Luke Cage goes to jail

Earlier today, Newsarama broke the story that as part of Marvel's new Heroic Age, my main man (and yours) Luke Cage will become the leader of a new team of Thunderbolts when the series shifts directions come May, with current author Jeff Parker still at the helm.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, since the late 90s the Thunderbolts have been the stars of Marvel's team book featuring supervillains who are acting as heroes. As Newsarama reporter Chris Arrant rightly points out Thunderbolts has been one of Marvel's most "metamorphic" books. When it got its start, they were a team of supervillains masquerading as heroes during a time when all of the Avengers were sealed in a pocket dimension. As time passed, they learned that doing good was actually quite rewarding and strove for redemption. In its most recent incarnation the team has been SHIELD HAMMER Director Norman Osborn (aka the Green Goblin)'s crack team of assassins. Entering this new Heroic Age, the book will again be about redemption and the team will be based out of an island supermax prison with Luke Cage as their redemption coach and taskmaster.

My first thought was, "Well, I'm going to be reading Thunderbolts come May." This is, of course, the natural response to any time Luke Cage is included in any comic book. I was hoping he would be on the roster of Ed Brubaker's Secret Avengers, but hey, it's good to know he'll be around and I like Jeff Parker. (And if Wolverine can be in three team books, there's still hope.)

Then I read this gem from the Newsarama interviewer:

let's speak first to their new leader – Luke Cage. I know he's not back in prison, but Cage is an ideal person to lead up these criminal rehabilitation-cum-team program – his origin was him in prison where he traded parole for taking part in an experimental procedure which gave him his powers.

Yes, of course, because Luke Cage was once abused by a guard and then experimented on in prison while serving time because his former best friend planted heroin in his home, that makes him ideal to rehabilitate sociopaths.

Neither of the Marvel guys contradicted the interviewer or pointed out, "Well, yes, for a crime he didn't commit..." And while I agree with Jeff Parker's assertion that, "Luke knows a thing or two about justice, hard choices and second chances," so does, y'know, Spider-Man and Captain America and really any superhero that's interesting to read.

One can list off reasons why Luke Cage is a good leader all day. I mean, the man frickin' lead the Avengers at one of the roughest points in their history and that was a team full of lone wolves. That being said, it seems fairly obvious that he's been picked for this spot because he's the major Marvel superhero for whom having served time is an integral part of his character. And since his aesthetic so caught up in that of 70s blaxploitation film, it's not hard to put two-and-two together why he's the Avenger we most associate with being a criminal despite the fact that the only two crimes he's ever committed (excluding those on Latverian soil) were escaping from a prison where the guard literally tried to kill him by locking him in a chamber of superheated experimental chemicals and violating the Superhuman Registration Act. I just don't know how I feel about the only black Avenger being the guy they send to prison to rehabilitate their former foes.

You know, Hawkeye actually was a criminal who redeemed himself into being a superhero and nobody's hollering, "Hey Clint, you done time, why don't you come lead the Thunderbolts."

I can see Luke taking this on, because he's pro-social like that and has a really strong sense of the individual's responsibility to his/her fellow humans. I'm just afraid that's not what the comic is going to be about.

Let me lay it down. I hate it when Luke Cage is written all hard and bad ass. Don't get me wrong, he's a bad ass, but he's also a softy with a really good sense of humor. I don't want to read umpteen issues of Luke Cage, Ex-Con Hard Ass Laying It Down On Ghost For Misbehavin'. He's more charming than that.

I'm also probably bitter because I deeply want a Heroes For Hire book starring Luke, Iron Fist, Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, Jessica Jones, and everyone's babies written by, say, Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker with someone awesome on art. But, I guess till dreams come true, I'll be reading Thunderbolts.

Rest assured, I'll let you know how I think it is.