Hero for Hire #8

Name: Hero for Hire #8
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Apr 1973 · Marvel · 0.20 USD

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“Crescendo!”

★ 1st appearance — Primus

In "Crescendo!", Luke Cage takes on a high-stakes job tracking down thieves who've stolen sensitive secrets from Dr. Doom—only to discover the villain has vanished, leaving Luke with nothing but a $200 bill he never got. Steve Englehart’s sharp script and George Tuska’s dynamic art bring the gritty streets of 1973 New York to life, while Billy Graham’s cover captures the tension with bold, inky precision.

writer Steve Englehart · artist George Tuska · inker Billy Graham · colorist Andrea Hunt · letterer John Costanza · cover Billy Graham

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $4

CGC 9.8 · 17 in census $348*

CGC 9.6 · 28 in census $95

CGC 9.4 · 28 in census $78

CGC 9.2 · 17 in census $42*

CGC 9.0 · 7 in census $34*

CGC 8.5 · 13 in census $28*

Show all 15 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 10 in census $26*

CGC 7.5 · 7 in census $25*

CGC 7.0 · 8 in census $25

CGC 6.5 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 6.0 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 5.5 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 4.5 · 1 in census $20

CGC 4.0 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

This exact issue on ebay

CGC 9.8 $350 1 listing CGC 9.6 $150 1 listing CGC 9.4 $95 1 listing

CGC 8.5 ▾ $37.99–$79.95 2 listings

CGC 8.5 $37.99 CGC 8.5 $79.95

Raw — MINT $44 1 listing Raw — NM- $25 1 listing Raw — VF $44.99 1 listing Raw — FN/VF $14.95 1 listing Raw — F/VF $39.99 1 listing Raw — FN+ $14.95 1 listing

Raw — FN ▾ $10–$24.99 6 listings

FN $10 FN $14.99 FN $15 FN $19.99 FN $20 FN $24.99

Raw — FINE $17 1 listing Raw — VG $12 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $10–$56 20 listings

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Trivia · 7 facts

Cover date April 1973 (on-sale January 16, 1973); published by Marvel Comics under editor Roy Thomas.
Written by Steve Englehart (his fourth issue on the title, having taken over from Archie Goodwin at #5); penciled by George Tuska; inked and cover-drawn by Billy Graham.
First meeting of Luke Cage and Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom) — Doom covertly hires Cage, via a middleman, to recover rogue robots that have disguised themselves as Black men and gone into hiding in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
The cover — depicting white-skinned robots being torn apart by Cage while Doom watches — is explicitly contradicted by the interior story, in which the robots are disguised as Black men and Doom is Cage's employer, not his opponent.
A reference inside the issue to a Bell telephone operator who helps Cage in exchange for a steak dinner is a deliberate nod to the contemporary newspaper comic strip character Friday Foster.
The issue contains a 'Comments to Cage' letters page; Englehart used the letters column of issue #11 to publicly apologize for including an anti-Black Yiddish slur that Tuska had fed him for use in the dialogue of this issue.
The story has been reprinted in: Essential Luke Cage, Power Man Vol. 1 (Marvel, 2005); the Luke Cage Epic Collection: Retribution (Marvel, 2020); and international editions including Superaventuras Marvel #27 (Editora Abril, Brazil, 1984) and L'Inattendu #6 (Arédit-Artima, France, 1976).