Brynocki the little robot from Master Of Kung Fu

To continue the robot theme I've been on lately I'd be remiss to forget the charismatic little mechanical henchman from the pages of Master of Kung Fu, Brynocki, the ever changing every-man, man servant was a robot creation of Mordillo's to administer over his exotic amusement park in the 70's classic "Mordillo's Island" from Master of Kung Fu #33 - #35, by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy.

Brynocki first appeared in Master of Kung Fu #35 (Oct. 1975) by Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy

Brynocki was the whimsical, insane side of the ruthless assassin and MI-5 rogue agent, Mordillo.

The comical character had a costume for every occasion, changing to fit the situation. One minute he is a cowboy rounding up the riff raff on the island and the next he is a chef serving his master's illustrious guest and the next a locomotive engineer. he had a costume to fit every occasion.

Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy had created him as part of their second great trilogy of Master Of Kung Fu #33-35 (October–December 1975) "Mordillo's Island".

 

Brynocki was designed to look like a playful cartoon character in the fashion of early Mickey Mouse or Felix the Cat. This contrast really worked well with Gulacy’s very realistic style. You could see Gulacy pushing the limits of this realistic and gritty style he had  been developing to include a cartoonish side.

 

Unfortunately Mordillo didn’t survive the trilogy (MoKF #33 - #35) though Brynocki did and came back to haunt Shang Chi and crew in future issues of Master of Kung Fu (#73-75, January–April 1979). Mordillo’s Island had been rebuilt by England’s secret service, MI-5. A rogue agent used Brynocki and another of Shang’s rogues gallery, Shockwave, to assassinate Shang Chi and crew.  

Brynocki eventually turns on Shockwave and goes rogue himself. The poor little lost puppet ends up looking to the skeletal remains of Mordillo for help.

Doug Moench, who wrote most of the 125 issues, was really fortunate when it came to artists for Master of Kung Fu. At the time it was thought that no one would be able to take Gulacy’s place but then Mike Zeck stepped up to the challenge and did an amazing job of filling some very big shoes. While not quite as realistic as Gulacy, Mike’s work is incredibly fluid and nicely detailed, especially when it comes to figures and faces.

The last appearance of Brynocki in Master of Kung Fu was in issue #119 in which Doug has Brynocki asking the skeletal remains of Mordillo for some direction as to what he should do. And as luck would have it, he actually gets a response.

This time Doug is helped out by a very young Image Comics founder, Mark Silvestryi. For such a young artist, he does a really great job.

By the end of the issue Brynocki gets kind of messed up. But don't worry, he's done for the count but he's not out yet.

Brynocki is a wonderfully fun character and a testament to the fanciful mind and awesome work of Doug Moench and his awesome collaborators.