Marvel Should be Doing More With Luke Cage as Mayor

At the end of, "Devil's Reign," in the early months of 2022, a number of notable things happened. Matt Murdock faked his death via his, "Brother," actually dying (it's complicated), the Kingpin fled New York City (to later turn up in the X-Men comics as his wife is a mutant) and Luke Cage became mayor of New York City. Now, you would think a superhero as mayor of NYC would be loaded with potential and that Marvel was ready to launch a, "Mayor Luke Cage," ongoing. Well, you'd think wrong. Besides his popping up in some titles briefly, Marvel has (so far) wasted a golden opportunity with Luke Cage as mayor. This is Marvel's chance to do their, "Ex Machina," series and that was a damn fine comic (a lot of credit for it being great goes to the creative team of Brian K. Vaughn and Tony Harris, of course). Plenty of folks on Reddit have complained about this lack of Luke Cage and even a crappy website like CBR noticed Luke Cage being mayor has had little narrative impact in Marvel's books.

All of this said we are finally, yes finally, getting a comic focused on Luke Cage as mayor...and it is a thankless tie-in to the latest Spider-Man event, "Gang War." More than a year since Luke Cage became mayor and that's it? Now, I am pleased we are getting something, and I am sure the creative team of Rodney Barnes and Ramon Bachs will do their best to give us a solid story. That said, I want more! Give me a comic where Luke Cage engages in fighting crime via his political office and getting down and dirty. Touch upon the complexities of a Black man who was once incarcerated by the very Governmental system he is now a part of and how Cage handles these dynamics. It's a golden opportunity and would probably sell decently--why are you leaving money on the table, Marvel? As long as Luke Cage remains Mayor of New York City in Marvel's comics for a while they might finally give us a series focused on him. For now, though, we get an event tie-in, Cage appearing briefly in some random comics, and that's it. Such a bummer.