Luke Cage Classic Storytime

Welcome back Anons! Since the Netflix series dropped, and I can't be bothered to storytime more Bendis, I thought we'd read some of the favorite Luke Cage stories we've done so far! And let's start with his origin, because why not?

So far, I'm planning the first two issues, the Christmas story, and both Doom issues. Someone else suggested Mace's secret city, the Knight gang he fought, and his first meeting with Danny (I'm thinking of doing the second part of that two-parter).
If you have any comics you'd like to see, say so.
Otherwise, god help us, I'll have to improvise.

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I'm probably gonna try and catch up to the show in the meanwhile, if nobody else is talking.

I notice Shades is a lot less black in the show, and I have yet to see his buddy Comanche.

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All this time, I STILL think the new warden looks like a Silver Age hero.

He's even doing the superman pose here!

Bump. Might check in on this. I've read these issues though.

Remember Doctor Noah Burstein? He ended up helping a few supervillains by giving them Luke's powers when his wife kept getting kidnapped.

On your own, or have you been around in these threads since the start?

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>On your own, or have you been around in these threads since the start?
Both

>He ended up helping a few supervillains by giving them Luke's powers

There's a bit of that in the new show.

>The Syndicate

Weirdly enough, they don't do anything with that plot point for a few dozen issues.

>Willis Stryker got Reva killed

As has been mentioned in previous threads, this difference from the Netflix shows is something I'm curious how they're going to work around.
Especially since, even here, he didn't kill her personally, and he didn't even use her as a human shield intentionally, yet he still blames her for it.

As much as I don't want to ruin storytime threads with Cred Forums discussion, I am genuinely curious how the two versions compare.

>"The equipment ws made by Stark Industries."

I'm still amazed that was a thing.

Hard not to blame him. If I'm interpreting this correctly, Stryker could be blamed for dragging Reva into a mess she was scared of and wanted to leave behind. She still came along if it meant it could help Cage though.

Interestingly, I don't think we ever see what the Power Man procedure is SUPPOSED to do. As we see here, Rackham interfered with it.

Thank you for storytiming

Oh, I'm not saying he's WRONG to blame her. Hell, while he didn't freaking hold her in front of him, he probably was thinking they wouldn't shoot her.

Well, Cottonmouth's guys called his bluff.

Any time, user.

Hey, Soulman.
Watched any Cage yet?
I haven't but think I might prioritize it over DD season 2, which I've only watched the first episode of so far.

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I'm watching it now, actually. Still pretty early, but enough to notice a few differences.
Shades hasn't shot lasers out from his glasses, for instance.

It's amazing he went 20 years with Lucas being the only part of his actual name having been revealed.

Ya think they ever found those shells that bounced off Cage again and stood around confused for 10 seconds?

>I have yet to see his buddy Comanche.

If they do, I want them to go full Cultural Appropriation with him. Just offensively Redface. Washington Redskins jacket anytime he's dressed like normie.

Do the Cottonmouth two-parter as well, I think it's 19 and 20

>he takes out a crook
>then gets paid

Remember when Marvel Civilians weren't raging assholes?

They skip the scene, but next issue we see this entire scene where he picks out his costume.

Luke goes out of his way to mention that that shop guy was cool so that guy was just special.

>I have yet to see his buddy Comanche.

They mention him by name in the first episode, and I guess he appears in episode 4 without being named. Idk what his ultimate fate was.

Based on what I saw a few months ago, Diamonback SOMEHOW looks even dumber than the 70's comic.

Well, given that his sons turn out to be modern Adonises, that fits. Good genes.
Solid justification to go ahead and retcon him into being a 'gap period' superhero, active in the time between the 50s and whenever the FF were created.

>Vengence is mine!

>Shades hasn't shot lasers out from his glasses, for instance.

Well, that kind of fits with the way the MCU tends to work. Unless they had decided to make him Inhuman.

Remember, the glasses are super-science stuff, he doesn't have Cyclops powers.

And it ended up being his LAST name too.

So yeah, Claire Temple originally has a Misty-esque fro.

Shit, that would actually be pretty cool.

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So yeah, here's where he got the whole costume from.

Yeah, but superscience stuff he just kinda happened to find on the way from Florida to New York.

Fair point, I actually can't remember off the top of my head where the two of them got their shit.

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Gadget is actually one of the characters in Luke and Danny's new series.

See, as much as Luke wasn't a heroin trafficker... he still did a load of shit that probably should have sent him to prison regardless.

Depending on how long he was in jail, he may have already done enough time for that.

That was literally it.
They got their shit offscreen, after they escaped Seagate, and just kinda showed up looking to blackmail Cage.
And because it's the Marvel Universe, it was actually plausible that yes, they happened to just rob someone with superpowered gadgets in South Carolina or whatever.

Granted, as I've said about many things in these storytimes, I know shit about law. But if you've done enough shit to warrant three years in jail, and you're put in for five for something it's later found out you're innocent for, what DO you do?

>And because it's the Marvel Universe, it was actually plausible that yes, they happened to just rob someone with superpowered gadgets in South Carolina or whatever.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

>That Captain Marvel ref
God damn

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One Luke Cage character I really like is Chemistro. He's like the polar opposite of Luke, the invisible Beta black male who lived his life saying "yes sir," not caring for much until he's screwed over and loses it.

Remember Anons, compare Luke worrying about having to avoid a speeding car to the shit we'll see him to once we go back to Bendis.
Power Creep is a bitch.

That even works considering the reason more Chemistros occur. He doesn't have the nerve and willpower to stop making new guns when people ask him to.

So yeah, the actual Diamondback vs. Cage fight is pretty brief.

You know, because a knife-guy is going to have a tough time matching a man with invulnerable skin.

>that face in the fourth panel

Not unless it was Clownface Delgado.

I really don't get why they ever ditched the tiara/chainbelt/yellow shirt look, even if they wanted something a bit less datedly disco. Like, the tiara and the belt both get across a lot of information about who Cage is visually. The Tiara says he sees himself as noble, and the belt communicates his history of non-sexual bondage.
And the yellow shirt pops well enough that it makes him more visually distinct at a distance.

There's a reason why Cagebolts Cage was the best look he ever had as a bald man.

Just screams, "Buh?"

Also, kind of don't like that work on the last panel. The view makes it look like he's been dropped from above but it's clearly not the case.

So yeah, in the comics, Diamondback died two issues into Luke's series.

Luke didn't even get the satisfaction of strangling the guy, and then realizing that revenge leaves you empty.

And now for MY favorite issue of Luke's series.

Yeah, Luke's series actually had a few good writers, considering what a relative C-Lister the man was for most of his time.

>Saw your first storytime when you started but couldn't be fucked to read it
>have a web of archive tabs that I opened a couple weeks ago but still can't be fucked to read it

Same with the X-men guy

It's fucking astounding.
They touch a guy in a snakeskin suit, and gave him a fucking laser tag helmet, because having Cage fight a knife thrower would be silly.

So Scrooge has taken to beating the carolers now?

I should probably get to reading Body Bags.

You're taking the piss, but here he is introducing himself as MARLEY!
If the Doom issues didn't take place literally RIGHT after this, the story would be way more memorable.

He's had a few costumes. The 90's costume where he had the invincible leather jacket, the gray outfit in Heroes For Hire, and Cagebolts. It was Bendis that decided to just have him dress as "Blackman".

>that dab in the 4th panel

It's nice seeing happy Luke, especially given how rarely that happens.

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Seriously, this fucking guy!

Seriously, why the helmet?

I guess so Luke doesn't just smack him upside the head.

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Contrast between Cage's more stylish piece and his physically used one?

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You Anons remember when you needed to carry ID or you'd get shot with lasers, right Anons?

You mean the thing he doesn't wear anymore?

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>And suddenly Santa

So this guy sucked-punched Luke Cage with a bell hard enough to make him pass out?

HOW DO YOU STEAL AN ENTIRE NUKE?!

So this fucker is gonna nuke New York because there isn't enough Christmas Spirit?

>The most unexpected villain of all!

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Well everyone was loose, relaxed--security was close to nonexistent. He dismantled it into its components, wrapped them in innocent looking parcels....and walked out with them.

I call horseshit. Why would they let him in the nuke room alone?~

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He was in the O.S.S.* then, so he not only had the run of the base, but he was also already a master of disguise.

*America's wartime SPY network. --Roy

Remember DW? Luke Cage's original white best friend before he got a white best friend who knew Kung Fu?

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monitoring this thread

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Lemme know if there's any stories you want posted tonight. Although try not to use any images, because it means one more page I can't post.

Dun dun dun!

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I swear, that last panel looks like a wrestling promo.

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Agreed.

Also, a paltry two hundred dollars.

Someone did the math the first time we did that issue, and it was, covering for inflation, over $1000 today.

He also tended to have at least one black guy on the creative team most of the time, at this point inker Billy Graham. But Ron Wilson and Denys Cowan both had long runs on pencils.

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Yeah, just wasn't sure if I was quoting the 'good doctor' properly or not.

>"I must say, I rather admire the man's spunk!"

Do you think Cage and Medusa ever talk about the day they met?

Ah, the 1970s, when a black man could run into a police officer in the street and not get shot, sparking national protests.

If not, it at least SOUNDS like how he'd word it.

Have they ever encountered each other after this? Ever?

Also, does Phil Fox ever show up physically? All I see in my head is a man with a hat, a press tag in the brim, and saying, "What a scoop!"

In the age of post-Bendis and Inhuman-wank?

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Everyone talks about Luke fighting Doom, but nobody remembers the robotic revolution.

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>In the past, people cared about people.

Lies of the highest order.
People used to be entertained by public executions.

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>Doom sitting on a throne wait ing

And here's the famous line Anons!

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Remember that Doom frequently fights The Thing.

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>he counts the damn money

Huh, I DID get it right.

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Like I said, it at least SOUNDS like how he'd word it.

Reminder: While gunsel is used mostly as a gun for hire/thug, Dashiell Hammett originally used it because it was an obscure word for a homosexual, and it's way funnier to read it with that meaning.

And skipping 10 issues forward, Luke is now going by the superhero name "Power Man".

I know doesn't and his name rhymes with Lyin' Bike-el Tendis.

Are you the same user who pointed that out last time?

DW vanished way before Bendis started writing him. He's only had cameo appearances since the end of Power Man & Iron Fist, most recently in Ewing's Captain America and the Mighty Avengers.

Speaking of DW, here he is again.

>Medusa putting her hair all over Luke
Imagine walking into a room and experiencing that.
This super-business is too much, man.

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Yes. And I only know that because I hit it in a book at some point, was interested in the etymology of it, and found out that it shifted meaning in a way that makes it kind of hilarious.

Doesn't change the fact that Bendis is shit for supporting casts outside of maybe Spider-Man books.

Nobody has supporting casts anymore, which is weird given how stories take forever to get told by modern decompression.

Superhumans get into all kinds of weird shit, user. Just look at the X-Men.

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So yeah, Cottonmouth looks a lot different in the books.
Also, his name actually IS Cottonmouth.

Oh, and he's also as strong as Luke.

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Damn, looks like something new is in the system, since the commenting seems to be longer per-page.

DW should've been on the show as an friend to Cage

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Hell, they could even just go with his name "Dave Griffith" instead of bringing up that the director.

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I think they should've adapted these two issues and the first two origin issues to a tee (with modern updates)

I like the show, but this would've gave more to the show than the simple straightforward story. Cage deciding to breifly work for Cottonmouth after going straight all these years and going at the heart of possibly a big gang war would've been cool to see.

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I'm still watching the show so I don't know how it goes yet.

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Fuck, this bit is damn good.

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If this were a modern comic, this page would've been an entire damn arc.

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And now skipping forward a few issues to another user-requested issue. Actually, from here on they ALL are.

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So did new moot change the system? Image posting now takes a full minute between replies instead of 30 seconds like it used to.

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Gideon Mace is one of Luke's bigger enemies. Granted, he didn't have quite as many showings as Chemistro, Shades and Comanche, or even Discus and Stilleto, but he's the one who's still around, and famously killed the first White Tiger's family.

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All right Anons, I'm falling asleep, so I think I'll leave it at this. See you tomorrow, everyone!

Thanks

Thanks for the storytime.

Bump.