This post is Filed Under:
Home page Highlights,
Interviews and Columns
Robert Greenberger
by Robert Greenberger
Marvel and its predecessor imprints, timely and Atlas, made their fortunes on identifying a fad and jumping on it with lots of titles until the audience’s tastes changed and they dropped one fad for the next one. In 1972, Sword & Sorcery and monsters were filling out Marvel’s publishing schedule under the loosened restrictions of the Comics Code Authority and the proven success of Conan the Barbarian. but a curious thing happened: marvel also jumped on a trend with just one title and it has outlasted them all.
Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero for hire Vol. 1
Living and working in Manhattan, it was hard for writer Archie Goodwin not to notice the Times Square marquees filling with lots of low budget films featuring predominantly black casts. The new genre was dubbed “Blaxploitation” and was influencing culture, music and fashion, especially with the crossover hit Shaft. Sensing a commercial win, Goodwin created Marvel’s first blaxplotiation title, Luke Cage, Hero for hire and it became America’s first monthly newsstand comic to feature an African-American in the title.
Luke has endured and prospered, returning to a mostly solo role after being inextricably linked to Iron Fist for a lot of of the 1980s and 1990s. He will be seen as one-quarter of Netflix’s marvel series set in the urban jungle although he will first be seen in this year’s A.K.A. Jessica Jones before getting his own show in 2016, with The good Wife’s Mike Colter in the role. Sensing an opportunity, marvel is collecting the first 16 issues in marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire, one of the first 1970s titles to join the line.
Goodwin, who would have been the first to tell you how white he was, was paired with the whiter and older George Tuska to bring the black experience to comic readers. Thankfully, editor Roy Thomas assigned the inks to Warren publishing veteran Billy Graham, whose inks helped bring some grit to the page. The distinctive outfit was created by John Romita, Sr., who carried out the first cover. in that issue, Luke was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit and agreed to an experiment in the hope of surviving and getting his freedom. Not only was he freed, the experiment left him with enhanced strength and endurance along with nigh-invulnerable skin.
Luke Cage, Hero For hire #5
He returned to his Harlem roots, set out a shingle and became a hero for, well, hire, taking on cases for cash to pay the rent. The series fell short of the violence and vocabulary of the films it aped but it still found a ready audience. George lasted three issues and Billy strutted his distinctive look over the next few, but Archie departed after the first quarter of issues. Rising star Steve Englehart inherited the book and kept it through issue 16. Along the way there were street thugs, an obese female gangster Black Mariah, and lots of robots to be smashed.
On his website, Englehart noted, “The original idea was that Luke had super-strength but would only use it for cash – a HERO FOR HIRE. The artist mostly closely associated with the book was Billy Graham. Billy didn’t do all the pencils – George Tuska often filled in – but he normally did at least the inks, and he helped me plot, so that by the end it was pretty much a co-production.”
Luke Cage, Hero For hire #9
Issues 8 and 9 he explained, contained “the a lot of infamous storyline. Cage is hired as a cat’s-paw by doctor Doom, who refuses to pay when Cage goes against his instructions. but Cage’s street cred depends on never getting stiffed, so he follows the doctor to Latveria. Their differing power levels and motivations made this a special story (and too special for some).” and it wasn’t until the ninth issue before Luke met another costumed crimefighter, in this case it was logically Doom’s opponents, the fantastic Four.
Luke Cage, Hero For hire #12
It wasn’t until issue #12 that Cage faced his first standard costumed villain, a second-stringer named Chemistro, who made his debut here. and in Englehart’s final issue, he introduced another, Stiletto. The series wasn’t about heroes and villains but a lot more about a powerful black man trying to keep his neighborhood as crime complimentary as was functional while trying to pay the bills and have time for some women. There was a curious vibe to the stories as a result which is one reason the series gained a slow but consistent following.
Back in those wild and wooly days, Englehart was occasionally swamped so Gerry Conway wrote half of issue #6 while Tony Isabella ended up writing the dialogue with Billy for the last half of a serial running in issues 14-16.
Luke Cage, Hero For hire #14
As Englehart left, soft sales did force a change and the title was altered to Power Man, but that’s a tale for another volume.Purchase
Marvel Masterworks: Luke Cage, Hero For Hire
Classic covers from the Grand Comics Database.