6 Questions About This Fall's Luke Cage

Edited by Robert Beach 

This Friday will mark the premiere of Marvel’s 3^rd Netflix series in the 2^nd season of Daredevil. However, that won’t be the end of Marvel and Netflix’s partnership this year as they’ll also be launching a new series this fall. Coming September 30^th Marvel’s Luke Cage will premiere on Netflix. Luke has already debuted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing as a supporting character in last year’s hit series Jessica Jones.  

It was established in the series that Luke already has his super powers from the comics of enhanced strength and unbreakable skin. It’s also been confirmed Iron Fist, Marvel’s next proposed Netflix solo hero, will have some part in Luke’s outing. Beyond that, we don’t really know much about the Luke Cage show, so I’ve put together a list of major questions about the upcoming series. 

Static Thoughts - X-Files: Pusher

One of the majorly anticipated events of 2016 is the return of the X-Files, a genre show from the ‘90s that lasted 9 seasons, 2 movies, and served to dominate the sci-fi landscape in that decade.  Seriously, Star Wars may have been king in the ‘80s and Terminator was an early wonder of the ‘90s but it was X-Files and Star Trek that truly ruled the ‘90s sci-fi conversation and with good reason.  X-Files managed to grow from a ‘90s curiosity revolving around conspiracy theory Americana like big foot and Area 51 into an incredibly tight and well written horror sci-fi series that was the first time cops and the paranormal were combined in the mainstream. 

The entirety of genre TV has been impacted by the X-Files, with some additional points even into mainstream television, like how Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan got his start on X-Files.  One of Gilligan’s episodes is my subject for today’s review, a season 3 installment called ‘Pusher’ that revolves around a disaffected sociopath with the power to psychokinetically impose his will on people.  Basically, the titular Pusher is like the first draft version of Kilgrave, the villain of 2015’s hit streaming superhero show Jessica Jones.

Panel Vision - Jessica Jones Season 2, What To Expect

So, Jessica Jones seems to be a bona fide hit with audiences, a major success that’s earned Marvel all kinds of critical acclaim and plenty of audience accolades as well.  It’s a major win for Marvel Studios, another example of how well they can convert obscure properties into crowd-pleasing hits while also proving just how dark, complex, and adult the Marvel universe is willing to be.  With all that said and considering it’s been a week since the show’s premiere I think it’s time to start talking about Jessica Jones season 2. 

That might seem a little premature but by comparison Daredevil had its second season confirmed after only 11 days so it doesn’t strike me as too early at all.  Now, as this post is going to be discussing what could come next I’m going to have to dig deep into what’s already happened so this article will contain spoilers.  If that’s a problem for you don’t read ahead, instead go watch the show, it’s excellent. 

Panel Vision - Alias

So, Jessica Jones has hit Netflix everywhere and the response has been pretty much overwhelmingly positive.  A lot of critics seem to love it, myself included, and there seems to be enough popular support that I wouldn’t be surprised if a second season got announced over the next couple of weeks.  It’s easy to see why the show has touched such a chord with so many, firstly because it’s just a really well made show.  The writing is excellent, the cinematography solid, the set design and lighting is superb, and the actors are all in top form.  More than that, the show has taken the bold stance of touching on a lot of very controversial and raw subject including, abuse, PTSD, rape, dubious consent, and privilege. 

All of that is relatively in line with the comics that spawned the series, 2001’s groundbreaking comic series by Marvel comics architect Brian Michael Bendis: Alias.  Published through Marvel’s MAX Comics line for adult content Alias pushed the boundaries of modern comics and helped Bendis get his foot in the door to create the Ultimate Universe and eventually take over the reigns of power at Marvel and extend greater relevance to now key characters like Luke Cage and Carol Danvers.  All of which is nice because aside from the book’s importance…it’s really not that great.

Jessica Jones: All Trailers & Photos

So, we are officially one week away from the premiere of Marvel/Netflix second venture of the year as well as this year’s second, solo female led Marvel production: Jessica Jones.  As the premiere rumbles towards us there’s been a steady drip of teasers, trailers, photos and more so I’ve compiled everything we know about the show so far in one easy spot.  This will cover all of the important photos and trailers you might need to watch and break them down to get an overall sense of the tone and content we’re going to be getting from Marvel’s big Thanksgiving release.  So, let’s talk about Jessica Jones. 

Jessica Jones Netflix Show Details & Logo

Edited by Robert Beach

Marvel’s new Netflix show Jessica Jones has finally made some tangible progress with a premiere date slotted for October and this spiffy new logo debuting. We’ve also started getting some detail as to the focus of the show and how it will adapt the groundbreaking Alias comics where Jessica Jones first appeared. For those of you who’ve never heard of Jessica Jones or Alias, her story is that she’s a woman with super powers who acted as a low-level superhero for a time before retiring to the role of superhero private investigator after a traumatic experience when she had her mind enslaved by the villainous Purple Man. The mind enslavement stuff was part of what made Alias a groundbreaking work in the early 2000s and walked hand-in-hand with author Brian Michael Bendis’ other popular early superhero comic Powers, which was itself turned into a PlayStation Network streaming show. 

The crux of the matter was Jessica Jones was raped by Purple Man using his mind-control abilities, and the experienced cause her to leave superhero life but still bring justice simply as herself, no secret identities required. It was an important work then and still is now given it’s an instance of rape in comics where it's actually used well and not just for cheap shock value. Though the attack itself doesn’t take place during the series, it hovers over the proceedings in a non-intrusive manner as Alias balanced a tone between harsh grittiness and some lighter tones. As for the show Jessica Jones, let’s take a look at what we know: 

Panel Vision - Emperor Doom

100^th Post, hurray for arbitrary milestones.  To celebrate I’ve decided to take a look at a forgotten Marvel classic from the late ‘80s entitled Emperor Doom.  Emperor Doom was the 26^th installment in a now forgotten Marvel imprint known as Marvel Graphic Novels.  Marvel Graphic Novels was a line of super-sized one-shots that lasted throughout the entire ‘80s.  Though it started with things grounded in the Marvel universe like Emperor Doom, The Death of Captain Marvel, or The New Mutants it eventually branched out to more non-superhero fiction like Jim Starlin’s Vanth Dreadstar or Steve Gerber’s Void Indigo.  Despite having faded into relative obscurity now Marvel Graphic Novel was a great series and I’ll probably come back to it again in the future, however for right now we’re here to talk about the amazing insanity that is Emperor Doom co-starring the Mighty Avengers.