Power Man and Iron Fist #1
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: David Walker
Artist: Sanford Greene
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Cover: Sanford Greene
It’s been far too long since we’ve seen Luke and Danny together and not just as background pieces during a big Marvel event. These two have been one of the best duos in comics and it’s perfect timing that they have their own series again. This is a return to greatness and all the creative team did was build on what makes these characters favorites already and crank it up. Walker doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel here but steers them in a new direction with some great character moments, action, and all backed with the visual storytelling of Sanford Greene.
As this series is a new beginning, the former Heroes for Hire are attempting to help an old friend with their’s. Now, if you’ve never picked up a Power Man and Iron Fist title Walker is excellent at delivering the right amount of backstory as well as keeping things fun for those who are well versed in the history of Cage and Danny. He makes them very believable friends though they are at two very different stages in their lives. Luke is married with a child and Danny is single and attempting to rebuild. This may also be the reason behind his strong need to help out their friend. We do get some action and it’s another great character moment between Luke and Danny as well as we just get to see some butt kicking by the heroes. Let’s also take time to appreciate the flashback scene with Jessica asking Luke to watch his language. As well as Luke letting Tombstone know he can’t hear him. Just really great scenes here.
Sanford Greene brings a great visual tone to the narrative that isn’t in line with the usual style so you get something new here. His Luke Cage is a larger and stockier version than what’s come before. The size change is a nice contrast to who Luke is at this point and those who might just see him as “the muscle”. His Danny continues the character design from Kaare Andrews’ Living Weapon series and is just great to see it carry over to here. Loughridge’s colors help keep us grounded in this street level story and you might also notice that even though Luke isn’t in costume, he and Danny are color coordinated. Subtle and awesome at the same time like most of the issue.
Power Man & Iron Fist have gone well beyond their blaxploitation and Saturday morning Kung-fu roots. Walker is building on who they are and not who they were and we should all be here for that. This is a buddy comic that the others try to be like so take note because Power Man & Iron Fist are back!
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