ORIENTAL EXPEDITERS

Membership: Fah Lo Suee, Agent-D (Ducharme), Bolo, Chankar, Kimba, Shockwave, Sholnik, Tarrant; Dr. Petrie (mind controlled); lots of unnamed men

Purpose: A legitimate firm for importing and exporting of far eastern art objects, and a front for criminal activities of the Golden Daggers Sect

Affiliations: Led by Fah Lo Sue

Enemies: MI-6, Shang-Chi

Base of Operations: 14 Wardour St. Soho, London, W2, England

First Appearance: Master of Kung-Fu I#40 (May, 1976)

History: (Master of Kung Fu I#40)- 4 assassins were sent to kill Larner. One threw a hand grenade at his apartment, almost killing Larner, Shang-Chi, Black Jack Tarr and Clive Reston. All of them survived and they managed to defeat the assassins, three of them died in the fight, one shot by Black Jack, one by Larner and the last one died when he fought Shang-Chi and dropped from great height. On one of the assassins, Black Jack found a card with the words “Oriental Expediters, Ldt. 14 Wardour St., Soho, London W2".

(Master of Kung Fu I#41 (BTS))- Deciding that the card was the only lead the four men had, they decided to go to the address.

(Master of Kung Fu I#42)- Sir Denis Nayland Smith asked Shang-Chi if he was willing to accompany Black Jack Tarr in investigating the “Oriental Expediters” clue. Shang-Chi agreed to go with Black Jack. Before Shang-Chi left, Clive Reston told him to go into Reston’s office, Larner wanted to tell him something about the Oriental Expediters. Larner told him about Shockwave, and told Shang-Chi that Shockwave had offered Larner a place in his organization, the front was a legitimate firm for importing and exporting of far eastern art objects, named “Oriental Expediters Limited”. After the conversation Shang-Chi joined Black Jack and went to the address from the card. There they found 4 men with the same hoods as the ones who attacked them at Larner’s apartment. The two of them managed to defeat the four men. After having defeated the four men, Shang-Chi came to an office through an air-shaft, and saw two men talking, one of them wanted to join the organization, one of them is revealed as Sholnik. After Shang-Chi dropped in on them, Sholnik called Shockwave. Shockwave arrived and began to fight Shang-Chi, just before Shockwave managed to give Shang-Chi the final blow, Black Jack arrived and stopped him, they escaped.

(Master of Kung Fu I#43)- Leiko Wu was revealed as being in Switzerland helping Agent D, MI-6's double agent within the Oriental Expediters escape. A mole inside the MI-6 organization had revealed Agent D as a mole inside the Oriental Expediters. Leiko Wu managed to shoot 7 Oriental Expediters agents. Meanwhile, an Oriental Expediter assassin managed to get a clear shot at Sir Herbert Griswold at his mansion, while a few other assassins tried to shoot Shang-Chi. Leiko Wu and Agent D were revealed to have been captured by Shockwave. A rematch between Shang-Chi and Shockwave began, which ended differently this time than the last time. Shang-Chi managed to defeat his opponent. Agent D was revealed to be Fu Manchu’s loyal servant Ducharme.

(Master of Kung Fu I#44)- The wounded Shockwave was sent to a hospital in London. Agent D, a.k.a. Ducharme told Shang-Chi about her past with Fu Manchu, and why she had betrayed Fu Manchu to Sir Denis Nayland Smith. Later some assassins tried to kill Leiko Wu, Clive Reston and Shang-Chi while they were on their way to Lausanne. They managed to capture Leiko Wu, but Shang-Chi and Clive Reston managed to get to Lausanne, to the home of the villain known only as Tarrant, there they were met by a few assassins, who they defeated, then the true mastermind behind the operation was revealed as Fah Lo Suee entered the room. Meanwhile at a hospital in London, where Sir Denis and Dr. Petrie had arrived to visit Shockwave, Shockwave revealed that Dr. Petrie was in fact he mole. Dr. Petrie shot Sir Denis, and placed the gun in Shockwave's hands.

(Master of Kung Fu I#45)- At Tarrant’s home, Fah Lo Suee ordered her two bodyguards Kimba and Bolo to kill Clive Reston and Shang-Chi, but they managed to defeat them. Meanwhile the Expediters were holding Leiko captive in a van. At Tarrant’s home, Tarrant arrived, and tried to convince Fah Lo Suee that they needed to get rid of Shang-Chi and Clive Reston. Fah Lo Suee ordered him to shut up, as she was the one in charge, not him. Back in the van, Leiko managed to free herself and defeated her captors. She rushed to Tarrant’s home, where she managed to shoot some of the Expediters, thereby freeing Shang-Chi and Reston. Before they could escape, Creston managed to unmask Tarrant, who was revealed as Sir Herbert Griswold. Reston was knocked down by an Expediter assassin.

(Master of Kung Fu I#46)- Griswold tried to convince Fah Lo Suee that she needed to kill Reston. She refused, but Reston managed to escape. Later in the mountains, Fah Lo Suee and her Expediters were on their way to Fu Manchu’s fortress. Reston watched them from afar, but was suddenly knocked down by Chankar and brought to Fah Lo Suee. Leiko and Shang-Chi meanwhile tried to get to a helicopter, but were shot at by the Expediters. Fah Lo Suee then sent Chankar to get Leiko. Shang-Chi rushed to her aid, and began to fight him. He managed to defeat him, and kicked him off the mountain. Leiko and Shang-Chi managed to escape.

(Master of Kung Fu I#47)- Dressed as Expediters assassins, Leiko and Shang-Chi managed to get onboard Fah Lo Suee’s plane. But when the plane landed, their cover was blown. They managed to escape the assassins, even taking a few of them out with a hand grenade. After the Expediters found a crashed plane with Larner and Reston inside they were attacked by Fu Manchu’s men, and defeated. The ones not already dead were offered a place in Fu Manchu’s organization; if they refused, they were to be killed. This was seemingly the end of the Oriental Expediters. Fah Lo Suee was now on her own.

(Master of Kung Fu I#51)- After the funeral of Larner, Shang-Chi and his friends met at Sir Denis’ office. Suddenly three Expediters attacked the office. All three of them were killed in the fight, but they managed to wound Miss Greville. Leiko questioned their motives, was it vengeance or were they not aware that Fah Lo Suee had already surrendered

Comments: Created by Doug Moench & Paul Gulacy

"Oriental Expediters" was subsequently used as a front by Freelance Restorations in Marvel Comics Presents I#1-8 and Master of Kung Fu: Bleeding Black.

"Oriental Expediters" is also the name of the business run by Cutlass and Typhoon. Hmm...

Thanks to Quiof Thrul for pointing out a mistake and omission in the sub-profiles for Bolo and Kimba.

Profile by: The Beetle

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Oriental Expediters have no connections to:

• The Expediters - of Landau, Luckman, and Lake (Chang, Carlysle Kestrel, John Wraith, Zoe Culloden, Noad DuBois)--Wolverine II#5

The Golden Daggers sect is not to be confused with:

• Golden Angel - a professional wrestler--Fantastic Four I#14
• Golden Angel - aka Janus, the son of Dracula and Domini--Tomb of Dracula I#51
• Golden Beetle--Master of Kung-Fu I#26
• Golden Claws--Master of Kung-Fu I#91
• Golden Dawn--Moon Knight Special#1
• Golden Dragon--Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu I#12
• any of the dozens of other "Golden"- somethings

Chankar, the Sumo, has no known connection to:

• Sumo, General Wo - aka the General and the--Tales of Suspense I#61/2
• Sumo - Kono Sanada--Marvel Fanfare I#11
• Sumo - of the Mutant Liberation Front--New Mutants I#93
• sumo - an unidentified agent of the Silent Ones--Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu I#8/4
• ...or any other sumos seen in various and sundry Kung-Fu stories.

Black Jack Tarr is not to be confused with:

• Blackjack - First Line member, former mercenary--Marvel: The Lost Generation#9

Fah Lo Suee
The daughter of Fu Manchu and sister of Shang-Chi was revealed as being the mastermind behind the “Oriental Expediters and Golden Daggers Sect

Shockwave
Nephew of Sir Denis Nayland Smith, and operative for Oriental Expediters.