Rating: 3.5/5 – Fans of Luke Cage unite!
Sneaking this review in before #2 comes out on Tuesday! This was a decent #1 issue, saved by Al Ewing’s dialogue. It’s touted as an Infinity tie-in, which is technically true, but we get just a taste of that in this issue, it will be in #2 where we get a full-on confrontation between Luke Cage’s Avengers and Proxima Midnight.
There’s a lot of good characterization here, and we get to catch up on Luke Cage’s home life. Fans of the new Power Man from the 2011 mini-series “Power Man & Iron Fist” may also want to check up on the latest adventures of this young urban powerhouse. Monica Rambeau, who I’ve liked as a character for a long time, has not been in a Marvel series I enjoyed since Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. (she was in 2010’s Heralds mini-series, but that was not very good, as I recall). She’s back, calling herself Spectrum now, and has apparently spent the last 3 years undergoing hair straightening therapy.
We also get Otto Octavius aka Doctor Octopus lately aka The Superior Spider-Man. He’s not Spidey, but he’s pretty darn entertaining, especially when spouting zingers like “Listen to your intern, Cage. Your grubby little operation can find some other company to sponge off. Horizon Labs is under MY protection.”
All-in-all, this was a good 1st issue, I’ll be back for #2. If you like Marvel teams where the banter between the members and views into their personal lives is as much a draw as their action against the bad guys, this should be right up your alley.
Reviewed by: Bob Bretall – bob@comicspectrum.com
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I would say a 3.5 as well. An ok first issue, but I’m not sure how long this series will last.