Sweet Christmas! - Luke Cage Appreciation 2022

[Nomads1]

Over at DC Speedy ( Green Arrow's former sidekick) was a single father of a bi-racial daughter ( white and asian). However, in a clear "shock value" move they had a bad guy kill the child and chop Speedy's arm off. Since the "New52" the daughter has been ret-conned out.

Yeah, I hated what they did to Roy and Lian. A waste of another relationship status with very few parales in comics. However, it's not the same situation. Cheshire was still around, just a wanted mass murder who couldn't be around her family. I don't think there are any widowed fathers among the super-hero cominity of either big publishers. IMHO, it sure would be a never covered trauma, with all its different potential storylines.

Peace

[skyvolt2000]

Over at DC Speedy ( Green Arrow's former sidekick) was a single father of a bi-racial daughter ( white and asian). However, in a clear "shock value" move they had a bad guy kill the child and chop Speedy's arm off. Since the "New52" the daughter has been ret-conned out.

Tattoo Man (the black one) had his son killed offscreen and killed the guy who did and left comics in Titans (before New 52).

Black Spider had his wife and son killed and went after the killers and killed everyone (including himself) but Batman (Early Batman Shadow of the Bat issue). Not sure if they got bought back to life.

Savage Dragon as messed up as THAT book is. He thought his son (Malcolm was dead) for a time. Both wives have died. Stepsister, ex-girlfriend and wife each have Malcolm's kid (4 way takes a whole new meaning with that).

There is another but I can't think of it.

[JudicatorPrime]

Luke’s tragedy comes from being framed. Even though he’s now exonerated, I’m sure that continues to impact him emotionally

I doubt it. I mean it's not like Luke served 50 years hard time like some do in real life only to be found innocent of the crime when they're 70 years old and just a stone's throw from the grave. Was Luke even in jail for longer than a handful of years?

I'm looking for a much deeper, much more debilitating scar than that.

[9th.]

Yeah, I hated what they did to Roy and Lian. A waste of another relationship status with very few parales in comics. However, it's not the same situation. Cheshire was still around, just a wanted mass murder who couldn't be around her family. I don't think there are any widowed fathers among the super-hero cominity of either big publishers. IMHO, it sure would be a never covered trauma, with all its different potential storylines.

Peace

I will never understand why DC chose to completely **** on Roy like that, somebody behind the scenes must have hated him. It's one of the weirdest things in comics next to Jubilee being a Vampire for 10 years.

[LukeCagefan]

I doubt it. I mean it's not like Luke served 50 years hard time like some do in real life only to be found innocent of the crime when they're 70 years old and just a stone's throw from the grave. Was Luke even in jail for longer than a handful of years?

I'm looking for a much deeper, much more debilitating scar than that.

I think maybe 5-6 years or something like that.

[ed2962]

Yeah, I hated what they did to Roy and Lian. A waste of another relationship status with very few parales in comics. However, it's not the same situation. Cheshire was still around, just a wanted mass murder who couldn't be around her family. I don't think there are any widowed fathers among the super-hero cominity of either big publishers. IMHO, it sure would be a never covered trauma, with all its different potential storylines.

Peace

Definitely wasted potential...

[ed2962]

I will never understand why DC chose to completely **** on Roy like that, somebody behind the scenes must have hated him. It's one of the weirdest things in comics next to Jubilee being a Vampire for 10 years.

I don't think they did it to **** on Roy Harper because they didn't like the character. "Identity Crisis" ( infamous for the rape of Elongated Man's wife and the JLA secretly mind wiping people) was a hit for DC and this came out at pretty much the end of the "grim and gritty" era. Mark Millar might have been getting attention for his "shocking" indie comics around the same time. I think they thought if they leaned into the sensationalism they could sell a few more comics.

[SecretWarrior]

I doubt it. I mean it's not like Luke served 50 years hard time like some do in real life only to be found innocent of the crime when they're 70 years old and just a stone's throw from the grave. Was Luke even in jail for longer than a handful of years?

I'm looking for a much deeper, much more debilitating scar than that.

Falsely imprisoned and released people will let you know how debilitating it is to have the whole world turn against you

[SecretWarrior]

Losing his fiancee as well and betrayed by his best friend.

Just reminded me of how both Luke’s and Danny’s revenge origins are plays on the Count of Monte Cristo

[JudicatorPrime]

Falsely imprisoned and released people will let you know how debilitating it is to have the whole world turn against you

Luke was created at a time when being a Black man in America pretty much meant that the world was against him anyway. That dynamic has been sanitized/white-washed/whatever over time. Readers have lost sight of it. Modern day readers can't relate.

My point here is that the human spirit recovers quickly, especially if the time imprisoned was brief and the most excruciating forms of mental and physical torture were not factors. Writers can and do exaggerate character narratives, but I just don't find it credible with Luke that aspect of his history drives him today. Maybe if he was George Stinney, Emmett Till, Kalief Browder, Jerry Hartfield or someone like that I could believe it. The "system" failed all of those individuals in some way. Most of them died as a result.

But Luke? No, he went to jail wrongfully and got superpowers. He even kept his false identity, suggesting that he wasn't merely healed, but reborn. Nope, not buying it. There are deeper scars.

[LukeCagefan]

Luke was created at a time when being a Black man in America pretty much meant that the world was against him anyway. That dynamic has been sanitized/white-washed/whatever over time. Readers have lost sight of it. Modern day readers can't relate.

My point here is that the human spirit recovers quickly, especially if the time imprisoned was brief and the most excruciating forms of mental and physical torture were not factors. Writers can and do exaggerate character narratives, but I just don't find it credible with Luke that aspect of his history drives him today. Maybe if he was George Stinney, Emmett Till, Kalief Browder, Jerry Hartfield or someone like that I could believe it. The "system" failed all of those individuals in some way. Most of them died as a result.

But Luke? No, he went to jail wrongfully and got superpowers. He even kept his false identity, suggesting that he wasn't merely healed, but reborn. Nope, not buying it. There are deeper scars.

Hmmmm that's an interesting point.

[skyvolt2000]

Luke was created at a time when being a Black man in America pretty much meant that the world was against him anyway. That dynamic has been sanitized/white-washed/whatever over time. Readers have lost sight of it.

But Luke? No, he went to jail wrongfully and got superpowers. He even kept his false identity, suggesting that he wasn't merely healed, but reborn. Nope, not buying it. There are deeper scars.

His family didn't even know he was out.

Then the whole death of Ironfist story that never got written.

1990s Cage series-he found Dad and brother (who became a villain) and saw how much Troop losing his brother hurt him.

Modern day readers can't relate.

Some can but you have to look at the company in question.

Take Luke Cage (along with a TON of black characters) to say Boom or Aftershock-you would get that deeper scar story. Al Ewing or Tynion for example would have a field day. Priest would too.

[SecretWarrior]

Luke was created at a time when being a Black man in America pretty much meant that the world was against him anyway. That dynamic has been sanitized/white-washed/whatever over time. Readers have lost sight of it. Modern day readers can't relate.

My point here is that the human spirit recovers quickly, especially if the time imprisoned was brief and the most excruciating forms of mental and physical torture were not factors. Writers can and do exaggerate character narratives, but I just don't find it credible with Luke that aspect of his history drives him today. Maybe if he was George Stinney, Emmett Till, Kalief Browder, Jerry Hartfield or someone like that I could believe it. The "system" failed all of those individuals in some way. Most of them died as a result.

But Luke? No, he went to jail wrongfully and got superpowers. He even kept his false identity, suggesting that he wasn't merely healed, but reborn. Nope, not buying it. There are deeper scars.

Just because you turn a bad experience in your favor doesn’t mean it doesn’t leave a mark. Blacks have been doing that since we got here. People who are enslaved or falsely imprisoned usually become stronger advocates on the issue than anyone else. It’s a more unique scar for a writer to work with than generically fridging another character. Also natural deaths can leave scars too— See Adrian in the Rocky films.

[LukeCagefan]

His family didn't even know he was out.

Then the whole death of Ironfist story that never got written.

1990s Cage series-he found Dad and brother (who became a villain) and saw how much Troop losing his brother hurt him.



Some can but you have to look at the company in question.

Take Luke Cage (along with a TON of black characters) to say Boom or Aftershock-you would get that deeper scar story. Al Ewing or Tynion for example would have a field day. Priest would too.

Aside from Al Ewing not making Luke Cage put his foot up the superior man's ass for making racist remarks at him I really can dig him writing Cage. He brought in D.W. Griffin and brought back the Gem Theater and he really seemed to do his research on the characters in his book. That means something to me. I get his reasoning for mellowing out Cage a bit but racism should not be something he would tolerate even as an mellowed out man given the circumstances of what he through at Seagate with Recham.

[JudicatorPrime]

Just because you turn a bad experience in your favor doesn’t mean it doesn’t leave a mark. Blacks have been doing that since we got here. People who are enslaved or falsely imprisoned usually become stronger advocates on the issue than anyone else.

Again, I'm not questioning that a mark exists, only that it's not the deepest cut imho.

I honestly have not followed every Luke Cage story in recent history. Has he become a visible beacon and staunch advocate of the wrongly imprisoned or any of the countless other issues with the American justice system? Is he still on the front lines in that fight, or has that narrative been tucked away as incidental? Has he truly turned his experience into a net positive that aids others in the same situation? Or is he just one of those "Oh, by the way, I was wronged by the system, too," stories that writers fall back on whenever they want to checkbox his shared grievance credentials with the Black community?