by Chris Claremont, Kurt Busiek, Denys Cowan, Kerry Gammill, Ernie Chan, Mike W. Barr, Steven Grant, Greg LaRocque
Publisher: Marvel (2009)
Softcover, 624 pages
This collects
Power Man & Iron Fist issues 76 - 100, and Daredevil # 178. Just a reminder
to all you comic fans, most of these were written in the 1970s and as such the
demographic for such material was much younger than those written today.
Power
Man and Iron Fist, two heroes with cancelled series, who were then packaged
together in a sort of buddy-superhero title. Obviously, Luke Cage has super
strength and steel-like skin, while Iron Fist is the world's greatest martial
artist and able to summon his chi to create the titular iron fist - a massive
destructive force. While they don't work on their own, the characters play off
each other well.
We
see the runs of three writers through this book. Mary Jo Duffy who took a light
touch to the tales, many of them filled with tongue-in-cheek moments. Denny
O'Neil with his grounded flair and ability to mix real world issues with
superhero realities. And Kurt Busiak who, in his characteristic style, offers
tons of throwbacks to earlier issues - not just of this series but Power Man
and Iron Fist's original series- to build on the mythology presented.
The
art stays steady throughout the book. If there's a problem with this title it's
that most of their villains are forgettable. Do you remember Shades and Commanche?
Or Fera? Or Montenegro? Or Black Mariah? Of course you don't. The best villains
they had was one issue which featured Constrictor and Sabertooth - this was
Sabertooth pre-Wolverine related times, when he was just a random villain. To
sum up these issues are fun and well done, but not great.
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.
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