Comic Books
The comic book medium also gave birth to several characters inspired by Bruce Lee, most notably, in Japanese comic books, or manga. In Tetsuo Hara and Buronson’s influential manga Hokuto no Ken, known to western audiences as Fist of the North Star, the main character, Kenshiro, was deliberately created by them drawing inspiration from Bruce Lee and Max Rockatansky, from the Mad Max film franchise. Although Kenshiro’s appearance initially resembled more that of Lee in the first chapters of the manga, blending it with Mel Gibson’s likeness, he became more similar to Gibson in physique in the rest of the work, but retaining all mannerisms inspired by Lee, such as his fighting style and battle cries. Additionally, in Hokuto no Ken’s prequel Souten no Ken, the main character is Kenshiro’s uncle, named Kenshiro Kasumi, who is also modeled after Lee’s physique and mannerisms in the same way as his nephew.
Similarly, in Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto manga, the characters Mighty Guy and Rock Lee were modeled by him after Bruce Lee.
Read more about this topic: Bruceploitation
Famous quotes containing the words comic and/or books:
“Commercial jazz, soap opera, pulp fiction, comic strips, the movies set the images, mannerisms, standards, and aims of the urban masses. In one way or another, everyone is equal before these cultural machines; like technology itself, the mass media are nearly universal in their incidence and appeal. They are a kind of common denominator, a kind of scheme for pre-scheduled, mass emotions.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–62)
“PLAYING SHOULD BE FUN! In our great eagerness to teach our children we studiously look for “educational” toys, games with built-in lessons, books with a “message.” Often these “tools” are less interesting and stimulating than the child’s natural curiosity and playfulness. Play is by its very nature educational. And it should be pleasurable. When the fun goes out of play, most often so does the learning.”
—Joanne E. Oppenheim (20th century)