Special Marvel Edition originally began as reprints up until issue #15 when it premiered Shang-Chi. The character was conceived in late 1972. Marvel had wished to acquire the rights to adapt the Kung Fu television program, but were denied permission by the show's owner, Warner Communications, owner of Marvel's primary rival, DC Comics. Instead, Marvel acquired the comic book rights to Sax Rohmer's pulp villain Dr. Fu Manchu. They developed Shang-Chi, a master of kung fu, who was introduced as a previously unknown son of Fu Manchu. Though an original character himself, many of Shang-Chi's supporting characters (most notably Fu Manchu, Sir Denis Nayland Smith, Dr. James Petrie and Fah Lo Suee) were Rohmer creations. No characters from the Kung Fu television series carried over into the comic series, though the character Lu Sun, in an early issue,bears a strong resemblance to Kwai Chang Caine with the addition of a moustache. With artist Paul Gulacy, his visual appearance was modeled after that of Bruce Lee.Shang-Chi first appeared in Special Marvel Edition #15 (December 1973) by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin.He appeared again in issue #16, and with issue #17 (April 1974) the title was changed to The Hands of Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu. Amidst the martial arts craze in the United States in the 1970s, the book became very popular, surviving until issue #125 (June 1983), a run including four giant-size issues and an annual. Special Collector's Edition #1 (1975) cover-titled as "Savage Fists of Kung Fu" reprinted stories from The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #1-2; The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Special #1; and Special Marvel Edition #15. He did several crossovers with other Marvel martial artists, including the White Tiger, Iron Fist and the Daughters of the Dragon (Colleen Wing and Misty Knight). He appeared regularly in The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. Shang-Chi had two more short series: the Master of Kung Fu: Bleeding Black one-shot (1990) and the MAX miniseries Master of Kung Fu: Hellfire Apocalypse (2002) with artist Paul Gulacy on art again. The character had two stories in the comics anthology series Marvel Comics Presents, including one by Moench that ran in the series' first eight issues in 1988, and co-starred in the Moon Knight Special (1992). In 1997 a story arc starring Shang-Chi ran in Journey into Mystery #514-516, and was intended to lead into a miniseries for the character in 1998.Although spun out of licensed properties, Shang-Chi is a Marvel-owned character and has been firmly established as a part of the Marvel Universe with guest appearances in numerous other titles, such as Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Knights and X-Men. Most of the original, licensed characters in the supporting cast have been either phased out or renamed in the more recent series and stories.In some of his modern appearances, mention is made of his villainous father either in cryptic terms or using a variety of new names, due to Marvel no longer having the rights to Fu Manchu. In 2010's Secret Avengers #6-10, writer Ed Brubaker officially sidestepped the entire issue via a storyline where the Shadow Council resurrects a zombified version of Fu Manchu, only to discover that "Fu Manchu" was only an alias and that Shang-Chi's father real name was Zheng Zu, an ancient Chinese sorcerer who discovered the secret to immortality. Similarly, Shang-Chi's half sister Fah Lo Sue was later renamed Zheng Bao Yu in 2013's Fearless Defenders #8 while Smith and Petrie have not appeared in any Marvel properties since the end of the Master of Kung Fu series in 1983.Shang-Chi returned as a main character in the 2007 Heroes for Hire comic book. [source: Wikipedia]

I used to love reading comics as a kid enjoying many of the Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge and Richie Rich variety, but it wasn't til I was in college that I first became interested in superhero comics. At the time I was an avid baseball card collector, acquiring many 1950s Topps cards with stars such as Mantle and Mays. When I finally read a superhero comic, it was Wolverine...what a great story, I was hooked. I amassed a rather large collection at the time, delving into other titles like Harbinger and X-O Manowar until the comic industry began to saturate the market with too many variants and I eventually lost interest. Flash forward to 2015..... I ended up buying a Wolverine 1988 series issue #1 graded CGC 9.8. I hadn’t really thought about it much up to that point, but the collecting bug was rekindled. I dug out my collection that had been stored away and decided to start submitting my back issues. I looked online to fill gaps in my various collections and thousands of dollars later I’ve acquired quite a few comics and am trying to avoid collecting too many series at a time! My favorites at this point are the Wolverine 1988 series, Alias 2005 and Harbinger’s 1992 series. I have collected a few odds and ends in between and will eventually fill out my Rai 1992, Shadowman 1992, Psylocke Mini Series 2010 and the various X-23 and NYX series and will consider other series once I have the bulk of these filled up. I also like to collect covers I find appealing (see Incredible Hulk 340) and 1st appearances here and there. It’s all a labor of
love!