Comic Book Review: Essential Luke Cage, Power Man Vol. 2 by various creators.
Carl Lucas, a juvenile delinquent, straightened himself out and was trying to become a respectable citizen when he was framed for heroin possession. An unruly prisoner, he eventually ended up at Seagate Prison, where he volunteered for medical experiments conducted by Dr. Noah Burstein. A brutal guard with a grudge against Lucas sabotaged the experiment, but instead of killing Lucas, it gave him great strength and bulletproof skin. Escaping, Lucas fled to New York City, where he assumed the name Luke Cage and became a “hero for hire.”
Luke Cage (he picked up the moniker “Power Man” around issue #17) was Marvel Comics’ first black superhero to have his own title. He was heavily inspired by the “blaxploitation” movie trend of the early 1970s, as well as reports of unethical medical experimentation on black people and prisoners. His stories were set in a grittier, more “street-level” version of New York City than most other Marvel offerings of the time. In particular, his office above a repertory movie theatre near Times Square and 42nd Street lent itself to a noirish private eye vibe.
This volume covers issues #28-49 and Annual #1. By this time, the title had no black creators working on it, and the focus had shifted toward more supervillains than realistic street criminals.
We open with Luke being hired by a chemical company to look into the theft of route plans for dangerous toxins they’re shipping through New York. This leads our hero into conflict with low-class shotgun fanatic “Cockroach” Hamilton and noveau riche crime boss “Piranha” Jones. Luke is just as disgusted with his employer’s callousness as the criminals’ ruthlessness, and he punches the man, making the chemical company executive and lawyer Grassy Moss his enemies (not actually resolved in this volume.)
The story also introduces police detective Quentin Chase, who is not totally sold on Luke Cage’s type of crimefighting, or his name being obviously an alias, but comes to trust his motives, and becomes a supporting character long-term.
While racism is a running theme in the series, the next villain, Wildfire, is the only one in this volume who’s about racism. He’s a disgruntled middle-aged man who feels that the world and the culture are changing in ways that make him lesser. In particular, a black family has moved into a nice house in his formerly all-white neighborhood. So he builds a flamethrower, puts on a flamboyant costume, and tries to frighten the intruders out. Much to Luke’s disgust, most of the neighbors are on Wildfire’s side, at least passively. It ends in tragedy, even beyond what the villain can stomach.
The next few issues are about Spear and Mangler, brothers who are after Dr. Burstein for initially unspecified crimes. It turns out the doctor’s experiments hadn’t always produced successful results, and the fact that he and Dr. Claire Temple (Luke’s love interest at this point) run a storefront clinic for poor people doesn’t make up for that.
Then it’s time for the return of Chemistro! Or so it initially seems. In fact, after disintegrating his own leg in a fit of idiocy, Curtis Carr decided to go straight in prison, and is keeping his nose clean on parole (but as an ex-con can’t even afford a decent prothesis.) He was extorted into giving the plans for his transmutation gun to another criminal, who then attacked Power Man.
This turns out to be a turf war between two crime lords. The Baron (a fellow who likes dressing up himself and minions as knights with high-tech versions of medieval weapons) was having Chemistro attack Luke Cage as part of a false flag operation to turn the hero’s attention to the other boss, Big Brother, master of computers, whose primary sidekick is the grinning Cheshire Cat. Luke eventually defeats both crime bosses.
Not having had a paying gig for a while, Luke Cage is willing to accept Jack Smith of Shanks Armored Couriers’ offer of a retainer to protect a gold shipment from the criminal Goldbug. It’s a setup: Jack Smith is himself Goldbug, planning to kill Power Man and blame him for the upcoming robbery. The matter is complicated by Luke mistaking rookie speedster superhero Thunderbolt for Goldbug’s accomplice.
Before the case can be fully resolved, recurring annoyance Oliver P. Sneagle of the Internal Revenue Service finally delivers an ultimatum. Luke Cage must come into the IRS office to explain why he hasn’t been paying taxes, or face prosecution. Since Luke in fact has no identification or records under his assumed name (easier to get away with back in the 1970s), and Carl Lucas is an escaped convict (and everyone who knows he’s innocent is presumed dead), he can’t comply.
So Power Man flees to Chicago under the name Mark Lucas, intending to lie low. But on the train there, he meets his old enemy Gideon Mace, former U.S. Army colonel who had become something of a right-wing terrorist. Mace mistakenly believes that Power Man is on to his latest scheme to blackmail Chicago with a cobalt bomb, and his attempts to kill the hero create an opportunity for Power Man to thwart him.
There’s a brief interlude involving the electrical monster Zzzax, then it’s time for another change in the status quo. The Blaxploitation fad had run its course, and sales were dipping. Someone at Marvel had the bright idea of teaming Luke Cage up with another character born of movie fads, Iron Fist, who’d been created at the height of the kung fu craze. So new villain Bushmaster was introduced. He’d kidnapped Drs. Burstein and Temple, and obtained evidence of Carl Lucas’ innocence. If Luke wanted these things back, he’d have to kill Iron Fist’s girlfriend Misty Knight.
In the mighty Marvel manner, that meant our heroes first had a knock-down drag-out battle, then teamed up to take down Bushmaster. His name cleared, Luke Cage teamed up with his new best friend in Power Man & Iron Fist, but that’s the next volume.
Also somewhere in this narrative are an inventory story (a pre-prepared self-contained story to be inserted if a deadline was missed) about mutated mobster Mr. Fish; and the annual, which has Luke go to Japan to fight weapons manufacturer Moses Magnum (who decided to call himself Magnum Force apparently because that sounded more supervillain.)
Some of this material is…dated. There are times when it’s clear that the creators are white men who are trying to be down with the brothers, and Quentin Chase is meant to be the “good cop” to offset some more racist officers. (But I notice he doesn’t live in the city he polices, but out in a nice suburb.)
But there’s solid superhero action in here, several memorable villains (I especially like Cheshire Cat’s design) and Luke’s running feud with the soda machine in the theater lobby is prime comedy. And sometimes the cultural references that date the material are more interesting than grating. (Orange Julius!) There’s also meta-commentary every so often given the films the Gem plays and how they contrast with Luke’s brand of hard-luck heroism.
I recommend this to Luke Cage fans who want to explore his roots, even if that’s sometimes a little uncomfortable.
And now, one of those cultural references, a song Quentin Chase’s preteen daughter likes:
