The titular Yellow Claw is a Villain Protagonist, an ancient Chinese mystic who's been living in seclusion, but is now recruited by China's communist government to help defeat the west. He is more than happy to help the communists, but secretly plans world domination in his own right. His evil schemes are consistently opposed by the heroic Chinese-American FBI agent Jimmy Woo.
The Yellow Claw is assisted in his efforts by his young grand-niece Suwan and the nefarious Fritz Voltzmann (who's actually a new identity adopted by a wanted Nazi war criminal, Karl von Horstbaden). However, after Suwan meets Jimmy, her loyalty to her villainous grand-uncle become rather less reliable...
The series was an Anthology Comic, running text stories and unrelated crime comics alongside several relatively short Yellow Claw tales in each issue.
The first issue was published June 13, 1956. The series ended with issue #4, published December 13, 1956.
A decade later, the Yellow Claw, Jimmy Woo, Suwan and Voltzmann were introduced into the shared Marvel Universe by Jim Steranko, who reused the characters in his run on Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Strange Tales anthology.
Eventually, the Yellow Claw's origins and motives were revisited and subverted by the 2006 Agents of Atlas series, putting the original stories into a very different perspective.
Yellow Claw includes the following tropes:
- Action Bomb: The Yellow Claw's robot Body Double contains a very powerful bomb.
- Anthology Comic: Each issue contains multiple Yellow Claw stories plus unrelated crime comics and text stories.
- Body Double: The "Yellow Claw" the FBI capture after a tip-off is actually a very convincing robot. It's also an Action Bomb intended to detonate in custody.
- Blackmail: Voltzmann is blackmailed into serving the Yellow Claw by the threat that his real identity - an infamous Nazi war criminal who once commanded Auschwitz - will be revealed.
- Breakout Character: Thanks to Agents of Atlas and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Claw's heroic nemesis Jimmy Woo is better known now than the Yellow Claw himself.
- Condensation Clue: Agent R-8, the spy the G-Men are trying to catch in standalone story Footsteps in the Dark, has a secret message written on the lens of his spectacles, only visible when they steam up. He's caught when he tries to discreetly escape via a diner's kitchen, as the chef notices.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Suwan swiftly decides to aid Jimmy, but there are limits to how far she'll go when acting against her grand-uncle. And the Yellow Claw is at least partly aware of those split loyalties as well, as some of his plans rely on exploiting them.
- Crystal Ball: The Yellow Claw uses one to see the past, scry on his enemies and predict the future.
- Death Faked for You: Convict Rocky Miller's given a very special cigarette by a disguised Yellow Claw. After smoking it, he slips into a trance indistinguishable from death. Voltzmann then collects his body from the prison so that the Yellow Claw can revive him with an antidote.
- Decoy Getaway: Voltzmann drives a captive Jimmy Woo to a meeting where he'll be exchanged for secret chemical formulas - and then realises that Jimmy's already escaped and the hooded hostage in the car is Suwan.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Rocky Miller turns on Voltzmann once her realises that the stolen secrets are going to the Chinese government. He's a thug and a crook, but he's also an American. Unfortunately, Redemption Equals Death.
- Feed the Mole: Heinrich Helmar, protagonist of standalone crime story For Services Rendered!, is a clerk in West Berlin. An ex-Nazi and an ex-Communist, he thinks he's successfully hidden his past each time it became politically inconvenient. But when he smuggles a list of agents to some old Communist allies, it turns out that the only thing he obtained was a message confirming that the list was fake. His allies are not impressed.
- Funetik Aksent: Voltzmann's dialogue is sometimes written with a very strong German accent.
- Humongous Mecha: The thousand-foot tall giant Temujai is actually a robot piloted by one of the Yellow Claw's minions, with a realistic-looking artificial skin draped over a metal frame.
- Hypnotic Eyes: One of the Yellow Claw's abilities. Initially demonstrated by using Mind Control on a Chinese soldier, then ordering him to kill his general. The command is cancelled at the last moment.
- Latex Perfection: The Yellow Claw is a master of disguise, and at least some of those disguises are said to be rubber masks.
- Long-Lived: The Yellow Claw is said to be well over a century old, having long ago learned the secrets of longevity from a Tibetan lama.
- Mind Control: The Yellow Claw's Hypnotic Eyes can impose this on his victims.
- Mutants: In one story the Yellow Claw has hypnotised six mutants with massive psychic powers and is using them to warp reality in targeted towns. They vanish in a flash of light once the hypnotic control is broken by a loud gong.
- The Mole: Suwan swiftly becomes Jimmy's ally within the Yellow Claw's team. There are limits to her help, though, and both Jimmy and Yellow Claw are aware that she has some Conflicting Loyalty issues.
- Redemption Equals Death: Criminal Rocky Miller turns on Voltzmann once he realises that the Yellow Claw will be sending stolen American secrets to the Chinese government. Unfortunately, Voltzmann shoots him before fleeing.
- Red Scare: The Yellow Claw is backed by the Chinese government, who are initially seeking an advantage that will let them invade Formosa (Taiwan) without the West interfering.
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands: The Yellow Claw can scry via Crystal Ball.
- Villain Protagonist: Jimmy Woo's the hero, but it's the Yellow Claw's comic.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: In the last couple of issues the Yellow Claw is clearly not killing Jimmy when he has the opportunity, apparently because he doesn't want to upset Suwan.
- Yellow Peril: The Yellow Claw himself exemplifies this style of Asian villain threatening the West. The only mitigation is that the hero, Jimmy Woo, is also of Chinese heritage.
