Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1

Reprints Hero For Hire #1-16
Written by Archie Goodwin, Steve Engelhart, Billy Graham, Tony Isabella,
Penciled by George Tuska and Billy Graham.
Inked by Billy Graham, Syd Shores, Paul Reinman, and Frank McLaughlin.

Lucas is an inmate of Seagate Prison, serving a sentence for a drug-related felony he didn't commit. Seagate is a maximum security penitentiary, known as "Little Alcatraz" to its inmates. Shades and Comanche, two other prisoners, are planning a demonstration for the incoming warden. Lucas doesn't want any part of their plans, he just wants to get out of prison.

Seagate's head of security, Albert Rackham asks Lucas to serve as an informant and rat out Shades' gang. When Lucas refuses, Rackham tortures him, beating him within an inch of his life.

This ends when the new warden arrives and demotes Rackham.

Through flashbacks, we learn that prior to his imprisonment, Lucas teamed with his friend Willis Stryker and committed petty crimes in New York City. As they grew older, Lucas drifted away from crime, while Willis delved deeper into the underworld. The two friends both fell for a woman named Reva Connors, but it was Willis who won her hand.

One night, rival gangsters try to kill Willis. Reva ran off to get help from Lucas, who saved his old friend. Reva dumped Willis, worried that his lifestyle was too dangerous. Willis blamed Lucas for the attempt on his life and promised revenge.

Reva and Lucas' relationship blossomed and they were discussing marriage. But their dream ended when Willis planted heroin on Lucas and tipped off the police, which led to Lucas' felony conviction. Shortly thereafter, Reva was killed by a bullet intended for Willis.  

Seagate's doctor, Noah Burstein believes Lucas' story of his innocence and approaches him with an idea. Burstein is conducting a scientific experiment that could increase strength of humans. If Lucas participates, it may help his chances at getting released on parole.

Lucas is placed in a chamber and is undergoing an "electro-biochemical" procedure. Unfortunately, Rackham interrupts the process and turns up the chamber's controls, intending to kill Lucas. However, Lucas breaks out and escapes Seagate. He is shot by guards and presumed dead.

Lucas returns to New York and decides to take a new name. He now calls himself Luke Cage. Since he now possesses super strength and bulletproof skin, Luke decides to set up shop as a "hero for hire" and acts as sort of a super-powered private detective. He rents office space at a Times Square movie theater. Cage's new landlord is David "D.W." Griffith, who manages the theater.

When Luke gets shot, he receives medical treatment from Dr. Claire Temple, who works in a storefront clinic. When he arrives at the clinic, Cage is shocked to see that his old prison doctor, Noah Burstein also works there. Thankfully, Luke's hair is different enough to prevent Burstein from recognizing him. The doctor eventually figures out the truth, but keeps quiet. Burstein feels guilty about experimenting on prisoners and works at the clinic in order to atone for his past sins.

Before Cage can start a new life, he must face off against his former friend Willis Stryker, who now wears a snake costume and calls himself Diamondback. Stryker is armed with a variety of deadly knives and Luke will need every ounce of his superstrength to defeat Diamondback.

Cage's new career as a superhero leads to exciting adventures and encounters with various villains, including:

Gideon Mace, a former army colonel who has a mace in place of his right hand. Mace recruits Vietnam veterans to join his armed paramilitary organization. They plan attack Manhattan and steal large sums of money in the ensuing chaos.

A ghost haunts the movie theater that houses Cage's office.

Who is the Phantom of 42nd Street?

A man named Frank Jenks is killed in D.W.'s theater. Cage was en route to meet Jenks and investigates the murder. Things get more complicated when Jenks' body goes missing. Eventually, Luke learns that Frank's death (and subsequent disappearance) is the work of a crime boss known as Black Mariah!

Laura and Catherine Forsythe are worried that someone is trying to kill their grandfather, millionaire Raymond Huxley Forsythe. The granddaughters contact Cage and ask him to investigate some suspicious accident at the Huxley mansion. When Luke is searching the mansion for clues, he's attacked by suits of armor!

On Christmas Eve, Luke and Claire plan to spend a romantic evening together. Their plans change when Cage encounters gunmen from the past, present and future. But are they really the same man?

Cage takes his strangest assignment yet when he's hired by the Latverian Ambassador to the United States to bring in several former embassy employees. When Cage finds them, a fight ensues and he learns the Latverians are actually robots that have rebelled against their creator, Latveria's ruler Doctor Doom! When Cage visits the embassy to collect his fee, he learns Doom has fled for Latveria without paying Luke!

Luke borrows a rocket from the Fantastic Four and flies off to Doom's castle in Latveria. The Hero For Hire wants his payment and confronts Doom. However, a greater menace arrives and the Latverian monarch is forced to team up with Cage!

The offices of the Mainstream Motors company are attacked by a man who calls himself Chemistro.  He's armed with an alchemy gun that changes the chemical make-up of whatever Chemistro shoots. When one of Mainstream's employees is badly injured by Chemistro, the company hires Luke Cage to bring Chemistro to justice.

His second chance at life seems to being going well. Luke begins dating Claire Temple and his Hero For Hire career is a success. But Daily Bugle columnist Phil Fox gets suspicious of Cage and starts poking around. Fox steals notes from Burstein that prove Luke is an escaped prisoner.

We later learn that a prison review board fired Rackham from Seagate Prison over his extreme cruelty towards Cage and other prisoners. Sometime after that, Shades and Comanche escape Seagate. They were frequently tortured by Rackham in the prison and have sworn to make their former guard pay. They follow a trail of evidence that will lead them to Rackham, who has moved to New York City.

Phil Fox bumps into Rackham at the Daily Bugle offices. After a few drinks, the ex-guard spills his guts to Fox. Before all is said and done, Luke Cage, Comanche, Shades and Rackham all wind up face to face in a suburban New Jersey house, with guns ready to be fired. If that's not enough, the supercriminal Stiletto is watching them from the outside, waiting to attack!

Review:
A solid beginning for Luke Cage. None of these stories are classics, but they're lots of fun and this book is better than I expected. Cage has proven to be a good character, showing up in comic books and TV shows 45 years after his debut.

Story:
Archie Goodwin wrote the first four issues reprinted. These tales are heavily influenced by the "Blaxploitation" movies of the early 1970s and Luke Cage is sort of a John Shaft with superstrength. The origin story is good. During the late 60s and early 70s, prison atrocities and prisoners demanding rights were often in the news. So it makes sense that Marvel would create a superhero that came out of that background. Goodwin sets the tone for the series and the writers that follow generally follow his example.

Steve Engelhart succeeded Goodwin and his first story is a low point for this book. Black Mariah is an ugly outdated racially stereotypical character who speaks in an exaggerated "black" dialect. Even in 1971, Marvel should have known better to publish a character like Black Mariah. Engelheart gets things back on track with the Forsythe mansion story.

"Jingle Bombs" which originally appeared in Hero For Hire #7 is one my favorite parts of this book. It takes place on Christmas Eve and it's one of the Christmas comics I read every December. The story is ridiculous, but it's lots of fun.

The two-part Doctor Doom story is also somewhat ridiculous. But I can see Doom hiring someone like Cage to do his dirty work and Luke is the sort of person who would fly to Latveria to collect his payment. I also guess it was part of Marvel's plan to increase Cage's ties to the established Marvel Universe characters.

Cage has swagger to spare, constantly ribbing his antagonists during their fights. Some may be surprised and/or disappointed that Luke's catchphrase "Sweet Christmas" does not appear in these stories. That came later, but he does exclaim "Christmas" a few times.

Billy Graham and Tony Isabella co-wrote on the last two issue reprinted here and they do a good job finishing the Seagate arc that began the series.

I generally prefer Marvel's "street level" heroes like Spider-Man, Moon Knight and Daredevil. Marvel doesn't doesn't get more street level than Luke Cage, which means none of these stories require Cage to save the world. But that's okay.

The silliest story here features lions and tigers trained by Lionfang to speak English and Spanish.  But the tale culminates with a great fight between Luke Cage and Lionfang at Madison Square Garden.

I liked most of the villains here, all of them give Luke a tough time.  My personal favorite is Chemistro, his alchemy gun is very cool and the ending of his battle with Cage is tragic.

Art:
George Tuska penciled the majority of Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1 and Billy Graham inked all of Tuska's work.

Luke battles Senor Muerte.

Tuska's art here is a mixed bag. Some of the characters faces aren't well defined, but he pencils good action sequences, the fight scenes are all nicely drawn.

Graham serves as both penciler and inker for the latter portion is an improvement over Tuska. I wish Graham had penciled the entire book, here's a gorgeous page that features Cage battling big cats.

And here's another nice example of Graham's work:

Great stuff.

How does it look:

Here's a scan taken from my old copy of Hero For Hire #12:

This is how the same page looks in Marvel Masterworks:Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1:

Extras:
Engelhart wrote a new introduction for the book. In the back of this volume, you'll find a Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page from Hero For Hire #1, and five pages of original art and house ads.

The stories reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire Vol. 1 aren't classics. But they capture a moment in pop culture history and (with the exception of the Black Mariah tale) are all pretty good. Luke Cage is a very likeable character and I hope we get more of his Bronze Age solo adventures reprinted in the near future.

J.A. Morris rating:

3 Sals.

Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Volume 2

Reprints Defenders #7-16, Giant-Size Defenders #1 and Avengers #115-118
Written by Steve Englehart, Len Wein and Tony Isabella.
Penciled by Sal Buscema, Bob Brown and Jim Starlin.
Inked by Frank Bolle, Frank McLaughlin, Jack Abel, Klaus Janson, Dan Green, Mike Esposito, Al Milgrom and Frank Giacoia.

Variant cover.

Valkyrie, Hulk and Namor, the Sub-Mariner, all members of the Defenders, encounter the archer superhero Hawkeye. He's recently left the Avengers and wants to find a new direction in life. After a less-than-friendly encounter with Hulk and Valkyrie, order is restored and Hawkeye is invited to join the Non-Team.

Suddenly, an Atlantean arrives at their headquarters and tells Namor that his old foe Attuma is preparing to attack Atlantic City. The Defenders head to the Jersey Shore to battle Attuma and his minions. In a short battle, Namor, Hawkeye and Valkyrie are captured and imprisoned on Attuma's ship.

The heroes learn that Attuma's new partner is the Red Ghost. The Ghost uses cosmic rays to mentally control the captured Defenders and orders them to attack Atlantis. Thankfully, the Defenders' leader, Doctor Strange, returns and brings Silver Surfer with him to take on Attuma and Red Ghost.

Shortly after that, Loki, Asgardian god of mischief falls off a cliff after being blinded in a battle with his brother Thor. Loki is rescued by the dread Dormammu, ruler of the Dark Dimension. Dormammu tells Loki he will restore his eyesight if Loki will assist him in his "grandest scheme."

Dormammu wants to recover the Evil Eye, a device that will give him the power to destroy the Earth.  He manipulates the Defenders into finding the pieces of the Evil Eye, which are scattered all over the world. The Black Knight, a friend of the Defenders has been turned to stone. Dormammu tricks the Non-Team into believing that only the Evil Eye will restore the Knight's humanity.   

But Loki has second thoughts. He believes Dormammu will destroy Asgard after he eliminates Earth.  Loki secretly contacts the Avengers and tells them that the Defenders are evil and willingly aiding Dormammu. After hearing Loki's tale, the Avengers go in search of the Evil Eye. This leads to a clash of epic proportions between the Defenders and the Avengers!

On an island in the South Pacific, Silver Surfer battles the Vision on top of an active volcano!

Iron Man takes on his old Avengers teammate Hawkeye in Mexico!

Valkyrie and Swordsman engage in a sword-fight in a Bolivian castle!

Doctor Strange faces off against Mantis and Black Panther in an Indiana cornfield!

Captain America seeks the Evil Eye in Osaka, Japan and is confronted by Namor!

Last but definitely not least, two of the mightiest beings on Earth, Hulk and Thor, duel in Los Angeles.

Eventually, the Defenders and Avengers realize they've been duped and team up to battle Dormammu.  But to defeat him, they'll have to enter the Dark Dimension, where Dormammu reigns supreme.

The Avengers & Defenders unite to battle Dormammu!

After the clash with the Avengers, the Defenders still have to free the Black Knight from his stone prison. This requires them to time-travel back to the Crusades! The Defenders are surprised when they find the Black Knight battling giant gnomes! These gnomes are a difficult obstacle for the heroes to overcome.

Sometime later, Hulk is attacked by the Defenders' old foe Xemnu, the Living Titan. Doctor Strange and Valkyrie come to his rescue and help Ol' Greenskin battle Xemnu.

Next up, the supervillain Nighthawk pays a visit to Doctor Strange's Greenwich Village home, which serves as the Defenders' unofficial base of operations. Nighthawk has recently quit the criminal team known as the Squadron Sinister over their latest scheme.

The Squadron, which consists of Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum and the Whizzer, has "sold" Earth to an alien "geologist" called Nebulon, the Celestial Man. Nighthawk left the Squadron when he learned of Nebulon's plan. The alien has created a laser gun that will melt the polar icecaps and cover the entirety of Earth in water!  
 
Nighthawk tells the Defenders about this and convinces the Non-Team to join him in tackling the Squadron. They arrive at the Squadron's base and quickly gain the upper hand on the villains. But Nebulon arrives and easily beats the Defenders. He imprisons the Defenders in an energy globe and blasts them into space. 

The Defenders ultimately come out on top, thanks to the intervention of Nighthawk. The former villain says he wants to fight crime now and is granted membership in the Defenders!

Lastly, Doctor Strange receives a mental contact from Charles Xavier, known to the world as Professor X, leader of the X-Men. Xavier has discovered something amazing in the Carlsbad Canyons in New Mexico.

But shortly after the Defenders arrive in Carlsbad, they're attacked by Magneto and his new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The Defenders defeat the Brotherhood, but Magneto has a secret weapon.

The Defenders face off against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

The master of magnetism has discovered alien technology that gives him the power to create new forms of life. He uses this tech to create Alpha, the ultimate mutant. Alpha easily beats the Defenders and he departs with the Brotherhood to New York. Magneto walks into the United Nations and declares himself ruler of the world. Alpha's power makes Magneto seemingly unbeatable. But as long as the Defenders are alive, there's hope for Earth's survival!

The Defenders are no match for Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant!

Review:
I'm a huge fan of the Defenders and this is one of my favorite lineups of the Non-Team.

Story:
Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Volume 2 features stories from one of the classic eras of the Defenders. Even in the context of Bronze Age comic books, the Defenders shouldn't work. But somehow they do. It's always fun to watch Doctor Strange, Hulk, Valkyrie and Sub-Mariner interact with one another. The Non-Team nature means the cast is always rotating, so you never get bored with characters. Hawkeye and Silver Surfer don't stick around very long. But Nighthawk arrives shortly after their departure and Kyle Richmond goes on to become a Defenders mainstay for many years to come.  

The Defenders meet the Avengers and explain that they are on the same side.

I especially love how the Hulk is written in these Defenders tales. I still laugh when he calls Doctor Strange "dumb magician" and refers to Nighthawk as "bird-nose"! It's also nice to see the Hulk be happy for a fleeting minute or two. Like in this panel, where he realizes his fellow Defenders are his friends.

Hulk smiles when he realizes "Dumb Magician" is his friend. 
It's nice to see Hulk happy every now and then.

The centerpiece of this book is what's become know as "The Avengers/Defenders War." This is one of Steve Englehart's crowning achievements and one of the most entertaining stories of the Bronze Age...with one caveat. During the Vision's fight with the Silver Surfer, Scarlet Witch is around for the sole purpose of being a victim. This is silly, since Wanda had already been established as a heavy hitter.  Englehart makes up for it later by having Scarlet Witch play a major role in the battle against Dormammu, but it's still silly.

The other Defender vs. Avenger fights are all excellent. I was surprised when I re-read this to see that the Defenders won every battle, or at least walked away with the piece of the Evil Eye they were seeking. Maybe Englehart wanted to help the new team build their reputation against the old one. I was also surprised to see the Swordsman stab someone to death. It doesn't bother me, since Swordsman was a recently reformed villain engaging in self-defense, but I'm still shocked Englehart would write a story where an Avenger kills someone. The Hulk-Thor conflict is the highlight of the book and Englehart does a great job in the narration building up the powers of "Jade Jaws" and the thunder god.

Len Wein takes over after Englehart and the stories remain strong. The conflict with the evil mutants takes place during an interesting era for Marvel's mutant characters. The X-men series had been cancelled and turned into a reprint title.  But Professor X and the X-men made sporadic appearances in other Marvel series between the end of the old team and the first appearance of the new X-men.

It should be noted that Magneto is written here like a cartoonish madman villain dedicated to world domination. That's fine by me, but modern readers may be surprised by this, since the story was written about 8 years before the retcon that established Magneto as a survivor of the Final Solution.

Of course superheroes need quality opponents. Any book of Bronze Age reprints that features Dormammu, Loki, and Magneto as villains has to be good! Plus we get appearances by Nebulon, the Squadron Sinister, Attuma, and the Red Ghost, who aren't exactly slouches either.

Good stories all around from Englehart and Wein.   

Art:
The art is as good as the writing here, if not better.   

Sal Buscema pencils the Defenders stories. This book shows Buscema at the peak of his Bronze Age powers. He gives us lots of great fight scenes. Buscema was the definitive Bronze Age penciler of the Defenders series and his work still looks great today.

If there's any problem with the art in this book, it's the lack of a steady inker. But Sal B.'s work shines through no matter who inks him. Klaus Janson inks two of the issues reprinted here, I thought he was the best inker of the bunch. Here's a great two-pager, where Nighthawk describes what the Squadron and Nebulon will do to Earth if they aren't defeated:

Nice work by Buscema and Janson!

Bob Brown was the Avengers penciler at the time and he provides some good art as well. Brown received a special on-page commendation for his art in Avengers #118, which required him to draw 14 superheroes, a few SHIELD agents, Loki, Dormammu, a few other heroes making cameos. Plus, Brown does a nice job depicting Dormannu's Dark Dimension. Brown was 20+ years into his career at this point, but the art in the Avengers/Defenders War is one of his finest hours as a penciler.

Giant-Size Defenders #1 consisted of reprints, but it also included new "wraparound" pages penciled by Jim Starlin and inked by Al Milgrom. Their art is great and leaves you wanting more.

How does it look?:
I dug out my old copy of Defenders #16, here's a scan from that issue:

The same pages look like this in the Marvel Masterworks version:

Looks pretty good to me, no weird recoloring.

Extras:
A nice 4-page introduction from Steve Englehart where he talks about writing the Avengers-Defenders war. One gets the impression that Englehart is very proud of that storyline 40 years later, and rightly so. 

We also get three non-Bronze Age stories. As I mentioned above, Giant-Size Defenders #1 featured reprints with new filler material. A Sub-Mariner story from the Golden Age is reprinted, along with Silver Age stories that feature Hulk and Doctor Strange. I'm not crazy about this, since it means we get one less Defenders story.

Marvel Masterworks: Defenders Volume 2 is worth buying just to have the Avengers/Defenders battle, but the other stories are fun and action packed as well. Plus, this book features work by some of the finest writers and artists from of the Bronze Age and easily earns my highest grade.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sals!