I'm pretty sure sometimes you guys can tell, when I blog some random issue
mid-year, that the last issue will turn up later. Like today! From 1999,
Heroes for Hire #19, "Sold Out!" Written by John Ostrander, pencils by Pasqual Ferry, inks by Jaime Mendoza and Pasqual Ferry.
Like the
earlier issue we mentioned, this starts conversationally, with Ostrander seemingly telling the reader since this was the last issue, maybe not everyone makes it out...? Nah! This was the conclusion of an adventure in Madripoor, which of course includes a Wolverine guest-spot; as the team faces the pirate Lionsmane, who was really a mutant Chinese general. He was planning on overthrowing the current Chinese government in the future, but currently didn't care if Madripoor was blamed for his acts. He also had gotten Shen Kuei, the Cat, to change sides: that might have been planned from the start, or maybe because this issue had Shang-Chi Ostrander didn't need the Cat anymore? Who can say?
Wolverine sees the Heroes as "flamin' amateurs," as he brings Madripoor's working-class thugs to defend it; but he does need Iron Fist's help with Lionsmane, since he had some degree of invulnerability and Wolvie's bone claws couldn't penetrate. But, while victorious, the Heroes get bad news back home, as Namor had told Jim (Human Torch) Hammond that he had sold Oracle, Inc. Namor had wanted to do more environmental-protection work with the company, but the Heroes for Hire weren't necessarily conducive to that; and he no longer wanted to funnel Atlantean wealth to a surface company, so he sold out to Stark-Fujikawa. ("Stark-Fujikawa" was maybe a throwaway line in
Spider-Man 2099, but they tried to make it happen for a while! And I'd almost suspect Tony bought the company, to get his long-standing assistant Mrs. Arbogast back!) A corporate man tells the team changes were needed, like firing ex-cons Luke Cage and Scott Lang, as to not project the wrong image. Everyone quits immediately, which might have been the intention; although She-Hulk threatens legal action if their severance packages were messed with. The team goes their separate ways; no hard feelings.
Hammond also has a cat on his shoulder when he quits, and I had to check: this was long before he adopted Speedball's cat
Niels; dude just likes cats! He also maybe didn't have his powers this series, but still tended to look like he was going to burst into flames at any moment.
3 comments:
I’m guessing this series didn’t sell well despite Ostrander’s name on it & it probably being one of the better Marvel monthly books out there on the shelves. Although to be fair, 1997 was a crowded market year for Marvel, so you had to be REALLY good to stand out.
Hammond definitely had his powers for at least part of the series, but he tended to make or manipulate fireballs and things like that, rather than igniting his entire body.
What was the explanation given for why he was effectively neutered like he was?
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