To say I’ve been behind on my Civil War reading would be an understatement. I have the comic shop pulling every issue of Civil War and all of the crossovers. Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying to get caught up and I’m very nearly there. The biggest down side to getting backlogged is finding out that I wasted my money on several titles, Heroes for Hire being one such title.

Heroes for Hire is a group made up of 8 teammates: Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, Black Cat, Shang-Chi, Tarantula, Humbug, Orka, Paladin. Most of these characters are virtual unknowns in the Marvel Universe.

Heroes for Hire #3 (which came out way back in October of ’06) is particularly wretched. In issue #2 Iron Man sent the Heroes out to talk some sense in to Captain America, I’m assuming the idea being that Captain America’s closest friends can’t reel him in, so surely these people you’ve never heard of can.
While on the mission, Paladin betrays the team, bombing the room with knockout gas, and apprehends Cap.
Issue #3 picks up with Misty Knight giving Paladin a beating. After several panels we find out that Paladin is actually Captain America in disguise… he swapped costumes after Shang-Chi beat up Paladin. Cap’s reason for not passing out from the gas? He held his breath, of course!
A brief conversation ensues and Misty fails to convince Captain America. Iron Man flips out after finding out that he got the wrong Cap’n A and yells at Misty. The looming sub-plot (that is actually going to be the main plot), which involves Skrull organ transplants thickened and the issue finally ended.

The art (Francis Portela and Billy Tucci) is stiff which makes the characters feel emotionless, and the dialogue (written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti) seems as though it was written by a child. For the most part, Civil War has been a decent read. Heroes for Hire is useless. In some aspects it feels like a cheap knock off of DC Comics’ Secret Six… I’m just glad #3 is the last Civil War crossover. Needless to say, I won’t be reading future issues.