Power Man and Iron Fist #79 was a story with references.

[thanekos]

It was written by Jo Duffy, whose Marvel work was occasionally referential.

One reference was in the titular antagonists of the story, " Day of the Dredlox! "

It opened on Luke Cage and Danny Rand marveling over one of those machines: " Incredible, isn't it, Fist? "

" Yes, Luke, it's difficult to believe. "





(Bob was one of the Sons of the Tiger, who'd previously featured in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu alongside Iron Fist.

This is after that, when Hector Ayala'd taken up the tiger amulets the Sons'd discarded and become the White Tiger.)

After they left, the gleam in the Dredlox's eye was paid off - a janitor, wheeling away one of the prop Dredlox, was attacked by a shape with a gleaming eye.

The next day, Bob came to the Heroes for Hire with a problem.

" It's the theater. There are weird things going on there. People vanishing, props being destroyed after hours, strange noises.. "

Luke and Danny took the job - and found themselves having to protect Bob from a sniper's hail of laser fire as soon as they walked him out.

They succeeded.

Later that night, Danny and Luke (and Misty Knight and Luke's then-girlfriend Harmony Young, thanks to Danny and Misty/Luke and Harmony separately thinking they could be alone together in Harmony and Misty's apartment) received a call from Bob.

(" I gave our answering service this number in case anyone needed us. " Danny said.

" You did what? " asked Misty.)

" You won't believe what's going on here! I-

" Oh no! They've found me! "

The call terminated after Bob's scream.

Luke and Danny went to investigate.

They were met by Dredlox spitting real death, like the hail from earlier in the day.



They fled, ducking into a book shop.



Luke considered the man.



(" Sergius O'Shaughnessy " is a reference to Denny O'Neil, who was editor on Power Man and Iron Fist at the time.

He'd used that as a pen name when writing at Charlton Comics, having derived it from the protagonist of Norman Mailer's " The Deer Park ".)



" Gamble, I've had it with you an' all your weirdness! I'm gonna go tangle with those robots! At least that's somethin' I understand! "

" Splendid, splendid! I plan to attack them myself, as soon as I finish building my Temporal Destabilization Destabilizer.

" You don't mind waiting a few more minutes, do you?

" The Dredlox are still novices at time travel. I believe, with the aid of this device, I can send them back to their own era - nobble them, as it were.

" That is, I could - if only I could find some way of sneaking into their headquarters!

" Prof, your troubles are over. When it comes to sneakin, Fist, here, is the best there is!

" Hey, you gonna be all night finishing that framistan? "



Outside the building, Professor Gamble and Luke watched Danny use his " ninjitsu " skills to sneak past the Dredlox on guard - and his " fist like unto a thing of iron " to put a hole in the wall.

Luke went in after him.

As the two battled the Dredlox, Bob led the other hostages out.



Gamble began setting up his device.



There was only Danny, Gamble, and Luke..



.. and then there wasn't Gamble.

(Pagecount's 6 and under 9/10ths of 22.

Pencils're Kerry Gammill, inks're Ricardo Villamonte, letters're Jim Novak, and colors're Christie Scheele.

Gamble appeared years later in a story in Avengers Annual #22, written by Roy Thomas, Jean-Marc Lofficier, and Randy Lofficier. There, he contributed to the creation of the Black Knight's Ebony Blade.)

Comments

[sara]

This is...magical.

[icon_uk]

I can't imagine what this could possibly be referencing. :)

I remember reading this a looooooong time ago, and giggling a lot!

[tripodeca113]

Whooooooo indeed?

[scorntx]

... the Quarks?

[icon_uk]

Nah, the Trods!

[crinos]

Yeah these knock offs show up all the time, and Davros has to deal with people stealing his intellectual property.

You think Daleks are scary, try the Dalek Lawyers.

"COPYRIGHT VIOLATION DETECTED. LIT-TI-GATE. LIT-TIGATE! LI-TI-GAAAAAATE!"

Still not as bad as youtube though.

[locuatico]

*nods*
Blakes 7.

[icon_uk]

And this is why I know, even after all these years, that scans_daily is the home of my people! :)

[iamrman]

This issue was a lot of fun.

I can see somebody like Al Ewing bringing Professor Gamble back some time.

[icon_uk]

He was apparently brought back fairly recently, in a "Cable and Deadpool" Annual, but agreed Al Ewings take would be fun, especially as the Doctor is sort of part of Marvel Continuity thanks to Death's Head.

[iamrman]

I must have missed the Cable and Deadpool Annual. Do you have a specific issue number?

[icon_uk]

Cable and Deadpooll Annual 1, apparently

[iamrman]

Thanks. It turns out it isn't collected as part of the various Cable and Deadpool trades I already have.

[jkcarrier]

As I recall, Duffy also wrote an extensive history of Doctor Who that appeared in one of the Marvel Premiere issues that reprinted the British Who comics. At the time, I thought it must be some kind of put-on. A sci-fi show that had been on the air that long, with multiple leads, that I'd never heard of? Un-possible!

But sure enough, I started seeing some of the Target paperbacks in bookstores, and our local PBS station started showing the re-runs, and I was soon hooked.

[icon_uk]

Ah, the Target Doctor Who paperbacks... the gateway drug to my overly large book collection a half century or so later...