Review of Marvel Comics Max Comic Cage

Luke Cage, Power-Man, Hero-for-Hire hasn't had a good run since the 70s. Back when comics were simple and you could get away with wearing a yellow polyester disco shirt that even the brokest pimp wouldn't be caught dead in. The modern update of Cage leaves me yearning for those ugly shirt days.

The story opens in a strip club where some poor woman only wants her daughter's killers brought to justice. Seeing as the police never bother them self with that sort of thing she hirers Cage. Cage takes pity on the woman and takes the job. The men who killed the daughter were aiming for another man who got away. He runs a local hood so Cage starts there. He finds there is money all around and intends to get himself some.

To make a drawn out story short: three people had competing interests in the block. Cage could see this and works them against one another making money from whichever side will pay him all the while. Come to find out the city is going to gentrify the hood anyways. So the gangsters are fighting to see who gets to run the new hood. Cage makes it out just fine and the fate of the remaining gangsters is left up to the reader.

The art leave much to be desired because it makes everyone look like a monster. In the opening of the comic Cages forearms are the side of country hams Most the time you're wondering what direction the action is taking because nothing looks natural. The fights are awkward and confusing at best.

Cage comes off as flat and unoriginal when compared to the Cage featured in the series Alias. This Cage is only worried about money and booty while I can understand the preoccupation I am not bullet proof and do not call myself power man. The entire time I read this if no one has called him Luke Cage I would have assumed he was just a big guy. The whole story feels like a Blaxploitation film not a superhero comic. Of course it's the Max line and it's supposed to be edgy, but really all the extra sex and violence only detracts from the story. Luke Cage is a personal favorite of mine, but he never seems to catch a break. Azzarello's Cage brings nothing new to the Character like so many revamps of the past.

Power-Man who is just as strong as Captain America or Spider-Man is left battling three hoods in a ghetto for money. Other critics rave that Luck Cage has finally been written with a black voice, but if this is really the best black voice you can come up with then I'd just rather go back to the itchy shirt and paling around with Iron Fist.

In closing Cage is only for die hard Luck Cage fans anyone else should pass it over without a second thought. The story is undirected and thin. The characters are unoriginal because they can be seen in any Jim Brown movie. Read the trade for the introduction and nothing more.