This weekend’s escapist and light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog is my third post about Power Man and my second about Iron Fist. It’s a look at the stories leading to the partnership of the two superheroes in the 1970s.
POWER MAN Vol 1 #48 (December 1977)
Title: Fist of Iron – Heart of Stone
Villains: Bushmaster, Shades and Comanche
Synopsis: Power Man’s old supervillain foes Shades and Comanche return, this time working for a supervillain called Bushmaster, real name John McIver, formerly a Caribbean crime lord. Bushmaster is secretly headquartered in Georgia’s abandoned Seagate Prison, where Power Man first gained his powers when he was a volunteer in unethical government scientific experiments years earlier.
Shades (at right) and Comanche, escaped cons who served time at Seagate Prison with Luke Cage back when he went by his real name Carl Lucas, were sent by Bushmaster to abduct Power Man’s girlfriend Dr. Claire Temple and her colleague Dr. Noah Burstein. They have done so and, per Bushmaster’s orders, they give Luke Cage/ Carl Lucas their boss’s ultimatum.
They make it clear to Power Man that to gain the release of those two doctors he has been close to for years, he must capture and deliver to Bushmaster one of his foes, private investigator Misty Knight. The villain doesn’t just send Shades and Comanche (at left) to abduct her because Misty’s associates, her investigative partner Colleen Wing and the superhero Iron Fist, stand beside her. Continue reading
POWER MAN Vol 1 #21 (October 1974) 
The hurt and angry Power Man returns to his Hero for Hire office above the Gem Theater. Luke gets attacked there by the original Power Man, a former operative of Baron Zemo who was given his super-strength by the Avengers foe the Enchantress. 
Superheroes continue to dominate pop culture right now, and as I’ve often said, I think hero tales work best when set in their original time period. 
HERO FOR HIRE Vol 1 #1 (June 1972) 
Using those powers, Lucas escaped Seagate Prison but misled the authorities into thinking he died in the ocean while trying to get away. With Carl Lucas pronounced dead, our main character settled in New York City under the name Luke Cage and became a literal Hero for Hire, using his superpowers to earn a living. 
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