Issue(s): Power Man #48, Power Man #49
Cover Date: Dec 77 - Feb 78
Title: "Fist of Iron -- heart of stone!" / "Seagate is a lonely place to die!"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Writer
John Byrne - Penciler
Dan Green - Inker

Review/plot:
Luke Cage shows up at Iron Fist's townhouse, looking to kidnap Misty Knight. Misty isn't there, but he gets into a fight with Colleen Wing, and she holds her own very well against a super powered foe but eventually gets knocked out.

Misty and Iron Fist show up as well and Danny is able to stop Cage's attack after an extended brawl and figure out what is going on.

It turns out that the Bushmaster has kidnapped Claire and Noah and is forcing Cage to attack Misty in exchange for their lives.

Iron Fist, Colleen, and Misty agree to help Luke rescue his friends and they engage in an assault on the old Seagate prison where Luke was originally turned into Power Man. However, the Bushmaster has forced Noah to perform the same procedure that gave Power Man his powers on the Bushmaster.

Luke and the Bushmaster get into a big fight, and Iron Fist doesn't interfere, saying that this fight was like his own fight against the Steel Serpent. The fight ends with Seagate blowing up and Bushmaster disappearing into the ocean, with Cage not knowing if he still lives. Meanwhile Misty secures evidence from the Bushmaster's goons that proves that Cage was never guilty of the crime that put him in Seagate to begin with.

The pairing of Power Man and Iron Fist, not fully complete by the end of this arc, is one of the more creative innovations i have seen at Marvel. Iron Fist obviously had a small but loyal fanbase, and the enthusiasm must have been shared by Claremont and Byrne who found a way to keep the character alive. Power Man obviously had more staying power based on the number of issues his book survived, but pairing him up with Danny created an entirely new dynamic and revitalized the series. It's unfortunate that neither Claremont or Byrne ended up staying on the series, however, as the book definitely will suffer a bit from its creative team churn. This arc is very good, in any event.

The word "Buck" is frequently used to describe Luke Cage, even by theoretically good, non-racist characters like Colleen Wing. About ten years from now, when a black man is given the code name Bucky, it will have to be changed due to the racial undertones.

Quality Rating: B+

Historical Significance Rating: 7 - beginning the Power Man/Iron Fist partnership

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Iron Fist fought the Steel Serpent in Marvel Team-Up #63-64, and that's also when Misty blew her cover on the Bushmaster assignment.
  
• Coleen says that she's barely recovered from the nightmare job she and Misty took in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #32-33.
  
• Misty's apartment was recently repaired after Iron Fist's fight with the X-Men in Iron Fist #15.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

This is the 3rd time Power Man has fought a villain named after a snake.

Issues #48 - 50 are easily, IMHO, the best of the whole POWER MAN/PM & IF series.

Not reprinting them in either of the 2 recent IF Marvel Masterworks was a mistake, as they are very much an extention of Claremont and Byrne's IF run.

Paragraph under the last image refers to Iron Man - should be the Fist.

Thanks, Vin.