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HERO FOR HIRE: "The Life and ( Very Hard ) Times of Marvel Comics' LUKE CAGE " (Part Three)
For a little while there -- two years; maybe a little less than that -- Marvel Comics' THE DEFENDERS was the single best super-hero team title being published... by anyone.
... and: Luke Cage was a major and ongoing factor in said adventurous
goings-on. 
Luke first bumped noggins with Marvel's star-crossed "non-team" (so nicknamed because of their loose-to-the-point-of-nonexistant team charter; and due to the fact that such members as the Incredible Hulk; the Valkyrie; and the Sub-Mariner spent at least as much attempting to mangle one another as they did various and sundry super- villains) in issue #17 of their own title. ["Power Play!"; November, 1974; Len Wein, author; the mighty Sal Buscema, penciler] [See cover reproduction, below]
Defenders Dr. Strange and Nighthawk investigate a mysterious ransom demand for twenty-five million dollars on the part of an individual (or individuals) who make it convincingly known that -- unless said amount is tendered, A.S.A.P. -- they possess the ability to level entire buildings and skyscrapers at will, by means unknown.
Nighthawk's interest in apprehending the unseen extortionist(s) is primarily a personal one; as wealthy industrialist Kyle Richmond, it's his properties which are being rudely toppled like so many children's building blocks. The ever-loyal Dr. Strange, for his part, is tagging along because the younger, more impetuous Kyle is his friend.
Unbeknownst to either of these worthies, however: there is a third party who's made it his personal business to make stone certain that no more "Richmond Industries" properties end up being alakazammed into so much loose concrete and rubble.
Chiefly because -- for him -- it is a business.
Because he's being paid.
In actual point of fact: Luke has been hired by the shadowy "Pennysworth" (i.e., the chief financial officer of Richmond Industries; a man whom -- I assure you -- we'll be seeing again, before this article has reached its end) to stand guard over the very same building that Nighthawk and Strange have elected to protect.
This being a '70's Marvel comic, however: no one does anything as sensible
or rational as actually attempting to... y'know... introduce themselves,
upon bumping into one another. (In the Marvel Comics universe of the '70's,
you see: it was actually considered de rigueur for any two (or
more) spandexed and/or super-powered individuals to attempt to beat one another
into a red pulpy mass, whenever meeting for the very first time.
Or the very second time. Or even the very seventieth time,
for that matter. I'm just sayin', here, is all.)
Once the traditional, testosterone-soaked exchanging of blows has been decently attended to, however: Luke quickly finds himself fitting right in, personality-wise, with both the sarcastic (and perpetually self- doubting) Nighthawk and the coolly philosophical Dr. Strange...
... so much so, in fact, that he not only allies himself with them once the building demolishers reveal themselves (long-time Thor villains The Wrecking Crew: a.k.a. The Wrecker; Thunderball; Piledriver and Bulldozer); but actually parts on amiable "let's-get-together-again- sometime" terms with the normally fractious Defenders.
(This is even more gape-inducing than it appears on its face, when one considers that Luke, ultimately, is not paid by the penurious Pennysworth; having failed, ultimately, to prevent his assigned building's destruction at the oversized hands of the aforementioned Wrecking Crew.)
Even more incredibly: Luke made good on that pledge of friendship -- time and time again -- as the continually-morphing roster of Defenders found repeated reason to send out one despairing call for super-powered assistance after another, over the months to follow...
... and all for gratis, mind, now (!!).
(Luke's second involvement with the Defenders, in fact, occasioned the following perfectly marvelous exchange between Luke and occasional Defender Daredevil, upon the dramatic appearance of the (quite frankly) out-and-out terrifying "Daimon Hellstrom; i.e., The Son of Satan:
(DAREDEVIL: "Good Lord! What on Earth -- ?!?"
(LUKE: "Wrong both times, man... nothin' I ever seen on Earth looked like that... and the Good Lord it definitely ain't!")
(Always a dab hand at the deft turn of phrase, Our Luke. I'll tell you
that much for free.)
Now, this is by no means to suggest that DEFENDERS scribe Steve Gerber was in any way, shape or form unmindful of Luke's (by then) well-established baseline motivation(s). If anything, he seemed to have no little amount of good-natured fun playing with the erstwhile "Hero for Hire"s growing, growled sense of exasperation, re: his consistently being "tapped" by the more studiedly altruistic Defenders to bail their spandexed butts out of one hot water "jam" after another.
("Huh?" Luke rasps into his office phone, at one point. "The Defenders... again?!?" And then, in sullen, pained resignation, sotto voce: "... aw, fer cryin' out loud...!")
This quickly became one of the chiefest (and funniest) characterization-based "running gags" in a comics series already (justifiably) noted for its deadpan, "Firesign Theatre"-style sense of humor. An increasingly disgruntled Luke, in fact, even took to lecturing super-villains as to the gross lack of consideration inherent in their "forcing" him to donate his talents and energies on the behalf of others, pro bono. [See panel reproduction, below]
Had this situation been allowed to remain static indefinitely, it might well have proven as tiresome as it would have (ultimately, perhaps) injurious to the well-crafted parameters of the Luke Cage character.
DEFENDERS auctorial mastermind Steve Gerber, however -- in a career which also included such intelligently-conceived (and realized) Marvel series' as THE MAN-THING; OMEGA THE UNKNOWN; and prototypical '70's icon HOWARD THE DUCK -- was (along wth fellow scribe Steve Englehart) a past master at the relentlessly logical explication of Marvel Comics "B"-characters; and his eventual resolution of said dilemma was (in retrospect) as satisfying as it was sensible:
He had the team's resident "moneybags" (filthy rich boy mogul Nighthawk)
place Luke on permanent paid retainer.
Luke was also one of the featured players in what is still universally regarded (by die-hard DEFENDERS partisans) as the single most story arc in the title's legendary '70's run...
... but: in order to fully appreciate Luke's "moment" in same...
a wee little bit o' comics backstory is necessary.
In DEFENDERS #22 through #25 -- routinely referred to, in hushed, reverent tones, as "The Serpent saga" -- Marvel's cantankerous and squabbling "non-team" find themselves standing athwart the ultra-racist mechanations of the spandexed supremacist organization known as The Sons of the Serpent. In the course of said series of increasingly violent skirmishes, the readers are pole-axed with not one, but two heart-stopping revelations, in short storytelling order:
1.) The Sons of the Serpent are secretly being funded -- to the tune of multiple millions, mind -- by none other than "Richmond Industries"; the fiscal property of an appalled and flabbergasted Nighthawk.
2.) Said secret monies are being funneled to the Serpents by the hitherto unseen Richmond Industries C.E.O. "Pennysworth"...
... the very decidedly b-l-a-c-k Richmond Industries C.E.O. Pennysworth.
"But how could you do what you did... to your own PEOPLE?!?" an enraged Nighthawk demands of his once-trusted employee.
"I'll tell you," an implacable and embittered Pennysworth responds, in words which are fairly steeped in venom and self-loathing. "The cold, unadorned truth is... I spent most of my life trying to escape 'my own people.' [...] Do you think me despicable, sir... for turning on my 'brothers' and my 'sisters'? Before you answer, ask yourself... is every white man your 'brother'? Do you feel kinship with him... because your skins are the same color? Of course you don't! Why should you? Why should I?"
(This single, startling exchange, as penned by Gerber, stands -- to my mind -- as one of the flat-out ballsiest ever attempted by any comics writer; an auctorial high- wire balancing act which could oh, so easily have ended up in total, career-crushing disaster... and, against all possible odds, didn't. And -- with the possible exception of the Steve Englehart-scripted issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON detailing an obvious Richard M. Nixon blowing his own brains out in the Oval Office -- it stands unchallenged as the single most endlessly discussed; dissected; and analyzed sequence in any mainstream Marvel comic book of the era... period.
All possible kudos to the talented and conscientious Mr. Gerber, for pushing the boundaries of the storytelling envelope to the very limit, with this one... and then some.)
Well, now... the question fairly begs itself, really: if the well-intentioned (but still white) Nighthawk reacted with such naked horror to the revelation that the spite-fueled Serpents were being bankrolled by an honest-to- Allah black man...
... just how do you suppose the irascible, hair- trigger tempered Luke Cage reacted, once he found out...?
Answer: Not. Well. At. All.
Luke proceeds to open up one of the biggest, meanest cans o' industrial
strength WhupAss (tm) ever seen in a standard super-hero comic to that point;
and only stops before Pennysworth perishes from exposure to same because
of the indomitable moral strength of his own character, by way of comparison;
electing to save countless others in imminent danger from the still-at-large
Serpents, rather than opting for the more immediate and satisfying emotional
release of using a shrilly shrieking Pennysworth's cranium as a jai alai
ball.
As much as I like and admire Luke Cage as a "solo" operative"... I like him even better, I think, as an integral (if, occasionally, unpredictable) character component within a "team" setting...
... and it's repeated re-readings (and re-re-readings) of the Gerber-era DEFENDERS -- with the sarcastic, street-canny Luke providing a human, grounded counterpoint to the likes of (say) the more "cosmic"-oriented Dr. Strange; the other-worldly Valkyrie; or the "class struggle" conscious Red Guardian -- which lead me to believe that Marvel is guilty of squandering one of their most valuable character resources, in not so utilizing him.
In a more perfect world: a writer who instictively understands the whys and the wherefores of the character as well as did the much-missed Gerber -- like, say, the previously referenced Kurt Busiek -- would have found some credible meta-fictive pretext for slipping this most unique and (yes) indispensible of heroes into, say, the Avengers line-up simply ages ago...
... or -- better yet -- bring him back in the pages of a brand-new, ongoing DEFENDERS series...
... and place an endlessly-grousing Luke into the role of involuntary leader of same.
If only to hear him cry out -- when confronted with the unwelcome prospect of having to ramrod a group of heroes fully as bull-headed and iconoclastic as himself, for a change -- a heartfelt: "Sweet Sister -- !"
Boom-shakka-wakka-wakka.
LUKE CAGE: Hero For Hire: PAGE ONE
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