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Heroes for Hire (1997) #1-9
Luke Cage, Iron Fist & The Heroes For Hire, Vol. 1
Luke Cage and Danny Rand reunite in team-ups with Spider-Man and...Sabretooth?! And they're just in time to relaunch the expanded Heroes For Hire! A super-villain prison break inspires Iron Fist to fi ll the void left by the Avengers and Fantastic Four - but his ex-partner Luke will take some convincing. Hercules and White Tiger are eager recruits, but is the Hulk a joiner? Maybe She-Hulk would be a better fi t. A transformed Black Knight rides in, and Luke has his arm twisted by the Master of the World. But will he stay after Power Man battles Iron Fist? COLLECTING: SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED (1993) 13, MARVEL FANFARE (1996) 6, HEROES FOR HIRE (1997) 1-9
312 pages, Paperback
First published December 20, 2016
9 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
John Ostrander
2,086 books172 followersJohn Ostrander is an American writer of comic books. He is best known for his work on Suicide Squad, Grimjack and Star Wars: Legacy, series he helped create.
Originally an actor in a Chicago theatre company, Ostrander moved into writing comics in 1983. His first published works were stories about the character "Sargon, Mistress of War", who appeared the First Comics series Warp!, based on a series of plays by that same Chicago theatre company. He is co-creator of the character Grimjack with Timothy Truman, who originally appeared in a back up story in the First Comics title, Starslayer, before going on to appear in his own book, again published by First Comics in the mid 1980s. First Comics ceased publication in 1991, by which time Ostrander was already doing work for other comics companies (his first scripts for DC Comics were published in 1986).
Prior to his career in comic books, Ostrander studied theology with the intent of becoming a Catholic priest, but now describes himself as an agnostic. His in-depth explorations of morality were later used in his work writing The Spectre, a DC Comics series about the manifestation of the wrath of God. His focus on the character's human aspect, a dead police detective from the 1930s named Jim Corrigan, and his exploration of moral and theological themes brought new life to a character often thought of as impossible to write. He has also worked on Firestorm, Justice League, Martian Manhunter, Manhunter, Suicide Squad, and Wasteland for DC.
Originally an actor in a Chicago theatre company, Ostrander moved into writing comics in 1983. His first published works were stories about the character "Sargon, Mistress of War", who appeared the First Comics series Warp!, based on a series of plays by that same Chicago theatre company. He is co-creator of the character Grimjack with Timothy Truman, who originally appeared in a back up story in the First Comics title, Starslayer, before going on to appear in his own book, again published by First Comics in the mid 1980s. First Comics ceased publication in 1991, by which time Ostrander was already doing work for other comics companies (his first scripts for DC Comics were published in 1986).
Prior to his career in comic books, Ostrander studied theology with the intent of becoming a Catholic priest, but now describes himself as an agnostic. His in-depth explorations of morality were later used in his work writing The Spectre, a DC Comics series about the manifestation of the wrath of God. His focus on the character's human aspect, a dead police detective from the 1930s named Jim Corrigan, and his exploration of moral and theological themes brought new life to a character often thought of as impossible to write. He has also worked on Firestorm, Justice League, Martian Manhunter, Manhunter, Suicide Squad, and Wasteland for DC.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 4, 2022
The book starts off with 2 terrible stand alone stories from Spider-Man Unlimited and Marvel Fanfare. I don't even know why they bothered to include them. The writing and art are both awful. But then the regular Heroes for Hire series kicks in and it is a lot of fun. I'd forgotten how much I always enjoyed John Ostrander's writing. This is a fun, dynamic series. Actually looking forward to a volume 2.
January 20, 2017
Totally loved this series. Maybe my favorite of the Heroes for Hire titles that I've yet read. Which is not saying a whole lot. I've missed quite a few of them. Love the current Power Man and Iron Fist (2016). This book would come in second place after that one. With the 70's material coming in 3rd.
I've read quite a bit of comics by John Ostrander over the years. But I don't know him as well as I'd like to know him. I can tell he's having a blast with this title. It translates into fun for the reader as well. It's got a great cast.
You might want to track down the "Black Knight: Exodus" special to read before you start this book. It's available in a couple of trade collections, I believe. and it is a great read that has bearing on this collection. (correction::: No - it's in X-Men: The Rise of Apocalypse paperback.)
I've read quite a bit of comics by John Ostrander over the years. But I don't know him as well as I'd like to know him. I can tell he's having a blast with this title. It translates into fun for the reader as well. It's got a great cast.
You might want to track down the "Black Knight: Exodus" special to read before you start this book. It's available in a couple of trade collections, I believe. and it is a great read that has bearing on this collection. (correction::: No - it's in X-Men: The Rise of Apocalypse paperback.)
April 30, 2022
The first two stories included here are pointless and dull, but once we get to the main series, it's a real gem. John Ostrander knows how to write comics featuring B-tier superheroes better than just about anyone (his Suicide Squad series from the '80s being a particular highlight), and the early artwork of Pasqual Ferry is charming and is fun to look back on, seeing how far he's developed over the years. This is easily one of the more overlooked and underrated team books that the "big two" published during the late '90s.
March 7, 2021
This series is a bit of a mess, but it was a fun mess.
Luke Cage and Iron Fist revive their Heroes for Hire business, attracting a half dozen B and C-list heroes.
Everybody seems to be up to something and the writer has some trouble juggling all the baggage he's inherited, but it's an interesting assortment in the line up, and makes use of some great marvel, lesser villains.
Just a decent, old school hero team.
Luke Cage and Iron Fist revive their Heroes for Hire business, attracting a half dozen B and C-list heroes.
Everybody seems to be up to something and the writer has some trouble juggling all the baggage he's inherited, but it's an interesting assortment in the line up, and makes use of some great marvel, lesser villains.
Just a decent, old school hero team.
March 24, 2024
I've struggled with claiming favorite writers in comics. Mainly because I don't consider myself a knowledgeable judge of writing. That being said, I think I can say I like Ostrander's writing. And the art by Ferry is superb.
May 10, 2019
I really enjoyed Heroes for Hire back when it was being published, and it got me interested in reading more books featuring Danny Rand and Luke Cage, which I have since done a lot of. I was interested to revisit this book that started that journey, and it turned out that I actually hadn't read most of the stories here. I must have picked up the book later in its run, or at least these stories aren't the ones that stuck with me. I don't remember it tying in to other books so extensively (the Thunderbolts tie in was interesting, and I was also following that book at the time), so maybe I just didn't read these earlier issues. These were good, fast-paced comics for the most part, that tied in with tons of different areas of the Marvel universe, which I didn't expect. I didn't really enjoy the Spider-Man book very much, even though it was a prelude to the stories, because it just didn't take either Iron Fist or Luke Cage very seriously as heroes. Neither did the Sabretooth story... that didn't seem to remember that Sabretooth first appeared in an Iron Fist book, where he was defeated handily. Iron Fist seems not to remember Sabretooth, and he and Luke seem overmatched, which is a real reversal. Once you are past that, though, the actual Heroes for Hire books are fun (despite a narrator that is a bit over the top), but I guess I will just have to read further to get to the stories I really remember.
February 24, 2017
Probably should be 3.5 stars.
This volume of Luke Cage, Iron Fist and the Heroes for Hire was entertaining. Keep in mind it was also republishing comics from the 1990s including parts of Spider-Man Unlimited with Ben Reilly as Spider-Man (Clone Era). This time period is not known for producing classic or at times even any good comic books. So keep that in mind when reading some of the really dumb plots twists and turns. The book contains so many bad comic book stereotypes and sexist stereotypes as to be almost painful at times (She-Hulk no longer playing the hero but being a Layer wears a power suit that is made of skin tight spandex). But if you can look past the shortcomings the whole thing can be an entertaining romp into the history of the Heroes for Hire.
This volume of Luke Cage, Iron Fist and the Heroes for Hire was entertaining. Keep in mind it was also republishing comics from the 1990s including parts of Spider-Man Unlimited with Ben Reilly as Spider-Man (Clone Era). This time period is not known for producing classic or at times even any good comic books. So keep that in mind when reading some of the really dumb plots twists and turns. The book contains so many bad comic book stereotypes and sexist stereotypes as to be almost painful at times (She-Hulk no longer playing the hero but being a Layer wears a power suit that is made of skin tight spandex). But if you can look past the shortcomings the whole thing can be an entertaining romp into the history of the Heroes for Hire.
June 19, 2017
Okay book from the late 90s, when the Avengers and Fantastic Four were stuck in alternate universe and being published by WildStorm, and Marvel had gatefold covers for all its books explaining what had happened in the previous issue (I miss those). Luke Cage returns with almost no mention of his previous series that ended with people thinking he was dead, but he's one of the few characters who actually stays on this team for longer than three issues. Hercules, the Hulk, Ant-Man, the Black Knight, the White Tiger, and Sersi all come and go at a breakneck pace in the span of nine issues, leaving only Cage and Iron Fist as the mainstays.
Enjoyable enough, but nothing fantastic (I did like Ostrander's constant narrative breaking of the fourth wall, though; it's like he was auditioning for the role of Deadpool or something).
Enjoyable enough, but nothing fantastic (I did like Ostrander's constant narrative breaking of the fourth wall, though; it's like he was auditioning for the role of Deadpool or something).
September 27, 2020
Ostrander has some compelling things to say; his villains aren’t just trying to take over the world, they have realistic motivations like saving their species from extinction or protecting the planet from mankind’s excesses. Sure their methods may be evil, but we can sympathize with their dilemmas. The art by Pascual Ferry is top notch and compares favorably to John Romita Jr or George Perez. The only negative about the collection is the Marvel Fanfare story they included in here. The art by Stephen Jones and Gabe Alberda is laughably bad; it is out of proportion with average sized people (bigger than cars) and he draws every hero with the same body style (90% chest and arms with puny short legs) so that except for costumes you can’t tell Iron Fist from Luke Cage or Sabretooth.
March 16, 2024
On a first read, Ostrander was skyrocketing as a potential new favorite author for me! The narrating, humor, and concepts for all the characters and settings really had me amped! The stories before Ostrander, I super enjoyed in this collection! There were some choices that I was not huge on, but have specific reasons further into the second volume that I liked a bit after reading that, but overall being a big Luke Cage and Iron Fist fan, I loved this read! Also never heard of The Black Knight, but super fell in love with his character here!
October 1, 2017
Not exactly unreadable, more uninteresting. I expect better from John Ostrander. None of the characters felt real, and the art ranged from meh to bad. Well Luke was always drawn badly. The only character that seemed to have any life at all in him was Ant Man and he was only on page briefly. Pretty sure that this book was mostly reprints and it sure reads old.
June 21, 2018
The story is far better than the art. The art reminds me of the YA, SpiderMan Adventures type art with a strong manga influence. Luckily I love the characters but I much prefer the old way they were drawn in the Power Man - Iron Fist Books.
January 16, 2020
Just too much. Too many characters. Too many threads.
The jokey tone is too inconsistent.
The jokey tone is too inconsistent.
January 6, 2017
It's a little clunky getting started, but by the time you get to the main series by writer John Ostrander, it's a fun superhero team book where each character has his or her own motivations or desires. The team had a bit of a rotating cast, with Iron Fist, Luke Cage, White Tiger and Black Knight the go-to team. Jim Hammond, the original Torch, manages the team as part of Namor's company Oracle, which has bought Iron Fist's company previous to this series.
Guest-stars include Hulk, She-Hulk and Hercules. There's another semi-regular that's a bit of a surprise, so I won't spoil it here.
Iron Fist restarts the "Heroes for Hire" to fill the gap as some people may need heroes as the Avengers and Fantastic Four have disappeared as part of the Onslaught storyline. "Champions" might have been a better name -- since these heroes are for hire, but really, it's for charity, and sometimes, they don't really get paid at all.
Pascual Ferry provides very energetic art, and the whole thing is a lot of fun to read. Familiarity with or fondness for late 1990s Marvel will help your enjoyment. Some loose ends remain at the end of this volume, but a second volume is set for release soon.
Guest-stars include Hulk, She-Hulk and Hercules. There's another semi-regular that's a bit of a surprise, so I won't spoil it here.
Iron Fist restarts the "Heroes for Hire" to fill the gap as some people may need heroes as the Avengers and Fantastic Four have disappeared as part of the Onslaught storyline. "Champions" might have been a better name -- since these heroes are for hire, but really, it's for charity, and sometimes, they don't really get paid at all.
Pascual Ferry provides very energetic art, and the whole thing is a lot of fun to read. Familiarity with or fondness for late 1990s Marvel will help your enjoyment. Some loose ends remain at the end of this volume, but a second volume is set for release soon.
July 23, 2019
While the flippant and light-hearted voice used for narration and recaps is endearing, the stories themselves are standard superhero stuff. Ferry's art is very dynamic and enjoyable.
The inclusion of two pre-H4H stories featuring Cage and Fist (a Spider-Man Unlimited and a Marvel Fanfare) was sadly misplaced. H4H is at least competently done. The two preludes are just awful comics on every conceivable level.
The inclusion of two pre-H4H stories featuring Cage and Fist (a Spider-Man Unlimited and a Marvel Fanfare) was sadly misplaced. H4H is at least competently done. The two preludes are just awful comics on every conceivable level.
April 10, 2022
Creo que orignialmente se había publicado completo en castellano por Forum.
April 17, 2017
The art in this is totally '90s. There were too many secondary characters for my taste, and WAY too many references to other series to explain plot points.
May 3, 2017
I actually quite enjoyed this collection, though the first two random issues really did feel like they were "of a time" (the guest appearance by Spider-Man is Ben Reilly!). Once you get into the flow of the actual series, there are some fun guest appearances and some interesting plot developments, though the write does at times seem to take the tales less than seriously.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews