Pop Culture Nonsense: Sweet Christmas! A Look at LUKE CAGE

There was a good intentioned effort within the mainstream comics industry at some point in the 1970s to create ethnically, culturally,  and gender diverse heroes in their books that came off like a contradictory cross between a genuine movement towards change and,....well, grindhouse exploitation filmmaking.

The most popular of these characters, it seems, turned out to be Marvel's LUKE CAGE a.k.a. POWER MAN. The product of a fairly decent funnybook anti-hero origin story and the best antics of a Blaxploitation movie, Luke Cage pretty much was the superheroic equivalent of John Shaft.

Cage's debut issue from 1972

 Over course of the character's publication history, he's had his peaks and lows in popularity.   He starred in his own solo title for a little over 6 years, whose fiftieth issue was rebranded as POWER MAN AND IRON FIST in 1978, when he began sharing his book with another product of Marvel's attempts at cashing in on a 70s B-movie craze, this time in the form of Bruceploitation/ the chop-socky kung fu martial arts film fad, Danny Rand's alter ego Iron Fist.  This pairing lasted another 75 issues until cancellation in 1985.

The character then went into relative obscurity for about a half decade, popping up again in his own title, that not only was part of the early 1990s attempt by Marvel during the collectors speculation boom of that decade to oversaturate the market with product (a phenomenon similar to what had happened to the sports card collecting market a few years earlier....everyone became of the opinion that the product had inflated monetary value, which led to a spike in production numbers, and ultimately,  a ton of unsold merchandise) and, hilariously,  had spun out of one of the most fucked up PUNISHER storylines in the history of the character....

No....really.  The Punisher becomes a black guy.

Seriously.  It's one of those stories that needs to be read to be believed.

There was another attempt in the mid-to-late 90s to relaunch HEROES FOR HIRE in it's own title, which while met with critical praise, found itself a victim of the industry level bankruptcy of sales numbers that were the aftermath during  the following few years after the aforementioned speculation "boom" amongst collectors.   So, back into the limbo of obscurity Luke Cage went.

The 1997 attempted relaunch

That is, until about a decade later, when in the midway part of the first decade of this century, superstar comics writer (and self proclaimed massive Luke Cage fan) Brian Michael Bendis began utilizing Cage as a supporting character in his Marvel mature readers title ALIAS, featuring super powered private detective Jessica Jones.   You may have heard of her.... she was the focus of last year's Marvel Netflix critical darling TV show entitled (naturally) JESSICA JONES, in which we were first treated to Mike Colter as Luke Cage in a supporting role. 

Bendis' critically acclaimed ALIAS, starring Jessica Jones

 Around the time that ALIAS was popping big on comic store shelves, writer Bendis was also then handed the keys to Marvel's flagship superhero team title, THE AVENGERS,  and began featuring Cage as a member of their roster,  boosting the character's popularity into heights he hadn't seen since the heyday of his 1970s solo title.

Luke during his Avengers heyday

LUKE CAGE, the Netflix series, is good.  Allow me to repeat that:  it's really good.  Marvel seems to be knocking it out of the park with these Netflix efforts,  offering a grittier, slightly more mature themed alternative to the glitzy CGI filled big screen extravaganzas such as THE AVENGERS, THOR, and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY,  while doing it in a way that feels as if they take place in the same universe (which they do....there's tons of references to the events of the New York alien invasion depicted in AVENGERS as well as other nice nods to Marvel properties).

What really shines is the superb casting, that presents us with an ensemble of well rounded characters that are incredibly touching and cringe inducing (in the case of the bad guys) that makes you want to continue watching their stories.

Mike Colter is great as Cage, the no nonsense, damaged yet noble, hero of the piece. He's exactly what you'd imagine and want Luke Cage to be.   Plus, the effortless fight scenes between a bulletproof man with incredible strength don't come off as boring, because you literally want to see how he lays waste to the next round of bad guys.

  Plus,  there are moments of subtle humor, such as his interaction with the character of Pop (portrayed by Frankie Faison) which is heart warming.  Be on the lookout for one moment,  in episode 4, for Cage's reaction his classic 1970 yellow shirt and tiara look that's a short but priceless nod to Marvel Comics canon and fanboys alike.

Alfre Woodard and Mahershala Ali are the villainous duo of Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes and his cousin, city councilwoman "Black Mariah" Dillard, who both as characters pleasantly possess more depth than expected, almost to the point where one sympathizes with their motivations.

Also, a shout out to two actors who I'm personally a fan of: Frank Whaley, who shows up as police detective Rafael Scarfe and Ron Cephas Jones as chess playing friend of Cage, Bobby Fish.  Those two dudes have matured into excellent character actors, IMO.

LUKE CAGE is yet another stellar television effort out of Marvel Studios,  on par in terms of quality with their past efforts (DAREDEVIL Seasons 1 & 2 and JESSICA JONES) which makes me excited to see their upcoming stuff (IRON FIST, apparently third and second seasons for DAREDEVIL and JONES, respectively. ...and the upcoming crossover miniseries,  THE DEFENDERS).  Highly recommended.