Hero for Hire 1 — covered-dated June 1972, but on the newsstands in March — begins in the maximum security Seagate Prison, where the man who will be Luke Cage is caged.
No cosmic rays or radioactive spiders for him. He gains his super powers of strength and durability through a prison experiment that’s a sinister, shadowy reflection of Captain America’s WWII origin.
But Cage is no volunteer. He’s a victim.
And as Luke Cage’s first adventures were being published, the infamous Tuskegee experiments were coming to light in the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Between 1932 and 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service studied the progression of untreated syphilis in African-American men in Alabama under the guise of receiving free government health care.
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study’s ruthless mistreatment of black men seriously and permanently damaged the black community’s trust in U.S. public health efforts.
Ironically, the experiments became a front-page scandal in July 1972, just four months after the first issue of Hero for Hire appeared on newsstands.
“Probably no connection unless Archie (Goodwin), Stan (Lee) or I had seen earlier reports somewhere, since obviously Hero for Hire 1 was plotted out roughly half a year earlier,” noted Roy Thomas, the character’s co-creator.
“We just followed human nature, which is suspect in the best of times, even irrespective of race. The story was about powerful people experimenting on less powerful ones. Race wasn’t really a major factor in that part of the plot... Lucas just happened to be the unlucky recipient of the bad guys’ attentions because he was in jail.”
Nevertheless, the comic book they created ended up echoing the zeitgeist, for the very reason Thomas cited. The less powerful the race, the bigger the target on its members’ backs.
Cruel scientific experimentation on black men turned out to be no comic book fantasy.
Joshua Fleurant wrote: I never thought of that connection before, but it makes a lot of sense now. And funny enough, a later comic revealed that the Super-Soldier Serum that made Steve Rogers into Captain America was recreated through experiments on black soldiers that only a few, such as Isaiah Bradley, survived. Even Black Lightning, the TV series, tackled this topic by revealing that metahumans were originally the product of human experimentation to create super-soldiers during World War II. Once again, comics and real life intersect in unexpected and dramatic ways.
ReplyDeleteBob Doncaster wrote: My wife had radiation treatments and absolutely refused to put a spider in her pocket for me.
ReplyDeleteCharles W. Fouquette wrote: Government sanctioned inhumanity is not an excuse. Ironic in that Hitler's inhumanity started a war. All I can say is that hopefully people learn from these atrocities and never repeat them. We all improve the species by learning from our mistakes. Let us never forget.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Grossman wrote: A very thought-provoking analogy, and one I hadn’t considered.
ReplyDeleteThe early Luke Cage stories were of mixed quality, from what I remember, but you’ve given some interesting arguments here for the character’s relevance.
Mark Spedding wrote: I live about 1/2 a mile from the UK's atomic weapons development site/factory. Been here 8 years and still waiting for those superpowers.
ReplyDeleteBruce Kanin wrote:
ReplyDeleteIt was the time of Blaxploitation movies, as well, plus, a year later, the film LIVE AND LET DIE, in which 007 battles arguably the biggest (heh) black criminal in the world and his black henchmen.
Richard Meyer wrote:
ReplyDeleteAn idea explicitly used in the 2003 mini series Truth:Red, White and Black about a black man as the first Captain America.
Foster H. Coker III wrote:
ReplyDeleteCage DID volunteer to take part in the experiment, if only as a cover for an escape attempt.
I replied:
“Volunteering” has a different context in terms of human experimentation on prisoners. Cage initially rejects the experiment, but finally is forced into it because Captain Rackham has threatened to torture him.
Also, according to the HHS Common Rule that governs human experimentation in the U.S., prisoners may only be included in human subject research when the research “involves no more than a minimal risk of harm.”
So it would not be legally possible for a prisoner to volunteer for a dangerous experiment such as the one to which Cage was subjected.
Nas Ghani wrote:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thought-provoking post — something to ponder on...