POWER MAN AND IRON FIST #50

LUKE CAGE: a child of the streets… DANIEL RAND: a son of the mystic city of K’un-Lun… Two men from different worlds—both reborn with strength and power beyond belief! And together, no one can stop them!

”FREEDOM!”
Author: Chris Claremont | Artists: John Byrne & Dan Green
Lettering: Denise Wohl | Coloring: Francoise Mouly | Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: At Jeryn Hogarth’s luxury apartment, a party is held to celebrate Luke Cage’s exoneration. Misty Knight and Colleen Wing offer him a position with their company, Nightwing Restorations, but Cage declines. Moments later, Cage’s girlfriend, Claire Temple, breaks up with him, having been used as a pawn against Cage one time too many.

Cage’s heartbreak is short-lived as his old foes, Stiletto and Discus, crash the party. The vigilantes believe Cage has dodged the law and want him dead. Danny Rand changes to Iron Fist to assist Cage against his enemies. The fight heads outside, where Iron Fist is nearly killed. Meanwhile, Cage takes out Discus. The arrival of the police startles Stiletto, who shoots Lt. Rafael Scarfe. Believing Scarfe dead, Misty prepares to execute Stiletto, but Cage stops her.

Scarfe, alive, chastises Misty and then Cage, Iron Fist, and the Daughters of the Dragon enjoy some champagne in the ruined apartment as Cage accepts the offer to join Nightwing Restorations.

POWER MAN #49

”SEAGATE IS A LONELY PLACE TO DIE!”
Author: Chris Claremont | Artist: John Byrne | Inker: Dan Green
Letterer: Annette Kawecki | Colorists: Francoise Mouly & Ken Klaczak
Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: In the aftermath of their skirmish, Luke Cage explains to Iron Fist, Misty Knight, and Colleen Wing how he came in search of Misty: He was blackmailed by John Bushmaster to capture her and deliver her to him in exchange for a tape that would clear his name with the authorities. Thanks to her undercover work, Misty knows where Bushmaster’s secret headquarters is, and she, Iron Fist, and Power Man head out after him.

The base is revealed as Seagate Prison, the place where Luke Cage gained his super strength and steel-hard skin. Iron Fist and Misty infiltrate the prison first to find and rescue Cage’s kidnapped friends, Doctors Claire Temple and Noah Burstein. They find Claire, but learn Burstein is in another wing of the prison. Colleen takes Temple to safety while Iron Fist goes after Burstein.

Cage invades the prison via full frontal assault and learns from Misty where Burstein is. He heads that way as well, to find Iron Fist ambushed by a newly super-enhanced Bushmaster. Cage tells Iron Fist to get Burstein to safety, then fights Bushmaster. Their duel ends with an explosion that demolishes half the prison. Iron Fist finds Cage in the wreckage and Misty emerges a moment later, having gone back in to find the tape that will clear Cage’s name.

Cage, Misty, Iron Fist, Burstein, Temple, and Bushmaster’s henchman, Gadget-Man, board a speedboat and head for shore.

POWER MAN #48

Luke Cage: Wrongly convicted and sentenced to prison—reborn in a freak experiment there that gave him steel-hard skin and strength beyond belief—a man who hides his identity as an escaped convict in the role of a HERO FOR HIRE!

”FIST OF IRON -- HEART OF STONE!”
Writer: Chris Claremont | Penciler: John Byrne | Inker: Dan Green
Letterer: Annette Kawecki | Colorist: Francoise Mouly | Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: Luke Cage smashes into Danny Rand’s townhouse, where Colleen Wing is staying while her apartment undergoes a remodel. Cage pursues Colleen through the building, finally knocking her out in Danny’s study. But Colleen manages to place a phone call to Misty Knight first. Remorseful, Cage patches Colleen up.

Misty and Danny, dining at Misty’s apartment, head for the townhouse and Misty goes in first to investigate. She encounters Cage, who takes her out as well. Danny, in costume as Iron Fist, shows up next and knocks Cage out of the building. But he returns and Power Man duels Iron Fist until the Living Weapon gives in, hoping that in his heart, Cage is not a killer.

Cage proves Iron Fist correct and backs off before he can kill his foe. But his failure to take out Misty, his original target, leads him to reveal that he has doomed his two closest friends to death.

IRON FIST #15

”ENTER, THE X-MEN”
Author: Chris Claremont | Artist: John Byrne | Inker: Dan Green
Letterer: Annette Kawecki | Colorist: Bruce Patterson | Editor: Archie Goodwin

The tip-off had been brief and to-the-point: a valuable Rand-Meachum shipment was due to be hijacked this evening… and only Iron Fist could stop it!

It was a trap, of course. That was why you’d followed up on the tip -- to find out who was behind it and why he was after you.

The Plot: Iron Fist is ambushed by Davos, who saps more of his strength and then escapes. After the skirmish, Iron Fist heads to Misty’s apartment, forgetting that she’s on assignment in the Carribbean. Iron Fist is observed entering the apartment by the X-Men’s Wolverine.

In the Carribbean, Misty flashes back to her mission briefing from District Attorney Tower, then is greeted by John Bushmaster, the mobster she’s been sent to bring down.

Back in New York, Wolverine attacks Iron Fist. The battle is soon joined by Nightcrawler and Colossus, then Storm and finally Banshee. Iron Fist holds his own against the X-Men but ultimately surrenders when he realizes they think he’s a supervillain. Jean Grey, Misty’s roommate, returns to the apartment with Scott “Cyclops” Summers. Wolverine is berated for starting the fight, then a party is thrown.

Continuity Notes: We’re reminded via footnote that Davos ambushed Iron Fist last issue. Later, Misty recalls walking out on Danny Rand in IRON FIST #13. The flashback to her briefing features appearances from D.A. Tower, Rafael Scarfe, and Bill Hao. We also learn that, as part of her cover, Misty has apparently become Bushmaster’s lover.

IRON FIST #14

The Canadian Rockies, west of Calgary…

Gunshots! Loud, staccato explosions shattering the silence of the mid-winter night…

…And then, a scream!

”SNOWFIRE”
Author: Chris Claremont | Artist: John Byrne | Inker: Dan Green
Letterer: Annette Kawecki | Colorist: Janice Cohen | Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: Iron Fist and Colleen Wing flee across the Canadian tundra from a pair of mercenaries. Colleen is injured, but Iron Fist gets her to safety then flashes back to New York, where he was recently ambushed by someone very familiar with his past. Then, in Canada, he and Colleen find a weather shack and hide out.

Iron Fist flashes back again, to Colleen inviting him to Canada to help her guard Jeryn Hogarth, but when they arrived at his estate they found him the prisoner of a mercenary named Sabre-Tooth. Sabre-Tooth’s men chased the duo away from Hogarth’s grounds and into the story’s opening page.

Back in the present, another pair of mercenaries arrives looking for Iron Fist and Colleen. They subdue this pair and take their uniforms, then return to Hogarth’s estate. While Colleen frees Hogarth’s staff and destroys Sabre-Tooth’s helicopter, Iron Fist rescues Hogarth and has a rematch with the villain. Despite a sudden case of snow-blindness, Iron Fist is victorious and Sabre-Tooth is captured.

MARVEL PREMIERE #20

”BATROC AND OTHER ASSASSINS”
Introducing: Writer: Tony Isabella | Artist: Arvell Jones | Inker: Dan Green
Colorist: John Drake | Letterer: Ray Holloway |Editor: Roy Thomas

You are Iron Fist -- and this is the second time in as many days that you have faced the killers of the Cult of Kara-Kai!

Their methods have grown less subtle. But a spinning whip kick deprives your attackers of both breath and ceremonial dagger.

And while you prepare to meet his fellows, you momentarily wonder what kind of fanatics would go to these lengths -- risk so much bloodshed -- for a book.

The Plot: Iron Fist fights off agents of the Cult of Kara-Kai before they can kill Professor Wing. When the fight concludes, Iron Fist leaves for Meachum Tower to make peace with Joy Meachum. But she wants nothing to do with his overture and calls her Uncle Ward into the room. Ward summons Batroc the Leaper, who attacks Iron Fist and finds their skills matched. To gain the upper hand, Batroc summons his Brigade, a couple dozen fighters, into the room.

The ninja appears to aid Iron Fist against the brigade. Together they win, and immediatley afterward Iron Fist confronts the ninja about his murder of Harold Meachum. The ninja uses a mystical cloud to teleport Iron Fist and himself out of the Meachum building, then teleports away. He reappears elsewhere before Professor Wing’s ancient book, and then metamorphoses into Wing himself.

Continuity Notes: A week has passed since last issue and Iron Fist has accepted a Professor Wing’s offer to become his research assistant and bodyguard. It's noted that the Kara-Kai cultists have attacked Wing forty-five times in the nine years since he unearthed the book which holds the secret of K’un L’un’s destruction. We also learn that Wing has kept all these assassination attempts secret from his daughter, Colleen.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #249

"SECRETS!"
Written by: Roger Stern | Breakdowns by: John Romita, Jr. | Finishes by: Dan Green
Letters by: Joe Rosen | Colors by: Bob Sharen | Edited by: Danny Fingeroth
Chiefed by: Jim Shooter

The Plot: While hosting a housewarming party at his new home in New Jersey, Harry Osborn receives a blackmail package from someone aware of his father's identity as the Green Goblin. In Manhattan, Jonah Jameson finds himself with a similar demand. The next day, Harry is accompanied by Peter Parker to the Century Club, where a number of blackmail victims, all wealthy and powerful men, are gathered to meet their blackmailer. Peter waits outside while Harry and the others enter a meeting room to find themselves in the presence of the Hobgoblin. When Jonah and Harry stand up to the goblin, he is revealed as a robotic stand-in. The true Hobgoblin then bursts into the room, having used the robot to ferret out troublemakers, but is attacked by Spider-Man.

Hobgoblin gets the better of Spider-Man by using a gas on him which dulls his spider-sense. Thus incapacitated, the wall-crawler is easily defeated by his foe. As Spider-Man passes out, he attempts to tag the goblin with a spider-tracer, but fails. Hobgoblin prepares to kill Spider-Man, but is stopped by the Kingpin of Crime, another club member. The goblin, unwilling to challenge the Kingpin, departs, unaware that the crime lord has planted the discarded spider-tracer on his glider.

Kingpin brings Spider-Man around with smelling salts and informs the web-slinger that, believing Hobgoblin to be a potential threat to his operations, he has planted the tracer. But unknown to the Kingpin, Spider-Man is unable to follow the tracer's signal without the aid of his spider-sense.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #246

"THE DAYDREAMERS!"
Writer: Roger Stern | Penciler: John Romita, Jr. | Inker: Dan Green
Letterer: Joe Rosen | Colorist: Bob Sharen | Editors: Tom DeFalco & Danny Fingeroth
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Still recovering in the hospital, the Black Cat daydreams that she is healthy and going into action alongside Spider-Man to liberate important documents from an embassy in Manhattan. The couple then turns the papers over to a government contact, who pays $500,000 for them. Afterward, Spider-Man takes the Cat for a spin in his yacht and unmasks himself as Cary Grant. She comes back to her senses after falling out of her hospital bed during the fantasy.

Elsewhere, Jonah Jameson wanders through the Daily Bugle printing press room, lost in thought. He imagines that Spider-Man arrives to taunt him. Jameson beats the wall-crawler senseless while Lance Bannon and Peter Parker photograph the entire incident. Marla Madison arrives to embrace Jameson as the latest edition of the Bugle comes off the presses. Jameson, reverted to a younger, heartier age, proudly reads the headline praising him for his defeat of Spider-Man. He then drifts wistfully back to reality.

Meanwhile, Mary Jane is on a date in the theater district when she imagines herself as the star of a Broadway show based upon her own life. But when her sister, Gayle, appears with her two children and declares that she had always wanted to be an actress, Mary Jane snaps out of her daydream and returns to her date.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #234

"NOW SHALL WILL-O'-THE-WISP HAVE HIS REVENGE!"
Plotter & Scripter: Roger Stern | Artists: John Romita, Jr. & Dan Green
Letterer: Joe Rosen | Colorist: Bob Sharen | Editor: Tom DeFalco
The Light of Truth: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Late at night, Will-O'-The-Wisp destroys a Brand Corporation facility in Boston. Meanwhile, Peter and Ben Urich develop photos of their encounter with Nose Norton and the Tarantula, but find no proof that the Brand Corporation detectives fired on Norton before Norton shot at them. Elsewhere, Brand employees approach the injured Tarantula about joining them as their newest super-agent and he agrees.

The next day, Spider-Man finds that his photos of the Tarantula were bumped from page one of the Daily Bugle by an article about the Boston explosion. Suspecting that Will-O'-The-Wisp is involved due to the nature of the blast, the wall-crawler ponders a way to investigate Brand. At Empire State University, Peter learns about the company's internship program, and later that day arrives at the Brand offices in Queens for an interview, but quickly changes back into Spider-Man to search the campus.

The web-slinger tails James Melvin, the same Brand bigwig involved in his last altercation with the company, to a secret lab where Tarantula is about to be endowed with spider-powers. Spider-Man intervenes, but so does Will-O'-The-Wisp, leading to a conflict between the two vigilantes. Melvin wounds Wisp with an experimental weapon, then the tank holding the Tarantula explodes and he emerges, mutated into a spider-monster.

IRON MAN #157

"SPORES!"
Plot/Pencils: Alan Kupperberg | Script: David Michelinie | Inks: Dan Green
Letters: Joe Rosen | Colors: Bob Sharen | Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Tony is working late at night on his armor when the power to his lab goes out. Changing to Iron Man, he finds that a Stark employee named Sylvia Karnowsky has drawn energy to her experiment through his lab. Before he can reprimand her, Iron Man is beamed to a sentient spaceship in orbit, where he helps the ship fight off some alien spores. Following the skirmish, Iron Man is beamed back to Earth.

Continuity Notes: This has to be an inventory issue. It's a done-in-one adventure, with absolutely no references to ongoing continuity. Presumably, with Michelinie leaving the series, Jim Salicrup ran this story while looking for a new writer.

My Thoughts: So this is how the David Michelinie/Bob Layton run ends -- not with a bang, as they say, but with a whimper. Though to be fair, I suppose last issue was really the end of Michelinie's term as writer. This is just a lackluster coda. Still, though, it's always a little depressing to get to the end of a classic comic book run and watch it fade slowly and limply to its conclusion. Much like watching the final season of a formerly favorite TV show right before its cancellation.

IRON MAN #155

"THE BACK-GETTERS!"
Writer: David Michelinie | Pencils: John Romita, Jr. | Inks: Dan Green
Letters: Joe Rosen | Colors: Bob Sharen | Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: Gerrard, the son of Stark International's P.R. director, Artemus Pithins, is beaten after hours at his high school. The next day Mr. Pithins confides in Tony that a number of students have recently been hospitalized at the school, including a group who took some bad drugs and a young man who was run over by a car. Pithins asks if Iron Man might attend the upcoming career fair, and Tony agrees.

At career day, Gerrard is cornered again by a group of students, but his father comes to his aid. The students inform Pithins that Gerrard distributed the bad drugs on behalf of the student who had been run over, and these students want revenge. Pithins convinces them to forego violence and talk their problems out instead.

Meanwhile, outside, Iron Man stops a runaway tank, present for career day, which has been activated by a clumsy student, from demolishing the school.

IRON MAN #154

"THE OTHER SIDE OF MADNESS!"
Writer: David Michelinie | Penciler: John Romita, Jr.
Inkers: Dan Green, Chic Stone, & Bob Layton
Letters: Joe Rosen | Colors: Bob Sharen & Don Warfield
Editor: Jim Salicrup | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The Plot: On his way to the Yonkers Raceway for some horse races, Iron Man is attacked by a mysterious enemy, who escapes before he can be identified. Our hero proceeds to the races, but is preoccupied and returns to Stark International to find the complex under attack by a very insane Unicorn, who is the same villain that assaulted Iron Man earlier.

Iron Man battles the Unicorn, but uses up all his power reserves in the process of saving several Stark employees. Unicorn prepares to deal the killing blow on behalf of The Other, but Iron Man convinces him The Other has forsaken him, having returned to Russia. The Unicorn departs to travel to Russia and find his missing master, but in his unhinged state, he walks straight into Long Island Sound, apparently drowning.

IRON MAN #115

The book I'm using for this review series was hyped as the complete IRON MAN run by David Michelinie and Bob Layton, but technically it is the IRON MAN BY DAVID MICHELINIE, BOB LAYTON, AND JOHN ROMITA JR. OMNIBUS. As such, the very first issue in the book is Romita's first as penciler, an issue before the arrival of Michelinie and Layton.

"BETRAYAL!"
Writer: Bill Mantlo | Embellisher: Dan Green
Letterer: Diana Albers | Colorist: Don Warfield
Editor: Roger Stern | Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
And introducing the pulse-pounding penciling of John Romita Jr.

The Plot: The Avengers drop off Iron Man's unconscious enemy, the Unicorn, at Stark International in New York. After the Avengers depart, Iron Man reviews the Unicorn's history, then changes to his alter ego, Tony Stark, and departs for Manhattan to see his girlfriend, Whitney Frost. Along the way he is observed by a mysterious figure with plans to assassinate him.

When he reaches his penthouse, Tony is attacked by the Ani-Men, servants of Avengers' foe Count Nefaria. After the Ani-Men knock Tony out, Whitney reveals herself as Madame Masque, and states her plot to force Tony into curing Nefaria, her father, of an affliction she blames on the Avengers.