Sweet Sister, Scooby!!!!!
Luke Cage Hero for Hire Issue 4:
Archie Goodwin bid farewell to the Hero for Hire with issue 4. Goodwin had written Luke’s origin and faced him against a villain with a mace for a hand, so for his fourth and final issue as writer, Goodwin had Luke Cage battle a ghost. That’s right, a ghost. Archie just didn’t give a fuck did he? He was leaving the title, so what the hell, let Luke battle a ghost. As this was the 70s the whole thing plays like an episode of Scooby-Doo with Luke (uttering such startled phrases as “Sweet Sister!”) trying to find out who’s pretending to be the ghost haunting him at night. Turns out it is a circus strongman and a midget strapped together (like Master-Blaster from Mad Max beyond the Thunderdome, but without Tina Turner). Oops sorry, spoiler alert!
The reason this issue isn’t a total shambles is thanks to the atmospheric art by George Tuska, who saw this supernatural issue as an excuse to go full-out with the weird angles and moody shading. Plus any comic that ends with a knife fight with a midget can’t be all bad. The ending also hints at Luke’s moral grey area, as he lets the killer midget and the corrupt businessman plummet to their doom, not really bothering to get involved. Here’s hoping that Steve Engelhart’s debut, next issue, is better (although the cover shows a fat black woman as a villain called Black Mariah, so I don’t hold out much hope.)
Archie Goodwin bid farewell to the Hero for Hire with issue 4. Goodwin had written Luke’s origin and faced him against a villain with a mace for a hand, so for his fourth and final issue as writer, Goodwin had Luke Cage battle a ghost. That’s right, a ghost. Archie just didn’t give a fuck did he? He was leaving the title, so what the hell, let Luke battle a ghost. As this was the 70s the whole thing plays like an episode of Scooby-Doo with Luke (uttering such startled phrases as “Sweet Sister!”) trying to find out who’s pretending to be the ghost haunting him at night. Turns out it is a circus strongman and a midget strapped together (like Master-Blaster from Mad Max beyond the Thunderdome, but without Tina Turner). Oops sorry, spoiler alert!
The reason this issue isn’t a total shambles is thanks to the atmospheric art by George Tuska, who saw this supernatural issue as an excuse to go full-out with the weird angles and moody shading. Plus any comic that ends with a knife fight with a midget can’t be all bad. The ending also hints at Luke’s moral grey area, as he lets the killer midget and the corrupt businessman plummet to their doom, not really bothering to get involved. Here’s hoping that Steve Engelhart’s debut, next issue, is better (although the cover shows a fat black woman as a villain called Black Mariah, so I don’t hold out much hope.)
posted by James Plumb at 2:52 pm
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