Cage Matches: Luke Cage's Greatest Hits

Luke Cage was the first black superhero to star in his own title. He was born out of what is called by some the "blaxploitation" era. It was time when you could go to the movies and see a private black dick that was a sex machine to all the chicks -- I'm talkin' bout Shaft -- and Pam Grier was the sexiest thing my adolescent eyes had ever seen on a big screen. Anyway, Marvel jumped on the bandwagon and introduced a title called "Luke Cage, HERO FOR HIRE," and the rest, as they say, was history.

Although Luke didn't quite talk like any of the black people that I knew and grew up with, it didn't matter to me. There was Luke shrugging off bullets and smashing steel, something no hero of color had ever done. Add to that his endless trash talkin' -- albeit pseudo street-slang -- and well, that meant I'd be picking him up off the spinner rack every month. Luke, you had me at "Christmas!"

And by the way, Luke Cage NEVER, EVER said "Sweet Christmas" during the entire run of his first series. What he said was "Sweet Sister!' at times, and other times he'd say "Christmas!" and over time fans just morphed the two phrases together. The great Kurt Busiek taught me that little trivia tidbit.

Anyway, I'll always have a fondness in my heart for the old H4H/POWER MAN series. This gallery will be devoted to capturing some of what I consider to be Luke's most memorable moments, including some not-so-memorable ones. But they were all fun to me, and I hope you'll get a kick out of going down memory lane with me as some of the most talented artists in the biz help revisit Luke in all his glory.

In closing, a special hat tip to my fellow CAF member and friend, the incomparable MICHAEL RANKINS, whose brilliant mind came up with the name "Cage Matches" for this gallery. Certainly beats the one I came up with, "Luke Cage fighting people and stuff."