You Think You Know All About the Newest Marvel Cinematic Universe Hero?

With the new Marvel movie...

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

opening September 3rd, we thought we'd show you the never-reprinted first "revamping" of the character who was created during the Kung-Fu craze of the 1970s.
While it's not as extreme as what the movie's doing, it was considered surprising and controversial at the time!

Begin the adventure unseen for over 40 years on Monday at...

Pop Art Martial Arts

Make Yuletide 2017 a Kick-Butt Christmas!

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! ;-)

We offer men's, women's, and kid's garb, as well as stuff to decorate your dojo.

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!

Please Support Atomic Kommie Comics!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Super Infra-Man

The (Absolutely Insane) Uncut Version!

Make it a Kick-Butt Christmas Day!

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!

Design of the Week--Deep Thrust!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...it was the 1970s, and...
1) controversial X-rated movie Deep Throat was one of the hot topics of the day!
2) Kung-fu mania was in full-swing!
Naturally, some marketing genius decided to combine the two...

An American film distributor took the kung-fu flick Lady Whirlwind, did the usual hysterically-bad English dubbing job on it, retitled it Deep Thrust, and produced a poster showing leading lady Angela Mao in a sexy exposed-cleavage / bare-legged look she never actually had in the film, or ANY other film she appeared in!
(At left, you can see the Hong Kong release poster showing how she actually looked in the flick!)

Angela was one of the few established female martial arts movie stars, with numerous credits, including Enter the Dragon, Lady Karate, and Lady Kung Fu.
She's also listed as Mao Ying, Angela Mao Ying, and Mao Fu Ying.
She was, in fact, an expert martial artist, trained in kung fu, hapkido, and tae kwon do!

Needless to say, Deep Thrust was a hit, playing the grindhouses for several years!
(I saw it several times on 42nd Street as part of various double and triple features.)
I remembered the distinctive poster, and when I finally acquired it, photographed it, and made a t-shirt emblazoned with it.
While I wanted to add it to our Pop Art Martial Arts™ collection, some friends expressed misgivings about incorporating it into the kid-friendly section, since the title was similar (but not related) to a classic porn film!
I say, let the fans decide!
If you show your support for the poster at Design of the Week, we'll move it to Pop Art Martial Arts™  when it's one week stint ends!
Will Deep Thrust prove popular, or will it redefine "limited edition"?

YOU decide!

Infra-Man: the Man BEYOND Bionics!

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 first Atomic 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)!

Fantastic Femmes--Zhang Ziyi

Equally-adept at comedy, drama, and action, Zhang Ziyi (or Ziyi Zhang, depending on the translation) isn't a martial arts expert, but, like Michelle Yeoh, uses extensive dance training to learn the needed choreography!
Trivia:
Didn't know any English when she did Rush Hour 2! She learned her dialogue phonetically and star Jackie Chan translated the director's instructions for her! (She has since learned English.)

Genre appearances include...
Sophie's Revenge (Sophie)
HorseMen (Kristen)
TMNT (Karai)
House of Flying Daggers (Mei)
Hero (Moon)
Musa aka Warrior (Princess Bu-yong)
Purple Butterfly ( Cynthia / Ding Hui)
Legend of Zu aka Zu Warriors [2001] (Joy)
Rush Hour 2 (Hu Li)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Jen Yu / Xia Long / Jiao Long)

Check out...
Her Official Site

Other actresses to play Karai include...
Karen Neill in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2003]

Cleopatra Jones

The 1970s saw the rise of Black action heroes and heroines on the big screen.
Most of the films were set in the US, particularly in the big cities like New York, LA, or Chicago.
Of the various films, only one series took the lead character out of the "urban jungle", the Cleopatra Jones duology, starring 6'2" former fashion model Tamara Dobson as a kick-ass government troubleshooter in the James Bond / Matt Helm vein!
Jet-setting around the world, Cleo dealt with crime in Europe and Asia as well as the good 'ol USA with a style and flair that would have made 007 himself proud!
Cleopatra Jones and Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold were grindhouse staples in the 70s, often playing together on double bills, which made sense since Cleo was the only Black female character to have a sequel film!
(Yes, Pam Grier did more films, but she always played different characters!)
There were rumors of a third Cleo film, but since the higher-budgeted sequel didn't do as well as the first film, Cleo's third appearance was never produced!

We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ felt Cleo was a natural for our
Seduction of the Innocent!!™ collection of kitchy pop culture kollectibles, particularly the Menacing Maidens section featuring the cinema's women who "don't take no s#!t!"
We digitally-restored and remastered the kool movie poster art for both her cinema classics and made them available on shirts, mugs, mousepads, messenger bags, and other kool kollectibles!

So look for Cleopatra Jones...before she comes looking for you!

Trivia: the character Foxxy Cleopatra played by Beyonce in GoldMember was a tribute to both Tamara's Cleo and Pam Grier's Foxy Brown!

Fantastic Femmes--Sue Shiomi (Etsuko Shihomi)

Note: this page has been updated with NEW info  
HERE!

The ORIGINAL Female Street Fighter!

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 original Street 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 original Street Fighter series starring Chiba!
We'll be covering her in an installment of Fantastic Femmes this week...

Fantastic Femmes--Michelle Yeoh

Note: this page has been updated with NEW info  
HERE!

aka Michelle Khan (Yang Zi Chong)