Could Luke Cage Season 2 start the road to another Defenders series?

So, this has been an idea which I've had in my head for a good few months. Ever since watching Luke Cage season 2 (which I feel is far superior to season 1, much like everyone else), I've found myself thinking about where the show and it's sister shows of the Marvel Netflix universe could go, even going so far as to chew my co-worker's ears off about my ideas.

Now, I have been putting off writing up this idea I'd had because I really wanted to make it something in depth. However, now that the terribly sad news that both Iron Fist and Luke Cage have been cancelled, I felt that there was little point standing on ceremony and just get on with describing how I think that Luke Cage season 2 could have been the beginning of the road to the Defenders season 2.

Beware!!! Spoilers may occur for Luke Cage season 2, Iron Fist season 2, Jessica Jones season 2, Daredevil season 3, the Immortal Iron Fist #1-27, Daredevil #1(1998)-121, #500-512 and Shadowland #1-5!!!!

You have been warned!!!!

The story so far...
So, the Defenders have all come to the forefront and, subsequently, joined forces to vanquish a common (rather dull) foe before going their separate ways again. Of those Jessica Jones has gotten involved with some conspiracy regarding the people who gave her powers (in truth, I really didn't get into this series and have yet to complete) and then came Luke Cage's second season.

In season 2, Luke Cage has been continuing his life as the hero of Harlem, seemingly relishing in the celebrity that his heroics seem to entail him. However, with the introduction of Bushmaster, this celebrity status appears to wane and Harlem sees him in a more antagonistic light. This, along with the seeming impotence that Luke feels in being unable to adequately protect Harlem, he chooses to forgo the title of Hero in exchange for becoming the 'King', a role which is validated when he's bequeathed the figurative throne in Harlem's Paradise by series villain 'Black' Mariah Stokes-Dillard.

However, this is implied as something of a poisoned chalice as the series draws to a close. Indeed, as she writes her will, Mariah explicitly reveals her motivations for handing over her livelihood to Cage, as she believes that while he will attempt to use it as a force for good, power will inherently corrupt and he would end up becoming the villain.

The Defenders - Season 2!!!
So, that is where things essentially ended, With Luke Cage taking a more powerful role within Harlem, although the question is, at what cost?

Iron Fist season 2 continued this question as it ended, with Misty Knight (having guested throughout most of the series) informing her partner in crime Colleen Wing of the change in Luke and how her newly acquired power (of the Iron Fist, which she took from Davos, who took from Danny. It makes sense if you watched the series) might be the only weapon available to take him down.

And it's this which I think would've been an awesome storyline for a second series of Defenders, to see Luke Cage corrupted by the power he now wields and his former allies of Matt Murdock, Jessica Jones, Danny Rand, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing joining together to stop him and/or bring him to his senses. Now, there are a lot of plot holes in this, namely that only Colleen and Jessica could, theoretically, be a match for him, but I'm sure when thought about it could be a really great idea. This series would possibly culminate in Luke coming to his senses and the destruction of Harlem's Paradise to signify his saving from the Dark Side.

Essentially, it would be an adaption of the Andy Diggle Daredevil event; Shadowland.

What is Shadowland?
So, for those who never read it, the Shadowland took place from #500 and saw Daredevil gain control of his enemies, the Hand. Intending to use this newfound power as a force for good, Daredevil was ultimately corrupted by this power and the Shadowland event began after his senseless killing of Bullseye. However, by the end, with all of the Marvel street level heroes joining forces to stop him, it was revealed that Daredevil had been possessed by the Hand's deity, the Beast.

Now, Shadowland is not widely regarded as a high tier Daredevil story. In truth, I didn't mind it personally but felt it the man without fear's 'possession' was ham fisted and ruined a good story about power corrupting. Also, I didn't think that the lead up to this was a bit short and could have done with an extra arc or two to really cement the turn to villainy.

That said, regardless of the shortcomings, it was an idea which (in my opinion) had some merit and the parallels between where the story started and where Luke Cage season 2 ended just look too similar to pass up loosely adapting the concept to work with Cage as the lead instead of Daredevil.

The road to Defenders.
So, how would we have gotten there? Well, if we had been lucky and nothing was cancelled then I think we'd have probably gotten another series of the four core characters under our belt to feed us to the big battle. Each of these series would have essentially been a series long 'vs' battle for each of the characters on a deeply personal level.

First up there would obviously have been Daredevil season 3 (which I'm about half way through at this point). Having watch half, I've already gotten some theories on how it will end. First of all, Matt Murdock (who I realised has had quite the emotional journey, going from a vigilante to a symbol to wanting to be just Murdock and now just Daredevil) would find the balance he has always craved between his two lives. He would send Fisk back to Prison and defeat Bullseye (although I'd suspect Karen would have died as she did in the Guardian Devil run (#1-6 by Kevin Smith) and bury the Hatchet with Foggy, who would win to become District Attorney.

Meanwhile, Agent Nadeem, the financially insecure FBI agent, having had his reputation tarnished by putting his faith in Fisk would have learned that Murdock is Daredevil and, in order to make some money, would sell this information to the New York Bulletin. I can imagine the final scene of the series would be Foggy picking up a paper to reveal the headline 'Matt Murdock is Daredevil.'


And so, that would set up series four, which would cover much of the Bendis 'Out' storyline (between Guardian Devil and Shadowland) and would essentially by Nelson vs Murdock and D.A Nelson would be torn between upholding the law and protecting his friend while Murdock would have to figure out how to be Daredevil under a greater level of scrutiny.

Meanwhile, across town it would be Jessica Jones series 3, which would in a sense be Jessica Jones vs the World. Now, while I'm not clued into where series 2 ended I do know that she gains some sense of normality. Now I believe that this normality would be threaten by the likes of Hogarth and Trish, both of whom sought out IGH previously and she would have to come back into her life to put an ended to her creator's legacy once and for all.

In Iron Fist, I would have like to have seen series 3 focus on the Brubaker/Fraction and beyond run of the Immortal Iron Fist. This would have seen adaptations of the last Iron Fist story and the Mortal Iron Fist as Danny and Ward would seek out Orson Randall in an Iron Fist vs Iron Fist story, a prior Iron Fist who went into hiding to escape a killer of Iron Fists, hoping to use Davos' plan in the prior series to create a scapegoat of sorts for this killer to follow instead.

This would lead to a notion which Ed Brisson's recent Iron Fist run introduced whereby Danny would absorb the chi and Iron Fist power from Orson and Colleen, who would spend the series realising she doesn't need the power to be a hero, in order to become powerful enough to defeat this killer. The end of this series would then hint at the seven cities of Heaven story as well as the eighth city for a future series.

And finally, Luke Cage season 3 would be Luke battling himself as he straddles the line between continuing his life as the Hero for Harlem and becoming the crime boss Harlem's Paradise creates in him. As stated, this would be a loose parable of Shadowland as Luke finds himself making more and more questionable decisions which should, towards the end of the series, bring Colleen over for a guest fight between the two. By the end, Luke should become truly villainous, thus leading us into a second series of Defenders.

Of course, all these thoughts by me are a little bit moot now, with the cancellation of both Iron Fist and Luke Cage (and probably the rest if my cynicism is to be believed) but I did like the depth at which I seemed to go on this idea and, therefore, I figured it would be worth sharing.

Besides, it might all still be salvageable and Marvel/Netflix may continue to go on.

And if it does, do let them know that I'm for hire!!

The Boycott Dilemma.

I hadn't planned to post anything here this, instead deciding to focus on other things I am currently working on. However, recent news and revelations have gotten me thinking a little bit on this dilemma and so I figured why not.

So, I was reading this morning about Chuck Wendig and the recent news (from the last two days) that he had been fired by Marvel from his work on a Star Wars book because his Twitter Feed was too negative. Now, I've looked around and read up a bit on it and found that while Wendig might actually be this way naturally, it's more than likely a reaction to critics and haters being directly negative against him for certain reasons.

(But what do I know?)

Now, my opinion on this. Assuming that this was done to curb any negative backlash by those critics against Marvel, I think this is below the pale and a pretty shitty move by Marvel to fire a man for circumstances which are beyond his control. Also, even if it was Wendig that caused it with his 'political' views, why should he be punished for voicing his views (as long as they aren't hateful towards others of course).

Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

I've been pondering on this subject for much of the last day or so now upon finding and reading about this story. If a publisher does something despicable or not in line with your own personal beliefs, should you boycott that publisher's comics?

Take the soon to be released Red Dead Redemption 2 as an example (yes, not a comic book but bare with me). I've been reading over the internet that RDR2's creative studio, Rockstar, have been forcing their workers to partake in 100 hour weeks. Now, that I find sickening as, being someone whose mental health has suffered over the years, know what seriously long working days can do to you. Therefore, I would probably give RDR2 a miss as despite it being a gorgeous looking game, my money wouldn't go direct to these creators who sacrificed their lives but to the shareholders and that doesn't sit well. However, on the other hand, if everyone was like me and no one bought it, the company may go under and all those overworked people may end up with no work at all.

(I probably won't buy it because I don't have time to run through a 60 hour campaign, making this moot, but it works as an example.)

The same, I feel, applies in comics. Over the last few months, I've seen/heard stories about publishers effectively 'screwing over' their talent in various ways or supporting creators whose views I find seriously upsetting. From placing restrictions on general creative submissions to giving Alt-Right individuals platforms and (as stated) dismissing talent on the basis of standing up for themselves, I feel that some publishers are either showing their true colours or simply not willing to use their influence to protect the less protected.

So, this brings me to the thought which is rattling around in my head; do I boycott these publishers and their works to make a point with my dollar, the only thing they understand? Or, by doing this, am I taking my 'ethical superiority' (for want of a better description) out on the creators of those books I boycott?

I find this something of a dilemma because the books I pick up I enjoy and don't really want to give them up. However, if I punished publishers for their jackassery then I end up losing everything. An example of this (though without any names) is there is one small publisher who has released an good number of really interesting series, all created by really cool creators. However, this publisher has done some questionable things in the last few months and were I to boycott their titles in response then those creators would lose money from a story they have out their heart and soul into and doesn't make them a high wage in the first place.

I found things a little easier when I was thinking of titles as when the Divided States of Hysteria by Howard Chaykin was released, I thought it a somewhat interesting title to try. However, upon learning online of it's contents I couldn't, in good conscience, bring myself to give money to something like this. Now, maybe I should have judged it for myself and maybe it was not as bad as the internet claimed, but I don't regret my decision and if anyone thought I'd made a mistake... well, that's just how it'll have to be.

However, it's murkier waters when it comes to a cool looking book being sold by a suspect publisher. An example of this is Super Sons, which I really wanted to pick up back when Rebirth started. However, the editor on that title was one Eddie Berganza (who is famous for his own reasons) and, because of his 'supposed past', I felt uncomfortable picking this up as it seemed like I'd be condoning his actions. However, because of this, I felt bad that I didn't support the work of the writer/artist/Inker/Colorist/Letterer who gave their all on this book.

The same applies here with these new ponderings, as I find myself unsure whether to avoid titles in some sort of 'protest' or to continue to buy what I want on the condition that if the creator shows themselves to be against what I consider 'appropriate' then I will most likely give their title a miss.

In the end, I've been told by my wife that I 'talk a good talk', which means I will probably just let things slide and keep doing what I do. In the end though, maybe I'm just a little disappointed in myself that I can't/don't do more to follow up on what I think is right in my little corner of the world.

That said, maybe I'm more disappointed that these companies who products I enjoy reading can't grow more of a spine to have the backs of those who create said products.

The death of the single issue?

This is the last of my 'Big 3' blog posts, following on from the culling of my collection and rose tinted glasses, this was another though which popped into my head of late.

Now, when I say the death of the single issue, I don't actually mean the death of the concept within the comic book medium. In fact, what I mean is that I wonder if the single issue comic book has reached it's end within my life, my reading and my collecting.

I've been collecting single issues of comics for what must be going on 11 years now, originally starting with Marvel/Panini reprints from the local newsagents before moving on to original single issues when my first local comic book shop opened with my opening comic being Fantastic Four #551. Since then, my collection has grown away from trades and more into the single issues of varying numbers over the years.

Recently, however, my circumstances have changed which have me questioning whether the purchasing of single issues is really the best way forward when it comes to my comic reading.

There are three factors in particular which have me pondering on this and the first of these is space. The reason for this is because (as stated previously), my second child is due early next year and, due to a lack of space, the spare room where my comics are held is required as a nursery. However, I have no where else that I can place these long boxes (well, the attic but I'm fearful of what the conditions would do to the comics) meaning that even 'if' I find a home for what I have, where would I place new comics).

As a consequence, I find myself leaning more towards trades and digital because, with the latter, I can store as many comics as I like onto a tablet or, with the former, I can collect a single book collecting 6 issues which, when you take into account bagging and boarding, would take up more space when I get the 6 single issues.

Then, there is the financial aspect of buying single issues, which I am always conscious of (being an accountant). This is because, with a single issue of a print comic, I am spending $3.99/£3.60 (per my LCS), which isn't exactly an insignificant amount. However, I recently purchased God Country as a trade which cost me £14.99 for 6 issues, whereas I'd have been spent £21.60 on those issues individually.

In fact, even buying the singles is cheaper digitally as comixology would have sold them for £2.49. Both of these options make for a more appealing option than print singles, especially given that I'd be unlikely to sell them on for the same in the future.

Finally, upon my mission to re-read much of my collection, I've discovered something rather disconcerting about single issues; they are a real nuisance to re-read as a story arc if you bag and board them. This is because of the time it takes to unseal the bag, remove the book, read it, place it back in the bag and seal it up again before repeating, all the while ensuring that dogs and kids with messy hands don't mess them up.

When I think about the alternatives, whereby a trade gets me six issues in one without all the collectorisms or digitally means the next issue is a button press away, this option of buying singles becomes less and less enticing.

The thing is, while this is more a statement regarding my life than it is the world in general, I do feel that this way of thinking by me is very much a microcosm for the comic book industry in general.

That said, it's more conjecture than fact and hopefully it isn't true.

Except for me because, come the end of my current series, I think I'm otherwise done with the floppies for at least the foreseeable future, if not for good.

Rose tinted glasses.

Last week, I wrote about the fact that, due to having another child on the way, I was engaging in a mass clear out of my comic books in order to make space.

This week, I thought I'd talk in a little more detail what how much of a pain the arse I'm finding that process.

The reason I'm finding it such a hardship comes down to one simple dilemma; is the comic series I'm considering for keeping actually worth my time and space?

Here's the funny thing, in the last six to nine months since I began the process of reading through my entire collection, I've discovered that many of the comic runs and series which I believed were a shoo in for keeping are actually below the standard I deem acceptable for saving.

As such, this has gotten me thinking, do we as comic readers wear rose tinted glasses when it comes to older runs and series which we haven't read in a while?

A case in point. I used to own Gail Simone's Birds of Prey run which exploded out of Brightest Day (and led into Flashpoint) seven years ago. Now, Brightest Day was a highlight of my DC reading at the time as I collected the Brightest Day main series, Justice League Generation Lost, Green Arrow, the Flash and, of course, Birds of Prey (I have an Atom one-shot too, but I'm not counting that).

Now, as I was doing my initial scan through my collection, deciding what series I should consider going, I came across all of these runs and made my decision based on how I remember enjoying them. Therefore, Green Arrow was a guaranteed sale (it was an awful run in my opinion), Flash and Brightest Day were on the fence (I recall Flash starting well but falling short while Brightest Day had good parts but not as a whole) while Justice League Generation Lost and Birds of Prey I recalled being stellar series that I was going to keep for sure.

However, when I got to reading Birds of Prey, I discovered/realised that it actually wasn't as impressive as I had initially remembered. The opening couple of story arcs were interesting enough and the covers by Artgerm were absolutely gorgeous (I especially love the issue 11 Catman/Huntress cover). However, by the end of this re-read I had reached a point where these issues just weren't grabbing me like I thought they did.

So, was this a case of 'rose tinted glasses', was I simply remembering these comics with a fondness because they were a part of the past; similar to how people look back at the 70's and 80's as a great time (although in reality it probably wasn't all that great when you lived through it)?

In fairness, it does have me wondering if maybe it's less about reminiscing kindly about the past as it is my ever changing tastes, like Ted (from How I Met Your Mother) finding a shirt he once hated now looked good on him. So maybe Birds of Prey was great when I read it then but, due to my change in tastes, it's good qualities are now wasted on me?

In the end, I'm not sure how classifying the reasons for such changes in opinions ultimately helps me, simply because it makes me doubt my opinion of literally every comic book I own and means that I will have no choice but to read every single one to determine what of my collection can stay and what can go.

And I thought my time was at a premium before just from reading the new stuff.