Iron Fist celebrates 48 years of existence today and our resident superhero martial artist looks as young as he did on the day that Roy Thomas and Gil Kane introduced him to us way back in 1974. The fact that he has been around for almost 50 years is a testament to the creative geniuses behind the Living Weapon’s stories.

Among them is Mary Jo Duffy, or Jo Duffy as many people know her. The former Marvel Comics scribe and assistant editor, who took the reins of Power Man and Iron Fist (1978) from Chris Claremont and Ed Hannigan, is arguably the most beloved writer of the series. From #56-84 (a span of three years and 29 issues!), Duffy had the lengthiest run of any scripter on the book and redefined the Heroes for Hire after their solo titles nearly got canceled.

The pairing of Luke Cage and Danny Rand was unique especially since it paired two characters who were almost the exact opposite of one another that went beyond the color of their skin–Power Man was big and strong while Iron Fist was light and athletic. One had a strong personality and given to fits of rage while the other was more introverted and thoughtful.

Duffy managed to make this partnership work and it was apparent with every issue that went into the stands, making Power Man and Iron Fist one of the most fondly remembered titles during what is known as the Bronze Age of Comic Books. 

As I sought her out for this interview, I found Jo to be very gracious and she had a way with words that made you feel comfortable even though I knew I was talking to one of the greats of the comic book industry.

I AM IRON FIST: Hi, Jo! Thank you for taking the time for this interview!

One of my most pressing questions for you is actually this first question which I love asking creators like yourself. What lured you into writing Power Man and Iron Fist? What is it about each of the characters that you loved the most?

JO DUFFY: I was drawn to both of the heroes because they seemed so real and relatable to me. They were not out in the cosmos, fighting unimaginably powerful foes. They were each regular people, with just a little bit extra, which made them very relatable to me. I loved the martial arts and studied them, which certainly drew me to Iron Fist. And I am a true New Yorker, born and bred, like Luke Cage. And like both of them, I was something of an outsider, a fish out of water. I was drawn to Iron Fist’s calm intelligence as much as to Power Man’s intensity and impatience.

IAIF: Wow I didn’t know you studied martial arts! So did I! I think we’re kindred spirits in that sense. Haha! It’s great to hear that you were invested in both of the characters because you could see yourself in them. I think that’s very important when you’re trying to draw the most out of the characters that you’re writing.

I read in another interview how you, as an assistant editor at the time, asked former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter for a book to write, and you hoped that you could take Power Man and Iron Fist from Chris Claremont.

How did that meeting between the three of you go? Did you ask Chris previously if he would be willing to give up Power Man and Iron Fist or did you ask him for any book that he was willing to give up which you would gladly snatch up regardless of what title that was?

DUFFY: There were two meetings. In the first one, I pointed out to Jim that I was the only assistant editor without a regular writing assignment, even though I had been on staff as much as a year longer than some of the others. Jim agreed in the name of fairness to give me a book of my own and added that Chris needed to give up one of the titles he was writing, simply because he had more projects than he could handle.

When we met with Chris, Jim suggested that Chris give me Ms. Marvel. I think he liked the idea of having Marvel’s sole female scripter write the adventures of one of the company’s female heroes. But Chris really loved Carol Danvers and wanted to keep up with her adventures… which suited me fine. I like Carol a lot, but I was never able to get into her head, whereas Luke Cage and Danny Rand were heroes I felt like I knew inside and out and already loved. Jim was surprised but very gracious and stand-up about the whole thing, and Chris and I were both very happy with the outcome.

IAIF: That’s awesome! It’s great to hear that the transfer from one writer to another worked out without any hassles and that all three of you were in agreement with the transition.

Heroes for Hire was a unique aspect of the Power Man and Iron Fist series. As a kid, I wasn’t too keen on the idea that a hero would charge people a fee after saving them because I didn’t like the business aspect of doing a good deed. However, you managed to make it work! Did you think the same way about Heroes for Hire as I did, and did that play a part in how you told the stories knowing that there were idealistic kids like me reading it?

DUFFY: It has always seemed to me that the idealism of working for free is kind of a luxury. If you are wealthy, powerful, and successful… then it is right and good of you to donate some of your time and talents or money and property to help others–Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen, Tony Stark. And Clark Kent has such unimaginable power that it is unlikely he ever knew what it was like to be in physical want. If you are poor and need a roof over your head, then needing to be paid for the work you do is a matter of survival. If you can afford a home and have enough to eat, then you are better able to help the people who need you. Also, though I did not think about this or know it at the time, the world is full of people who make it their business to profit by and exploit talented people who do amazing things but are not focused on making money. Luke and Danny were not trying to get rich… they were trying to weed out people who didn’t really need their help and keep away people who would have tried to profit by getting close to them.

IAIF: You know that is very true. Their superpowers are just like other people’s talents and they profit off of them while doing philanthropic work as well. The fact that Luke and Danny got paid wasn’t about greediness but a means to make an honest living. Thanks for pointing that out! It’s important for folks when they read (and re-read) Power Man and Iron Fist to take note of this as the reason for why they became Heroes for Hire in the first place.

Power Man and Iron Fist were polar opposites in terms of skills, powers, abilities, as well as temperament, and yet you found a way to make them complement one another and enjoy each other’s company.

What was the best thing about their friendship, in your opinion?

DUFFY: What worked best for me about the friendship of Luke Cage and Danny Rand was how natural and unforced it seemed. I did not even have to think about it. Right from the start they just seemed to fit. They like each other, and neither one pushes the other’s buttons. In fact, Iron Fist is so easy-going and serene, he does not seem to have any buttons to push. Cage has the kind of temper that can easily get him into the kind of situation that escalates and escalates until it ends with a big punch… Iron Fist has the big punch, but only acquired it after years of learning how not to let his feelings get the better of him. He likes Luke, likes his worldliness, and likes being accepted by someone who neither cares that–though he never uses it–Iron Fist comes from a family with boatloads of money, or that he spent his formative years in an entirely different culture. And Cage admires Danny’s skill… not the Big Punch, but the training, to the extent that he is willing to try and pick up some new fighting techniques from his partner.

IAIF: I love how you made them admire each other despite their differences! That’s exactly what made their partnership work so well and you really captured the essence of their friendship so well. They felt like real friends to me when you were writing them.

What drew me to the title is the other half of the title–Iron Fist. It took you about 20 issues before you decided to resolve some dangling plotlines from his solo series by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, and I love how you executed it in issue 75. The cover said, “the most requested story of all–Return to K’un-Lun!”

How much clamor was there from Iron Fist fans for you to tell a story based in K’un-Lun? What were the requests like, if you can still recall?

DUFFY: To tell you the truth, I have no recollection of what the fan clamor for K’un-Lun stories was… because I was about the biggest fan alive of Chris and John Byrne’s run on Iron Fist, and no one was clamoring for it as loudly as I. We definitely got many requests to carry on with that storyline… and we got a lot of requests that we pick up on some of Luke Cage’s old stories as well. It just seemed to make sense to build to it, which was why we did it in the big event issue.

IAIF: Thank you for that. It was satisfying to see Danny in more familiar surroundings and it gave us readers a sense of closure. The issue also presented us with a deeper understanding of how his dad ended up in K’un-Lun and how he was aware that it existed in the first place.

Let’s talk about the femme fatales of the series. You took Misty Knight and Colleen Wing back from Chris, who used both characters in The Uncanny X-Men, and turned them into essential supporting characters in Power Man and Iron Fist. I’m so happy you did that!

Did you ever wonder if you could have done a series about the Daughters of the Dragon, whether as a mini-series or as a regular title? If yes, what kinds of rollicking adventures would you have let them experience?

DUFFY: I had to get Colleen and Misty back from Chris. X-Men has dozens of characters, whereas Power Man and Iron Fist had only a few. One of Chris’ tremendous strengths, but one that is a little difficult when you are working in a shared universe where none of us actually own the characters we are writing, is that once he has written a character, he wants to keep on writing the character, bringing them, if possible, into whatever book he is on at the time, whether they have a strong narrative tie to it or not. Depriving Iron Fist of his entire supporting cast in order to add them to a series that was already so full of great characters was just not something that was going to work out well for either series.

As for Misty and Colleen having solo adventures… well, the Jade Tiger is a good example of the kinds of things I would have done with them, though it would have occurred on a larger scale if they were the stars of the series. Capable private detectives who kept getting entangled with the fantastic and the supernatural.

IAIF: Yeah, stories similar to the Jade Tiger for them would have been awesome! I believe if you had written Misty and Colleen in a Power Man and Iron Fist series today, they would have easily gotten a spinoff regular series.

Let’s talk about the artists that you worked with or at least one guy in particular who was your most consistent collaborator. I think your work with Kerry Gammill was the defining run of the series. What was it like to work with Kerry and what do you think his strengths were?

DUFFY: I was lucky enough to work with some fabulous artists on Power Man and Iron Fist, including Kerry, Denys Cowan, Trevor Von Eeden, Mark Bright, and the late and incomparable Marie Severin.

Kerry was certainly a top choice of mine. In fact, I campaigned strongly for him to take over Power/Fist after Trevor left. Kerry and I had done an issue of Star Wars together, “The Stenax Shuffle,” which ultimately saw print during my run as the regular writer of that series. Based on the work he did there, I knew Kerry would be a dream partner, and he was.

IAIF: Yes, indeed! Kerry is a brilliant artist and I absolutely adored his art matched with your writing. He brought a certain flair to the drawing table that made him a favorite of mine among the many artists who came and went.

It’s been decades since you penned your last issue featuring Luke and Danny so I’d like to know: What do you miss most about writing Power Man and Iron Fist?

DUFFY: What I miss most about writing Power Man and Iron Fist IS Power Man and Iron Fist.  Those guys were good buddies, they were my friends, and I had a fantastic time recounting their adventures. And no matter how great a job any other writer does with their adventures, there is always a part of me that admires the craft and then says to myself, “But that isn’t what they would have said or done.”

IAIF: I guess that’s from writing them for many years and how they became like your kids. You’re so familiar with them that you practically know how they would behave when faced with a certain situation.

Finally, what would you like to say to all the Power Man and Iron Fist fans who grew up reading your work?

DUFFY: To any fan of Power Man and Iron Fist I would say thank you! You are welcome! And I am very much one of you. That is why I wrote those stories in the first place.

And Omar, thank you, you are welcome, and best of luck with your big Iron Fist Birthday event!

IAIF: You are so welcome, Jo! Thank you so much for sharing your time, talent, and most of all, your heart with us. You’ve made our childhood so rich with wonderful memories just because you wrote about two characters who became our friends even if we only saw them once a month in comic book pages.