Luke Cage and Speedball

Get ready for double the action and double the thrills in 1976’s Luke Cage Power Man King-Size Annual.

Comic book collectors are always on the search for the very first issue of Luke Cage.  After all the title ushered in the whole Blackploitation phenomenon to the Marvel Comics Universe.

Tough-as-nails, inner city, tough black guys were all the rage in the early 1970s.

Marvel knew a good thing when it saw it and so was born Luke Cage.

Everyone knows the story: Luke Cage is wrongly accused of a crime an is put n prison.  He is given the opportunity for freedom (or at least a shortened sentence) if he agrees to be the subject of a new experiment.

The experiment succeeds and he suddenly finds himself with super strength, endurance and near invulnerability.  He also finds himself on the run.

He takes on the name Power Man and decides to fight crime and corruption in the inner city.

In his first Annual he faces off against Magnum Force, takes part in some international intrigue and comes out swinging.

It may not be the first monthly issue of Luke Cage but it is his first Annual and it currently it goes for about $20 for a raw mint copy.

Artist Steve Ditko is a legend.  His work revolutionized comic books.  The Amazing Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, The Question, Shade The Changing Man, Captain Atom, Mr. A, Hawk and Dove and The Creeper are just a few of the memorable characters he created or co-created.

Sadly as he grew older his artistic output shrunk mainly due to his age and the tastes of comic book fans changing.

Occasionally his work would appear and old timers like myself enjoyed each and every page.

One of the last products he worked on for Marvel Comics and mainstream comics was Speedball.

Speedball is a young man with the kinetic energy ability to bounce off anything-including badguys.  It seems like a bizarre power but Ditko made it work with his clever page layouts and quirky art.

Speedball would transform into Penance several years later and become a major player in key Marvel Comics series.

Speedball #1 contains some of Ditko’s last work but it is a worthwhile purchase of a true master’s work.

Speedball #1 can be purchased for around five bucks.