Enter the Dragon was released in Hong Kong six days after the death of its unforgettable star, Bruce Lee. A month later it debuted in the United States, and rapidly became the most iconic martial arts movie ever to reach a wide western audience.

Enter the Dragon has plenty of terrific kung fu battles but the mayhem is almost the least of it, the final scenes offer undiluted cinematic pleasure of a rare sort. Interspersing his combat with noticeable cognitive and emotional content, Lee’s vivid acting style was rife with quizzical head shakes and fleeting WTF expressions. Lee’s tragic early demise allowed his soon-to-be-enormous fan base (and unscrupulous exploitation filmmakers) to inscribe whatever future they desired onto his screen persona.

This full-page cartoon advertisement originally appeared in a September 1973 issue of Rolling Stone, but it gains in interest for probably having been conceived and executed before Lee’s death, which isn’t referenced whatsoever. The title of the strip, “Enter the Dragon and his allies,” vaguely recalls Homer Simpson’s fan letter to his favorite Hollywood star, which commenced, “Dear Die Hard: You rock.”

Steven Thompson points out that the cartoon was executed using a lightbox and was probably the product of a commercial artist rather than one of the familiar comics professionals of the era.

Can the Dragon and his allies survive the tortures of the evil Han? Will Interpol’s forces arrive in time to rescue them from a fate worse than death?

More after the jump…