The Golden Age of Heroes and Villains: Part 6: Ming the Merciless

Only The Shadow knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men! HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!

I have been a fan of the Pulp magazine genre for nearly 30 years, plus the 1930s/40s comic strips and the old Republic and Universal serials for even longer. There is something different and evocative about the period. The heroes were real heroes who did not agonise over their decisions. They just got on with saving the city/world/damsel in distress. They were larger than life characters, written by larger than life authour: Alex Raymond, Lester Dent (Kenneth Robeson, Walter Gibson (Maxwell Grant), H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard

The Shadow.

First up, credit has to go to Darko over at JoeCustoms who showed me the way on this. I have made two previous attempts at The Shadow, but I have not been overly happy with either one. When I saw Darko's custom, I liked the torso and arms, but immediately thought of a different head and legs. I was originally going to go with the Indiana jones fedora again, then I was going through my fodder heads and found a spare Lee Scoresby head. I managed to get the hat off and it fit the Lanard head perfectly, all I had to do was sculpt some hair and the scarf over his mouth. I chose the ORCAS head because of the shape of the nose. Fits the cover art from the original pulps:







Hat: Golden Compass Lee Scoresby
Head: Lanard CORPS! ORCAS scuba diver
Torso/Arms: GI Joe Renegades Cobra Commander
Legs: GI Joe Rise of Cobra Cobra Commander
Guns: Marauder
Scarf/Cape: softgoods

I must point out at the start that this is the Will Eisner comics version from the 1940s onwards, NOT the Frank Miller version from that utterly dreadful film. Will Eisner created The Spirit for a newspaper cartoon strip back in 1940.

The Spirit:



Head: Indiana Jones
Body: A-Team Face

When I saw the trenchcoats in the Vortious Custom Accessories store, I decided straight away to make another Spirit custom. I had several spare Face figures, so insted of just modifying the one I already had, I made a second version:







Love the material the coat is made of.

For 50+ years, The Spirit has been portrayed wearing a Blue hat, suit and darker blue raincoat. For some strange reason, Miller made them black in the movie.

The Green Lama: Om! Ma-ni pad-me Hum!

A rather unusual hero from the days of the pulp magazines. Jethro Dumont was a millionaire who went to study Buddhism in Tibet, eventually gaining the rank of Lama. Upon returning to the United Staes, one of the first things he witnessed was a gangland murder. After he reported the killing to the police, he saw one oof teh gangsters coming out of the office of a high ranking official. He decided to turn his talents to crime fighting. He then gave himself two alter-egos: The Reverend Dr. Charles Pali and The Green Lama. He is adept at a little known Tibetan martial art that uses blows to nerve clusters to temporarily disable rather than kill, and carries a red kata (Tibetan scarfis robes which he uses as a garotte to cause unconsciousness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lama

I have gone for the more believable look he had in the original pulps, rather than the superhero-spandex costume from the comics.

The Green Lama:









Hood: Emperor Palpatine (?)
Head: A-Team Face
Figure: RotS Mas Amedda with sculpted lower sleeves.

The Reverend Dr. Charles Pali:





The Lama travels as Dr. Pali when he wishes to remain incognito. He carries his green robes, kata and make-up kit in a briefcase. He has the Tibetan symbol 'Om' embroidered onto his light green clerical collar.

Entire figure: A-Team Face
Briefcae: Marauder

I was doing some research into the pulp magazine era to find some more unique characters to add to my custom set. I came across Domino Lady, the femme fatale of, unfortunately, only six stories from 1936 in 'Saucy Romantic Adventures'. These magazines promised more than they delivered.   , but at least we got one of the very few distinctive pulp heroines out of them. I have since managed to get an anthology collection of modern short stories and a graphic novel collection

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino_Lady









Head: MU Ms Marvel
Body/Legs: MU Mary Jane
Right Hand: MU Black Widow
Feet: GI Joe ROC Baroness
Lower dress: POTF2 Princess Leia (Princess Leia Collection)
.45 Colt 1911A1: Marauder
Cape: Star Wars figure, ? which

I know the lipstick looks a little off in a couple of the photos, but I have looked at the figure under a magnifying glass and it looks okay. It isn't broken, so I am not going to fix it. Don't know why it looks like that in the pics. :-/

I was originally going to try and sculpt some heels on the Mary Jane feet. Then I remembered that I had a set of Baroness legs left over from taking the figure apart to make the Female Cenobite a couple of years back. All they needed was some light sanding to thin out the ankle post and they popped right into the MU ankle with a little bit of warming.

More or less finished with the pulps for now. Starting to look at some of the old multi-part serials from the 1930s and 1940s. Already made a start on two, and a comics character from the 1940s. Ordering a disc of 'The Mysterious Dr Satan' next week.

Wow... I don't know any of these characters but the work is AMAZING!!!

Yet again , very good work here Kambei. Well Done ! :)

Fu Manchu:







Head: MU Namor
Ponytail: Pirates of the Caribbean
Figure: SW Legacy Bail Organa

Sculpted the robes and sleeves over the top of the figure using green stuff and liquid green stuff. Sculpted the hat. The emblem on the front of the robes is a 1st Civilian Rank Manchu rank badge.

Fah lo Suee (Fu Manchu's Daughter):





Head/Arms: SW Legavy Fireside Padme
Torso/Skirt: Golden Compass Mrs Coulter
Legs: PotC Elizabeth Swan

Went with the Padme head because she already had a ponytail and the right look. I sculpted some bangs on her forehead to copy a hairstyle Anna May Wong had in one of her films. Gives her a somewhat hardboiled expression which I am pleased with. I decided to go with black for the dress before choosing the arms. The fact she is wearing long black gloves is just a bonus. Took the Mrs Coulter figure apart and substituted the Elizabeth Swan legs. Finding those bare legs with the matching black shoes was another bonus. I slit the skirt piece up the sides and coloured the pink rubber red to match the front.

Made a Fu Manchu a good few years ago. It was the best I could do at the time using the available figures. Wasn't great. Mainly a repaint of an Episode 1 Darth Sidious with a new head. A few more years of practice down the line and this is what I can manage. Decided to make his daughter this time as well.

I have never been 100% happy with either of my previous effort at making a Ming the Merciless figure, especially the first one I made. When I finished my Fu Manchu remake, I decided to give Ming a last go using the same body. Very pleased with the way it turned out:





Head: Build'n'Brawl
Body Star Wars Legacy Bail Organa
Robes: Sculpted