Whether due to space constraints or editorial restrictions, the strip doesn't show the deaths of Master Po or the emperor's nephew, just events after that incident!
Writer Steve Moore and artist Paul Neary, who created this never-reprinted story from Brown-Watson's Kung Fu Annual 1976 made a fascinating creative choice. They adapted the TV series' pilot movie, "The Way of the Tiger, the Sign of the Dragon"...sort of! Instead of following the script which begins with Caine already wandering the American Old West, then segueing into flashbacks about how he became wanted by the Chinese authorities and fled to America, the comic adapts only the back story...in chronological order!
What was the connection between the animated Amazing Chan and the 1940s Charlie Chan films?
Keye Luke, who was the voice of Charlie in the cartoon also played "Number One Son" Lee Chan in eight films of the 1930a/40s series!
When Warner Oland (seen above with Luke) died, Luke left the series.
His character wasn't recast, but replaced by "Number Two Son" Jimmy Chan and "Number Three Son" Tommy Chan!
Luke returned for the final two films, playing opposite Roland Winters as Charlie...despite the fact Roland was two years younger then Keye! As for "The Case of the Missing Chan Child": Only Tommy, out of all the named Chan movie siblings is part of the Chan family in the cartoon, and he's a totally-different personality than the movie kid!
A constant guest star on TV of the 1950s and 60s (including Star Trek), he had ongoing voice roles on several other cartoons including Space Ghost (Brak) and Battle of the Planets (Zoltar)! To Baby Boomers, though, he'll always be remembered as blind monk Master Po who trained Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine) in the 1970s TV series Kung Fu and appeared in flashbacks in almost every episode to impart wisdom to his ex-student, who would then use it to kick butt!
What's the connection between Amazing Chan, The Archies and The Amazing Spider-Man?
A singer/musician named Ron Dante!
The kids in Amazing Chan were also musicians, with the older kids performing a song in every episode as the "Chan Clan"!
Ron Dante supplied the lead singer's voice, just as he did on The Archies cartoons!
Dante was also the lead singer on the Amazing Spider-Man lp album/cassette From Beyond the Grave (1972), which we posted HERE!
And, finally, "Who was the Amazing Chan voice performer who won an Academy Award?"
Jodie Foster, who voiced tomboy Anne Chan!
Politically-Correct Note: Initially, the entire Chan family were voiced by Asian-American performers, but most of the youngsters had thick accents and their roles were recast with a mix of more experienced Asian-Americans and a couple of white performers, including Foster.
TV series with Asian characters in the title role are a rarity.
American tv series starring Asian actors playing those characters are even rarer!
Before the current Kung Fu reboot/updating on The CW, there were less than a dozen, and the second one ever was an animated cartoon!* Here's the never-reprinted first issue of the Gold Key comic based on the cartoon...
Writer Mark Evanier and artist Warren Tufts adapted the pilot episode "The Crown Jewel Caper" into a book-length comic tale on an incredibly-tight deadline, using an early script and storyboards.
As you'll see on Friday, there were some interesting alterations in the final aired version...
*The first series with an Asian performer as the title character, 1951's Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, about an art gallery owner/amateur sleuth starring the legendary Anna May Wong, is long-lost with all videotapes and kinescopes destroyed during a legal dispute over the defunct DuMont network's assets.
