In our ongoing quest to suggest cool Christmas gifts for our faithful fans, we of Atomic Kommie Comics™ would like to direct you to, perhaps, the most unlikely of departments--Pop Art Martial Arts™
But,
when you think about it, considering how Western-based,
cops-and-robbers-oriented, and military-themed toys and gifts have been
part of the Yuletide for generations (I'll never forget finding my first
11.5" GI Joe
under the tree one Christmas morning back in the 1960s!), it's only natural that martial
arts-oriented gifts should also be part of the holiday season!
Beyond
the fact that you can't shoot your eye out with a gi, (Note: Do NOT
give ninja throwing stars to kids as a present!) all these themes are
based on the concept of good triumphing over evil, protecting the
helpless, and having fun doing it!
And, martial arts promote physical
fitness! ;-)
And what a lineup! Kung Fu Vampires!
The ORIGINAL StreetFighter! Sister StreetFighter! Lady Kung Fu! Deadly China Doll! Five Fingers of Death!
And, for those who want a Power Rangers-style look with rubber-suited monsters aplenty--Infra-Man!
So, make it a Merry, Martial-Arts Christmas! Ho, Ho, Ho, Hi-Yahh!
In our ongoing quest to suggest cool Christmas gifts for our faithful fans, we of Atomic Kommie Comics™ would like to direct you to, perhaps, the most unlikely of departments--Pop Art Martial Arts™
But,
when you think about it, considering how Western-based,
cops-and-robbers-oriented, and military-themed toys and gifts have been
part of the Yuletide for generations (I'll never forget finding my first
11.5" GI Joe
under the tree one Christmas morning!) it's only natural that martial
arts-oriented gifts should also be part of the holiday season!
Beyond
the fact that you can't shoot your eye out with a gi, (Note: Do NOT
give ninja throwing stars to kids as a present!) all these themes are
based on the concept of good triumphing over evil, protecting the
helpless, and having fun doing it! And, martial arts promote physical
fitness! ;-)
We offer men's, women's, and kid's garb, as well as stuff to decorate your dojo.
And what a lineup! The ORIGINAL StreetFighter! Sister StreetFighter! Lady Kung Fu! Deadly China Doll! Five Fingers of Death! And, for those who want a Power Rangers-style look with rubber-suited monsters aplenty--Infra-Man!
So, make it a Merry, Martial-Arts Christmas! Ho, Ho, Ho, Hi-Yahh!
Through my formative (read "teen") years, summertime was when I would head for 42nd Street in Manhattan for double and triple-feature afternoons at a tacky grindhouse theatre! (yeah, I was [and still am] a nerd)
One of my favorites, which kept rotating into the second and third-run theatres for years, was Infra-Man!
Here's the American trailer for it's 1976 release...
Since such live-action rubber-suit superheroics had been limited to tv (Particularly UltraMan and SpectreMan) up to this point, it was a real treat to see it up on the big (or at least larger than my tv) screen!
It was the height of the '70s kung-fu flick craze, so the hero was not only armed with weapons and powers, but could kick monster as with fists (and feet) of fury!
Plus, the villain of the pic...was a villainess (an extremely cute one) called "Dragon Mom", which I suspect was a mistranslation of the character's original name "Elzebub"!
As for the plot, I'll leave it to the kool guys at BadMovies.Org to describe it... Make sure that you are sitting down for this. ...after sleeping through the last ice age Princess Dragon Mom wakes up. She is dismayed to find what was once her kingdom is now absolutely infested with humans and sets out to make them her slaves. Lucky for us that Professor Chan just finished developing the Infra-Man and Rayma immediately volunteers to become a super hero worthy of most French fashion shows. Battling through dozens of monsters with kung fu, laser beams, and explosive kicks is what being Infra-Man is all about. Some of the fight scenes are absolutely priceless and the really fun thing is this: when not destroying stuff the evil mutants all stand around in a room dancing (badly)...
(Read the entire review for much more snarky fun)
The 42nd Street of my youth is long gone, Disneyfied into a California-style tourist trap.
But, to relive the memories my wayward teens as well as of this classic of weird cinema (and to add to my burgeoning tacky t-shirt collection), I produced a dark t-shirt for myself with the American release poster emblazoned on it.
My film-going buds wanted to know where I got the shirt, and this led to my setting up the firstAtomic Kommie Comics™ t-shirt store, where Infra-Man can now be found in the Pop-Art Martial Arts™ section on shirts, mugs, magnets, iPad / messenger bags, etc.!
Recently, I branched out to create another on-line store using a vendor who could do bigger images on products. This led to the Summer SuperHeroes & Spies shop featuring (you guessed!) Infra-Man!
If you're into GREAT bad movies with good graphics...grab an Infra-Man goodie from either store (While I grab Dragon Mom)!
Before Chun-Li, Cammy, and the rest hit the video arcades in 1987, there was Li Koryu, aka Tina Long, the Sister Street Fighter! We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ are proud to return her to action as part of our Pop Art Martial Arts™ collection, along with the originalStreet Fighter who thrilled grindhouse audiences, and several other martial arts classics, including Five Fingers of Death, and Infra-Man on kool kollectibles ranging from t-shirts to mugs to messenger bags! (BTW, you'll note that the SSF poster art is by comic book legend Neal Adams [X-Men, Batman, Green Lantern / Green Arrow]!)
Note: A protege of Sonny Chiba and member of his Japan Action Club stunt team, Sue Shiomi aka Etsuko Shihomi, starred in a number of genre films in the 1970s including four Sister Street Fighter films as well as all three of the originalStreet Fighter series starring Chiba! We'll be covering her in an installment of Fantastic Femmes this week...
! 
and 
) up to this point, it was a real treat to see it up on the big (or at least larger than my tv) screen!
