If you're of
a certain age, the first martial art you were introduced
to was Judo. Judo, and it's parent discipline jujitsu, were used by the good guys
in pulp fiction and the movies to fight for truth, justice, and mom's
apple pie. And if you were a comic book hero, not possessing "powers and
abilities far beyond those of mortal man", then, at one time or another, you bashed the bad guys using judo.
Before he was a master of 127 martial
arts (or whatever ridiculous number it's up to now), Batman's hand-to-hand
combat skills consisted of boxing, wrestling, savate, jujitsu, and judo. Batman was using judo as far back as Detective Comics No.28 (the second appearance of Batman) during the Golden Age of Comics.
Judo's principle, of using an opponent's size and strength against
them, was very appealing to early comic book writers. Kid sidekicks used judo to triumph over burly bruisers like David
over Goliath.
Costumed heroines,
like the Black Cat and the Black
Canary, were using it to take names and kick b---years before the world heard of Cathy Gale and Emma Peel.
Here's a look at Dr.Judo,a forgotten hero from the Atomic Age of Comics, in action.
Hmmm.A "cat-fight" between the Black Cat and the Black Canary might have been interesting.Look for more Dr.Judo in the future.
ReplyDeletelot of great info, Dave!
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