''Bruce Lee'' has been portrayed in comics form in both

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

and syndicated newspaper strips.

Comic books

''Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu''

Issue #28 of the

Magazine Management Magazine Management Co., Inc. was an American publishing company lasting from at least 1947 to the early 1970s, known for men's-adventure magazines, risque men's magazines, humor, romance, puzzle, celebrity/film and other types of magazines, and l ...

black-and-white comics magazine ''

The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu ''The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu'' was an American black-and-white martial arts comics magazine published by Magazine Management, a corporate sibling of Marvel Comics. A total of 33 issues were published from 1974 to 1977, plus one special edition. A ...

'' (Sept. 1976) was an all-Bruce Lee special, including a 35-page comic-format biography written by Martin Sands, and drawn by

Joe Staton Joe Staton ( born January 19, 1948) is an American comics artist and writer. He co-created the Bronze Age Huntress (Helena Wayne), as well as the third Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Kilowog and the Omega Men for DC Comics. He was the artist of t ...

and

Tony DeZuniga Antony de Zuñiga (November 8, 1932 – May 11, 2012) who worked primarily under the name Tony DeZuniga, was a Filipino comics artist and illustrator best known for his works for DC Comics. He co-created the fictional characters Jonah Hex and ...

Warrior Publications

Al Davison Al Davison is an English comic book writer and artist from Newcastle, England. He now resides in Coventry, where he runs The Astral Gypsy, his studio and comic shop in Fargo Village, Far Gosford Street, with his wife Maggie. He is most famous for ...

produced a 32-page

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...

titled ''Bruce Lee: the Elusive Dragon'', released by Warrior Publications in 1983.

Malibu series

''Bruce Lee'' was a 1994 six-issue

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

miniseries published by

Malibu Comics Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Malibu Graphics) was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. Notable titles published by Malibu included '' ...

and written by

Mike Baron Mike Baron (born July 1, 1949) is an American comic book writer. He is the creator of ''Badger'' and the co-creator of ''Nexus'' with Steve Rude. Biography Mike Baron entered the comics industry with an illustrated text piece in ''Weird Trips Ma ...

and illustrated by

Val Mayerik Val Mayerik (born March 29, 1950) is an American comic book and commercial artist, best known as co-creator of the satiric character ''Howard the Duck'' for ''Marvel Comics''. Biography Early life and career Val Mayerik was born in Youngstown, ...

. It focused on a fictional

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

character striving his way through gangs and rival

dojo A is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts, but has been seen increasingly in other fields, such as meditation and software development. The term literally means "place of the ...

owners, while building a movie career. Malibu included a ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...

'' short story in the first and fifth issues. Writer Mike Baron had previously written three issues of the

Green Hornet The Green Hornet is a superhero created in 1936 by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, with input from radio director James Jewell. Since his 1930s radio debut, the character has appeared in numerous serialized dramas in a wide variety of media ...

comic published by

NOW Comics NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comic book ...

, about Lee's Kato in the 1966

TV show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

. 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 Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

series '' Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu''.

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...

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 ''

& Bruce Lee'', published in 1995–1996.

Bluewater one-shot

In 2013,

Bluewater Productions TidalWave Productions (previously known as Bluewater Productions, StormFront Media/Publishing & Storm Entertainment) is an independent production studio of comic books and graphic novels. Based in Portland, Oregon, United States, Bluewater publis ...

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

Magnetic Press series

In 2016,

Magnetic Press Lion Forge Comics was an American comic book publisher founded in 2011 by David Steward II and Carl Reed, with headquarters formerly located in St. Louis, Missouri. The company has a strong focus on culturally diverse creators and stories. In 20 ...

published four issues of ''Bruce Lee: The Dragon Rises'', co-written by Lee's daughter

Shannon Lee Shannon Emery Lee Keasler (born April 19, 1969) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the only living child of martial artist Bruce Lee and retired martial arts teacher Linda Lee Cadwell, the granddaughter of Cantonese opera singer L ...

and

Jeff Kline Jeff Kline is an American film and television writer-producer and former television executive. He has been involved in more than 40 animated and live-action series and pilots, has received multiple Emmy nominations and wins. Early life Jeff ...

, and illustrated by Brandon McKinney. The fictional story takes places in 2012 with Bruce Lee escaping from a science lab. In 2018, Magnetic Press/

Darby Pop Publishing Darby Pop Publishing is an American comic book publishing company founded in 2013 by film writer and producer Jeff Kline. Sixteen original series and 100+ issues/TPs have been published to date. Creators have included Eric Garcia (''City: The Mind ...

released the one-shot ''Bruce Lee: The Walk Of The Dragon'', also written by Shannon Lee.

Comic strip

The

Los Angeles Times Syndicate The ''Los Angeles Times'' Syndicate was a print syndication service that operated from 1949 to 2000. Owned by the Times Mirror Company, it also operated the ''Los Angeles Times'' Syndicate International; together the two divisions sold more than ...

launched ''The Legend of Bruce Lee''

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

, featuring fictional stories about the deceased actor and

martial artist Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

, in May 1982. The syndicate had originally approached veteran comic strip creators

Milton Caniff Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an People of the United States, American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates (comic strip), Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips. Biography ...

and

Noel Sickles Noel Douglas Sickles (January 24, 1910 – October 3, 1982) was an American commercial illustrator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip '' Scorchy Smith''. Sickles was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. Largely self-taught, his career beg ...

about doing a Bruce Lee strip in 1978. The project never got off the ground, and five years later the syndicate tried again.Holtz, Allan
"Obscurity of the Day: The Legend of Bruce Lee"
''Stripper's Guide'' (December 17, 2009). 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"."LATS to Release Bruce Lee Strip", ''The Comics Journal'' #73 (July 1982), p. 13. It was written by Sharman DiVono (who herself had martial arts training), and illustrated by

Fran Matera Francis A. "Fran" Matera (December 9, 1924 – March 15, 2012) was an American comic strip artist best known for his King Features Syndicate adventure strip '' Steve Roper and Mike Nomad'' from 1984 to 2004. In addition to his extensive experie ...

(with uncredited assists from

Dick Kulpa Richard Allen Kulpa (January 12, 1953 – January 3, 2021) was an American cartoonist best known for his work for ''Cracked'' and ''Weekly World News''. Early career Born in Loves Park, Illinois, Kulpa got his start in the cartooning business o ...

). ''The Legend of Bruce Lee'' only ran until late 1982 or early 1983. The strips were collected by Nostalgia World in 1983 in two 24-page magazine-sized issues.''The Legend of Bruce Lee''
Grand Comics Database. Accessed Oct. 15, 2018.

References

External links

* (Malibu) * (Malibu) {{Bruce Lee 1994 comics debuts Comics based on real people Comics set in China Martial arts comics Malibu Comics titles Cultural depictions of Bruce Lee American comic strips