The Mandarin appreciation 2023

[MichaelC]

The Mandarin having dinner with T'Challa in Wakanda's palace.

[MichaelC]

The Mandarin and Tony Stark stumbling into each other at a Sin Cong bar days before Stark first becomes Iron Man fanart.

[MichaelC]

The Mandarin kicking Red Skull fanart.

[Frontier]

It was fun seeing Mandarin tangle with the X-Men for a bit.

[Iron Maiden]

What I think is interesting is that the Mandarin is an example of Stan Lee creating a character independent of Jack Kirby. I do have both a great deal of respect for both Lee & KIrby but I am not totally on board with Jack Kirby doing EVERYTHING for Marvel in those days.

On the Mandarin's Wiki, Don Heck, who was the artist on the Mandarin's first appearance totally credits Stan for creating the character. The character is not totally original since Heck states that Stan Lee wanted a character like Fu Manchu, an earlier creation of Sax Rohmer who wrote a series of novels in the 1920's

When discussing the character's creation, Heck stated "That was Stan Lee's character, really. He wanted him because he was thinking of, oh, one of those old stories that they had years ago Fu Manchu and that's what he said to me. He said, 'I want a character like Fu Manchu.'"

[MichaelC]

What I think is interesting is that the Mandarin is an example of Stan Lee creating a character independent of Jack Kirby. I do have both a great deal of respect for both Lee & KIrby but I am not totally on board with Jack Kirby doing EVERYTHING for Marvel in those days.

On the Mandarin's Wiki, Don Heck, who was the artist on the Mandarin's first appearance totally credits Stan for creating the character. The character is not totally original since Heck states that Stan Lee wanted a character like Fu Manchu, an earlier creation of Sax Rohmer who wrote a series of novels in the 1920's

When discussing the character's creation, Heck stated "That was Stan Lee's character, really. He wanted him because he was thinking of, oh, one of those old stories that they had years ago Fu Manchu and that's what he said to me. He said, 'I want a character like Fu Manchu.'"

In the early art, he looks like a cross between Boris Karloff, and Christopher Lee, with the end result being that he looks like he suffers from acromegaly. Karloff having a face that looks like he suffers from acromegaly, and Christopher Lee having the height of someone with acromegaly. In a piecemeal way, the artists gave The Mandarin acromegaly.

[MichaelC]

Silver Age picture of the Swordsman selling his service to The Mandarin in return for a sword upgraded with Mandarin technology:



My attempt to reproduce that image with a new costume design for The Mandarin:

[MichaelC]

The Mandarin has, on several occasions, used the Mento-Intensifier ring, sometimes called the Liar Ring in more recent comics, to create illusion duplicates of himself, so he can cheapshot Iron Man with his chi-amped karate-chops, karate-chops capable of damaging Iron Man's armor, while Iron Man doesn't know who to dodge. Here is fanart of The Mandarin using that tactic on Captain America, making an illusion attack Cap from the front, and coming in behind and sneak-attacking Cap with a karate-chop capable of smashing chunks out of Iron Man's armor.