The blurb on the paperback on which the original film is based states Shaft is "Hotter than Bond, cooler than Bullitt.

Shaft is also a practitioner of several styles of martial arts that includes western Boxing, Wing Chun, Judo, Jujitsu, Shotokan, and Kyokushin Karate.

comic book was published by Dynamite Entertainment, written by David F. Walker and illustrated by Bilquis Evely, beginning in December 2014.

New stories following young John Shaft's earliest adventures were adapted closely from the Ernest Tidyman novels.

Prior to Shaft many depictions of Black men showed them as servile, mild-mannered, and in positions of low status such as servants or janitors.