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Essential Power Man and Iron Fist #1
Essential Power Man and Iron Fist, Vol. 1
A new era of greatness begins for the most unlikely team of all! From a 'Night of the Town' to the 'Day of the Death Machines', Power Man and Iron Fist - Heroes for Hire - face the Living Monolith, El Aguila, the Maggia and more! This collection guest-stars the Uncanny X-Men and the Daughters of the Dragon!
520 pages, Paperback
First published January 16, 2008
1 person is currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Chris Claremont
3,268 books885 followersChris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 6, 2013
I was a little worried going into this book. I've like Luke Cage in the modern comics for a while now, and had gotten introduced to he and Iron Fist as a team in some of the recent comics - first Earth's Mightiest Heroes and then Ultimate Spider-Man. So I figure, I like Luke Cage and I like the Heroes for Hire - I should give that dual book a go.
But reading older books with a modern frame of reference can be a little jarring, and I've had some trouble with these massive black-and-white reprints of older comics. I know not everyone has this issue, but I sometimes find them harder to follow than the full color counterparts. I was worried that might impact my enjoyment, since this was the first time the black-and-white omnibus was my *only* view into the series.
Turns out? No need to worry. Despite featuring a few different artists, everything was really easy to follow artistically. But the real gem here was the writing. Claremont was pretty good, but once Duffy got involved, I found I liked it even better.And while both heroes' pasts come back to haunt them in this collection, their friendship and their ability to work together despite massive differences broth professionally and socially held everything together.
This really is one of the best team-up superhero comics I've ever read. The character share the spotlight and the workload with a simple ease. It never feels like a character and their sidekick. It never feels like one of them could go it alone without the other. They don't always see eye-to-eye but they're always there for each other.
It's definitely not perfect. Some of the individual foes they face are a little less than fascinating, it's definitely a product of its time and they seem to sometimes have trouble deciding exactly how powerful Iron Fist's abilities are. And you may get a little tired of hearing both character's histories or find yourself unable to see the words "... like unto a thing of iron!" without cracking up. But if you're interested in these characters, its a pretty great read.
But reading older books with a modern frame of reference can be a little jarring, and I've had some trouble with these massive black-and-white reprints of older comics. I know not everyone has this issue, but I sometimes find them harder to follow than the full color counterparts. I was worried that might impact my enjoyment, since this was the first time the black-and-white omnibus was my *only* view into the series.
Turns out? No need to worry. Despite featuring a few different artists, everything was really easy to follow artistically. But the real gem here was the writing. Claremont was pretty good, but once Duffy got involved, I found I liked it even better.And while both heroes' pasts come back to haunt them in this collection, their friendship and their ability to work together despite massive differences broth professionally and socially held everything together.
This really is one of the best team-up superhero comics I've ever read. The character share the spotlight and the workload with a simple ease. It never feels like a character and their sidekick. It never feels like one of them could go it alone without the other. They don't always see eye-to-eye but they're always there for each other.
It's definitely not perfect. Some of the individual foes they face are a little less than fascinating, it's definitely a product of its time and they seem to sometimes have trouble deciding exactly how powerful Iron Fist's abilities are. And you may get a little tired of hearing both character's histories or find yourself unable to see the words "... like unto a thing of iron!" without cracking up. But if you're interested in these characters, its a pretty great read.
November 18, 2018
I'll be clear, there is no way to separate this review from be being a 9-10 reading Mary-Jo Duffy and Kerry Grammil's issues from this volume as they came out and being utterly enamored with them. And they are still exceptional examples of the late silver age/early bronze age Marvel.
Interesting things in this volume include:
1) the pure commercial cynicism of merging their blacksplotation hero with their non-licensed-property kung-fu hero (at this point Shang Chi was still all in on the Fu Manchu tie in with the Sax Rhomer estate). And the amazing thing is it works. Got no reason to, but they pull it off.
2) the shift from the urban crime that was the Power Man book where poverty, street crime and racism played major story elements and the villains included literal grotesques like Mr. Fish (who yes, they call jim Mr. Fish, and yes, he looks like a fish) and Black Mariah (who in the comics is a Black Female Kingpin in her absurd girth), to a more cleaner, more sanitized NYC, where by the end of this volume each story has some solid comic effect. The change to Grammil's very clean line style and panel construction in the last 12 issues emphasizes this.
3) the shift to longer term braided plotlines, which is odd for a bi-monthly book but shows MJ Duffy's use of the form. There's a nice long running plot about the Sons of the Tiger and a jade statue that builds nicely every few months until it's the centerpoint of issue 75.
4) MJ Duffy's exploration of exactly how messed up K'un-Lun is as a society. The speed at which everything plays out at the end is a little unsatisfying, but someone needed to look at the place and say "woah, even in the none of this has to make sense sense, this doesn't make sense."
To say that any issues of Power Man and Iron Fist are _essential_ are a stretch, but they're fun for me
Interesting things in this volume include:
1) the pure commercial cynicism of merging their blacksplotation hero with their non-licensed-property kung-fu hero (at this point Shang Chi was still all in on the Fu Manchu tie in with the Sax Rhomer estate). And the amazing thing is it works. Got no reason to, but they pull it off.
2) the shift from the urban crime that was the Power Man book where poverty, street crime and racism played major story elements and the villains included literal grotesques like Mr. Fish (who yes, they call jim Mr. Fish, and yes, he looks like a fish) and Black Mariah (who in the comics is a Black Female Kingpin in her absurd girth), to a more cleaner, more sanitized NYC, where by the end of this volume each story has some solid comic effect. The change to Grammil's very clean line style and panel construction in the last 12 issues emphasizes this.
3) the shift to longer term braided plotlines, which is odd for a bi-monthly book but shows MJ Duffy's use of the form. There's a nice long running plot about the Sons of the Tiger and a jade statue that builds nicely every few months until it's the centerpoint of issue 75.
4) MJ Duffy's exploration of exactly how messed up K'un-Lun is as a society. The speed at which everything plays out at the end is a little unsatisfying, but someone needed to look at the place and say "woah, even in the none of this has to make sense sense, this doesn't make sense."
To say that any issues of Power Man and Iron Fist are _essential_ are a stretch, but they're fun for me
January 24, 2015
Luke Cage is my favorite Marvel Comics hero, with the mix of blaxploitation/police procedural and considerations for black people and poor people, it bounces off the page even if the writing is off sometimes. And I really like Iron Fist, Chris Claremont writing these stories about kung fu and weird moral codes from Japanese villains and stuff, it was a very good book.
So now they're randomly shoved together. And it's actually pretty good, for similar reasons. Chris Claremont does it best, but Mary Jo Duffy does a good job of mimicking Claremont's style, that sort of emotionally mushy thing where ghosts from people's pasts start killing people, or the villains just seem to have a chip on their shoulder that they're better people than Luke and Iron Fist.
It's got a lot of snippy pitter patter dialogue, cheesy to some, but it flows well. And there's no doubt that Luke Cage's iron skin, tank sized body, combined with Iron Fist's mastery of karate stuff and a fist that can explode at will are just plain cool for big combat scenes, and add a lot of layers for the writers and the artists to build battles out of.
This is simply an accessible and actually well written mix of costume beat em ups that Marvel Comics has been the master of since forever .5/5
So now they're randomly shoved together. And it's actually pretty good, for similar reasons. Chris Claremont does it best, but Mary Jo Duffy does a good job of mimicking Claremont's style, that sort of emotionally mushy thing where ghosts from people's pasts start killing people, or the villains just seem to have a chip on their shoulder that they're better people than Luke and Iron Fist.
It's got a lot of snippy pitter patter dialogue, cheesy to some, but it flows well. And there's no doubt that Luke Cage's iron skin, tank sized body, combined with Iron Fist's mastery of karate stuff and a fist that can explode at will are just plain cool for big combat scenes, and add a lot of layers for the writers and the artists to build battles out of.
This is simply an accessible and actually well written mix of costume beat em ups that Marvel Comics has been the master of since forever .5/5
August 10, 2024
Thoroughly enjoyable! Well written with a wonderfully subtle sense of humor. I like both Luke Cage and Iron Fist on their own, and they work well here together.
February 2, 2025
I’ve tried to stay away from the "Essentials" line. Though I LOVE the concept, removing the color from the comics is a deal-breaker for me.
But I found both volumes at a good price (though in actually it was a HUGE pain to actually get both volumes and I’m STILL not sure they are the right ones!) so I went for me. John Byrne’s a pretty good draw as well.
This starts with issue #50, "Freedom!", though supposedly Iron Fist joined Power Man in issue #48.
Of course, the day Luke Cage is let out of jail he is attacked at his party by Stiletto and Discus. I wish we could overhear the discussion when he was told he was going to be called "Discus."
Unfortunately John Byrne only draws the first issue. :(
" A Night on the Town " is apparently the last script by Chris Claremont as well!
A Nod is as Good as a Wink to a Dead Superhero…! Leave it to the new writer to try to make a splash with his title! In this story we find out that Iron Fist can do the Vulcan Nerve Pinch.
Do you care about the plot in an omnibus review? Robot thugs are trying to take over the hood but no one - including the bosses already there - who’s behind it.
Iron Fist and Power Man have joined Nightwing Restorations (Misty Knight & Coleen Wing, private eyes) to figure it out.
Reading this comic makes it pretty obvious where the Iron Fist TV show went wrong however. They did have plenty of action and some interesting plots. But without the suit it’s not a super-hero show unless he actually wears long underwear.
"He, bro — mind havin’s a little rap with me?"
Yeah, I gotta use that.
" Death Plunge! " actually has a laugh out loud moment when Misty fires Luke Cage for getting them both in a death trap, but when he rescues the both she gives him his job back.
— Liberty Towers— Empty monument to altruism and big government spending.
" Heroes for Hire! " has Luke and Danny working for themselves. They’re not making any money but his lawyer friend Jeryn Hogarth helps them out by showing them how to be more legitimate and professional.
When the Incinerator robs the bank, Jeryn has put Power Man and Iron Fist on retainer and his beeper goes off giving the location of the crime.
" Chaos at the Coliseum " has Powers Man at an auto show.
"HAHA — yes, Barbara — we’re having Luke lift the new Badger to show how light it is — light on gas, light on your pocketbook!
And yet another writer gets booted from this book!
" The Scarab’s Sting! " looks to be the issue where Iron Fist fights Power Man!
STILLl only 35¢
"I ain’t no fancy man to go livin’ off somebody else."
But it’s just Iron Fist teaching Power Man some more subtle moves. How’s that working out for ya?
" Pharaohs on Broadway " guest stars the X-Men.
*Ther minds were temporarily linked back in Iron Fist #6 Well, I’d sure like to know what that was about!?
This story guest starred the X-Men and a supervillain of theirs. It was more stunt than story.
El " Aguila has Landed! " introduces The Eagle as a supervillian.
Heroes for Hire was a pretty unique concept from the beginning and of course it didn’t take long for them to find out that some of their clients are bad guys and they have unbreakable contracts to work for them.
"The time for talk is past, idote!"
"You greasy, little wetback…!
The El Aguila story was really good and the art, by Trevor Vons Eeden is growing on me. He’s definitely got a lot of talent and knows how to personalize the looks of the characters.
"The Big Apple Bomber" has a nice aside about the Sons of the Tiger, another martial arts team from the Marvel comic "Deadly Hands of Kung Fu".
"The Terrorist Manifesto!" has Danny’s friend accused of terrorism.
"Don’t jive me with ‘Can’t hurt’!"
Marie Severin & Steve Leialoha (is that real name?) have cranked up the art in this story.
"You bullied your way in here in your fancy garb…"
"But ye can never really escape your past… ye just have to learn to live with it… every day a’ yer life."
That was a good story. When I read these omnibus/collections I always think about how I would have felt if this was the only story I got for a month. The Power Man & Iron Fist story’s really pay off for a month’s wait for the next one.
"Who’s Been Sleeping in my Grave?" begins with some thugs digging up the grave of Luke Cage.
"One Must Die!" had a significant death in the story which as far as I know actually stayed dead!
"Luck and Death" has Kerry Gammil noticeably improving the art. And yet another significant death!
"The Last Gamble" concludes the story of Luck and Death and their comeuppance.
"An Eagle in the Aerie" see the return of El Aguila.
"I’m the only woman you’ve ever hired who wasn’t at least an ‘eight’."
Funny how you can work with a man, get along with him, and not be able to live with ‘im…
Apparently Power Man and the Hulk get their pants from the same tailor….
"The Jade Tiger!" has a nice Frank Miller cover! Wish it wasn’t in black and white.
"You won’t suffer long, babe! I wanna polish you off fast — so’s I can talk over old times with your slant-eyed friend."
The drawings never made it explicitly clear that Coleen Wing was asian. I’m glad a supervillain can confirm it.
I like the cameo from Bob Diamond of Sons of the Tiger and I’m actually reading up on them. At one time Marvel pumped out of a lot Kung Fu magazines!
Okay, I gotta ask. Where did that "Like Unto A Thing of Iron" come from? They use it a little too often and it sounds kind of weird. Like a deliberate mispronunciation…. And a first of iron wouldn’t really explain how he can punch through a bank vault.
This is the first time IF & PM go up against genuine supervillains — Constrictor and Sabertooth. Both ‘B’ listers at this time, but Sabertooth got better later in his career.
These stories are old-fashioned but so am I. A one-and-done story with action, genuine peril and genuine heroics is a good way to spend some time.
"Power Men" starts off with IF and PM being hired to stop a bank robbery and Power Man explaining Iron Fist’s origin to the robbers!
Of course, when Luke is missing after the robbery is foiled but everyone is knocked out with gas, they immediately suspect Luke was in on the robbery.
Kerry Gammil and Ricardo Vilamonte still impressing on the art. Can’t really vouch for the colorist.
"They met about six months ago, on one a’ them ‘Swinging Seniors’ cruises."
I don’t even want to know.
Strangely it looks like the TV Show "Iron Fist" switched the relationship from the black Misty Knight to the asian Colleen Wing. I wonder why?
This one is a good story. Someone is trying to duplicate the experiment that gave Powers Man his abilities. A nice cliffhanger ending too!
"Where Enemies Gather!" has a powerless Luke Cage relying on the police and Iron Fist to sink the boat full of hoodlums that is still chasing them.
"Ah, yes. As I’ve said before, people may forget my face, but they seldom forget where they’ve seen it…. a human head grafted onto the body of a six-hundred pound gorilla!"
"Victim Times Three!" starts with Powers Man violating civil rights at an illegal chop shop.
"You… wear the mark of a dragon! That’s a gook mark!"
MIGHTY MARVEL BONUS! Behind the scenes with the HEROES FOR HIRE—
One of the things Marvel did was stuff like this. Basically just a feature that described their place of business, the ancillary characters in the story all with descriptions and illustrations. This would cumulate MANY years later into the Handbooks of the Marvel Universe. Very cool stuff that I always appreciated.
"Coconut Snow" has an appearance in a nightmare being had by Coleen Wing of a Spider-Man villain with a Mindstorm.
Turns out this made Colleen’s dad forget he had a daughter. To bad this didn’t happen in the TV show! Might’ve helped. A sweet story.
"The Mountain comes to Manhattan" is a pretty fun story about Power Man stumbling over a. McGuffin quarter and taking 10,000 cash for… a quarter.
"Paper Tiger!" has the pair trying to help a district attorney put down a karate-skilled gang, the Golden Tigers.
"One thing about all these American schools bothers me… There’s such an emphasis on the violence of martial arts… never any mention of avoiding conflict, or of the harmony of spirit that even a warrior needs…"
"Doorway to Heaven" as PM and IF in a cowboy bar. I wonder what will happen…?
I do like the fact that the writer (Mary Jo Duffy in this case) remembers to emphasize Iron Fist’s naiveté and ignorance in, well, most situations. The TV show would’ve been better and funnier if it had also done that.
"I never shoulda taken Iron Fist to see all those westerns at the Gem. That boy is too impressionable!"
Kerry Gammill does some great art here too!
Cool! Interlude about the Sons of the Tiger! I’m currently reading a very cool retrospective. https://notahoaxnotadream.blogspot.co...
This story has all sorts of un-politically correct cultural and racist cliches, but that’s doesn’t stop it from being a great comic book story!
And I nice cliffhanger promises The Most Requested, Longest Awaited Powers Man and Iron Fist Tale of them all—
"This Insubstantial Pageant Faded is a huge double-issue that sends IF & PM back to K’un Lum and tells Iron Fists’s origin in great detail. I’d never read this before and the TV show rather trimmed down the details. Like Iron Fist having a sister!
They also tell how iF fought the dragon and plunged his hand into the brazier where the dragon’s heart was (eerily similar to the TV show ‘Kung Fu’). But they show him plunging BOTH hands in to gain the Iron First, but as far as I know, it only is used on one hand!?
"… And if anyone hears what you said… "
"What’ll they do? Make me stay home an’ meditate?
"Why must we follow the orders of a dark-skinned alien?"
"Yo’ mama, sucker!"
The art in this ‘very special episode’ is amazing and worthy of the tale (Kerry & Ricardo). I wish I could afford to read this in color!
"That’s it! Finish him! Without Power Man to help him, Iron Fist will be easy prey!!
Well, that’s doesn’t quite work out as he’d hoped.
This was a lot of fun. Even Power Man’s… let’s call them anachronism’s really weren’t so bad they bothered me.
The final story had a great ending and after that there were two famous advertisements for the PM & IF comic that were fun to see again.
Five stars all around. Not as dated as I was afraid it would be. It would’ve been fun to read that every month.
But I found both volumes at a good price (though in actually it was a HUGE pain to actually get both volumes and I’m STILL not sure they are the right ones!) so I went for me. John Byrne’s a pretty good draw as well.
This starts with issue #50, "Freedom!", though supposedly Iron Fist joined Power Man in issue #48.
Of course, the day Luke Cage is let out of jail he is attacked at his party by Stiletto and Discus. I wish we could overhear the discussion when he was told he was going to be called "Discus."
Unfortunately John Byrne only draws the first issue. :(
" A Night on the Town " is apparently the last script by Chris Claremont as well!
A Nod is as Good as a Wink to a Dead Superhero…! Leave it to the new writer to try to make a splash with his title! In this story we find out that Iron Fist can do the Vulcan Nerve Pinch.
Do you care about the plot in an omnibus review? Robot thugs are trying to take over the hood but no one - including the bosses already there - who’s behind it.
Iron Fist and Power Man have joined Nightwing Restorations (Misty Knight & Coleen Wing, private eyes) to figure it out.
Reading this comic makes it pretty obvious where the Iron Fist TV show went wrong however. They did have plenty of action and some interesting plots. But without the suit it’s not a super-hero show unless he actually wears long underwear.
"He, bro — mind havin’s a little rap with me?"
Yeah, I gotta use that.
" Death Plunge! " actually has a laugh out loud moment when Misty fires Luke Cage for getting them both in a death trap, but when he rescues the both she gives him his job back.
— Liberty Towers— Empty monument to altruism and big government spending.
" Heroes for Hire! " has Luke and Danny working for themselves. They’re not making any money but his lawyer friend Jeryn Hogarth helps them out by showing them how to be more legitimate and professional.
When the Incinerator robs the bank, Jeryn has put Power Man and Iron Fist on retainer and his beeper goes off giving the location of the crime.
" Chaos at the Coliseum " has Powers Man at an auto show.
"HAHA — yes, Barbara — we’re having Luke lift the new Badger to show how light it is — light on gas, light on your pocketbook!
And yet another writer gets booted from this book!
" The Scarab’s Sting! " looks to be the issue where Iron Fist fights Power Man!
STILLl only 35¢
"I ain’t no fancy man to go livin’ off somebody else."
But it’s just Iron Fist teaching Power Man some more subtle moves. How’s that working out for ya?
" Pharaohs on Broadway " guest stars the X-Men.
*Ther minds were temporarily linked back in Iron Fist #6 Well, I’d sure like to know what that was about!?
This story guest starred the X-Men and a supervillain of theirs. It was more stunt than story.
El " Aguila has Landed! " introduces The Eagle as a supervillian.
Heroes for Hire was a pretty unique concept from the beginning and of course it didn’t take long for them to find out that some of their clients are bad guys and they have unbreakable contracts to work for them.
"The time for talk is past, idote!"
"You greasy, little wetback…!
The El Aguila story was really good and the art, by Trevor Vons Eeden is growing on me. He’s definitely got a lot of talent and knows how to personalize the looks of the characters.
"The Big Apple Bomber" has a nice aside about the Sons of the Tiger, another martial arts team from the Marvel comic "Deadly Hands of Kung Fu".
"The Terrorist Manifesto!" has Danny’s friend accused of terrorism.
"Don’t jive me with ‘Can’t hurt’!"
Marie Severin & Steve Leialoha (is that real name?) have cranked up the art in this story.
"You bullied your way in here in your fancy garb…"
"But ye can never really escape your past… ye just have to learn to live with it… every day a’ yer life."
That was a good story. When I read these omnibus/collections I always think about how I would have felt if this was the only story I got for a month. The Power Man & Iron Fist story’s really pay off for a month’s wait for the next one.
"Who’s Been Sleeping in my Grave?" begins with some thugs digging up the grave of Luke Cage.
"One Must Die!" had a significant death in the story which as far as I know actually stayed dead!
"Luck and Death" has Kerry Gammil noticeably improving the art. And yet another significant death!
"The Last Gamble" concludes the story of Luck and Death and their comeuppance.
"An Eagle in the Aerie" see the return of El Aguila.
"I’m the only woman you’ve ever hired who wasn’t at least an ‘eight’."
Funny how you can work with a man, get along with him, and not be able to live with ‘im…
Apparently Power Man and the Hulk get their pants from the same tailor….
"The Jade Tiger!" has a nice Frank Miller cover! Wish it wasn’t in black and white.
"You won’t suffer long, babe! I wanna polish you off fast — so’s I can talk over old times with your slant-eyed friend."
The drawings never made it explicitly clear that Coleen Wing was asian. I’m glad a supervillain can confirm it.
I like the cameo from Bob Diamond of Sons of the Tiger and I’m actually reading up on them. At one time Marvel pumped out of a lot Kung Fu magazines!
Okay, I gotta ask. Where did that "Like Unto A Thing of Iron" come from? They use it a little too often and it sounds kind of weird. Like a deliberate mispronunciation…. And a first of iron wouldn’t really explain how he can punch through a bank vault.
This is the first time IF & PM go up against genuine supervillains — Constrictor and Sabertooth. Both ‘B’ listers at this time, but Sabertooth got better later in his career.
These stories are old-fashioned but so am I. A one-and-done story with action, genuine peril and genuine heroics is a good way to spend some time.
"Power Men" starts off with IF and PM being hired to stop a bank robbery and Power Man explaining Iron Fist’s origin to the robbers!
Of course, when Luke is missing after the robbery is foiled but everyone is knocked out with gas, they immediately suspect Luke was in on the robbery.
Kerry Gammil and Ricardo Vilamonte still impressing on the art. Can’t really vouch for the colorist.
"They met about six months ago, on one a’ them ‘Swinging Seniors’ cruises."
I don’t even want to know.
Strangely it looks like the TV Show "Iron Fist" switched the relationship from the black Misty Knight to the asian Colleen Wing. I wonder why?
This one is a good story. Someone is trying to duplicate the experiment that gave Powers Man his abilities. A nice cliffhanger ending too!
"Where Enemies Gather!" has a powerless Luke Cage relying on the police and Iron Fist to sink the boat full of hoodlums that is still chasing them.
"Ah, yes. As I’ve said before, people may forget my face, but they seldom forget where they’ve seen it…. a human head grafted onto the body of a six-hundred pound gorilla!"
"Victim Times Three!" starts with Powers Man violating civil rights at an illegal chop shop.
"You… wear the mark of a dragon! That’s a gook mark!"
MIGHTY MARVEL BONUS! Behind the scenes with the HEROES FOR HIRE—
One of the things Marvel did was stuff like this. Basically just a feature that described their place of business, the ancillary characters in the story all with descriptions and illustrations. This would cumulate MANY years later into the Handbooks of the Marvel Universe. Very cool stuff that I always appreciated.
"Coconut Snow" has an appearance in a nightmare being had by Coleen Wing of a Spider-Man villain with a Mindstorm.
Turns out this made Colleen’s dad forget he had a daughter. To bad this didn’t happen in the TV show! Might’ve helped. A sweet story.
"The Mountain comes to Manhattan" is a pretty fun story about Power Man stumbling over a. McGuffin quarter and taking 10,000 cash for… a quarter.
"Paper Tiger!" has the pair trying to help a district attorney put down a karate-skilled gang, the Golden Tigers.
"One thing about all these American schools bothers me… There’s such an emphasis on the violence of martial arts… never any mention of avoiding conflict, or of the harmony of spirit that even a warrior needs…"
"Doorway to Heaven" as PM and IF in a cowboy bar. I wonder what will happen…?
I do like the fact that the writer (Mary Jo Duffy in this case) remembers to emphasize Iron Fist’s naiveté and ignorance in, well, most situations. The TV show would’ve been better and funnier if it had also done that.
"I never shoulda taken Iron Fist to see all those westerns at the Gem. That boy is too impressionable!"
Kerry Gammill does some great art here too!
Cool! Interlude about the Sons of the Tiger! I’m currently reading a very cool retrospective. https://notahoaxnotadream.blogspot.co...
This story has all sorts of un-politically correct cultural and racist cliches, but that’s doesn’t stop it from being a great comic book story!
And I nice cliffhanger promises The Most Requested, Longest Awaited Powers Man and Iron Fist Tale of them all—
"This Insubstantial Pageant Faded is a huge double-issue that sends IF & PM back to K’un Lum and tells Iron Fists’s origin in great detail. I’d never read this before and the TV show rather trimmed down the details. Like Iron Fist having a sister!
They also tell how iF fought the dragon and plunged his hand into the brazier where the dragon’s heart was (eerily similar to the TV show ‘Kung Fu’). But they show him plunging BOTH hands in to gain the Iron First, but as far as I know, it only is used on one hand!?
"… And if anyone hears what you said… "
"What’ll they do? Make me stay home an’ meditate?
"Why must we follow the orders of a dark-skinned alien?"
"Yo’ mama, sucker!"
The art in this ‘very special episode’ is amazing and worthy of the tale (Kerry & Ricardo). I wish I could afford to read this in color!
"That’s it! Finish him! Without Power Man to help him, Iron Fist will be easy prey!!
Well, that’s doesn’t quite work out as he’d hoped.
This was a lot of fun. Even Power Man’s… let’s call them anachronism’s really weren’t so bad they bothered me.
The final story had a great ending and after that there were two famous advertisements for the PM & IF comic that were fun to see again.
Five stars all around. Not as dated as I was afraid it would be. It would’ve been fun to read that every month.
December 3, 2015
#57 - Maybe it's because I'm used to Claremont, but I really enjoyed this issue, despite the X-Men's limited involvement.
April 22, 2019
Better than some of the other Marvel classics I've been reading lately, it's still not great. Sometimes the art is pretty good. Frequently, it's kinda dull. On the one hand, it seems to work better when it's more 'street level,' semi-realistic. On the other, it was only really interesting the few times it dove deep into the weird, particularly at the very end. Just kinda OK. It's definitely one of the better things I've read from Chris Claremont.
February 10, 2025
I really enjoyed this old school collection of comics, it was black and white but the artwork was still fantastic, and the stories were great!
April 8, 2024
I read a lot of these originally as individual issues, but not all of them. This buddy-team-up series started off strong (VERY strong), and then floundered before finding a solid and steady footing.
Power Man & Iron Fist #50 - Here’s our VERY strong start. From the legendary team of Chris Claremont & John Byrne, coming right off their run on the Iron Fist comic, these three issues (with Power Man #48-49, sadly not included in this volume) are a seemless continuation that also wraps up the biggest problem facing Luke Cage. This is excellent stuff that begins to clean away the detritus of dangling story threats and really primes the reader’s anticipation for some excellent stories to come (5/5).
Power Man & Iron Fist #51-55 - What we get next, doesn’t live up to that expectation. While Claremont stayed around for a couple of issues, all these do is illustrate how much Claremont’s legend is truly based upon who he’s collaborating with. And the next writer on the series, Ed Hannigan doesn’t seem to have a clue how to continue the relationships. Lucky he doesn’t stick around for long, thankfully these stories aren’t terrible, but there’s definitely an increasingly diminishment of value (2/5).
Power Man & Iron Fist #56-70 - The remaining 2/3’s of this volume is written by Jo Duffy, and this truly sets the tone and establishes the relationship between our titular buddies, Luke and Danny. Duffy tenure starts out fairly unremarkable, but as the issues progress, there is a clearly a growing sense of character and relationship that permeates the series. This is the true, and often unrecognized, bedrock upon which the Power Fist was born and would grow. Duffy even puts they relationships with supporting cast members into the spotlight, further enriching the title and series with truly rememberable moments. Coupled with Kerry Gammill on the art, this team makes for a rock solid, enormously and consistently entertaining series (4/5).
This volume closes with some classic Jo Duffy and Kerry Gammill adventures as Luke and Danny deal with lots of issues on the mean streets of NYC, before finding themselves in ... K’un-Lun. Montenegro, a new opponent, and the return of Chaka, The Ninja & Master Khan lead off as antagonists in these opening chapters. Misty Knight, Colleen Wing and even the Sons of the Tiger make appearances (4/5).
Power Man & Iron Fist #50 - Here’s our VERY strong start. From the legendary team of Chris Claremont & John Byrne, coming right off their run on the Iron Fist comic, these three issues (with Power Man #48-49, sadly not included in this volume) are a seemless continuation that also wraps up the biggest problem facing Luke Cage. This is excellent stuff that begins to clean away the detritus of dangling story threats and really primes the reader’s anticipation for some excellent stories to come (5/5).
Power Man & Iron Fist #51-55 - What we get next, doesn’t live up to that expectation. While Claremont stayed around for a couple of issues, all these do is illustrate how much Claremont’s legend is truly based upon who he’s collaborating with. And the next writer on the series, Ed Hannigan doesn’t seem to have a clue how to continue the relationships. Lucky he doesn’t stick around for long, thankfully these stories aren’t terrible, but there’s definitely an increasingly diminishment of value (2/5).
Power Man & Iron Fist #56-70 - The remaining 2/3’s of this volume is written by Jo Duffy, and this truly sets the tone and establishes the relationship between our titular buddies, Luke and Danny. Duffy tenure starts out fairly unremarkable, but as the issues progress, there is a clearly a growing sense of character and relationship that permeates the series. This is the true, and often unrecognized, bedrock upon which the Power Fist was born and would grow. Duffy even puts they relationships with supporting cast members into the spotlight, further enriching the title and series with truly rememberable moments. Coupled with Kerry Gammill on the art, this team makes for a rock solid, enormously and consistently entertaining series (4/5).
This volume closes with some classic Jo Duffy and Kerry Gammill adventures as Luke and Danny deal with lots of issues on the mean streets of NYC, before finding themselves in ... K’un-Lun. Montenegro, a new opponent, and the return of Chaka, The Ninja & Master Khan lead off as antagonists in these opening chapters. Misty Knight, Colleen Wing and even the Sons of the Tiger make appearances (4/5).
September 12, 2009
I picked this up because I've been really enjoying the recent Ed Brubaker / Matt Fraction Immortal Iron Fist series. This was also the first Marvel Essential book that I bought. I thought I would be turned off by the fact that the Essential series is in black and white but it didn't really bother me that much. Plus, 25 issues for the price of a typical trade paperback is pretty good value. I think I will be buying a few more Essential books.
I really enjoyed this and I really think that the partnership between Luke and Danny is one of the best in comics. I enjoyed the retro 70's vibe of the book and got a trip seeing the writers try (sometimes a bit too hard) to make the series as multicultural as possible. I recommend this book for people looking for some nostalgic 70's action movie/ tv series fun. Good times!
I really enjoyed this and I really think that the partnership between Luke and Danny is one of the best in comics. I enjoyed the retro 70's vibe of the book and got a trip seeing the writers try (sometimes a bit too hard) to make the series as multicultural as possible. I recommend this book for people looking for some nostalgic 70's action movie/ tv series fun. Good times!
March 29, 2009
Reprints Power Man & Iron Fist #50-72 & 74-75. Power Man and Iron Fist start working together as a team and try to build their company Heroes for Hire. Marvel did a great job by creating Power Man & Iron Fist. Both the Power Man and Iron Fist comics were kind of one-trick ponies...a street brawler and a kung-fu expert, but by bringing the two together, it allowed the writers to explore the differences in techniques between the two characters while making an interesting team book. This doesn't mean that all the issues in this series are great, but the idea behind the work is interesting. The book is missing #73 which involves a team-up with Rom the Spaceknight. Marvel no longer has rights to Rom (but can use the term Space Knight) so the issue isn't available as part of the trade.
April 20, 2014
Since the teaming with Iron Fist I feel that the comic has lost a lot of it's character, I blame this on the fact that the supporting cast of Power man has mostly been replaced with Iron Fist's supporting characters Misty Knight etc. Plus if Cage says one more time that he has "steal hard skin" I will scream. Do not get me wrong there are a few really good comics contained in this run I just feel that on the whole it has lost a certain something.
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