By Marc Strom
With Daredevil taking control of New York's streets, writer Fred Van Lente and artist Mahmud Asrar introduce a new young hero with ties to the New
"Daredevil has declared that Shadowland-the territory under the control of his Hand ninja-off-limits to any 'costumes' not sanctioned by him," explains Van Lente. "Into this oppressive situation explodes a brand new Power Man, a young teen defying this law and helping the working class folk of the West Side for a nominal fee. You can hire him on Craig's List, but no one knows who he really is.
"Daredevil doesn't take too kindly to this, and so it's a race against time to see who gets to Power Man first: Luke Cage and Iron Fist or the murderous Hand?"
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| Power Man design sketches by Mahmud Asrar |
"This is the kind of story where I'm not willing to reveal too much before the first issue," cautions the writer. "The fun of reading it will be following Luke and Danny [Rand, aka Iron Fist] as they try to figure out who this kid is, and how he got the power to make stuff explode when he punches it!"
Luke Cage, the original Power Man, spent several years teamed with Iron Fist as the original Heroes for Hire, and Van Lente has had a blast pairing the two for this story.
"They really are the original mismatched super-duo, a genre I'm somewhat familiar with over in INCREDIBLE HERCULES with the pairing of Amadeus Cho and Herc," he notes. "But Danny, son of privilege, and Luke, child of the streets, are so different in terms of backgrounds and attitudes they really should have had a 1980's hour-long network show from Stephen J. Cannell."
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| Power Man design sketches by Mahmud Asrar |
"It's essential reading," says the writer. "If the tagline to Shadowland is 'The Battle for the Soul of New York,' once you learn the full truth [about] Power Man's identity, powers, and connection to our main heroes, readers will see that he is that soul."
But fans shouldn't expect this series to have too much darkness in it, according to Van Lente:
"Our great artist, Mahmud Asrar, and I are trying to prove with this book a 'street' title doesn't have to be noir-drenched angst all the time; it can be a lot of fun too. That's coming across in our hero's youthful-well, 'salt' I had one editor describe it as. And also a return of the great villains of Power Man past: Cottonmouth! Cockroach Hamilton! Comanche! Shades! Black Mariah! And one I'm particularly excited to be writing, whom I haven't had a crack at since my M.O.D.O.K.'S 11 limited series back in the day."
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Anyone know when this comic will come out?
The sub-title should say "Fred Van Lente DOESN'T name the heir to Luke Cage’s former title"
I will likely check this out, especially if it connects with Bullseye.
Sounds potentially interesting.