Fifth Ring Studios; crowdfunded

Since at least the 1970s, the martial arts have found a pop culture connection to the world of comic books. Various practitioners have written or illustrated adventures of martial arts characters, but I wonder if there’s ever been a comic book as steeped in the world of Kung Fu by a single creator so well verses in that tradition.

Sifu Kurtis Fujita is a real life Kung Fu Master who also packs an impressive creative and storytelling résumé that might make him the only one who could tell the story of Shadow Ghost in such a bold, accessible way.

In addition to teaching Kung Fu for 20 years, Fujita worked on video games, animation, and film, including on such notable properties such as Lord of the Rings and Spider-Man. His comic book experience goes even further back; as a high schooler, he worked at Malibu during the company’s Ultraverse days.

For Shadow Ghost, he served as creator, writer, penciler, inker, colorist, and letterer. This combines with his devotion to the project and to his efforts to ground the story in his martial arts tradition to create a truly unique experience.

Bravo! I’m definitely looking forward to more!

– J.C. Vaughn