Luke Cage: Gang War

Luke Cage: Gang War #1-4

by Rodney Barnes, Ramón F. Bachs (artist), Caanan White (cover_art)

Collects Luke Gang War #1-4.

Luke Cage stars in the street-level crossover you've been waiting for! In the wake of the Anti-Vigilante Act, New York's new mayor has been trying to save the city from behind a desk. But when the Big Apple descends into a full-on Gang War, Luke must use every power he has to protect the innocent and save his city! Cage goes undercover, dons a mask and takes his battle to the streets to track down a new generation of Spider-Slayers, bigger and deadlier than ever! But he won't be Danny Rand, Jessica Jones and Cloak & Dagger join the fight for the soul of New York! But after breaking the anti-vigilante law, can Luke still be mayor? And more important, will he even want to be?

Genres: Marvel, Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes

109 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 22, 2024

About the author

Rodney L Barnes has had the privilege to accomplish so much in a short time on Earth. At the age of forty-two and surviving a major traumatic brain injury, writing and publishing the book, My Miracle outlines and talks about experiences he had undergone that might contribute to the events in your life. From past to present, he had learned how to accept what life has to offer, not struggle with life. He was raised on the principles of ordinary life, take nothing for granted! Rodney now clearly understands those principles of living because of his development. Through events of his life, the accident, coma, and relearning life at twenty-one years of age, he has to give all these accomplishments to the Lord Jesus Christ. Rodney is praying for his book to get into the hands of people who need a source of comfort, strength, or knowledge to learn more how strong and powerful Jesus Christ is and can be. Visit him at Facebook.com/mymiraclethemovie and together, we all can help each other understand the meaning of life.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good zingers here and there but ending on a gonzo Mecha fight on the doorstep of Gracie Mansion was...a choice.


Is this a new kind of CrossFit?

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75
Middle of the road story. But I'm kind of a Luke Cage fan.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tie in felt mostly pointless to the main story. His story never really crossed over with the main fight and his villain felt so comically evil and random. The only interesting thing here really is the story of Luke having to hide his identity since he’s mayor of a city that still has the anti vigilante act. The inspiration behind him deciding to fight is good. Also just not a fan of the art style of this series.

[MoonKnight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fun!

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okayish read, not the best but you get to see Luke taking on the role of mayor but dealing with the Anti-Vigilante act but when Gang war breaks out, you see the return of Alistair smythe and the robots he has, so its upto Luke to take on a new costume and form a new team to take on this threat and well its just robots and robots and the man trying to fight it, with some cool scenes here and there and honestly it could have just been done in one oversized issues or two but oh well still cool to see some nice action.

There is some good bantering between Jess and others and then obviously there's gotta be a mecha to fight the robots, though I was hoping Iron man would get some focus lol, but still cool to see some subliminal messages about coming together and that line about beating failure with a try was good, so yeah there are some good moments here and there.

It maybe one of the better tie-ins if you want something light, old-school with some good art and a bit of cool lines, then this maybe for you. Again another one-time read.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had almost nothing to do with the main Gang War storyline that it's attached to...

What else do we get out of it? A fracking costume for Luke Cage to 'protect his identity'. I assume we're using the classic comic book trope of 'eyeglasses change your appearance'. The mask he puts on does NOTHING to hide his identity. How many tall, muscular, and bald African American men do you see in a given day? EVERYBODY KNOWS ITS YOU. Take a stupid stand...

..and don't wait until the end of the story to give your rousing speech about protecting the city you love.

Ugh.
=====
Bonus: Not a fan of the art. Jessica Jones popped up. She looks Chinese at times. (LOTS of times)
Bonus Bonus: Why does Danny have, essentially, Hulkbuster armor at Rand Industries?

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 1 out of 5]

Definitely the worst part of the Gang War.

Luke talks about how much he has to abide by the Anti-Vigilante Law, even if he disagrees with it. Then, in a massively out-of-character moment (that spans the entire mini-series), he becomes a vigilante. He does so in a really awful new costume that is only somewhat obscured by the awful artwork.

Then he engages in four issues of fighting Spider Slayers that have nothing to do with the Gang War arc, led by a Smythe who seems to be Fabio in disguise and has weird spider arms.

DO NOT READ THIS. It just drags down the good parts of Gang War. I can't believe this was published.

[Gbolahan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just meh stuff. Cringe dialogue. "get up, Cage!". "Fight, Cage!" This is all Cage talking to himself. Why the hell is he talking to himself. All the fight pep talk to his team of vigilantes and the cops, ugh. What are we, 12??

"Not on my watch". Blarrrrfghh. "Fight the good fight". I can't even.

Uninspiring plaid generic art. Yes that's probably what that word means. Plaid. Blank swathes of background. Bad guys shooting at Jessica and she's mid conversation (something about a divorce) and the bad guys hit NOTHING. She's just standing there, talking!

Sigh.

Ok. I checked. That's not what plaid means. I don't care. I'm not removing it.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mayor Luke Cage gets out from behind his desk to join the Gang War, battling Alistair Smythe alongside the other Defenders we know and love.

This is okay - it doesn't really scratch any itches that the main Spidey book doesn't, and it doesn't really capitalise on the idea of Cage working on both sides of the anti-vigilante law, but it's solid enough to keep you going if you're a fan of these characters. It's almost like we all knew the law would be repealed, so no one really cares about breaking it in the first place.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A really weak tie-in to Gang War. Luke Cage is the Mayor of New York City now but there's that pesky anti-vigilante law in place that keeps him from helping stop criminals during the big gang war. So Cage gets a terrible new costume and then gets his wife and best friend to help out but they don't bother to wear masks. So dumb. Then they fight some generic Spider-Slayer robots. This is clearly written with the knowledge of what's going to happen over in Amazing Spider-Man. That's fine if the writer knows but the characters shouldn't. Bachs art isn't great either, especially his Jessica Jones. I wasn't even sure who she was until she was addressed.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mayor Luke Cage whups some butt

This is a really fun read. Story is good and the action is top notch. Not the biggest fan of Luke Cage’s temporary new suit

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not terrible, but not really that great, either. And the artwork is not very good.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felt like this book was really spinning its wheels. Even the big closing of Act 2 (robot exoskeleton) turned pretty counterproductive pretty quickly.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fighting with some fun Luke/Jessica/Danny relationship moments. Jessica knows who Luke “really” loves.

[Néstor Vargas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not finish this one. The costume was mid, the mecha suit even worse, like a comic from another era.

[Xavi (NarraTea) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars!

[Emmett Spain · Rating 3 out of 5]

A side quest with no real impact on the main story. Lots of punching and bravado. Not much else. 2.5 stars.