As several philosophers will tell you, all things eventually transform into their opposites. To see the proof of that, we need look no further than the final three episodes of Luke Cage Season 2. Luke (Mike Colter), who has sought to avoid shifting from Harlem’s hero to just another destructive force hurting his neighbors, finds…
Episode 7 ended in a bloodbath (Comanche, Piranha, Captain Ridenhour, Mariah’s brownstone), so it’s no surprise that Episode 8 has the cops rushing in and taking things over. We’ve come to that point in the crime story where the damage has grown so great that law enforcement starts getting the bulk of the face time.…
The only difference between the poor and the rich, according to a highly disputed piece of conventional wisdom, is hard work; conventional wisdom also says that the only difference between crime and legitimate enterprise is the law (this can also be disputed). So at what point does a criminal’s hard work result in legitimate success?…
One difference between a comic book story and a crime story is the amount of face time given to the villain. In the early days of comics, only the heroes had to make tough choices; villains rarely stayed around beyond a couple of issues. In contrast, a crime story gives its dangerous characters a chance…
After a slump that had Luke Cage getting wheeled on a gurney for almost three whole episodes, Cage and his show come roaring back to life in Episode 11, shielding decent people with his indestructible frame and sending bad guys to the floor with flicks of his wrist. As I said in my first wrap-up,…
Like a lot of story types—Westerns, soap operas, romantic comedies—there are limits to what superhero tales can deliver. You don’t have to read too many Marvel or DC comics before you start seeing familiar patterns and structures, and when you translate those comics to the big and small screens, you don’t break free of those…
In 1994, Marvel Comics released a four-issue comic book miniseries by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross called Marvels, and it was built on an interesting concept: It told the stories of four classic superhero encounters from the point of view of an average-joe bystander named Phil Sheldon. Phil witnesses the Submariner battle the Human Torch…
Luke Cage arrives on Netflix with a lot of cooks throwing a great many ingredients into the pot, and while that’s usually a recipe for disaster, the show isn’t just passable, it’s goddamn amazing. It’s hard to pick out the single greatest element (the music and the way it’s used may even be superior to…
One of the factors that distinguishes a costumed vigilante from another is their attitude towards crime. Does a caped powerhouse see villains as foe to be bested, in a kind of high-powered sports rivalry? Are criminals more of a societal problem—a sign of a communications breakdown? If you’re Batman, you might see a gun-wielding mugger…
The history of comics is a catalog of creations that began as throwaway entertainment and ended up succeeding far, far beyond what their originators could have ever predicted. The pair of Cleveland boys who came up with Superman sold the rights to their character for $130. The Hulk originally only lasted for six issues before…
