When I was a kid in my early comics-reading years, I remember having a grin on my face a mile wide when I first saw this character. Luke Cage is the first black superhero to star solo in his own ongoing title. It didn't matter to me that he didn't exactly talk like any black person I'd ever been around -- to this day I've never heard anyone say "Christmas" as an exclamation -- because, well, he was the first to star in his own title. That makes him a pioneer of sorts.
Here's something else you probably didn't know: Luke Cage, during the entire run of his first series, never said the words "Sweet Christmas!" He'd sometime say "Christmas!" and other times say "Sweet Sister!", but he never said "Sweet Christmas!" People merely morphed the two together over the years. Hat tip to Kurt Busiek for that piece of useless trivia.
Here, Luke is depicted in his post-disco shirt and metal headband days, but pre-bald head and goatee look that he sports today. Who would have ever thought that Luke -- who served only brief tenures with the Fantastic Four and the Defenders -- would go on to not only join the Avengers, but to lead the team. He's also now a married man and a father, although his wife and/or new baby might possibly be a Skrull. And although that's certainly unpleasant news for Luke, I can actually think of an upside to having a wife who can assume the shape of any individual. I'll leave it at that.
One of the cool things about commissioning art is that you occasionally can find a budding talent before he finds big fame and fortune at one of the Big Two. Ryan Odagawa used to draw a series for Image Comics called "DV8." He's done some other work that I'm less familiar with, including some work for Marvel. I was lucky to him to draw everyone's favorite hero for hire, and if his prices are still as low now as they were then -- he drew this several years ago -- then it would be well worth your while to get him to draw something for you.
You can commission Ryan through his website at Odagawa.com.
Special thanks goes out to fellow CAF gallery owner, proud new dad, and former food taster for Victor Von Doom, Brian "Marvel Two-in-One 76 Guy" Sagar. Brian once again used his mutant abilities to merge two half images into the single image you see above. He's one of the great guys here on CAF, and definitely not a Skrull.
