Luke Cage: Avenger

New Avengers: Luke Cage #1-3

by Adam Glass, Mike Benson, Brian Michael Bendis

Collects Avengers Origins: Luke Cage, New Avengers (2005) #22, 49, New Avengers: Luke Cage #1-3, Marvel Team-Up Annual #4.

The steel-skinned Avenger shows exactly why he's one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Discover how young Carl Lucas, imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, gained his powers and became the hero he is today! As Civil War rages, Luke picks a side and makes a stand — but it might divide him from his wife, Jessica Jones! But when their daughter, Danielle, is captured by Skrulls, Luke will make a deal with the devil to save her. Then, a ghost from Luke's past takes him back to the Hero For Hire biz — and a classic street level team-up pits Luke, best pal Iron Fist, Daredevil, Moon Knight and Spider-Man against the Kingpin and Killgrave the Purple Man!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction, Marvel, Fantasy, Comic Book

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 9, 2016

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet F**King Christmas (puts a ten-spot in the swear jar) it’s a Luke Cage collection!

If Marvel has some sort of show or movie running you can bet your sweet ass that you’ll eventually see some sort of comic book compendium of reprints to cash-in introduce the character to the movie-going/tube-watching newbs.

This one has a slight advantage over some of the other collections because Brian Michael Bendis wrote some of the New Avengers stuff – the rest is a re-published grab bag of varying quality.

Avengers Origins: Luke Cage



This one hits all the familiar notes in recounting a retconned version of Cage’s origin story.



Take away: Jive pasty white comic book writers should never attempt to re-create the vernacular of urban African-Americans – start with Good Times -> watch Mr. T on You Tube -> listen to some rap songs -> Viola! You have some cringe worthy dialogue.



New Avengers #22 (Civil War I)

Luke has to make a hard choice as zero-hour for super-human registration approaches…



Luke always has his priorities straight and putting his family first is a no-brainer.



New Avengers #49 (Dark Reign)

Remember in Secret Invasion when Luke and Jessica left baby Dannielle with Jarvis so they could kick Skrull ass, but it wasn’t the real Jarvis it was a Skrull Jarvis and Skrull Jarvis took the baby?

No? Well, it happened.

Luke has to go to the then lunatic in charge, Norman Osborn for help, but this comes with a price.

Take away: Skrulls taste like roasted chicken with all the trimmings. Mmm Skrull…



Take away 1A: Nobody messes with Luke Cage. Take that, phony Dark Avenger Mah Fahs!



New Avengers: Luke Cage #1 - #3



Luke Cage is more of a brawler, than a guy with a long-term problem solving plan that requires some subtly; even so, this story, which has Luke traveling to Philadelphia has some game. Sadly, this mini-series is undercut by some of the ugliest art I’ve seen in quite a while.



Marvel Team-Up Annual #4 (written by Frank Miller well before he boarded the “crazy train”)

This one’s an old-school tale with all the old school trappings.

Question: How can you date a Marvel comic?

Answer: Check out the pop culture references.



Yep, that’s Purple Man with his powers of persuasion driving around in his Purple-mobile. Sadly, he doesn’t come close to exercising his powers as creepily as he does in “Jessica Jones”.

His endgame:



Not that you can really tell, but that’s Moon Knight in the picture and it’s his first time interacting with some of these heroes, which gave Miller the excuse to bring out that old trope among heroes: Let’s scuffle first because we aren’t sure whether you’re a good guy or a bad guy plot device.

Where does Luke Cage fit into all this?



Yah baby! Here’s a new fire exit for ya, Sucka.

*sigh*



And yes, Virginia, back in the day superheroes did everything in costume, even go to crummy movies.

Bottom Line: Coming up with a decent Luke Cage recomendation isn’t that easy, so if you want to explore the character, this would not be a horrible place to begin.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A random mish mash of Luke Cage stories. The only story that hasn't appeared in other collections is the origin story which is pretty good. The two Avengers stories by Bendis are of course great. Bendis turns Luke Cage from a 70's era joke into a badass of the Marvel U.

The miniseries has absolutely terrible art by Eric Canete. It's truly awful. My suggestion would be to just read Bendis's Avengers run and leave this alone.

[Rever Wesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luke Cage is funny

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[Dubzor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woof, the noughts were not kind to you Luke...

I don't know, it's not terrible, and let's face it, very few characters are written consistently in comics. I think even now Luke is written as some Gentle Giant type for the new Powerman and Iron Fist comic. The thing is, this collection of comics just aren't terribly interesting or good.

If you want to know more about the character, I guess it's serviceable enough. But if you want to have fun in the process, there are at least two volumes of the old Powerman and Iron Fist comics out there that are a much better read than anything here.

[A.A. Rubin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The comics vary in quality, and some aren’t bad, but, overall this is a strange hodgepodge. Why have the story with Spider-Man and MoonNight, for example, instead of a Heroes For Hire story with just Luke and Fist?

The book was absent of continuity, and, frankly, I prefer the on-screen version of these characters—especially Jessica Jones—from the Netflix shows to the way they’re portrayed in these comics.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a mixed bag of Luke Cage comic by different writers and artists. In the end my favorites where Bendis's New Avengers, especially the Civil War tie in and the avengers origins. I also liked the Purple Man story. The 3 issue miniseries is ok but doesn't stack up nearly as close to everything else. The art is pretty consistently good though in my opinion. 9/10

[Mark T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luke Cage’s updated origin story. Run-ins with skrulls, The New Avengers, Spider-Man, Osborn, captain America, Daredevil.

Bonus old school “Marvel Team-up Annual.
Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Spider-man, Moon Knight vs. Killgrave and Kingpin.

[Will Plunkett · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, with one of those rare 21st cent. comics where the story is significantly better than the art. I like when an older comic is mixed in with the more recent collection, so readers can see and read how they've changed over the decades.

[John H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the stories quite a bit, but the art in the New Avengers 1-3 issues weren't my favorite. The Purple Man story from the '80s was pretty good.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great introduction to the character. Includes a retelling of his super power origin story and some adventures.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luke Cage is iconic. And he doesn't take shit. From anyone. Well, maybe from his wife. This character has grown over the decades and this book shows that. Tight stories. Strong emotions. Well done.

[Doug Mason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good redo of Luke's origin, rest is just okay filler

[Ronald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Luke Cage is one of my favorite characters from when I was a kid.
The comics collected here are not the comics from my childhood. This is just a collection of random comics that have the Luke Cage appear. They are often from the crappy "event" comics that Marvel Comics insists on doing every years yet sucks so bad at creating a good story. The comics from those events are bad, often racist and the art - oh my god the art sucks - I could cut and paste some better art than the crap art in some of these issues.

Luke Cage deserves better treatment that the character received here.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The success of Marvel's Netflix properties resulted in this collection of Luke Cage being made available for reader consumption. The volume opens with a retelling of how Cage gained his abilities from the Avengers: Origins series, as wrongly-convicted muscleman Carl Lucas is altered by prison experiments into the bulletproof defender of Harlem. Next up is New Avengers #22, featuring Cage taking a public stand against Iron Man's Superhuman Registration Act and gaining assistance from Captain America and the newly-forming resistance. Following that issue is New Avengers #49, where Cage seeks his missing daughter following the Skrull invasion. Though he receives help from Norman Osborn, Cage proves his self-worth by defying the former Green Goblin's attempt to press him into service. A three-issue mini-series of New Avengers: Luke Cage is included, featuring Cage heading to Philadelphia after a former friend is hospitalized. Realizing that he needs to beat the assembled crew of enemies at their own game, Luke shows off his street smarts to topple the growing metahuman racket. The volume concludes with Marvel Team-Up Annual #4, featuring Luke, Iron Fist, Daredevil, Moon Knight, and Spider-Man taking on the separate threats of Kingpin and the Purple Man. Overall the book hits all the right notes: Capturing the powerful transformation of Cage's life into heroics, his rising popularity as an African-American comic character, and his contemporary usage in pop culture. Fans of the character and the Netflix series will enjoy checking out this tome.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing was definitely better than the art. The art was kind of awful and inconsistent, like they can't decide what anybody looks like. This was written kind of like a throwback Power-Man, so a little hard to take at times. But the backup story was okay for a re-print, readable and not boring and not too ugly. I was hoping for a bit more, maybe even some character development - but not bad. 3.5 of 5.

[Lee Battersby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bog standard Marvel collection, putting together a random selection of stories about the character without serving to deepen the story arc or provide fresh understanding. A nice primer if you've never encountered Cage before, but nothing that can't be gleaned from following the comics for a while, and none of the stories within are standouts in their own right. Like the character of Luke Cage himself, it's solid without being outstanding in any way.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a mishmash of stuff. Some of the art was unpleasant to the point of distraction.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The name of the collection advertises it, but I find his Avengers time less compelling, and this was full of it. It feels too busy, is set during plot arcs that I don't like, and the artwork is kind of lurid and hurts my eyes. Also, they seem to have really damseled Jessica Jones. I do not believe having a child has to make you that much of a wreck. Anyway, not my favorite.