Issue(s): Power Man & Iron Fist #76
Cover Date: Dec 81
Title: "Death scream of the Warhawk! / The vampire strikes back!"
Credits:
Mike Barr & Chris Claremont / Mary Jo Duffy - Writer
Rudy D. Nebres & Frank Miller / M.D. Bright - Penciler
Ricardo Villamonte - Inker

Review/plot:
This is kind of an odd issue, with separate solo Iron Fist & Power Man stories.

The first is a re-match between Iron Fist and Warhawk, partially written by Chris Claremont, who wrote the first Fist/Warhawk story.

The last two pages are drawn by Frank Miller.

The second story has Power Man and D.W. encountering a vampire. It's a cute little fight. And it's the first pencils on Power Man & Iron Fist (and possibly at Marvel) by Mark "Doc" Bright.

What's odd about this story is that the vampire appearing seems to be the same one that appeared in Power Man #26 (especially evident if you look at the cover of that issue). And it even uses some of the same gags, like the vampire trying to bite Cage's neck, and the fact that D.W.'s knowledge of vampires comes from the movies.

This is definitely a real vampire, though.

Cage doesn't seem to recognize the vampire, and if it really was the same character it would really defeat the point of the original story and deserve a little more development, but the MCP does list this as being Janos Trevorik, the albino from that issue.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Warhawk previously fought Iron Fist in Marvel Premiere #23.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I should note I haven't read this issue, since I'm going to speculate about it.

Claremont and Nebres did Iron Fist stories together for THE DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU. Perhaps this issue's first story was an undialogued one intended for that magazine, or else Marvel was planning to put Nebres on the colour title when it was cancelled.

Miller's pages could've been added because the original story ended on a cliffhanger. The issue's editor was Denny O'Neil, who was also editing Miller on DAREDEVIL.

I don't know if Nebres's last page is a plausible end page. If not, it could be the original cliffhanger page was dropped, or the story wasn't completed. If the story was intended for IRON FIST #16 there may also have been dropped subplot pages: following Misty undercover, say.

If my inventory theory is right, the second story may have been an original one done for the issue to fill it out, or another inventory tale. I'd guess it was a try-out for Bright, but it could've been that either way.

The striking thing is the parallels to #26 are present in the writing as well as the art, and even the colouring of the vampire's suit. My recollection is Duffy was engaged with her characters' histories, so I figure she likely knew of the #26 story.

This is a wild, wild guess, but perhaps the story was intended as a WHAT IF? back-up - "What if the Night Shocker had been a real vampire?" - and O'Neil removed the What If elements so he'd have an issue where Iron Fist and Cage each had a separate adventure.

WHAT IF? sometimes ran back-up What Ifs in the period, and O'Neil had edited that title too. (His run had recently ended.) To be fair, that would've been an unusual premise for a What If in the period; they usually span off better-remembered or pivotal stories.

The cover to this issue --

http://www.comics.org/issue/35897/

-- has to be one of the ugliest I've ever seen on a mainstream, mass-market comic. Not just the fault of that garish and bloated promotional banner, either.

Gotta love the "BITE" sound effect. Makes one wonder if the classic camp '60's TV version of "Batman" ever used that in one of those infamous heroes-take-on -guest villain-plus-henchmen donnybrooks.