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Luke Cage, Hero For Hire #1-16
Luke Cage Omnibus
Luke Cage burst onto the comics scene as a new kind of hero for a new era, a hero for hire. His exploits were set against 1970s New York's grit and the plight of the city's people, all while incorporating larger-than-life villains and even the occasional Avenger. As the first African-American super hero to headline in his own series, Luke Cage's adventures were as historic as they were exciting. Now, his complete solo series is collected in one massive Omnibus edition. Experience the first appearance of Cottonmouth, Cage's evolving relationship with Claire Temple and the debut of Bill Foster as Giant-Man. Uncover the secrets of Security City and witness Cage battle for the title "Power Man." Collecting HERO FOR HIRE #1-16, and POWER MAN #17-47 and ANNUAL #1.
1008 pages, Hardcover
First published July 19, 1977
3 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Steve Englehart
1,395 books97 followersSee also John Harkness.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
Steve Englehart went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. After a stint in the Army, he moved to New York and began to write for Marvel Comics. That led to long runs on Captain America, The Hulk, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, and a dozen other titles. Midway through that period he moved to California (where he remains), and met and married his wife Terry.
He was finally hired away from Marvel by DC Comics, to be their lead writer and revamp their core characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern). He did, but he also wrote a solo Batman series (immediately dubbed the "definitive" version) that later became Warner Brothers' first Batman film (the good one).
After that he left comics for a time, traveled in Europe for a year, wrote a novel (The Point Man™), and came back to design video games for Atari (E.T., Garfield). But he still liked comics, so he created Coyote™, which within its first year was rated one of America's ten best series. Other projects he owned (Scorpio Rose™, The Djinn™) were mixed with company series (Green Lantern [with Joe Staton], Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four). Meanwhile, he continued his game design for Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, and Brøderbund.
And once he and Terry had their two sons, Alex and Eric, he naturally told them stories. Rustle's Christmas Adventure was first devised for them. He went on to add a run of mid-grade books to his bibliography, including the DNAgers™ adventure series, and Countdown to Flight, a biography of the Wright brothers selected by NASA as the basis for their school curriculum on the invention of the airplane.
In 1992 Steve was asked to co-create a comics pantheon called the Ultraverse. One of his contributions, The Night Man, became not only a successful comics series, but also a television show. That led to more Hollywood work, including animated series such as Street Fighter, GI Joe, and Team Atlantis for Disney.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 16, 2022
(Zero spoiler review)
The silver age is very much a mixed bag for me. Containing some of the greatest and most frustrating elements of comic books. The current state of modern comics is generations away, with heroes able to be exactly that... heroic. No one is trying to continually degrade, deconstruct or downright destroy the characters. The art, whilst kinda dated, is usually pretty stellar, with everyone involved being focused on telling the best stories they could at the time. But to balance out all that goodness, we get all that silver age cheese. The very dated superhero histrionics, generic baddy of the month stories, and nothing that 'generally speaking' comes within a country mile of anything darker, or more mature. Some may not consider that last one a detractor, but the ever present oversight of the comics code kept things far more 'sterile and safe' than this devious reader would have preferred. And that's where Luke Cage comes in, for its the continual backwards steps into generic silver age - villain of the month territory that keeps this title mired in mediocrity. When it tackles more realistic themes like drug dealers, crime bosses and the everyday realities of life in New York in the 70's (miraculously without preaching or pandering), this title easily elevates towards 4 star territory. Yet a few really good issues like this will go by, and we get thrust back into cheese land, and my interest plummeted accordingly.
The continual revolving door of creators didn't help here either. The art, whilst commendably consistent, kept changing every other issue or so, yet it was the merry go round of writers that really kept this title from being more fondly remembered. I'm sure there is at least a dozen writers here across 48 issues. Some of whom did a great job, offering up some interesting and absorbing issues. Unfortunately, there were a few absolute stinkers in here as well. But generally, it was solid enough throughout.
A consistent creative team and a focus on a grounded and grittier Luke Cage, a ghetto noir if you will, would have been amazing. Instead, we get a lot of the same silver age histrionics, albeit with a slightly different hero on the front page. If you dig the silver age, you'll like this. If you don't, you won't. 3/5
OmniBen.
The silver age is very much a mixed bag for me. Containing some of the greatest and most frustrating elements of comic books. The current state of modern comics is generations away, with heroes able to be exactly that... heroic. No one is trying to continually degrade, deconstruct or downright destroy the characters. The art, whilst kinda dated, is usually pretty stellar, with everyone involved being focused on telling the best stories they could at the time. But to balance out all that goodness, we get all that silver age cheese. The very dated superhero histrionics, generic baddy of the month stories, and nothing that 'generally speaking' comes within a country mile of anything darker, or more mature. Some may not consider that last one a detractor, but the ever present oversight of the comics code kept things far more 'sterile and safe' than this devious reader would have preferred. And that's where Luke Cage comes in, for its the continual backwards steps into generic silver age - villain of the month territory that keeps this title mired in mediocrity. When it tackles more realistic themes like drug dealers, crime bosses and the everyday realities of life in New York in the 70's (miraculously without preaching or pandering), this title easily elevates towards 4 star territory. Yet a few really good issues like this will go by, and we get thrust back into cheese land, and my interest plummeted accordingly.
The continual revolving door of creators didn't help here either. The art, whilst commendably consistent, kept changing every other issue or so, yet it was the merry go round of writers that really kept this title from being more fondly remembered. I'm sure there is at least a dozen writers here across 48 issues. Some of whom did a great job, offering up some interesting and absorbing issues. Unfortunately, there were a few absolute stinkers in here as well. But generally, it was solid enough throughout.
A consistent creative team and a focus on a grounded and grittier Luke Cage, a ghetto noir if you will, would have been amazing. Instead, we get a lot of the same silver age histrionics, albeit with a slightly different hero on the front page. If you dig the silver age, you'll like this. If you don't, you won't. 3/5
OmniBen.
February 17, 2025
At times great and at times a real slog the strengths of this collection is Luke Cage and the vivid setting and characters that make up the mostly black, 1970s Time Square setting. Marvel has historically done a good job of making New York a character in its comics and never more so than in these issues.
August 5, 2022
I read Hero for Hire comics when i was young and loved them. enjoyed going back and rereading some and reading others for the first time. the style and writing of the time got a little old after almost 50 issues but, still give it 4 outta 5 stars
June 19, 2023
A great read but lacks a sense of direction that other marvel series had
June 17, 2025
Dated and stereotypical, with terrible writing all around, but still possessing that 70s Marvel charm. The artwork varies WIDELY from atrocious to pretty good, depending on the issue.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews