LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #1-3 (1972)

6 days ago 8

Look! It’s Big John Romita doing the cover! But not the interior…

On March 21, 1972, Marvel debuted a different kind of hero.

A tribute to the black power movement and a clumsy attempt at diversity, Luke Cage: Hero for Hire was created by these guys: Future editor Archie Goodwin…

And George Tuska:

Now, there’s nothing wrong with being white…But it did produce a comic that took place in an all-black neighborhood, starred a black superhero (one of the first), but felt a little…Stereotypical.

Despite all this, Hero for Hire was a good comic.

The first three issues were spent introducing the supporting cast and offering a general theme for the book, after which Goodwin and Tuska relinquished the reins.

Issue #1 started in jail.

Unfair treatment. Racist oppressors…But hey, a really cool villain named Diamondback:

He has knives here, but as the character develops he also gets tricked out knives that shoot venom and stuff like that.

Issue #2 introduces Claire Temple, best known to modern audiences as “Night Nurse” on Daredevil and Jessica Jones, the Netflix series. But in the comics, she wasn’t night nurse. She was Luke Cage’s main squeeze.

But yes, she was also a nurse.

Luke gets the idea to be a neighborhood mercenary when he foils a robbery, gets a reward, and decides to get a costume.

Ever wonder why he wore a yellow shirt, tiara, and ridiculously large chain? Because Luke Cage got his outfit…

…From a white guy! There’s a funny little shout out to the Flash too…

Back then, writers often worked for both companies at the same time and the publishers had a better sense of humor about each other.

Then, in #3, we meet the villain Gideon Mace. Just as Diamondback has trick knives, he’s got a trick mace. FOR A HAND.

If you don’t like 1970s comics, you are no fun at all.

Cage’s landlord, DW Griffith, owns a movie theater (yes, it’s an obvious tribute the famous film director)…

DW would stay on as a side character all the way into the years the title became Power Man and Iron Fist, and even still pops up from time to time. The side characters in this book and later in Power Man and Iron Fist are some of the best in Marvel history. I’d put the casts of Spider-Man and Moon Knight alongside them for a top 3.