Cage (2nd Series)

(Marvel, 2002)
™ and ©2002 Marvel Characters, Inc.
Listed as “Volume 3” in the indicia, but this is actually the 2nd Cage series from Marvel.

Luke Cage is not a nice man. He sleeps with strippers, and swears a lot, and breaks the bones of people who annoy him.

One of the flagship titles of Marvel’s much-ballyhooed MAX imprint of mature readers’ material, Cage tells the story of a man prepared to “take care a’ things the police can’t,” dispensing a crude justice on the streets of inner-city New York. Actively eschewing the typical super-hero modus operandi, Cage accepts the money of the destitute and hopeless, who hire him to take on the true “super-villains” of the bad side of town: the Mafioso, gangstas, and corrupt cops who pose far more of a threat than super-powered maniacs in outlandish costumes. The urban landscape and its denizens are brought to life admirably in detailed, uncluttered artwork by penciller Richard Corben.

Through effective use of first-person narration, writer Brian Azzarello confronts the reader with the sense that Cage is an introspective man, but that he has seen too much in his life, and knows too many unsavory things about human nature, to turn his back on those in need. It is these altruistic qualities that draw Cage into trouble repeatedly, and that keep him grounded, just barely, on the side of the angels.

No, Luke Cage is not a nice man. But, he just might be a good one.

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