Archie's 80th anniversary: Kong Phoo

[alicemacher]

The seventies saw the beginnings of a "kung fu craze" in American pop culture, inspired by Bruce Lee and other stars of Hong Kong action cinema. While this led some people to learn Asian martial arts seriously, others were content with a superficial and not-especially accurate understanding. Thus, for example, Reggie in this classic story which co-stars two of Archie Comics' earliest African-American characters (after Valerie of the Pussycats), Coach Floyd Clayton and his son Chuck.


From Archie at Riverdale High #18 (Aug 1974). Script by Frank Doyle, art by Harry Lucey.

The context for this story is the popular 1972-1975 ABC series Kung Fu (remembered today mostly for the "When you have snatched the pebble fom my hand, Grasshopper" meme). Reggie, apparently influenced by David Carradine's character Kwai Chang Caine, fancies himself a martial arts expert and goes around alternating bogus "moves" with pseudo-profound proverbs (AKA "ice cream koans," as a certain wiki calls them).





Chuck urges Reggie to study the real thing with his dad and achieve "mental as well as physical perfection." "I've got that!" says Reggie. "Now I'm looking for new fields to conquer!"