By Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Brad Walker, Robert Atkins, Andrew Hennessy, Rebecca Buchman, Sandu Florea & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5581-2
After a TV reality show starring actual superheroes went hideously wrong and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of children in Stamford, Connecticut, popular opinion turned massively against masked crusaders. The US government mandated a scheme to licence, train and regulate all metahumans but the plan split the superhero community, and an indignant, terrified general populace quivered as a significant faction of their former defenders refused to surrender to the bureaucratic vicissitudes of The Super-Human Registration Act.
The Avengers and Fantastic Four fragmented and, as the conflict escalated, it became clear to all involved that the increasingly bitter fighting was for souls as much as lives. Both sides battled for love of Country and Constitution and both sides knew they were right.
At the heart of the savage clash of ideologies, bionic detective Mercedes “Misty†Knight and her ninja partner Colleen Wing expanded their private detective agency, assembling a squad of costumed warriors to do some real good during the worst of times…
Knight and Wing – the Daughters of the Dragon – were former associates of Power Man & Iron Fist, and borrowed their old friends’ concept of Heroes for Hire to make a living apprehending metas who refused to comply with the SHRA.
However the new squad – ex-thief Black Cat, Kung Fu Master Shang-Chi, insect avatar Humbug, sadistic martial arts polymath Tarantula and super-mercenary Paladin – soon found themselves at odds with each other and the tricky path they were following as their promised role (only apprehending villains) began to suffer increasing “mission creepâ€â€¦
Moreover as they tracked their sanctioned targets, they lost a comrade – Atlantean powerhouse Orka -, credibility and the trust of all sides in the Civil War…
Dissent, betrayal and death dogged the ill-fated team and during the alien invasion dubbed World War Hulk, the horrific fates of Tarantula and Humbug acrimoniously split life-long friends Misty and Colleen, seemingly forever…
This collection, scripted by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, gathers issues #1-5 of a new Heroes for Hire iteration from 2011 and also includes background material from X-Men: Curse of the Mutants Spotlight, taking the concept into intriguing new territory…
It all begins with ‘Are You For Hire?’ illustrated by Brad Walker & Andrew Hennessy, as, in the aftermath of the devastating crime-war Shadowland, Misty launches a mutual assistance bureau where individual champions can bank and trade favours, earn intelligence and yes, even sometimes get paid, by teaming up to deal with specific problems of a less than universe shaking nature…
Notionally available is every hero Misty knows and, by staying back and “maximising the potential of her address bookâ€, she can do the most good as “Controlâ€, directing whoever is best suited and ready for action on a case-by-case basis from her ultra-secret hidden location…
The first mission is to stop a truck full of Atlantean super-narcotics from reaching the city and track down the sadistically heartless entrepreneur behind the drug: a job demanding finesse and blockbusting firepower to equal degree.
Luckily Misty can call on The Falcon, Black Widow, Moon Knight and Elektra to see justice is done…
With the situation resolved, the temporary agents return to their lives utterly unaware – as is Misty herself – that Control is a helpless mind-slave of the insidious Puppet Master… The next objective is far less straightforward: Silver Sable, Paladin, Satana and the infernal Ghost Rider are deployed to take a shipment of unstoppable demonic guns and ammo off the streets, but never expected to clash with malignant mystic Baron Brimstone or be enthralled themselves by the infernal ‘Damnunition’…
However, amidst all the supernatural Shock and Awe, the ultra efficient, heartless mercenary Paladin begins to suspect something is not quite right with Misty…
Those doubts are compounded in ‘Trace Elements’ as Moon Knight is dispatched to liberate a shipment of trafficked girls with no history and stumbles onto a vice-lord abducting humans – and even dinosaurs – from the UN Antarctic preserve the Savage Land…
Paladin’s off-the-books investigations have meanwhile brought him into painful contact with Misty’s old boyfriend Iron Fist, and after the traditional Marvel male-bonding mayhem they call a truce and set out to find Control and learn what’s really going on…
Robert Adkins, Rebecca Buchman & Sandu Florea assume the artistic reins for ‘No Strings’ as a quick glimpse at Misty’s early life leads to the revelation that even the mesmerising Puppet Master has a secret boss. Control’s controllers, meanwhile, are increasingly battling her indomitable will to be free and resort to breaking her growing resistance by inflicting on Misty a terrifying hallucination of combat against all her masked friends and comrades.
The tactic backfires however and arouses the somnolent detective from her compliant, semi-comatose state. Instantly aware, she attacks the diminutive manipulator only to discover that Puppet Master’s other mind-slave is the terrifying Frank Castle…
The rocket-paced action-fest concludes with ‘Slay Misty for Me’ as the villain’s master-plan is revealed and a scheme to commandeer the consciousnesses of the entire metahuman community is exposed. With the enslaved Punisher murderously stalking Misty, Paladin and Iron Fist race to her rescue, but unfortunately standing in their way is every brain-locked hero she has ever employed since becoming Control…
With covers by Doug Braithwaite, Sonia Oback & Rob Schwager plus 7 variants by Walker, Harvey Talibao, Morry Hollowell & Greg Horn, this slim, seductive and extremely engaging suspense thriller also includes such extras as historical background in ‘Heroes For Hire Saga’ and ‘Reading Chronology’ and ends with a fact-file section reviewing 17 potential and prospective operatives in ‘Who Are the new Heroes For Hire?’
Superbly gritty, witty, funny, and impossibly appetising, Control is a comicbook confection will surely delight all older fans of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction.
© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.