The Crew (comics)

The Crew takes place in the No Man's Land between the streets of Little Mogadishu and those of the exclusive gated community of Princeton Walk in Brooklyn, NY. Princeton Walk was developed by multimillion-dollar investments and tax incentives to Grace & Tumbalt, a largely black-owned corporation, who cleaned up a section of Brooklyn and moved the criminal element and the poverty line residents out.[1]

Jim Rhodes, formerly War Machine but now down on his luck, came to Little Mogadishu to look into the murder of his estranged sister, and when it became apparent that the police were not going to get any results, he took the matter into his own hands. He delivered the men responsible for his sister's murder to the police in a neatly tied up package for them, coming across the local Muslim preacher Josiah X along the way. However, this was not enough to satisfy Rhodey, and he set his sights on the 66 Bridges leader, Triage. His covert, vigilante action and contact with Josiah put him on Kasper Cole's radar, making Kasper suspicious of what a guy like Rhodey was doing in a place like the Mog. Rhodey hit Little Mogadishu like a force of nature, derailing the secret money train that delivered bribes in bulk to a large number of corrupt officials. This action drew in Junta, who smelled opportunity to leverage his way back into the spy business if he could get a piece of the action. He found himself drafted into Rhodey's plan along with Kasper Cole and eventually a reluctant Josiah X.

Together, the Crew blackmailed a long list of corrupt officials to turn in evidence against 66 Bridges and Triage and then went after Triage directly. As Triage was no lightweight, the situation got messy and some of the Crew had to decide between their self-interests and being heroes. For Josiah, the decision to do the right was simple and instant. Junta reluctantly turned Triage into the authorities, blowing his chance to use Triage to get back in with his former bosses. Kasper Cole kept busy saving lives as the White Tiger, sacrificing his chance to get in on the big bust as Kasper Cole and further his police career.

The Crew apparently did not remain together after this event. Rhodey soon went back to being War Machine, and Josiah was said to have disappeared.

Little Mogadishu, or The Mog as the locals call it, is a side effect of the gentrification process, that displaced criminal and poverty elements who are now concentrated in a war zone outside Princeton Walk's walls. The Crew was to be about family.[1]

According to Christopher Priest's pitch, the Crew was about four hardened heroes who had all lost their families. Four men who came together initially out of self-interest, but would soon discover their commonality of loss. The Crew were all, in one way or another, orphans. These men were intensely dedicated to their respective goals, but each had a hole in their center. The Crew would have highlighted each man's personal evolution to their state of grace.[1]

The seven stories that were released before the book's cancellation were, for the most part, introductory pieces, basically breaking down the lives of each member, his personal pain and the universe he lived in. The bulk of the first arc, Big Trouble In Little Mogadishu, was necessarily focused on the origin of Josiah X, son of Isaiah Bradley from Truth: Red, White & Black. The writer Christopher Priest intended that Josiah would eventually lead the team.[1][2]

While many of the characters in The Crew were represented by minority races in the United States, Christopher Priest chose not to center The Crew around race relations:

So I find myself having to say, more than what The Crew is, what The Crew is not. The Crew is not The Black Avengers. The Crew is not "A Ghetto Book". The Crew is not even remotely about race. Race is never even mentioned in The Crew. It is a complete non-issue.

— Christopher Priest

Following Black Panther's gathering of evidence of outside influences fueling dissent in Wakanda, T'Challa called on Luke Cage, Misty Knight, Storm, and Manifold. Luke Cage described the formation as "The Crew".

• Black Panther - T'Challa, King of Wakanda, member of the Avengers
• Eden Fesi
• Luke Cage - Luke Cage
• Misty Knight
• Storm - Ororo Monroe, mutant and member of the X-Men

• Junta - Daniel "Danny" Vincent, freelance intelligence agent and con man.
• Justice - Josiah "Josiah X" Bradley, son of Isaiah Bradley the black Captain America.
• Kasper Cole - Kevin "Kasper" Cole, the White Tiger is heir in waiting to the Black Panther.
• War Machine - Jim Rhodes, friend of Iron Man.