Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1

A hero for the Shaft era

Marvel's publisher, Stan Lee, wanted a hero inspired by the blaxploitation films of the moment, such as Shaft (1971) and Super Fly (1972). The result was Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, which the Grand Comics Database dates on sale on March 21, 1972, with a June cover date. It cost twenty cents for 36 pages and was scheduled to come out every other month.

Luke Cage became the first African-American superhero at Marvel to be the main character of his own series. The cover, drawn and inked by John Romita, announced a "Sensational Origin Issue!"

The 23-page story, "Out of Hell -- A Hero!", opens with the line "Look closely at the figure before you." Carl Lucas, serving time at Seagate Prison for a crime he was framed for, volunteers for a medical experiment in hopes of parole. A violent, racist guard sabotages the chemical bath, and Lucas emerges with skin as hard as steel. He escapes, is presumed dead when his bullet-riddled shirt is found, and sets himself up in Harlem as a hero for hire, vowing revenge on Willis Stryker, the former friend who framed him.

The team behind Cage

Archie Goodwin, born in Kansas City, Missouri, on September 8, 1937, wrote the script. He had been chief writer and editor of the horror anthologies Creepy and Eerie in the mid-1960s, and he went on to serve as Marvel's editor-in-chief in 1976 and 1977, when the company won the rights to publish Star Wars comics. He later edited Epic Illustrated and brought English translations of Akira to American readers. He died in New York on March 1, 1998.

Roy Thomas came up with the name Cage and the title Hero for Hire, and he developed the character's powers with Philip Wylie's 1930 novel Gladiator in mind. Romita, working with ideas from Thomas and Lee, designed the costume. George Tuska, born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1916, was the main penciler; he had drawn crime comics in the 1940s, the Buck Rogers newspaper strip from 1959 to 1967, and nearly a decade of Iron Man. Comics historians believe Romita also altered several pages and redrew Stryker's face throughout the issue.

The inker was Billy Graham, born July 1, 1935, a pioneering Black artist who had been art director at a horror-magazine publisher before joining Marvel. He contributed art throughout the series' 16-issue run and later drew the acclaimed Black Panther stories in Jungle Action with writer Don McGregor.

From Hero for Hire to Power Man and beyond

Steve Englehart took over the writing after issue #4. The original title ran 16 issues, from June 1972 to December 1973, and with issue #17 in 1974 the character and the series were renamed Power Man, a choice tied to the Black Power movement and to sales.

Iron Fist joined as co-star in issue #48 in 1978, and from issue #50 the book was Power Man and Iron Fist. Christopher Priest wrote it from issue #111 in 1984 until it was canceled with issue #125 in 1986.

Brian Michael Bendis revived the character in 2001 as a love interest for Jessica Jones in Alias. Cage joined the Avengers in New Avengers in 2004 and married Jessica Jones. Mike Colter played him in Marvel's Netflix series between 2015 and 2018.

Twelve near-perfect copies

Like many early 1970s Marvels, the issue is common in middle grades and scarce near perfect. In September 2022 the grading census listed only 12 copies at CGC 9.8.

A CGC 9.8 copy sold in 2016 for a price reported as $24,000 by one source and $26,000 by another, then among the top Bronze Age results. In September 2022 another 9.8 sold at auction for a record $102,000; the same sale saw a 9.8 Incredible Hulk #181 bring $138,000. Reports differ on the exact day, with one giving September 8 and another September 11.

The record has not been approached since. CGC 9.8 copies sold at auction for $48,000 on December 13, 2024, and for $49,200 on January 15, 2025, about half the 2022 price. A dealer noted in 2019 that a CGC 9.2 had dropped from $1,925 in 2018 to $1,225, and by 2024 the issue had fallen off his list of hot comics.

The numbers

Cover price

20 cents

Pages

36; lead story 23 pages

Frequency

Bimonthly

Printer

World Color Press, Sparta, Illinois

Print run

Not documented in the sources consulted

CGC 9.8 census, September 2022

12 entries

Series run

16 issues under this title, June 1972 to December 1973

Timeline

1. Mar 21, 1972

   Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 goes on sale for 20 cents with a June 1972 cover date.

2. Dec 1973

   Hero for Hire ends with issue #16.

3. 1974

   With issue #17 the series and the character are renamed Power Man.

4. 1978

   Iron Fist joins as co-star in issue #48; the book becomes Power Man and Iron Fist with #50.

5. 1986

   Power Man and Iron Fist is canceled with issue #125.

6. Apr 4, 1997

   Inker Billy Graham dies.

7. Mar 1, 1998

   Writer Archie Goodwin dies in New York.

8. 2001

   Brian Michael Bendis brings Cage back in Alias.

9. 2004

   Cage joins the Avengers in New Avengers.

10. Oct 16, 2009

    Penciler George Tuska dies at 93.

11. 2016

    A CGC 9.8 copy sells for a reported $24,000 (another source says $26,000).

12. Sep 2022

    A CGC 9.8 copy sells at auction for a record $102,000.

13. Dec 13, 2024

    A CGC 9.8 copy sells at auction for $48,000.

14. Jan 15, 2025

    A CGC 9.8 copy sells at auction for $49,200.

The world in 1972

• Feb 21, 1972

  President Nixon begins his week-long visit to China.

• Mar 15, 1972

  The Godfather premieres in New York.

• May 15, 1972

  Alabama Governor George Wallace is shot and paralyzed while campaigning.

• Jun 17, 1972

  Five men are arrested breaking into the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate.

• Jun 23, 1972

  Title IX is signed into law.

• Jul 1, 1972

  Ms. magazine begins publication.

• Nov 7, 1972

  Nixon defeats George McGovern in a landslide.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 is number 42 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (68 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Roy Thomas based Luke Cage's powers partly on Philip Wylie's 1930 novel Gladiator.
• Thomas came up with both the name Cage and the title Hero for Hire.
• Cage's escape works because guards find his bullet-riddled shirt and assume he is dead.
• The series was renamed Power Man in 1974 in a nod to the Black Power movement.
• Writer Archie Goodwin later ran Marvel during the years it landed the Star Wars comics license.
• Inker Billy Graham also wrote plays and won awards for set design.