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Power Man & Iron Fist Epic Collection
Power Man & Iron Fist Epic Collection, Vol. 2: Revenge!
Collects Power Man and Iron Fist #71-72, 74-89; Daredevil (1964) #178.
Payback time! But for the Heroes for Hire, vengeance cuts both ways. When the killing machine known as Warhawk beats Danny to a pulp, Luke will take his pound of flesh in return. But he's not the only one out to settle a score. The terrifying tag-team of Sabretooth and Constrictor are old foes out for blood — and to get the message across, they target Power Man and Iron Fist's friends! And they're not Luke and Danny's only headache, as the heroes must take on the malignant Mole Man and the mountain-climbing Montenegro! Then there's one of their strangest gigs: finding the missing vigilante Moon Knight! But when the heroes are hired to protect the lawyers Nelson and Murdock, will their biggest problem be Daredevil?
Payback time! But for the Heroes for Hire, vengeance cuts both ways. When the killing machine known as Warhawk beats Danny to a pulp, Luke will take his pound of flesh in return. But he's not the only one out to settle a score. The terrifying tag-team of Sabretooth and Constrictor are old foes out for blood — and to get the message across, they target Power Man and Iron Fist's friends! And they're not Luke and Danny's only headache, as the heroes must take on the malignant Mole Man and the mountain-climbing Montenegro! Then there's one of their strangest gigs: finding the missing vigilante Moon Knight! But when the heroes are hired to protect the lawyers Nelson and Murdock, will their biggest problem be Daredevil?
472 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 25, 2016
About the author
Jo Duffy
481 books9 followersAlso published under the name Mary Jo Duffy and/or Mary-Jo Duffy.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 6, 2020
Gotta say, I'm not a huge fan of 80s Luke Cage.
Also, the comments made about women in this series was ridiculous, especially considering that some of these issues were actually written by a woman!
There were some good moments in this collection.
Seeing Misty and Colleen as these fierce and powerful women. Plus witnessing Moon Knight stuck in this vulnerable situation he couldn't get out of and seeing him really struggle.
Overall, this series is not my favourite (which is why I skipped so many issues) but they know how to make a crossover with other characters fun and interesting!
Also, the comments made about women in this series was ridiculous, especially considering that some of these issues were actually written by a woman!
There were some good moments in this collection.
Seeing Misty and Colleen as these fierce and powerful women. Plus witnessing Moon Knight stuck in this vulnerable situation he couldn't get out of and seeing him really struggle.
Overall, this series is not my favourite (which is why I skipped so many issues) but they know how to make a crossover with other characters fun and interesting!
August 29, 2024
Classic, early-‘80s Heroes For Hire action. Loved these guys as a kid, still love ‘em now.
Sweet Christmas from the Heart of the Dragon!
Sweet Christmas from the Heart of the Dragon!
May 31, 2019
I enjoyed the stories written by Mary Jo Duffy and the first 70% of this book is pretty fun.
Then the art changes and the writing took a turn for the.. angry? Like, Luke was just angry and smashing things all the time. Surprisingly, it got progressively more racist with random, drugged out and drunk civilians treated Luke like crap because he's black. Then a random "don't do drugs" message across 3 separate issues. Lo and behold, the writer at the end of this book is Dennis O'Neil, most famous for his Green Arrow arc where Roy Harper becomes a drug addict. I was wondering how they managed to shove in some really uncomfortable racist moments and a really unsympathetic view of drug addiction - there's my answer. That Green Arrow arc owed quite a bit of its popularity to the fact that it was one of the first big comic stories to discuss drug addiction - but it didn't do it with any sympathy or understanding for the those that suffer from it.
Here, we have the only representation of drug addicts as a guy who's so high he gets himself gravely injured and annoys PW and IF by making them try to look out for him; then the racist guy that Luke has to take outside and then DW - good old DW who realized that he didn't need drugs, he's high on life. I get it - it was the 70s. People didn't have any sympathy for people who inconvenienced them by needed help but, it just sucks to see that the message spread was that anyone who falls off the wagon should be shunned because they're "disgusting". No wonder so many addicts are afraid to ask for help.
So, anyway, the first 70% is a blast. It's fun and campy and everything Marvel used to let their books be before the 90s came along and everyone had to be grumpy, angry and fight each other all the time. The last 30% was just a muddled, angry, misguided and confusing mess.
Then the art changes and the writing took a turn for the.. angry? Like, Luke was just angry and smashing things all the time. Surprisingly, it got progressively more racist with random, drugged out and drunk civilians treated Luke like crap because he's black. Then a random "don't do drugs" message across 3 separate issues. Lo and behold, the writer at the end of this book is Dennis O'Neil, most famous for his Green Arrow arc where Roy Harper becomes a drug addict. I was wondering how they managed to shove in some really uncomfortable racist moments and a really unsympathetic view of drug addiction - there's my answer. That Green Arrow arc owed quite a bit of its popularity to the fact that it was one of the first big comic stories to discuss drug addiction - but it didn't do it with any sympathy or understanding for the those that suffer from it.
Here, we have the only representation of drug addicts as a guy who's so high he gets himself gravely injured and annoys PW and IF by making them try to look out for him; then the racist guy that Luke has to take outside and then DW - good old DW who realized that he didn't need drugs, he's high on life. I get it - it was the 70s. People didn't have any sympathy for people who inconvenienced them by needed help but, it just sucks to see that the message spread was that anyone who falls off the wagon should be shunned because they're "disgusting". No wonder so many addicts are afraid to ask for help.
So, anyway, the first 70% is a blast. It's fun and campy and everything Marvel used to let their books be before the 90s came along and everyone had to be grumpy, angry and fight each other all the time. The last 30% was just a muddled, angry, misguided and confusing mess.
May 8, 2019
It's Power Man and Iron Fist, what's not to love?
This is the second collected volume - my library didn't have the first, so I just sort of jumped in in the middle of things. A basic understanding of the characters and the arc of their plots is enough to cover your bases to dive in. Yes, there are bits of backstory that would be helpful, but overall...? You know what you're getting into, and what you're getting into is delightful.
I love these characters so much. I love their interaction, the humor in their dialogue, and their overall devotion to each other, their friends, their loved ones, and what is right. These stories are easy to digest, and altogether great. There's the first introduction of Sabertooth and Constrictor, the saving of Moon Knight, and the hilarious crossover with Daredevil. So good.
So, yeah, these two are the best partners in comics for a reason. This volume is just a taste of that.
This is the second collected volume - my library didn't have the first, so I just sort of jumped in in the middle of things. A basic understanding of the characters and the arc of their plots is enough to cover your bases to dive in. Yes, there are bits of backstory that would be helpful, but overall...? You know what you're getting into, and what you're getting into is delightful.
I love these characters so much. I love their interaction, the humor in their dialogue, and their overall devotion to each other, their friends, their loved ones, and what is right. These stories are easy to digest, and altogether great. There's the first introduction of Sabertooth and Constrictor, the saving of Moon Knight, and the hilarious crossover with Daredevil. So good.
So, yeah, these two are the best partners in comics for a reason. This volume is just a taste of that.
April 17, 2017
Before I get into the actual comments, I want to clarify something. This volume contains Power Man and Iron Fist #71-72, 74-89 & Daredevil #178 and while it does not include the entire contents of Power Man and Iron Fist #73, it does includes pages 5-8 & 10. Why only these pages? These pages are the only ones without references and appearances of Rom, the Space Knight, which is a character owned by Parker Brothers and Marvel doesn’t currently have the rights to reprint anything featuring the character. This is the legal bugaboo that wrecks havoc left and right with many of Marvel’s reprint collections. But this edition does offer a one-page text synopsis of the entire issue.
This volume opens with more classic Jo Duffy and Kerry Gammill adventures as Luke and Danny deal with lots of issues on the mean streets of NYC, before finding themselves in ... K’un-Lun. Montenegro, a new opponent, and the return of Chaka, The Ninja & Master Khan lead off as antagonists in these opening chapters. Misty Knight, Colleen Wing and even the Sons of the Tiger make appearances. After Luke and Danny affect their return from K’un-Lun we get an issue that features two solo stories, the first by Chris Claremont with art by Rudy Nebres & Frank Miller, deals with the return of an old antagonist from Iron Fist’s solo career, Warhawk, while the second deals with the return of The Vampire from Power Man’s pre-partnership era. This second one returns Duffy to the writer’s seat and Mark Bright handling the art, with inking by Ricardo Villamonte on the whole issue to tie it all together. For really being not much more than filler, these are both well done stories. So there’s a lot of returning face opening this volume (4/5).
Next up is the two-part crossover from Daredevil #178 and Power Man and Iron Fist #77. Miller was in the midst of his visionary run on Daredevil, and visually this issue does illustrate how extraordinary his approach was, unfortunately it also illustrates how little he cared about working within the framework of a shared universe. His portrayal of Jeryn Hogarth, Luke & Danny’s silent partner in Heroes for Hire, runs completely contradictory to how he’d been portrayed previous in the series. Instead the whole relationship is played off as a joke, for laughs at the expense of the characters. But then this shouldn’t be a surprise as this is basically what he did with the relationship between Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson. In contrast, Duffy’s take on the characters in the second half of this story works much better. Here the story is silly and certainly has a lot of laughs, but it isn’t at the expense of respect for the characters (4/5).
Power Man and Iron Fist #78-79 wraps up Duffy and Gammill’s tenure on the series. The first of these sets up a story that will pay off a bit later, to finish off Duffy’s run, and the second is an honest-to-goodness homage to Doctor Who and the Daleks. Almost too fun to believe (4/5).
Power Man and Iron Fist #80-84 brings in a new artist Denys Cowan to finish off Duffy’s spectacular era with the characters. These feature more conflicts with Montenegro, Warhawk, Constrictor & Sabretooth, as well as a trip to Halwan. The art is good, from Cowan, but it doesn’t have the same look as Gammill, obviously, so the change takes some getting used to. But these stories also feel a bit sillier in some ways and not as well crafted. So kind of a sad ending for Duffy’s otherwise great run on this title (3/5).
Power Man and Iron Fist #85-89 - We got Cowan’s arrival and now Denny O`Neil replaces Duffy as the writer. These issues are not very engaging, the characters feel forced and stereotyped, the camaraderie between Luke and Danny feels oddly combative. These stories feel like the relationships have all been turned back to stupid. The appearance of the Mole Man is badly structured and pointless, the returns of Scimitar and Black Mariah are fun, but throwing these two together makes absolutely no sense, the Moon Knight guest appearance is definitely the best thing about this run of issues. The art is nice and saves the otherwise plodding writing from miring the whole package into inanity. Just an uninspired and weak ending to this volume (3/5).
This volume opens with more classic Jo Duffy and Kerry Gammill adventures as Luke and Danny deal with lots of issues on the mean streets of NYC, before finding themselves in ... K’un-Lun. Montenegro, a new opponent, and the return of Chaka, The Ninja & Master Khan lead off as antagonists in these opening chapters. Misty Knight, Colleen Wing and even the Sons of the Tiger make appearances. After Luke and Danny affect their return from K’un-Lun we get an issue that features two solo stories, the first by Chris Claremont with art by Rudy Nebres & Frank Miller, deals with the return of an old antagonist from Iron Fist’s solo career, Warhawk, while the second deals with the return of The Vampire from Power Man’s pre-partnership era. This second one returns Duffy to the writer’s seat and Mark Bright handling the art, with inking by Ricardo Villamonte on the whole issue to tie it all together. For really being not much more than filler, these are both well done stories. So there’s a lot of returning face opening this volume (4/5).
Next up is the two-part crossover from Daredevil #178 and Power Man and Iron Fist #77. Miller was in the midst of his visionary run on Daredevil, and visually this issue does illustrate how extraordinary his approach was, unfortunately it also illustrates how little he cared about working within the framework of a shared universe. His portrayal of Jeryn Hogarth, Luke & Danny’s silent partner in Heroes for Hire, runs completely contradictory to how he’d been portrayed previous in the series. Instead the whole relationship is played off as a joke, for laughs at the expense of the characters. But then this shouldn’t be a surprise as this is basically what he did with the relationship between Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson. In contrast, Duffy’s take on the characters in the second half of this story works much better. Here the story is silly and certainly has a lot of laughs, but it isn’t at the expense of respect for the characters (4/5).
Power Man and Iron Fist #78-79 wraps up Duffy and Gammill’s tenure on the series. The first of these sets up a story that will pay off a bit later, to finish off Duffy’s run, and the second is an honest-to-goodness homage to Doctor Who and the Daleks. Almost too fun to believe (4/5).
Power Man and Iron Fist #80-84 brings in a new artist Denys Cowan to finish off Duffy’s spectacular era with the characters. These feature more conflicts with Montenegro, Warhawk, Constrictor & Sabretooth, as well as a trip to Halwan. The art is good, from Cowan, but it doesn’t have the same look as Gammill, obviously, so the change takes some getting used to. But these stories also feel a bit sillier in some ways and not as well crafted. So kind of a sad ending for Duffy’s otherwise great run on this title (3/5).
Power Man and Iron Fist #85-89 - We got Cowan’s arrival and now Denny O`Neil replaces Duffy as the writer. These issues are not very engaging, the characters feel forced and stereotyped, the camaraderie between Luke and Danny feels oddly combative. These stories feel like the relationships have all been turned back to stupid. The appearance of the Mole Man is badly structured and pointless, the returns of Scimitar and Black Mariah are fun, but throwing these two together makes absolutely no sense, the Moon Knight guest appearance is definitely the best thing about this run of issues. The art is nice and saves the otherwise plodding writing from miring the whole package into inanity. Just an uninspired and weak ending to this volume (3/5).
November 5, 2016
These comics are classics for a reason.
PowerMan and Iron Fist are one of the greatest pairings in comicdom, and I'm glad a new generation is getting to experience these characters and stories!!
PowerMan and Iron Fist are one of the greatest pairings in comicdom, and I'm glad a new generation is getting to experience these characters and stories!!
April 3, 2022
Mary Jo Duffy and Kerry Gammill's run was pretty great with a clot of classic early 80s fun. As the collection goes on, though, it starts to get worse. Denys Cowan can be an incredible artist but this isn't his finest work. I wouldn't even blame Cowan himself! He's got a different inker every issue and the quality of the art each time is a rollercoaster, with some issues looking great and some looking terrible. And then Dennis O'Neil takes over and ups the politics... not necessarily in a great way. It immediately becomes all about how drugs are bad, only losers do drugs! And a lot more overt racism towards Asian people and towards Luke Cage as a Black man. It's not that including these themes in comics is bad but I don't think Dennis O'Neil is the most intellectual writer to tackle them, certainly not with how both Power Man and Iron Fist are big stereotypes themselves. Overall it has some classic stories but I wouldn't recommend the entire collection (except as a collector's piece), either jump off once Kerry Gammill leaves or once Mary Jo Duffy leaves.
June 30, 2022
Some old and new villains from both Iron Fist's own mag and Hero for Hire/Powerman's.
A lot less seventies Black lingo after moving into the eighties, and a lot more Russian/Cold War things going on. Boris and Ninotchka are a great pair of Russian villains for hire.
The book is filled with commentary of the rich taking advantage of the poor and how drugs kill. You would have thought that these stories would or could make a difference, but I am not sure any of them do in this day and age. Greed, hate, bigotry, drug use, addiction, international wars are still running rampant and do not look as if they will stop. The margin between rich and poor keeps getting larger and the rich keep getting richer.
I love the backgrounds of these stories and yet they are all superhero stories in the long run. True to the form.
Always worth reading.
A lot less seventies Black lingo after moving into the eighties, and a lot more Russian/Cold War things going on. Boris and Ninotchka are a great pair of Russian villains for hire.
The book is filled with commentary of the rich taking advantage of the poor and how drugs kill. You would have thought that these stories would or could make a difference, but I am not sure any of them do in this day and age. Greed, hate, bigotry, drug use, addiction, international wars are still running rampant and do not look as if they will stop. The margin between rich and poor keeps getting larger and the rich keep getting richer.
I love the backgrounds of these stories and yet they are all superhero stories in the long run. True to the form.
Always worth reading.
March 14, 2018
Extremely goofy but tons of fun. Blaxploitation meets Kung Fu in the weirdest and cheesiest comic book ways. It doesn't expect you to take anything seriously and because of that you enjoy it. From the costumes to the over the top adventures, all of it is implausible and ridiculous but enjoyable. Luke Cage and Iron Fist, despite all logic, somehow bounce off each other perfectly and you can see why they would work as a team. If you like a campy, 70s style buddy cop cartoon this would be for you
August 6, 2021
One of Marvel Comics' sleeper hits from the 70s. An eclectic cast of supporting characters and two street-level superheroes make for enjoyable action-adventure tales in the vein of any good pulp story.
May 3, 2020
I really like this original series, especially when it all started in the late 70's. Unfortunately, half-way through this volume, the quality peaks and then takes a dip. It starts strong, with some really great art by Kerry Gammill and when we get to issue 75 there is a crazy return to K'un-Lun. And it ends way too soon, but that's not too bad, because they have a nice cross-over with Daredevil, featuring some classic Frank Miller art.
And then the quality comes to an end when Dennis Cowan steps in as the regular artist. Now something about Cowan reminds me of early Paul Gulacy. It's ambitious, and in the hands of a good inker it looks OK and looks to keep getting a little better with each issue. Then, out of nowhere, something goes wrong. Cowan's art starts to look really rushed and sloppy. And the panel layouts start to get confusing and the stories suffer. It doesn't look so much like Cowan got rushed, but like he had a stroke. Characters pop in and out and the pages stop making sense. I would blame the writing, but I can't. Mary Jo Duffy writes almost all of the issues, including the really good ones, so it can't be her. All I can do is look forward to the next volume and hope that the issues get better once Ernie Chan takes over.
And then the quality comes to an end when Dennis Cowan steps in as the regular artist. Now something about Cowan reminds me of early Paul Gulacy. It's ambitious, and in the hands of a good inker it looks OK and looks to keep getting a little better with each issue. Then, out of nowhere, something goes wrong. Cowan's art starts to look really rushed and sloppy. And the panel layouts start to get confusing and the stories suffer. It doesn't look so much like Cowan got rushed, but like he had a stroke. Characters pop in and out and the pages stop making sense. I would blame the writing, but I can't. Mary Jo Duffy writes almost all of the issues, including the really good ones, so it can't be her. All I can do is look forward to the next volume and hope that the issues get better once Ernie Chan takes over.
June 2, 2025
This is still a really bad comic, but I can see a hint of improvement in the back half of this volume.
First of all the worst problem: Most of this volume is written by a woman, yet the women in here are treated like crap. That's reason enough for me to have these stories be forgotten.
Most of these stories are boring and don't have any consequences or impact on the overall status quo. Sometimes there's a hint of a supporting cast and relationships, but those are rarely inspected or shown, even though the book would benefit from that. Then, there's a lack of interesting villains.
There is a crossovers with Daredevil and a guest appearance of Moon Knight and even a memorable story with Sabretooth. Those three stories are the standout of this collection, because everything else is just filler. The single Daredevil by Frank Miller comic in here shows how much worse the Power Man & Iron First series is at this time.
The artwork is atrocious, even considering that this is the Bronze Age of Comics. Same with the lettering.
I can see some improvements, both in writing and artwork in the last couple of stories, so I'm hoping for some improvements in Vol. 3.
First of all the worst problem: Most of this volume is written by a woman, yet the women in here are treated like crap. That's reason enough for me to have these stories be forgotten.
Most of these stories are boring and don't have any consequences or impact on the overall status quo. Sometimes there's a hint of a supporting cast and relationships, but those are rarely inspected or shown, even though the book would benefit from that. Then, there's a lack of interesting villains.
There is a crossovers with Daredevil and a guest appearance of Moon Knight and even a memorable story with Sabretooth. Those three stories are the standout of this collection, because everything else is just filler. The single Daredevil by Frank Miller comic in here shows how much worse the Power Man & Iron First series is at this time.
The artwork is atrocious, even considering that this is the Bronze Age of Comics. Same with the lettering.
I can see some improvements, both in writing and artwork in the last couple of stories, so I'm hoping for some improvements in Vol. 3.
September 13, 2024
Gems include Danny thinks Spidey & DD make it look easy, Colleen wrecks a Son of the Tiger, Rom vaporizes a Direwraith hoe, sadly Ninja fails to kill a Son of the Tiger, Master Khan rides the Jade Tiger to K’un-Lun, Misty v. Warhawk, H4H v. DD in a workplace dispute, Misty v. Slasher, sadly Daleks fail to kill a Son of the Tiger, Danny punches a roller coaster, H4H crossdresses, Luke joins a harem, Luke wrecks Warhawk, Sabretooth scars Harmony while Luke macks on Claire, Danny wrecks Mole Man, Luke wrecks Goldeneye, Marlene hires H4H to find MK, MK gives Danny a cabride, & Mjr. Hawkins ends it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 29, 2024
I read a few of these many years ago and enjoyed them a lot. Surprisingly, I still do - the story with Professor Gamble (the Dr. Who rip off) is especially memorable.
The earlier stories with Kerry Gammill on art are slightly better
The earlier stories with Kerry Gammill on art are slightly better
March 19, 2026
Much better than the first collection the action is great and the crossovers with Daredevil and Moon Knight were really good. Best part was when Danny and Luke are transported to Kun Lun and the battle that happened there. 1981-1983. 8/10
July 5, 2019
ALthough dated, this wasn't a bad collection. I guess you have to be in the mood for something kitschy to enjoy this.
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March 29, 2017Stopped on page 301 - War without end!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews