BLACK PANTHER and THE CREW #1
Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, Misty Knight and Manifold band together to take on a dangerous wave of street-level threats in this new ongoing series by co-writers Ta-Nehisi Coates (New York Times best-selling author of Between the World and Me and Marvel’s Black Panther) and Yona Harvey (Black Panther: World of Wakanda) and legendary artist Butch Guice! The death of a Harlem activist kicks off a mystery that will reveal surprising new secrets about the Marvel Universe’s past and set the stage for a big story in the Marvel Universe’s near future. Fear, hate and violence loom, but don’t worry, The Crew’s got this: “We are the streets.”
A comiXologist Recommends
Power Man & Iron Fist
2016 series by David F. Walker and Sanford Green
1978 series by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Dan Green and Dave Cockrum
As a young Luke Cage fanboy it is my esteemed pleasure to discuss the Power Man and Iron Fist bromance. I am all about it. Their friendship is one for the ages, forged in fire and fun quips that we should all aspire to have. It’s like Foggy and Matt Murdock without the legal and ethical disagreements. It’s the strong foundation of Bucky and Steve without the years of being an ice cube only to wake up a puppet of the Soviets and slug it out. Luke Cage and Danny Rand, through thick and thin, are the best of the best friends Marvel has ever had.
Now for the sake of brevity, because we are all busy people, I’m only going to vaguely explain two particularly good places to look in on these guys and their antics. If any reader wants to go right on ahead and start at the very beginning of the team-up “Power Man & Iron Fist” series from #1, do it. Be sure to note though, it’s a lot of wild, sometimes dated, Marvel 1970s camp. Marvel back then can sometimes be a polarizing experience to the uninitiated.
That said, my first selection is the 2016 PM&IF series that reunited these beautiful guys after years of separation. This series (which ties into the recent “Civil War II” event) brought the two together to stop an old friend-turned-foe from taking complete control of all organized crime in New York. The charm of this series comes from the guys being semi-retired from super-heroics. Luke is married (to Jessica Jones) with a young daughter, and Danny is Luke’s screw-up best friend who wants to “get the band back together.” Putting these two back on the street level beat is so funny. With David F. Walker penning some fantastic situational humor and action for Sanford Greene’s art skills, this series is one not to miss out on.
For my next second selection I am taking a step back near the beginning, but not to the very beginning. My top choice from the classics is issue #50 of the original PM&IF series. This is THE one to read if you want to understand Luke and Danny’s friendship. This wonderful story (called “Freedom!”) is their past, present, and gave us their beautiful future together. I will give nothing up of this story except the aforementioned origin of their true friendship. It is the “must read” story for these perfect brothers in arms and cannot be overlooked.
You can get both the old and new Power Man and Iron Fist series buy-one-get-one-free with the checkout code MARVEL through 9/5!
Recommended by Matthew Burbridge, Digital Editor at ComiXology.