|
SWEET CHRISTMAS! It's all 'bout Luke Cage! There is one character in all of comics that is the comic book equivalent to Blackula, and his name is Luke Cage. Or better known as Power Man. He was a typical 70's Marvel character trying to show the gritty and darker side of New York City during this era. Today I'm going to talk about how much that amazing mother fucking brother taught us all about how the black man lived everyday life in the slums. Just remember if you get offended beyond this point (as regular readers will tell you) you may precede to go fuck yourself, I'm not racist, I'm just a cynic. I suppose in the 70's Marvel was trying to appeal to the young black kids of the world, as well as inform stuffy white kids about what being black is all about. I don't have too many Luke Cage stories, but the ones I do have contain a very valuable and educational message about being black in America (well at least from the eyes of Marvel writers who, might I add, for the most part are all very, very white.) I'll start first by giving you some insight on who Luke Cage -- AKA Power Man -- is. I've dug out my collection of comic book oddities and pulled out my set of Marvel Super-Heroes Trading Cards that where printed in 1990 (That's right, I have the whole set of the original series, bitch.) Also don't tell me if this information is out of date, it's already over 10 years old, and I know that you continuity type assholes love to point shit like that out, but you can go eat a dick for all I care.
Impressive, no? I mean here he's helping those in need and then he makes them pay him to do it. That's so wonderful! And totally what black people would do! Like I remember this one time, this black guy helped an old woman across the street and charged her 20 bucks for services rendered and a 10 dollar insurance fee. Then he got busted by the cops and ended up on an episode of Cops and then went to jail. If anyone has seen Bowling for Columbine, we should know how much America is afraid of the black people they once used to in slave, and so they lock them up even if they are innocent and make them partake in risky science experiments to get out scott free. Right.... Of course he had to be a black hero who went to jail, because that's exactly what happened back then. RIGHT. Racist bastards. Anyway, since his release from prison, Luke Cage became Power Man, and had his own book. Until it probably didn't sell too well and they had to stick in a white character that all the kids would like. Iron Fist had his own series at the time too, which it probably wasn't doing so good either and they decided they could combine their crappy readership by combining the two titles. Hence, Power Man & Iron First: Heroes for Hire. Anyway, since then Luke Cage has made a number of appearances in other books to teach us about what it's like being black. Let's take a look back at some of the worst of the bunch (Well only the stories I've got in my collection, however, these are pretty bad.) Note: To view the images click on them to view a larger version. The Uncanny X-Men #112
Most recent reprint: Essential X-Men Vol. 2 What the scoop: The X-Men's Storm goes to her old neighborhood to find that it is even more of a slum than when she left it as a small child. She walks into her parents old apartment where it has now become a squatting ground for a bunch of needle junkies. She is about to get attacked from behind when both Power Man and Misty Knight show up! They stop the hood from robbing Storm, and Luke provides us with insight on the black youth living in the slums! Lesson Learned: When your living in a slum, with no home, no decent schoolin', no money, no jobs & no hope, you shoot up skag and steal from people to feed your habit.
Original print date: December 1980 Most recent reprint: Essential Power Man & Iron First Volume 1 What's the scoop: Well in this story Luke doesn't spout any sort of messages about black peoples plight. But the course of the story suggested that 1.) Black people are the only ones who can recognize Luke Cage on the street, yet ignorant white people can't. & 2.) Luke Cage has a constantly changing intelligence, one minute he's pretty smart, the next he's an idiot in battle. Secret Wars II #2 (of 9) Original print date: August 1985
Lesson Learned: You don't stay alive on the street asking questions first. Zen is bull. You need money to get what you want. Slang: Money can also be called Bread, and Gap. Having nothing can also be having jack.
Vision & The Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #8 (of 12): Original print date: May 1986 The Scoop: The only reason Power Man appears in this story is to tell us that he was supposed to be on vacation because of the new holiday: Martin Luther Kings birthday.
So what's happened to Luke Cage since?: Power Man & Iron First Heroes for Hire was soon canceled before the end of the 80's because nobody really wanted to read it. In the 90's when Marvel felt like going bankrupt printing out a whole bunch of titles that nobody wanted to read, they tried to bring Power Man back in a new title called "Cage". He had a new costume, and a 90's hairdoo and even that didn't save his title from being canned again. At the end of the 90's Marvel tried to bring back the Heroes for Hire again. That didn't last too much longer. Where is Luke Cage now?: Well Luke Cage has been pretty busy recently I guess... He had his own Marvel MAX title called Cage Where he became even more of a stereo-type character. He regularly appears in issues of another Marvel MAX title, Alias, where he's reputed for being a cape chaser who loves sodomy. These days he has become a major player in the Avengers Final Nail: The question I pose to the comic book community is this: Is it possible to create a black character that doesn't appeal to all the stereo-types? A black character that isn't a righteous hero that remembers every nuance about their culture, but completely oblivious to the rest of the outside world? Can you make a black character that doesn't wear the stereo-typical clothes, does the same stereo-typical things, and has the same stereo-typical hobbies and interest? There aren't too many characters out there, and if you want the best example of how much a stereo-type these characters can be, just look at Luke Cage. He went to the 70's pimpin' it out look to the 90's hip-hop look then to the 2000's pimpin' it out look. Come on people be more original. If I wanted to see this garbage, I'd be writing letters everyday to McFarline Productions to bring back the Wu Tang comic. You want to draw in readers with ethnic characters? Well making them a stereo-type wouldn't help much. We're living in a hyper sensitive society these days (yeah, I hate it too, the women at the single mothers meetings don't seem to laugh at my dead baby jokes anymore.) I'm surprised people haven't been screaming bloody murder about these ridiculous characters. Are there respectable black characters in the comic book industry? Well yeah, but let's be serious people the stereo-type characters out number the intelligently made ones. I mean, can I ever pick up one issue of 100 Bullets and read about a black guy who isn't a gang-banging thug or living in poverty? IT'S GETTING OLD!! And that's about all I have to say on the subject. And don't even get me started on that fuck Cyborg from Teen Titans either. |
|||
|
|
Back |
||
Real Name: Unknown; goes by the name Luke Cage.
