Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Power Man & Iron Fist #61-62
Issue(s): Power Man & Iron Fist #61, Power Man & Iron Fist #62
Cover Date: Feb-Apr 80
Title: "Who's been sleeping in my grave?" / "One must die!"
Credits:
Mary Jo Duffy - Script
Mary Jo Duffy & Steven Grant - Plot
Kerry Gammill - Penciler
Bruce D. Patterson / Kerry Gammill - Inker
Review/plot:
Cage's ex-lawyer Big Ben Donovan shows up injured at Cage's Times Square office...
...followed by Man Mountain Marko and a couple of goons. Cage and Marko are a good match.
Cage is definitely stronger but Marko makes up for it by hitting Cage with some live wires.
Marko is working for little Ceaser Cicero...
...and apparently Donovan and the Maggia stole something from their crime organization.
Meanwhile, Thunderbolt has been observing from outside. When Iron Fist shows up to help his partner, Thunderbolt prevents him by attacking.
Thunderbolt suspects that Cage is in cahoots with Donovan, who is part of the Maggia. Thunderbolt is after Donovan because he's hunting down the person who hired the sniper that killed his brother. But Thunderbolt's super-speed is also aging him super fast, so he is running out of time (in which case he shouldn't be wasting it on Misunderstanding Fights).
Eventually in a fight in a graveyard (in which this time Danny gets to go up against Man Mountain Marko)...
...Thunderbolt confirms that Donovan was responsible for the death of his brother. He brings him to justice before dying of old age.
In a subplot that started last arc, Misty and Colleen are finding their Nightwing Restorations private investigation company in danger of going out of business because of competition from Heroes For Hire. They decide to take a shady job to make up for their decrease in revenue.
The plot of these issues are obviously drawn entirely from Power Man's backstory, but there's nothing wrong with that.
Quality Rating: C+
Historical Significance Rating: 2 - death of Thunderbolt
Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A
References:
- Big Ben Donovan first appeared in Hero For Hire #14-16 and became Cage's lawyer in the same arc, but he was eventually replaced with Jeryn Hogarth.
- Thunderbolt first appeared as Bill Carver, along with his brother Lonnie, in Daredevil #69.
- Lonnie was shown to be killed by a sniper in Power Man #42.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
Bob Layton was the originally announced writer/inker for these issues.
I just read the new Power Man and Iron fist first issue, and i noticed that Jenny Royce, Heroes-for-Hire secretary, has not been tagged at this project at all. How is that?
I have it spelled "Jennie" Royce, and that's how the MCP spells it too. She's tagged on multiple entries, including this one.
Ok, great. In the new PM & IF series the writer spells her name "Jenny". Thanks, Fnord.
I like that Luke was stronger but Marko still managed to beat him. Later, Fist beats Marko with his kung fu skill not strength, which is as it should be. This is one reason it was important to have a good artist depict the different fighting styles between Luke and Fist.
I love the punch Fist used to take down Marko. You feel the force behind it.
The super-speed = accelerated aging gimmick was previously used for the "Lightning" character in Tower Comics' THUNDER Agents. The yellow costume and "Thunderbolt" name also seem a bit derivative of the Lightning character. To be fair, however, there are only so many possible gimmicks, names, and color schemes that can be used for speedster characters, and most of them have already been used repeatedly. Kind of surprising actually that the rapid aging angle hasn't been used more often. Here at least it leads to the most logical outcome.
