Collecting Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1-16. Written by Archie Goodwin, Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Billy Graham and Tony Isabella. Art by George Tuska and Billy Graham.

The collection begins with #1, in which Carl Lucas is framed for drug possession and is locked up in Seagate Prison. Lucas soon becomes the target of racist prison officer Albert Rackham. While Rackham's behaviour towards Lucas does get him demoted, be becomes determined to his his own back on Lucas. Dr. Noah Burnstein recruits Lucas as a test subject for an experiment in cellular regeneration based on the Super-Soldier process. However, Rackham tampers with the process in an attempt to kill Lucas, but he ends up with superhuman strength and bullet-proof skin. Lucas uses his new powers to escape from prison and renames himself Luke Cage, deciding to use his powers for profit.

In #2, Luke Cage is attacked by hitmen working for a crimelord called Diamondback. Luke fights off the hitmen and bumps into doctor Claire Temple, who is shocked to see that he hardly has a scratch on him. Claire works at a clinic with the same doctor that gave Luke his powers. Claire suggests employing Luke's services as hoodlums keep working over the clinic to make them pay a protection fee. When Luke starts investigating he finds out that Diamonback is the one that is responsible for the clinic's troubles and he is none other than Willis Stryker, the man responsible for framing him for drug possession.

In #3. Luke Cage is approached by a man who tells him that Vietnam vet Gideon Mace that is organising a militia that is going to stage attacks to get the United States to respect its veterans.

Luke's theatre headquarters is haunted by a phantom in #4. If that isn't enough, reporter Phil Fox is intent on writing a piece in the Hero for Hire. Luke is still a wanted fugitive, so he doesn't want a nosy reporter revealing his present whereabouts. Meanwhile, Luke is hired by a businessman whose establishments are being haunted by the same phantom that Luke encountered.

In #5, a man Luke is supposed to meet with is murdered in his theatre and criminals make off with his body. The criminals are working for a crimelord by the name of Black Mariah, whose men disguise themselves as ambulance drivers and steal the bodies of people who die in public and loot their possessions.

In #6, Luke is hired by two women whose believe that somebody is trying to kill their ailing grandfather. Luke travels to their swanky country mansion and has to contend with all sort of traps as he tries to find who is after the old man's fortune.

In #7, Luke must deal with a man named Marley who will stoop to any method to see if there are any good Samaritans left in the world. Meanwhile, Luke grows closer to Claire Temple and there is still the matter of the nosy reporter poking around and trying to get a story on the clinic Claire works at.

In #8, Luke Cage is hired by none other than Doctor Doom himself. Doom wants Luke to track down some rogue robots. The story continues in #9 as Doctor Doom skips out on paying Luke his fee, so Luke decides to take a trip to Latveria to get the money he is owed.

In #10, growing tired of people attacking him after a prospective client was killed in #5, Luke visit's the man's widow to see why everybody keeps trying to kill him. It soon becomes apparent that the man had unearthed information about an illegal gambling ring run by a criminal by the name of Señor Muerte. This story continues in #11 as Luke struggles to escape from the watery deathtrap Señor Muerte left him in previously.

In #12, Luke is hired to deal with a new villain by the name of Chemistro, who has just attacked the offices of Mainstream Motors. Meanwhile, nosy reporter Phil Fox has just uncovered the truth about Luke's criminal past and is determined to do something about it.

In #13, an accountant is killed by what seems to be super-intelligent big cats, so Luke is hired to investigate. Luke discovers that the accountant's last act was auditing the board of education. A man named Alejandro Cortez worked for the board and was working on a project that would let him transfer his mind into that of animals, but the project was closed down after the audit. Cortez's answer is to become the costume villain known as Lionfang.

Luke is kept busy rescuing construction workers in #14 as two of his fellow inmates from Seagate Prison, Comanche and Shades, break out. They were also victims of prison guard Rackham 's abuse and have broken out to track him down and get their revenge. Meanwhile, reporter Phil Fox has his own encounter with Rackham, which leads to the pair working together to get even with Luke Cage. The story continues in #15 as Claire Temple is accused of the death of Phil Fox and it is up to Luke to clear her name. The story concludes in #16 as Luke discovers that his informant Flea is working with escaped convicts Comanche and Shades. Luke decides to work together with them to track down Rackham so they can prove Claire's innocence.

I have to confess I was cautious about reading this series. A comic book cashing in on the blaxploitation phase with a creative team mostly composed of white guys could have easily been cringey, but I'm happy to say that reading this collection wasn't quite as bad as I first thought. My taste in heroes usually means godly beings with magic hammers or mutants fighting for a world that hates and fears them, but reading about street-level heroes makes a pleasant change. Most of the villains that Luke Cage comes up again seem pretty neat, so it's a pity they never appeared more. Most of them are your basic crimelords, so I suppose the more fantastical stories are out of their comfort zone.

I was rather disappointed that I never got to see Luke utter his famous catchphrase, 'Sweet Christmas!'. He said 'Sweet sister!' a couple of times or just 'Christmas!', but not actually 'Sweet Christmas'. I guess he hadn't merged the two into a famous catchphrase yet. I have volume 2 of Luke Cage, Power Man (he would go on to change his name in #17), so let's hope we get a 'Sweet Christmas!' there.

My rating: 3.5 stars.