Volume 49 in "Marvel's Mightiest Heroes" line stars Luke Cage, Power Man. The book collects two storylines from different eras in Power Man's career, the first covering the initial four issues of his team-up with Iron Fist from "Power Man and Iron Fist" issues 50 to 53 (April - October 1978) and the second arc reprinting "New Avengers: Luke Cage" issues 1 to 3 (June - August 2010). Power Man is an incredibly important character, being the first Africa-American character to star in his own book with the release of "Luke Cage, Hero For Hire" in June 1972. Very much rooted in the Blaxploitation film genre these early stories now look dated and more than a little racially stereotypical, with the white creators providing a sometime cringe-inducing take on black street culture – so plenty of flamboyant pimps, evil whiteys and jive-ass turkeys. The book, however, is of its time and it was an honest (but flawed) attempt to feature African-Americans in a positive, progressive light. By issue 50 things has flagged for the comic and for the "hero for hire" concept. To mix things up the second division martial arts character Iron Fist was brought in and the book turned into a co-starring feature. The stories in this volume outline how the two heroes got together; their story playing out against a ghetto background as the pair battle psychopathic vigilantes, super-powered protection racketeers, corrupt industrialists and the beautiful but deadly Nightshade. The stories are simplistic and fun in a typically mid-70s Marvel manner and although competently handled from a creator perspective, they suffer from the lack of a consistent writer / artist team. Chris Claremont and Ed Hannigan handle the writing duties with John Byrne, Mick Zeck and Sal Buscema taking on the pencils. These are enjoyable if unspectacular stories, the same cannot be said for the second arc, which is a rather shallow story about Cage trying to reconnect with his past. Written by John Arcudi, it features singularly unattractive artwork by Eric Canete and Pepe Larraz. Blocky, cartoony and simply ugly to look at - the artwork was so unattractive to my eye that I couldn't complete the story. Overall that makes this volume a book of two halves – a light, fun set of episodes from the '70s and a too ugly to contemplate set of modern episodes. The book itself follows the pattern set for the series and has a decent set of special features, including a brief history of Power Man, a behind the scenes feature about creating Luke Cage, a portrait gallery and "Power Couple", an overview of the relationship between Luke and Jessica Jones, aka Jewel. The book is hard backed and runs to 170 full colour glossy pages – a nice package sadly let down by an unappealing second feature. ( )