Friday, December 5, 2008

Friday Night Fights--Big Top Style!!

If you want a noisy battle, go to the circus.

That's the simple prescription followed by the creative team behind Luke Cage, Power Man #25 (1975). In a story way too convoluted to recap here, Luke and Bill Foster (Black Goliath!!) have become ensnared by Ringmaster's Circus of Crime--because, you know, every single Marvel hero had to become ensnared by Ringmaster's Circus of Crime in the 1970's.

In the ensuing battle royale, Cage spends most of his time going up against the Circus's strong man, named...uhhh...Strong Man. Dudes, couldn't you even try a little bit??

Luke strikes the first blow:

Luke practices strategeryBut the sucka keeps coming back for more:

Luke direspects Strong Man
CHOK??Luke even gives him the backhand and the good old KRUMP!!

Back in the day, NOBODY talked more during a fight than Luke Cage
Great--now the lion will escape!!But this Strong Man is a glutton for punishment...he tries to sneak up on our Hero For Hire...

If you can't beat him, cheat...but that doesn't cut it, sister:

This will NOT go well
Power man discussing labor relations with the guy WHILE CAVING HIS SKULL INThat, my friends, is one mega-KRUMPed Strong Man!!

Bonus coverage--Power Man knocking the crap out of a clown:

Cage gets to fulfill our dreamsOf course, Spacebooger never would have been captured by these goofballs in the first place...

Luke's Carnvial of Clobber was brought to you by Tony Isabella (plot), Bill Mantlo (script), Ron Wilson (art), Fred Kida (inks) and Charlotte J (letterer).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't worry, Clown fans! The Clown's head was eventually extracted from his alimentary tract and his spine reconstructed. He was walking again after only 72 hours in surgery and fifteen years of physical therapy.

Anonymous said...

Strong Man likes Krump. That's why he used it more than once. I hear he later went to visit his cousins Strong Bad, Strong Mad, and Strong Sad. (Come on, I'm not the only one who thought of them.)