From our Underground Chicago Journal: Virtually all the characters in the hugely popular video games Mortal Kombat I, II and III have another life besides slaughtering each other in hideous ways on a little screen.
They, or rather the human models for the computerized images, teach karate at the Lakeshore Athletic Club, 1320 W. Fullerton Ave. That’s right, Mortal Kombat’s murderous martial arts aces Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Baraka and Kitana go by more mundane names like Tony Marquez, Daniel Pesina, Ho Sung Pak, Rich Divizio, and Katalin Zamiar when they’re chopmeisters at the Lincoln Park health club five days a week. Even club controller Michael Dow, a top student, was almost in Mortal K. “But they ran out of storage capacity, so they didn’t film my character,” Dow says glumly.
Pak is the macher of the crowd. He’s three-time national champ of the Professional Karate League, and it was he who got his fellow black belts into the Mortal Kombat deal when some old friends were dreaming up the game. All were filmed in action and digitalized.
(Ho later sued, claiming the marketing went beyond original contract terms).
Pak is on the edge of the big time, by the way. He’s got an upcoming TV deal and is being hailed as “the next Bruce Lee.” He’s even got a video martial arts game of his own in production. No, it won’t be called Pak Man. It’ll go under
the name “T. R. F.,” and will feature none other than . . . Tony Marquez, Danny Pesina, Mike Dow, etc., etc.
Haieeee!
