Luke Cage Appreciation 2023

[Mike_Murdock]

Well, he IS married to a detective.

Feels weird that she's not in this book so far.

[ed2962]

But everything the editorial has said that would happen to Spiderman if he remained married, has actually happened to Luke Cage? The character has stagnated, doesn't have a personality anymore, is portrayed as ultra-corny, and Marvel as a whole has no idea what to do with Luke (and Danny) any more.

It's been 20-ish years too. How many times can we see the same rehashed story of Luke/Jessica's daughter go missing -> they cry about it and question their parenting skills -> something happens (possibly Purple Man related) -> they find the daughter -> they make up to each other and Luke comments how strong Jessica is and how she wears the pants in the relationship.

Rinse and repeat, over and over and over again.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Luke's big spikes in popularity where when he was single or paired with others (Solo run and PMIF in the 70s/80s, New Avengers and Immortal Iron Fist in the 2000s where Jessica Jones was practically a total non-factor). I liked his pairing with Claire Temple in the 70s run. I thought Harmony Young and She-Hulk were fun pairings. I think Cage be a great character, if he's able to actually be used properly.

But stagnation isn't because of the marriage, it's because of editorial. I see some fans complaining that the Spider-books now are more stagnant than they were 20yrs ago when Peter and MJ were married.

In the 70's/80's the market was completely different. They were trying to win over random fans buying comics at the newsstands and drug stores. Now that it's hardcore collectors, Luke can't keep an ongoing whether he's single or married.

We were supposed to get a mini series several months ago and Marvel cancelled it before it even hit the shelves. And it wasn't the marriage that killed it...



Or look at it this way, if Marvel got Chuck Austen to write and Rob Liefeld to do art, would a new Luke Cage book be good just cuz they got rid of the marriage?

[ed2962]

I hear what you're saying, but I feel these issues are still the writers. If you've seen the movie Mr. And Mrs. Smith, I'm convinced married couples can cleverly be written as sexy, dynamic, and married. The challenge is using truly creative writers. Similar to the issue of writing black heroes in Marvel.

I agree with this completely.

[LukeCagefan]

But everything the editorial has said that would happen to Spiderman if he remained married, has actually happened to Luke Cage? The character has stagnated, doesn't have a personality anymore, is portrayed as ultra-corny, and Marvel as a whole has no idea what to do with Luke (and Danny) any more.

It's been 20-ish years too. How many times can we see the same rehashed story of Luke/Jessica's daughter go missing -> they cry about it and question their parenting skills -> something happens (possibly Purple Man related) -> they find the daughter -> they make up to each other and Luke comments how strong Jessica is and how she wears the pants in the relationship.

Rinse and repeat, over and over and over again.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Luke's big spikes in popularity where when he was single or paired with others (Solo run and PMIF in the 70s/80s, New Avengers and Immortal Iron Fist in the 2000s where Jessica Jones was practically a total non-factor). I liked his pairing with Claire Temple in the 70s run. I thought Harmony Young and She-Hulk were fun pairings. I think Cage be a great character, if he's able to actually be used properly.

So much this. In my opinion, Jessica Jones is the worst thing to happen to the character. Most writers never seem truly invested in them as a union. It's one of the other. 70's Luke still my favorite and early 2000's Luke was okay. He should be the John Shaft of Marvel. Shaft don't get married lol

[LukeCagefan]

But stagnation isn't because of the marriage, it's because of editorial. I see some fans complaining that the Spider-books now are more stagnant than they were 20yrs ago when Peter and MJ were married.

In the 70's/80's the market was completely different. They were trying to win over random fans buying comics at the newsstands and drug stores. Now that it's hardcore collectors, Luke can't keep an ongoing whether he's single or married.

We were supposed to get a mini series several months ago and Marvel cancelled it before it even hit the shelves. And it wasn't the marriage that killed it...



Or look at it this way, if Marvel got Chuck Austen to write and Rob Liefeld to do art, would a new Luke Cage book be good just cuz they got rid of the marriage?

While management is responsible for not getting his books on the shelf I do think his character isn't as interested as it could be due to it. No one is saying his marriage is the only reason his comic struggles are present. It's just a big part of it to some.

[Hypestyle]

Luke needs several new villains. Upgrade some older ones for at least one more fight, but create some new ones too.
Tombstone would make a decent rival ongoing.

[LukeCagefan]

Feels weird that she's not in this book so far.

And this is the issue to folks here that don't want the marriage, it's because over and over writers have shown a lack of interest in telling stories with them as a family. When it's about Jessica they find a reason to largely exclude Luke. When it's about Luke they straight up don't care to explain Jessica's absence. It's a dead marriage. The dude has a wife that's a detective and went to go meet with the Wasp to hire her. Wow lol. Just let it die. It serves no purpose other than having a box checked for an interracial family. No one cares about it except Bendis - and for most of his Avengers run she wasn't a big part of the stories.

[LukeCagefan]

Luke needs several new villains. Upgrade some older ones for at least one more fight, but create some new ones too.
Tombstone would make a decent rival ongoing.

I've always said Tombstone should be his main antagonist. Just like when Frank Miller took the Kingpin from Spiderman.

[skyvolt2000]

And this is the issue to folks here that don't want the marriage, it's because over and over writers have shown a lack of interest in telling stories with them as a family. When it's about Jessica they find a reason to largely exclude Luke. When it's about Luke they straight up don't care to explain Jessica's absence. It's a dead marriage. The dude has a wife that's a detective and went to go meet with the Wasp to hire her. Wow lol. Just let it die. No one cares about it except Bendis - and for most of his Avengers run she wasn't a big part of the stories.

Once again that is on editorial.

Much like T'Challa-stop seeking pitches from folks who hate the character.

It's about who you seek or seek to do the pitches you want.

You ax that marriage-you OPEN the door for more black male bashing because someway some how Danielle lands in the hands of her mom and guess who they seek out to write her?
Same writers who can find every which way for the X-office to shade T'Challa.

It serves no purpose other than having a box checked for an interracial family.

And that is an issue??? For two companies where 95% of the black folks are pretty much asexual. Him and Synch are pretty much the only ones with women.

I mean if we are going to call that out-need to call out Prodigy and Speed. What have they done together?

[LukeCagefan]

Once again that is on editorial.

Much like T'Challa-stop seeking pitches from folks who hate the character.

It's about who you seek or seek to do the pitches you want.

You ax that marriage-you OPEN the door for more black male bashing because someway some how Danielle lands in the hands of her mom and guess who they seek out to write her?
Same writers who can find every which way for the X-office to shade T'Challa.



And that is an issue??? For two companies where 95% of the black folks are pretty much asexual. Him and Synch are pretty much the only ones with women.

I mean if we are going to call that out-need to call out Prodigy and Speed. What have they done together?

I as a black man myself don't find it a good thing to keep a couple together just for the sake of representation of an interracial family with no story behind it. But to each their own. I obviously wouldn't want Dani to even be a thing and it's not like a large audience cares about her. So if the marriage was retcon then the child would be too. She can exist in one of their many earths. We can go back and forth all day on this. The matter is editorial doesn't care for them as an item and it becomes more and more senseless to keep them together when creators aren't interested in them as a collective. That's been proven. Writers just aren't interested. Could their marriage work? Sure. But they aren't losing sleep over them and don't care. They aren't the Fantastic 4 or Peter & MJ. I do agree male black characters hardly get the ladies but Cage wasn't one of them. He was a ladies man which was nice.

[Mike_Murdock]

And this is the issue to folks here that don't want the marriage, it's because over and over writers have shown a lack of interest in telling stories with them as a family. When it's about Jessica they find a reason to largely exclude Luke. When it's about Luke they straight up don't care to explain Jessica's absence. It's a dead marriage. The dude has a wife that's a detective and went to go meet with the Wasp to hire her. Wow lol. Just let it die. It serves no purpose other than having a box checked for an interracial family. No one cares about it except Bendis - and for most of his Avengers run she wasn't a big part of the stories.

I think you misread my point. This is a detective story at heart, so it's weird to not have a detective. My first thought was actually Jessica Drew. But when Luke showed up, it occurred to me that Jessica Jones made sense. It just felt like the elephant in the room. Fundamentally, this is a Wasp story. Al Ewing is using Luke Cage because he likes the character and he likes ensuring persons of color are represented in his side Avengers teams. But the genre is a factor. If Jessica Jones was in a political drama involving New York City politicians and didn't have Luke, it would be very weird without explanation.

[LukeCagefan]

I think you misread my point. This is a detective story at heart, so it's weird to not have a detective. My first thought was actually Jessica Drew. But when Luke showed up, it occurred to me that Jessica Jones made sense. It just felt like the elephant in the room. Fundamentally, this is a Wasp story. Al Ewing is using Luke Cage because he likes the character and he likes ensuring persons of color are represented in his side Avengers teams. But the genre is a factor. If Jessica Jones was in a political drama involving New York City politicians and didn't have Luke, it would be very weird without explanation.

I see your point but I still don't see how Jessica Jones could have absolutely no involvement. She couldn't show up besides him? Or at least say my wife recommended your services? Unless I missed it just seems odd.

[ed2962]

And this is the issue to folks here that don't want the marriage, it's because over and over writers have shown a lack of interest in telling stories with them as a family. When it's about Jessica they find a reason to largely exclude Luke. When it's about Luke they straight up don't care to explain Jessica's absence. It's a dead marriage. The dude has a wife that's a detective and went to go meet with the Wasp to hire her. Wow lol. Just let it die. It serves no purpose other than having a box checked for an interracial family. No one cares about it except Bendis - and for most of his Avengers run she wasn't a big part of the stories.

I don't think it's about checking a box for an interracial family, but I do think you're right in that other writers are either pitching Luke stories or Jessica stories, but less interested in them together ( although Doug Walker made it work in his PM/IF run ). Marvel probably keeps them together cuz they think Bendis is coming back one day...

[ed2962]

Luke needs several new villains. Upgrade some older ones for at least one more fight, but create some new ones too.
Tombstone would make a decent rival ongoing.

I agree. I think Tombstone would make an excellent main villain for Luke.

A number of his 70's rogues could be revamped for modern times as well.

[Frontier]

Feels weird that she's not in this book so far.

Well, could be she's also raising their kid. It doesn't feel like Jessica's been that busy since becoming First Lady of New York outside the upcoming new mini which involves her husband.