Artist: Joe Bennett
Review: Will Dubbeld
. . . does not appear in this book.
On a sugar-high caused by the hype surrounding Netflix's Luke Cage series, I dug out some Dollar Box issues of Christopher Priest's The Crew thinking Mr. Cage appeared within.
I was mistaken.
The Crew features James 'War Machine' Rhodes in the spotlight, not 1/2 of Heroes for Hire. I expected Cage to show up with every page turn, but closed the book disappointed and had to consult the Internet before learning he didn't appear in the series whatsoever.
I was not, however, disappointed with what I did find in The Crew.
The framework of Christopher Priest's first issue deals with the murder of Rhodey's sister and his investigation into the circumstances and individuals involved. At the book's opening, we find the former Iron Man bankrupt and hocking watches and old Starktech before hightailing to New York City to identify his sister's body.
Slain in a ghetto affectionately called 'Little Mogadishu', Jim's sister was a drug addict and prostitute (referred to as a 'crack ho' at one point in the book) and was clearly involved with some unsavory characters. Not much is revealed in the first issue, but we are treated to a full comic revolving around Rhodey takin' care of business without the help of his War Machine armor.
Just two fists and a brain.
Along the way we meet Josiah X, a preacher who is (spoiler alert) the son of Isaiah Bradley, the black Captain America from the excellent Truth: Red, White and Black miniseries. Josiah serves as a bit of a moral compass/Dr. Watson role to Jim Rhodes as far as I could gather, but I'm sure he gets his own chance to throw down at some point in the series.
I liked issue one, but it's certainly got some weird themes. Rhodey exhibits some strange introspection about life and his perception of women while keeping his core value of loyalty to his family at the fore. Perhaps he'd not been explored much further than his role as Iron Man's (nominal) sidekick or perhaps Priest just had a new spin to apply, but it didn't seem like I was reading a comic featuring James Rhodes. Perhaps the character was serving as a cypher for thoughts Christopher Priest had tumbling around the ol' noodle. In any case, it was a good read, not a mind blowing one, but good enough to finish reading the series.
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