LUKE CAGE VOL. 2: CAGED!

Walker's second volume of Luke Cage is sadly a bit too predictable and simplistic to really recommend. After the tragic events of the first volume, Luke takes a solo road trip to clear his head only to run afoul of an isolated town that has fallen under the mental control of the Ringmaster (a two bit hypnotist villain). The D-List enemy has greatly increased his powers via exposure to a strange toxic substance discovered under the prison outside of town. Ringmaster quickly assumes control of the prison and surrounding populace to mine more of the substance for his own use and enthralls Luke as well. The main arc thus devolves into a rehash of Luke's days in prison with Cage becoming an unwilling laborer in Ringmaster's base. The art also takes a step down from the stronger first volume unfortunately. The idea of sending Luke back to prison could be interesting, but it feels a bit too played out (as with the first volume too many plot elements seem reminiscent of the recent Netflix show). The best issue is actually Walker's final one which sees Luke at home with Jessica Jones and their daughter telling a wild make-believe story to the latter. Seeing Luke at home and as a father is easily more interesting than anything with Ringmaster and it makes me wish that Walker had spent more time on such a setting (the author seems to agree as a thank you note from Walker accompanies the final issue of the series and laments that he didn't get more time to explore this part of Luke's character).

This would make excellent fodder for a future season of Luke Cage, if the series runners allowed him to trek across the U.S. Suspenseful and emotional.

The last story in the book- the last story in that run of Luke Cage is really fun and a remarkable piece of writing and art- get issue 170 if nothing else. The rest of the books is an average story marred by not very interesting art.