Sweet Christmas! - Luke Cage Appreciation 2022

[SecretWarrior]

Luke and Jessica aren't really separate franchise leads. Her original book had her interacting with various Marvel characters and she ultimately ended up with Luke.

Alias is a franchise— It’s part of the Jessica Jones franchise, and she definitely has a fan base for solo stories. Just because Spider-man interacts with other heroes in his book doesn’t make him less of a lead.

[SecretWarrior]

I've seen nothing to indicate having Luke be similar to his Netflix depiction would be an issue for the comics.



For a number of reasons, not the least of which is how difficult it is to get into superhero comics by the Big 2.

But Jessica Jones and Daredevil viewers had an easier time?

[skyvolt2000]

For a number of reasons, not the least of which is how difficult it is to get into superhero comics by the Big 2.

How easy was it in the 1970-1990s????

No comic book at the big two matched the shows unless they were comic books MADE for those shows.

GI Joe and Transformers by Marvel did NOT match the shows.

Star Trek at the Big Two did not match the shows-what they did was take place between certain events. Star Trek 3 was ignored by DC's Star Trek. Spock was alive and had his own ship during that time and got put back in a coma for Star Trek 4 with his ship's crew being killed off.

Until the second Thor movie-Marvel made sure what matched the comic matched the movies and some shows.


Now there are cases where uniforms changed like Falcon's when Avengers had a show and his outfit matched.


Now we are in an era when folks desperate for sales are trying to match SOME stuff.

Netflix Cage will never match the comic one because he's married with a child.

Nor is Marvel going to have comic Cage settle for just protecting Harlem. Not with so many Marvel folks running around.

The swagger Luke that some want is not coming because as we have seen with Black Panther-Marvel hiring too many writers with black male issues.

[Agent Z]

But Jessica Jones and Daredevil viewers had an easier time?

Not from what I heard.

[LukeCagefan]

He had a duo book with Iron Fist a few years ago.

All of the stuff the worked in his early solo years—base of operations, business, super identity, supporting cast, etc.— has been pushed off to the side for team stuff, whether that be Avengers, Heroes for Hire, etc.

And the stuff that wasn’t working pre Bendis was people failing to translate what worked in the original run to modern day. Instead of using the elements I listed above or the Count of Monte Cristo thing, people just started trying to make him a super powered street thug from a 00s/90s rap/hip hop video. I’m not interested in Cage being turned into 50 Cent. I cited more apt comparisons for his swagger. And I would keep the superhero business man elements.

Slam dunk right here! That's why I never understood the praise Bendis got for supposedly modernizing Cage. Bendis gave him a bald head, beanie, do-rags, a child out of wedlock and making him use the N word. He went from Shaft to 50 Cent lol. I guess one could say Brian Azzarealo did it on a larger scale, but Cage still had these so-called stereotypes under Bendis as well. Bendis just raised his profile by putting him on high profile books.

I also agree with your reasonings for his solo stuff not working. Since Bendis got a hold of him he's been on teams repeatedly, I never understood why Bendis never wrote a solo on him when he was writing like ten Marvel books at incevsnd he was hailed as their Golden boy lol. But he's definitely used more as a team guy these days. At this point even his tenure as Mayor will be in a team book. Marvel haven't given him anything for his 50th anniversary.

[LukeCagefan]

[QUOTE] The swagger Luke that some want is not coming because as we have seen with Black Panther-Marvel hiring too many writers with black male issues.

This statement you made has me rolling lol. But I'm not asking for Luke to just be stationed in Harlem. I just want him to have a supporting cast, a base of operations and be written like a badass again.

[SecretWarrior]

[SecretWarrior]

[LukeCagefan]

These are some awesome Luke Cage panels!

[SecretWarrior]

This is the kind of conflict we should be seeing when it comes to the marriage:

[SecretWarrior]

I miss this guy, hair, temper, swagger, and all:

[SecretWarrior]

[SecretWarrior]

[LukeCagefan]

This is the kind of conflict we should be seeing when it comes to the marriage:

I feel this captures Luke's early personality. He wasn't very in touch with his feelings after Reva's death and he kept things personal to his chest to the point it started to cause friction between him and Claire. Good catch.

[LukeCagefan]

I miss this guy, hair, temper, swagger, and all:

I'm telling you people can continue slurp Bendis for making him the black man with punchlines in a book with four of the most popular Marvel heroes of all time, but he did very little to grow Luke's character. Even the marriage between Luke and Jessica was underdeveloped and I don't see any reason why he married other than getting her pregnant. He donated one issue of the Pulse where he shoehorned I'm a backstory that just didn't really land with me. Maybe had he spent his time building their relationship in Alias instead of her running around with Scott Lang for the majority of the series it could've worked. She was clearly just a piece of ass to him until he felt sorry for her. I remember a panel when she feared for life and Luke pretty much just kicked her to the curb because he was busy with another woman. Just poor execution. When Elektra appeared in Daredevil 168, Frank Miller wasted no time telling us who she was and why her connection to Murdock matters. Some with Reva Connors in Heroes-for-Hire 1.

People can rag on 70's Cage all they want but he was a more fleshed out character back then. I hear folks say how his dialogue was cringe back then but Bendis and others didn't do anything different. In the 70's he used Shaft type slang, 00's 50 Cent slang.