Heroes for Hire: The Complete Collection

Heroes for Hire (2011) #1-3

by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Brad Walker (Illustrator)

"Hello, hero, are you for hire?" With those words, Misty Knight enlists streetwise vigilantes to tackle the jobs no other super-team will. When she calls, people listen - including Falcon, Black Widow, Ghost Rider, Silver Sable, Moon Knight and Paladin! But while Misty takes control, the Puppet Master might be pulling strings of his own. Can Iron Fist and the Punisher help her uncover the truth? The events of Fear Itself and Spider- Island call for some serious street-level do-gooding - luckily Misty's little black book is crammed full of costumed contractors like Spider-Man, Black Panther, Satana, Shroud and Daimon Hellstrom! But when the manipulative Purple Man unleashes his Villains for Hire, she'll need a whole new recruitment policy: Fight fire with fire! COLLECTING: HEROES FOR HIRE (2011) 1-12; SPIDER-ISLAND: HEROES FOR HIRE 1; VILLAINS FOR HIRE 0.1, 1-4

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

416 pages, Paperback

Published August 29, 2017

Reviews

[Scott]

"Hello, hero. This is 'Control.' Are you for hire tonight?" -- Misty Knight

Thus begins each chapter of Heroes for Hire, a fresh and invigorating new take on the Marvel Comics series - first headlined by the duo of Power Man & Iron Fist - that premiered in the late 70's. Former NYPD officer and Iron Fist paramour-turned-private security operative Misty Knight - she of the bionic right arm, courtesy of legend Tony Stark - revives that unique business of crime fighting by private contracting with employing various super-powered and/or skilled personnel to interrupt the notable felonious activities occurring on the streets of the Big Apple. Some 'heroes' (like mercenaries Silver Sable and Paladin) pocket their fees, while others (traditional costumed luminaries like Spider-Man and Moon Knight) do it simply for the altruism in protecting their community, or even request that a donation instead be made to a charity. The action-packed stories were fast-paced and furious, the dialogue was quippy, the illustration style was on point - the guys were strapping while the gals were shapely - and it was just a whole lot of fun in the seasonal spirit of a big summer blockbuster. Thank you, GR friend Jen, for this gift that reminds me why I still love to read comics books. 😊

[Quentin Wallace]

I enjoyed this but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. Some of my favorite characters show up (Punisher, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Iron Fist) but their appearances were brief, in some cases one issue. I was hoping to see more of these characters, but instead the book went with a revolving cast. To be fair, however, that is the format of this book from its earliest incarnations. Only a few characters would be around as regulars, and the rest of the team would rotate.

The main characters in this book were Misty Knight and Paladin, which is an odd combination but was still entertaining.

Overall this was well done with a good story and good art and a great cast of characters.

[Paul]

A fun read, but nothing really stand out here. The first few issues showed a lot of promise and DnA are a fantastic creative team, but this just didn't finish that well. Maybe give it a chance if you find a cheap copy, but I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to check it out.

[Bob]

I remember being excited back when this book was first announced: I love DnA's work on the Legion at DC & love the idea of H4H in almost any incarnation. The original H4H comics with Luke Cage, Danny Rand, & sometimes Misty Knight & Colleen Wing are up & down but still classics. The idea of expanding H4H to other heroes is a good one, but sadly, it hasn't worked yet. The 90s Ostrander H4H is uneven. The 00s Palmiotti & Gray starts promising, gets uneven, then mired itself in a cheesecake controversy.

However, the idea of Misty Knight leading an irregular team of Silver Sable, Moon Knight, Satanna, & al. has promise. It sucks a little that Misty Knight & Colleen Wing are still broken up after the end of the 00s H4H, but the thing that prevented me from reading this comic back in the day on a limited budget was that the previews show it recasts Misty Knight as an Oracle from Birds of Prey knockoff in a passive role.

Reading it now as I re/read through all the Luke Cage & Misty Knight comics, it's even worse than I thought as Misty is out of the field because of a horrible phantom pregnancy plot that originated in some awful Avengers anthology I missed. In the wake of the phantom pregnancy plot putting Misty into the Oracle role, Misty Knight & Danny Rand have split again. Exploring other romantic partners for Misty is a good idea. Sadly, DNA's Danny replacement is the most generic Marvel mercenary (& there's much competition for that title) Paladin, who I already hated after rereading the 00s H4H & the only ongoing subplot of both series collected here is Misty's & Paladin's generic flirting.

[Ross]

IMHO, this collection is just ok. It starts out with the possibility of a interesting villain, but the payoff just doesn't get there. Even by the end of the collection, with the introduction of 'Villains For Hire', the story just seems like you took a list of characters that couldn't sustain their own series and made them swappable based on "need". Without a strong hook, not a long term concept to yield high sales.

[Shannon]

This collection suffers from what I’ve found most comic book collections suffer from, this is an incomplete set. So the beginning is strong, and the set up of this one is a five star worthy one.

But midway through, you get the sense that there are missing scenes, missing plot points and too many revolving heroes who seem to come in and out of the narrative without explanation and leave just as confusingly.

The ending, therefore, feels rushed and ultimately unsatisfactory.

[Edward Davies]

A pretty quick read but enjoyable nonetheless.

[Kaleb Miles]

I've never read a comic that embodies simply existing harder than this run.

[Matt Sautman]

A distinctive vision for Heroes for Hire that translates the agency into a centralized vigilante network wherein Misty Knight adopts the archetypal role of “the guy in the chair.”

[Mik Cope]

I picked this up after the trauma of reading The Boys, wanting some wholesome, silly superhero action. "Hello hero, are you for hire?". I mean, those have to be the corniest opening lines to a story ever! But it was good fun immersing myself in superhero nonsense for the first time in ages. I grew up with Power Man and, later, Power Man and Iron Fist, so there was some nostalgic pleasure, too. The quality of the stories varied, with the low point being the Spider Island tie-in and one of the high points definitely the Villains for Hire arc.

[LastTigerStanding]

Awesome. I'm a huge fan of all the characters in this collection. Silver Sable, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Paladin, whoever else I missed because I actually read this 4 months ago, and my memory sucks.