on my blog:
www.artbyarion.blogspot.com
Cheers.
"Pretty much for similar reasons why I like the Borg - the fear of what technology can do to us that transforms us into something less than human."
Hey, the original Cybermen had a good reason!...Well, they had went way overboard by the time the Doctor first met them, but still. They ORIGINALLY had a good motive.
I love your Cybermen running gags, though. You are right, they are more quotable. I say "There is...logic...in what he says." all the time! You just don't get many chances to yell "Exterminate!" or break into a Scizzor Sisters song. Meanwhile, every time you hit the backspace button, you have to resist the urge to say "Delete! Delete!"
Okay a lot of people have commented on the spearhead and the "auntie" thing so I'll leave so those alone, but I believe I can answer why kung-fu is sometimes gung-fu. I realize this comic was translated from Chinese but in Japanese "ku" and "gu" are the same symbol. "Gu" is the stressed form of "ku." Most likely the translators just confused the stressed and unstressed symbols. Of course, since it is translated from Chinese and not Japanese I could be way off base.
Wait, a dragon.. horse? My god... he is a ninja serving the god of chaos, the draconequus DISCORD! Or maybe I'm just paranoid after the Entity fiasco, yeah, there isn't a bunch of horrid lovcraftian horrors after us...
Heh, was the breakable weapons comment a stab at Silent Hill: Origins/Downpour? :P
This might have been my favourite review as of yet Lewis, if not, it's by far one of the best.
@ BookwormOtaku:
Oh, what a great episode – although I only read it in Manga-Form.
And although the manga is good, it has its moments, where it is just headscratching and something worth of being mentioned here at “atop the fourth wall”. ^^
But then again, that is just me. ^^
@ The DarkEricDraven
“Hey, the original Cybermen had a good reason!”
And the Cybermen won’t be stopped by Captain Benjamin Lafayette “Don’t fuck with the” Sisko. ^^
Loved this review. I found myself laughing out loud at the awkward translations.
One thing that struck me, specifically at the end, was the introduction of plaid ninja. It made me think of the Tiny Plaid Ninaja videos that someone had long ago. I think you can watch them on YouTube. There are only three of them, I think.
Have you seen them before?
"Hmmmm...I thought Manhwa was for Korean "Manga", is it also for Chinese comics?"
Manhwa are Korean, Manua are Chinese. They're pronounced pretty similarly.
French comics are properly called bandes desinées, by the way. Or at least they would be if I had my way.
Wow. Certainly takes after the goofier aspects of Hong Kong cinema culture, this. Inaccurate or made up techniques, stilted dialogue translation...
Yeah, this reminds me of the old kung fu flicks I used to watch. Just not as good.
Just to confirm what ramses said, in Chinese culture, "auntie" and "uncle" are used to respectfully refer to elders who you know well.
OK, I never expected a crossover with Ninja the Mission Force
Also, DC is planning to release 6 new ongoing series as a replacement for the 6 they cancelled
Batman Incorporated, Ravagers, Dial H, Earth 2, G.I. Combat, and World's Finest
Are you going to do TAIS once they are released?
I noticed already that some people have pointed it out by I believe the animals are referring to Genbu, Suzaku, Soryu and Kirin (kirin kinda confuses me though as I recall Byakko being the final of the 4 gods)
The spear I'm guessing is the red thing chinese usually have on their weapons, I think they're just red strings but I don't know for sure what they are, but if you look at most chinese style weapons, they have something similar.
Also is it just me or is the font used in that comic absolutely horrible?
While typing that you reached the part about the rat and... is it just me who thinks it look like the rat from the Mario comics that showed in Nintendo Power?
Also on the shame on numbers things, I believe most martial art styles have codes of honor that basically means it's only honorable to fight 1 on 1, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
You're not entirely wrong about the kung fu moves being made up, it looks to me like they're using wrong names, I don't know enough kung fu, but I have watched a lot of chinese kung fu movies, and the 'chain jump' has been used in a lot of them, same with the impossible kick; I'm fairly sure said impossible kick is done with cables and other filmtricks, but not being a kung fu martial artist, I really can not say for sure wether it's really impossible to do or not.
A lot of the moves Kim seem to be doing are basically kung fu -movie- style attacks.
Anyway, funny review as always.
Thank you for all the fun~
Not a regular poster, but just wanted to say this was one of my favorites episodes so far. The skit at the end was pretty good, as well as the whole video.
Cheers!
One thing that didn't get mentioned is the weird use of language. At one point a 'rascal' speaks to Kim with no indication that it's in Chinese (probably Cantonese) while in the next we see kanji suggesting that is in Chinese. Why not just have everything in brackets so we can tell it's another language?
For that matter, what is with the 'Hei'? Was this written by someone who had never actually read English before? Considering how poorly it's written that would actually make a lot of sense.
And why was Lung even bothering to tell her that Mr. Oily was the one who attacked her? If she's too brain dead to remember that she was fighting multiple people I don't think it's worth trying to use logic with her.
Lastly, I have to note that the black man didn't actually do much (except sound like an idiot every time he repeated something someone else said). Besides the Chi-Kung thing you could have completely replaced him with another person and nothing would have changed.
Qilin?
I thought the dragon/pony was just the result of Spike/Rarity shipping.
I loved the bit at the end. "Beanie Baby Technique" was hilarious. I laughed so hard at Ninja Style Dancer being "mauled" by Beanie Babies - my Mom wanted to know what was so funny and when I replayed that part for her she laughed too.
As someone who reads Manga this comic reminds me of a bad translation of a scanlation of a chapter of some manga that hasn't been licensed. It does look like a guilty pleasure read. I'm curious what the original is like though.
With that being said. By no means is this comic good. It still mildly suck. The Ninja style dancer moment was pretty entertaining at the end.
Linkara, I've been in the Market for a Seventh Doctor umbrella for a while now, but haven't been able to find one for purchase anywhere. Where did you get yours?
"Linkara, I've been in the Market for a Seventh Doctor umbrella for a while now, but haven't been able to find one for purchase anywhere. Where did you get yours?"
My brother got it from the Doctor Who Store in London years and years ago, sorry to say.
That sure is one of the most hilarious comics, well to me it is, sure its really bad and the story isn't anything to write home about. But the fact that you can share these hilarious bits of dialogue and silly moments with the art, its good for a one day laugh, but the comic still sucks XD.
I guess I am one of those weird people who finds bad stuff so funny to make fun of or laugh at, finding entertainment in these sorta things. Anyway great work as per usual, really entertaining to watch and keep it up ^_^
I don't think you watch anime, but as soon as you brought up the umbrella I couldn't help but hope you would bring up shots from this clip of Rurouni Kenshin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BphqeahQMY
All the stuff about Rocky breaking weapons makes me think of Shaolin Soccer...which was in no way meant to be taken seriously. If this comic dropped all the crap about incorporating real kung fu into the fight scenes, its biggest problem would probably be that it's just really generic.
I grew up in Hong Kong during the period, and had a little dabbling in martial arts, so......
This comic was actually an accurate presentation of the HK comics of the era in general.
The fourth wall-breaking "Jokes" was actually taken from the Jade Man comics line, because back then when Yu Long Wong's (Which directly translate into "Jade Man Wong" which was where the Jade Man name came from) comic empire was at it's height, there were two major lines of comics: The superhero-wuxia lines like "Dragon Tiger Gate" & "Hero of China" and such; And then there was the self-titled "Jade Man Comics Weekly" which even the man himself admitted it was basicly a bootleg of MAD/Cracked. The snide remarks and the fourth wall jokes came from this part of the line.
Both parts of the Jade Man empire dominated HK comics so much that even now people are still copying off the general style.
So, this comic, as a period piece of the time, seemed to be trying to do both JM lines at once: It mainlined on the wuxia -- While trying to claim that it based off of REAL Kung-fu...... Which it did of sort, a bit in the superpowered wuxia style in presentation -- While it also had the JMCWeekly's "jokes" at the same time.
Obviously as a result it SUCKS, but as a "comics back then" it's fairly accurate on the whole.
Anyhow, to Linkara: I wouldn't suggest you look into bad manhua too much, cause otherwise you'd probably not have time to do western comics anymore :) (For example the God-Of-Gambler-obsessed period with Saint-Seiya & Dragonball; Or the pre-copyright Streetfighter comics period where Dhalsim got to r?pe Chun Li with his stretchy Little Dhalsim..... Ahhh, the 90s......)
PS:
Pretty much everything else got explained correctly upstairs, so just some some video proofs:
>Wing Chun Application:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K6WZhWp7pg&feature=related
>Hard Chi Gong (Not Chinese, but that's what they're doing amazingly nonetheless)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3PkLxjOlBs
>Hein Gong / Light Chi Gong (Only the first minute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwjQYUwiP_s
You can see that this comic's actually exaggerating quite a bit.
As for Phenoix whatever...... I got nothing v(=3=)v . Have no idea what the heck that's supposed to be.
But the "HEI,HEI" thing, I think it's supposed to be "hehe"s. Cause in chinese, the two most-used written laughter expressions are "Ha(哈)" and "He(嘻)" . This comic was probably translated by someone who's also a Hong Kong native, hence the weird "HEI,HEI" thing.
The red on the spear on the title isn't fire. It's a tassel. While they can be merely decorative,for certain sword and spear fighting styles they can be used to distract and disorient one's opponent. This is effective because their eyes will be drawn to the brightly colored tassel and make them confuse what angle your blade is coming from.
Great review of this bad comic. I doubt those badly-dubbed Hong Kong films from the 70s were had the level of bad quality than this.
I hope to see more issues of this comic soon.
Cool Story Bro time
I like to share with anyone who will listen (and even those who won't) that back in high school I took martial arts lessons, my instructor was actually the brother of Marc Dacascos (he was in the Double Dragon movie, and the Crow tv series, but you currently know him as the chairman on Iron Chef America)
and yeah Mark and Sifu Art would totally agree that the techniques in this comic are fake as hell
although Linkara I think you missed a good joke oppertunity, at the "flying phoenix spreads its tail" technique the first thing that popped in my mind was Hak Foo from the Jackie Chan cartoon
Please do "Iron Man: the crossing"
1. It is the Iron Man version of the "Clone Saga"
2.I don't think you have done an Iron Man comic yet
3. It's on a top 10's list of worst Marvel comics
Yeah, that's infuriating, when a male character is apparently in the wrong for helping a female character, and they take it the wrong way for no reason. Its a poor literary choice which makes the female character look dumb and unobservant, and the guy a complete fool for even getting himself involved. Wish that didn't happen.
Anywho, great episode as always, Linkara. Looking forward to more insane comics that make no sense.
Linkara what do you think of harley quinn being supposedly killed in suicide squad number 7.
The Animal on the ninja's head is a Qilin a mythical hooved Chinese chimerical creature that is good luck....it was base on a pet giraffe of Zheng He a Hui-Chinese mariner after his voyage to East Africa.
The "fire" one the spearhead is actually a tassle. I know this because I've played the Dynasty Warriors series and the two spear users of the series also have the same type of spear. As for the tassle, it has a tactical advantage. It is used to blurred the vision of the opponent, so he can't grab the spear and use it against the wielder.
I know I all ready commented here...buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I want to show something that is pure awesomeness! I know Lewis talked about this in History of Power Rangers for a brief moment talking about the 35th Super Sentai Anniversary Film...for our 20th anniversary in Power Rangers WERE GETTING IT! Even with additional Footage Shot for us! And no Toei is not editing the footage out of the other Teams we didn't get in America which is EVEN MORE AWESOME!
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2012-03-15/footage-being-shot-with-all-power-rangers-onscreen
The word 'chick' was used that way in the 20's - how do you think Chico Marx got his name? It's chick-o because he was always picking up chicks... at least, according to one of the Marx Brothers DVDs.
Was that a German-language version of Moscow by Genghis Khan? Wow! I did not know such a thing existed!
BTW, has anybody mentioned feathery spears yet?
... my point being, maybe they translated contemporary slang into Chinese. Why not?
this comic looks confused but i found one worse "ren and stimpy in the amazing spiderman vs powdered toastman
Hey, I just realized that Linkara's storyarcs are in a pattern. He alternates from something originating from Japan and a nerdy Sci-Fi series. The order has been Power Rangers, Doctor Who, Pokemon, and Star Trek. Going by the pattern, the next storyarc will relate to either Sailor Moon or Digimon.
Maybe it's been told before but the "fire" of the spears on the cover is actually red hair. It's often seen in chinese kung fu movies that display ancient china.
Oh, and I don't think that Rocky is always repeating things that are said before. It looks more like that he is trying to translate things that are said in english into chinese. But since the whole comic is translated into english, he is now "translating" english into english.
Hey Linkara, you looking for an excuss to talk about Neutro again, apparently there is another comic with Neutro in it
http://www.comicvine.com/neutro/29-61232/
There were two people who mentioned the "auntie" deal when addressing someone older then you but in certain Asian cultures, there are other words also to address that person based on a combination of age, family affiliations, and general knowledge of that person you are addressing. It's one complicated bit you have to know. Whoever translated this book picked a word closes to the way we address elders and plugged it in there. On the part about breaking handles and geeting hit with blunt objects and not being hurt...there is a practice of martial arts that focuses on that ability from the Shaolin Kung Fu. It is an extreme art form many cannot do, they have shown it off mostly in demonstration. Check this gallery out . http://tinyurl.com/7otfyx6
I hate to be the annoying guy, but I haven't watched the videos for a while...is there a list of videos that relate to the NEWEST storyline? The last storyline video I saw was the final Lord Vyce episode.
"I hate to be the annoying guy, but I haven't watched the videos for a while...is there a list of videos that relate to the NEWEST storyline? The last storyline video I saw was the final Lord Vyce episode."
Uhhh... you'll have to be a little more specific, I'm sorry to say. XD Do you mean the Doctor Who Classics #7 video?
Holy crap is the Garfield phone a shoutout to that American Ninja or whatever movie where the good guy can't pronounce ninja on the Garfield phone? Awesome!
Great job as always, Linkara:)
Yes, actually, that was the last one. sorry lol should have specified
Amazing how your face was covered in the epilog and yet I could tell it was still out of sync therefore awesome.
Late comment (I occationally take a few weeks off of a show when I'm not in the mood) but I know a little about this stuff, not much, but a little.
The wall walking thing I've seen in parkour trick. Called a wall run, and it's less about height, more about distance. There a loads of videos of it being done on youtube.
As already mentioned, Rockys invincibility is likely an exageration of board breaking, used to toughen bone, but these days is mostly done for show as well as techniques of stepping towards a person with a weapon or stepping sideways with the weapon swing to cancel the momentum. You can see how simple the latter is here.
http://youtu.be/jrO33qgzZxE?t=5m8s
(jump to 5 minutes in if the link doesn't take you straight there.)
The beast on his forehead is a Kirin, a sacred animal similar to a unicorn...that for some reason doesn't have its horn, beard, or mane...wow that is low quality. Also, the four animal representations are a ripoff of the guardian animals of Tokyo which are a Dragon, a Phoenix, a Turtle, and a...Tiger...well at least they tried to be original with the last one.
The guardian animals of Tokyo?
I watched the video a while ago, but wasn't it set in China?
I am getting to next week's Stupid Comics alumnus (Captain Electron)!
Jeremy.
I just saw this one, I kinda watch then in a sporadic order to an extent. Anyway wow that's a bad comic, not even a bad but funny but just bad. Still yeah for Dschinghis Khan, one of my favorite bands so thanks for that. :)
I just saw this one, I kinda watch then in a sporadic order to an extent. Anyway wow that's a bad comic, not even a bad but funny but just bad. Still yeah for Dschinghis Khan, one of my favorite bands so thanks for that. :)
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