The Martial Arts Movies Almanac

 

I recently started a fanzine called "The Martial Arts Movies Almanac," which I'm self-publishing through Amazon.com. It's a survey of the genre, with each issue representing a specific year. The first issue tackles the year 1970, and each subsequent issue will discuss movies made each following year. There will be some overlap with the content of this site and the content of the 'zine, but the vast majority of it will be original material. Moreover, there will be write-ups from different writers, most of whom are established authors. So, I'll keep this page updated each time a new issue is published, which will be every two months.

Here are the issues:

                                                                        Issue #1 - 1970

(features write-ups about Shaw Brothers films like Vengeance! and The Chinese Boxer, plus Taiwanese wuxia pian, and jidai-geki like Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival)

                                                            Issue #2 - 1971

(features essays about A Touch of Zen and Duel for Gold; a look at the first "modern" kung fu/open-handed fighting movies, a look into some of the darker examples of Japanese samurai movies, and a heartfelt look at one of the earlier American films to feature martial arts)

Issue #3 1972

(Features articles about Lone Wolf & Cub and Kazuo Koike; Bruce Lee's biggest hits; The Water Margin, and Angela Mao's films)


Issue #4 - 1973

(features more about Kazuo Koike and his manga adaptations, including Lady Snowblood; a nice write-up about The Fate of Lee Khan; the Shaw Brothers film The Iron Bodyguard; and the last Zatoichi film)

Issue #5 - 1974

(features reviews of the Street Fighter and Sister Street Fighter series; Part 3 of an ongoing series about Kazuo Koike, Chang Cheh's "Shaolin Cycle," Blaxploitation, and more!)