HERO FOR HIRE #9 (1973)
by Steve Englehart & George Tuska
Last issue, Doctor Doom left town without paying Luke Cage. Big mistake!
Luke Cage just burst into the Baxter Building (!!!) where he meets the Fantastic Four.
In this period, Medusa has replaced the Invisible Girl for reasons too complicated to discuss now.
I’m not a big fan of George Tuska, but he does a good job in this series. DEFINITELY not a fan of the way he draws the Thing, though.
The reason why Luke Cage showed up at the Baxter Building is that he wants to borrow the Fantastic Four’s rocket.
The Human Torch’s attitude towards Cage rubs me the wrong way. Johnny is DEFINITELY an elitist when it comes with street-level heroes, but he comes off as a real jerk here.
The fact that Luke Cage has the balls to go after Doctor Doom impresses the team so much that they accept to give him the rocket.
Without going with him, for some reason. So, uhm… you’re just going to drop him in another country, just like that?
You know that you can’t just land a plane in another country without its permission, right?
Cage is forced to land outside of Castle Doom, where the local security forces are no match for him.
But then a bunch of robots arrive, and they are on Cage’s side!
Or rather they’re also after Doom.
And it turns out that the robots were sent by… the Faceless One of Astonishing Tales #3 ?
So, uhm, yeah. This comic book that used to be about a street level hero working for the common people is now about an alien taking charge of a robot uprising against a super-scientist wizard.
And it’s AWESOME!
The Faceless One tries to spin this into a civil rights discussion to sway Luke Cage to his cause.
And Cage is like “Look I just want my $200, okay? Leave me out of robot apocalypse!”
But also: “Yep, this is my life now. Better get used to weird stuff like this.”
“Those metal mothers got to be some funky fighters!” is one of the best sentences ever put to print and you can’t convince me otherwise.
Strictly followed by “Where’s my money, honey?”, of course.
Doom’s reaction is just the best.
“WTF are you talking about!?”
“Look Cage, this isn’t the right time okay? I have a subplot right now, can we talk about this later?”
Luke Cage and Doctor Doom get into a fistfight while insulting each other and it’s GLORIOUS.
Doom goes so far as to say that he sees something of himself in Luke Cage.
Doom even boasts that he has crushed both the Thing and the Hulk in the past.
(the last one is… definitely not a thing that happened).
Luke Cage has a plan to deal with Doctor Doom, a plan that no other hero has ever tried before.
He just has to punch him really really hard.
AND IT WORKS.
Apparently Doctor Freakin’ Doom didn’t consider that someone would try to repeatedly punch him in the same spot over and over again.
Sounds legit.
Then the Faceless One shows up to remind us that he’s in this comic too!
Doom, still incapable of conceiving that someone would travel across continents and storm his castle to get $200, still thinks that Cage is working for the Faceless One.
Cage helps Doom against the Faceless One (who I remind you is actually just a sphere with spider legs!), but he has absolutely zero interest in getting involved in this plot.
Doctor Doom finds this HILARIOUS, as he should!
Luke Cage FINALLY gets his $200…
…and the he JUST WALKS AWAY FROM THE PLOT as Doctor Doom blows up the robot rebellion in the background!!!
Luke Cage returns to New York, thanks the Fantastic Four, and just leaves because he’s REALLY had enough of this whole story.
And so we end on the revelation that Doctor Doom has indeed ended the rebellion.
This is one of the best comic books ever printed!
Luke Cage significance: 6/10
This actually DOES have some relevance in Cage’s life. It’s the first time he meets “regular” super-heroes, and more importantly it’s the first time he meets the Fantastic Four.
Cage will actually act as a temporary replacement for the Thing for a few issues, during one of those times where the Thing is turned back into a human.
Doom significance: 1/10
Believe it or not, this is actually the last time Doom meets the Faceless One! Yes, after ALL the buildup in the pages of Astonishing Tales… he has ONE more appearance, in the pages of Ms. Mavel #23 in 1979. As the kind-of-conclusion of the kind-of-first storyline of his kind-of-first serial, this issue has kind of some significance.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Taken individually, none of the weird stuff is really out of the ordinary. When you put everything together, man does this get Silver Age!
Does it stand the test of time? 10/10
Is this terribly profound, well-drawn or well-written? Not really. But it’s a story where Luke Cage wanders into the fight between Doctor Doom and a ball-shaped alien who is leading a robot rebellion. The day this won’t be suitable to be printed will be the day I quit reading comics!
It was a Doombot all along
No explicit indication, but the way Doom’s armor is disable so easily makes me wish this was a defective Doombot.
Take over the world & Destroy the FF!
Doom was basically minding his own business the entire time!
Crazy tech
If you try to get into Latveria without permission, you’re forced to land by a gigantic Doom hologram.