Shang-Chi is an ex-MI-6 agent who now works for Sir Denis Nayland Smith (whom I could imagine being played by Laurence Naismith) and his independent agency, Freelance Restorations.
Freelance Restorations operates out of the UK, with their base being Nayland Smith's castle in Scotland and interacting often with MI-6 in London, where Shang's sinister sister, Fah Lo Suee, is a high-ranking official. Shang's father is the legendary Chinese crime lord, Fu Manchu, whom Sir Denis has been battling since the 1920s. The rest of the group includes Leiko Wu, Shang's love interest and a deadly warrior in her own right; Clive Reston, the son of a famous spy (James Bond?) who's struggling to emerge from his father's shadow; and Black Jack Tarr, Smith's aging but most loyal lieutenant. Later on we get the KGB defector, Dark Angel.
The book was fortunate to have writer Doug Moench (best known for his run on Batman) and artists of an extraordinarily high caliber. Paul Gulacy, Mike Zeck, and the late Gene Day were three of the great talents whose images supported Moench's often spiritual, Zen-like dialogue.
This spy element is what makes Master of Kung Fu such a good book. The tales aren't cut-and-dried and there's a quiet intensity throughout all the stories. There are Cold War intrigues galore, with many stand-out stories. My favorite is the two-parter in issues #108-109, where the crew must stop a KGB mole. There's a great fight in a cemetary and an imposter in the crew's midst.
What began as a Bruce Lee/Kung-Fu ripoff quickly transformed into a special series of stories that transcended the time and place in which it was created. It was almost entirely separate from the Marvel Universe of Spider-Man, the Hulk, and the X-Men and resided in its own world of international intrigue, and dirty double dealings rather than saving Earth from the latest alien threat. It's unlikely that MoKF will ever be reprinted in trade paperbacks due to trademark use of Fu Manchu so the only place to get the books would be at the back issue bin of your local comic store.
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