Bruce Lee (comics)

Bruce Lee in American comic books

Bruce Lee has been portrayed in comics form in both comic books and syndicated newspaper strips.

## Comic books

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### Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu

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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.

### Warrior Publications

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Al Davison produced a 32-page one-shot titled Bruce Lee: the Elusive Dragon, released by Warrior Publications in 1983.

### Malibu series

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Bruce Lee

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 is 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.

### Bluewater one-shot

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In 2013, Bluewater Productions published Tribute: Bruce Lee, a one-shot comic book biography written by Chris Canibano and illustrated by Joon Han.

### Magnetic Press series

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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.

## Comic strip

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Not to be confused with The Legend of Bruce Lee film.

The Legend of Bruce Lee

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]

## See also

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* Bruceploitation
* Bruce Lee Library
* Bruce Lee filmography
* Jeet Kune Do
* List of awards and honors received by Bruce Lee

## References

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1. ^ a b Bruce Lee \- MyComicShop.com. Retrieved:2014-08-29.
2. ^ Bruce Lee Portrayed in Comic Book Series, Page 21 & 32, Black Belt magazine, Issue:Sep 1994
3. ^ "Bruce Lee Portrayed in Comic Book Series". Black Belt: 21. September 1994.
4. ^ Bruce Lee: The Dragon Rises #1, Grand Comics Database. Accessed October 15, 2018.
5. ^ a b Holtz, Allan. "Obscurity of the Day: The Legend of Bruce Lee", Stripper's Guide (December 17, 2009).
6. ^ "LATS to Release Bruce Lee Strip", The Comics Journal #73 (July 1982), p. 13.
7. ^ "Sharman Di Vono", Who's Who of American Comic Books: 1928–1999. Accessed Nov. 30, 2017.
8. ^ "Fran Matera", Who's Who of American Comic Books: 1928–1999. Accessed Nov. 30, 2017.
9. ^ The Legend of Bruce Lee, Grand Comics Database. Accessed Oct. 15, 2018.

## External links

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* Bruce Lee at the Grand Comics Database (Malibu)
* Bruce Lee at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original) (Malibu)

* v
* t
* e

Bruce Lee

* Filmography
* Awards and honors
* Media about

Films|

| As film director|

* Way of the Dragon (1972, also writer and produced)
* The Game of Death (1972, also writer)

|

As writer|

* The silent flute (1978)
* The Warrior (Lee, before created the concept for an other series and then it was finished in Warrior)

Books written|

* Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense
* Tao of Jeet Kune Do
* Bruce Lee's Fighting Method
* Bruce Lee Library
* Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (book)

Techniques|

* Jeet Kune Do
* One-inch punch
* Straight blast

Works about|

| Films|

| Hong Kong|

* Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend (1973)
* A Dragon Story (1974)
* Bruce Lee and I (1976)
* The Dragon Lives (1976)
* The Man, The Myth (1976)
* The Real Bruce Lee (1977)
* A Warrior's Journey (2000)
* Bruce Lee, My Brother (2010)

|

United States|

* Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)
* The Curse of the Dragon (1993)
* A Warrior's Journey (2000)
* The Story (2001)
* The Legend of Bruce Lee (video; 2008)
* I Am Bruce Lee (2012)
* Birth of the Dragon (2016)
* Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
* Be Water (2020)

Television|

* Spirit of the Dragon (1992)
* The Lost Interview (1994)
* The Legend of Bruce Lee (2008)

Books|

* The Man Only I Knew (1975)
* Bruce Lee: A Life (2019)

Comics|

* The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu (1976)

Video games|

* Bruce Lee
* Kung-Fu Master
* China Warrior
* Bruce Lee Lives
* Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
* Quest of the Dragon
* Return of the Legend

Family|

* Lee Hoi-chuen (father)
* Grace Ho (mother)
* Peter Lee (brother)
* Robert Lee (brother)
* Linda Emery Lee (wife)
* Brandon Lee (son)
* Shannon Lee (daughter)

Related|

* 41 Cumberland Road
* Bruceploitation
* Bruce Li
* Bruce Le
* Bruce Lai
* Bruce Liang
* Dragon Lee
* Kato
* Graves of Bruce and Brandon Lee
* Long Beach International Karate Championships
* Statues
* Hong Kong
* Los Angeles
* Mostar
* Betty Ting
* Chen Zhen
* Ip Man
* Warrior
* Wong Shun Leung
* Wong Jack Man

* Category

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