Heroes for Hire #4

[stolisomancer]

If Heroes for Hire is Marvel's answer to Birds of Prey, it's important to note that it's only an answer to certain very specific parts of BoP, when Oracle or somebody stepping in for Oracle was acting as a power broker. When I think BoP, I honestly think of it more as a romantic comedy between Canary and Oracle, and I doubt I'm alone on that. Heroes for Hire is definitely a spin on Oracle herself, but not necessarily on BoP.


The big twist of the series, which has been well-spoiled up to now, is that Misty isn't actually world-saving from her workstation of her own violition. She's actually under the direct control of long-time Marvel part-time villain the Puppet Master, who's gotten hold of some new technology from a mysterious benefactor.

Heroes for Hire #3 was about Paladin figuring out something had gone wrong. #4, "No Strings," is a spotlight issue on Misty herself.



Not a lot of people use the Puppet Master anymore, and when they do, it's about a fifty-fifty chance that he'll ultimately be defeated by Alicia Masters showing up and telling him to knock that shit off.

Whenever he does show up, though, he's always got that creepy Kirby grin in some capacity.

Anyway, Misty is in an induced coma in a hospital bed somewhere, while Masters uses her to manipulate various unaffiliated heroes. The "fear" trigger he's using right now involves her phantom pregnancy (while I really hate that they did away with that so sloppily, Abnett, Lanning, and Van Lente are at least dealing with the fallout from it), and a repeated dream image of Misty chasing a lost little boy. It's not working.



Masters turns up the gain, Misty winds up in a fight for her life, and she actually manages to find the little boy.



I've always thought Misty was pretty awesome, and this is the latest example of why: while it took her a few months, she managed to break free of the control of the MU's original manipulator by herself. That puts her in a class all her own.

Comments

[jarodrussell]

Yeah, she definitely outclasses Barbie Dull in the breaking free of mind-control department here.

If I didn't find the field agents as boring as boring can be, I'd put this book on my pull list so fast!

[nightauditguy]

Wow, don't see Silver Sable that often.

[blackruzsa]

It spoiled me :(
Go Misty, though~

[julian]

Yeah, um, when it's a major part of the ongoing plot, I'd think you'd put the details under a cut. Maybe I'm excessively hyperactive, but...

[big_daddy_d]

her phantom pregnancy

Wait what?

[julian]

Wiki seems to indicate the fake part was mentioned in I Am An Avenger #1?

I've seen it mentioned around here, but that's the only reason I knew about it.

[sinisterlink]

In the I Am An Avenger series there was a short story about Danny and Misty living together and being all excited about the baby and then it turned out that Misty wasn't actually pregnant and somehow Danny's chi made the pregnancy test look positive or something stupid like that. Seriously, I actually went, "WHAT?" when I was reading it.

I'm mostly annoyed because in my head I had been imagining how if Danny had a kid then him and Luke could try to set their kids up when they got older and then if they got married Luke and Danny would be related to each other.

[icon_uk]

Like they're not already? (In any way that counts)

[jarodrussell]

Wait, wait, wait. The bulk of my Marvel experience is Iron Man, Fan4, and the newer cosmic stuff. I've pretty much ignored the Avengers end of things all these years.

Are you telling me Iron Fist and Luke Cage are the JD and Turk of MU-616?

[thanekos]

well, except Eric O'Grady's the only man who's ever been inside of him.

[auggie18]

And Eric O'Grady's also been inside the Hulk. The dude gets around.

[julian]

Thanks, wrt the cut. I'm probably wrong, but *waves hands* there I am.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Since when has her bionic arm been so... obvious? Isn't it generally just disguised as a normal arm?

[glprime]

She's been rocking a bit of bling for the past several years.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Huh. Can't say I really approve - I liked the idea of a bionic arm that was indistinguishable from a real one, so she could use it in various ways villains wouldn't anticipate.

[tacobob]

If the Puppet Master isn't 100% dead after this.....

[akodo_rokku]

Really it's a miracle he survived his "superheroine fight club" arc in Ms. Marvel.

[schmevil]

Heroes For Hire is Marvel's answer to what Birds of Prey used to be. Current BoP is a fairly traditional super book. Dixon's BoP and Gail's (early in her run), was Oracle, Canary and whoever else was useful, engaged in proactive heroing. Black Canary was so important because her skills lent themselves to the covert and undercover ops that dominated their activities. The book used to have more in common with stuff like... Suicide Squad, old school Outsiders... but now is a generic team book, focusing primarily on street level adventures and the extended BoP 'family'.