Genndy Tartakovsky is the creator of Samurai Jack, Dexter”s Laboratory, Star Wars: Clone Wars (the 2003 series), as well as having varying degrees of input on Powerpuff Girls, Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, etc. This man basically was the reason I watched television as a child, and his style in writing, cinematography, and tropes are a huge influence on, etc as an aspiring creator myself. To me, he is a genius, and I don’t think his work is appreciated enough. Even his Hotel Transylvania movies are better then they have any right to be, and with Samurai Jack FINALLY premiering its fifth and final season on Adult Swim next month, I would like to encourage those comic book nerds out there to go get Caged!!
A four issue miniseries that focuses on Marvel Comic’s Luke Cage (set in the 70s), wouldn’t be the first thing I’d expect from his first big outing into comic books, yet here it is. 9 years in the making, this is Tartakovsky’s take on Luke Cage, a big, loud superhero just trying to pay the bills fighting crime.
Plot-wise, this comic is simple, and is very all-ages (somehow, of course he pushes it further then most creators of our time do when children see their content). Cage is humorous and exaggerated, as well as the plot, villain, and side-characters. It is massively entertaining, and feels like a early 2000s cartoon at its finest. The action steadily builds up to a ridiculous, fantastic finale, and I encourage all of you to read this even if you don’t care about Luke Cage, as it is comic entertainment that is unmatched. Tartakovsky is only concerned with telling a classic Luke Cage story of punching through the problems and preserving through the hardest of trials, and his style stands tall and large even on the panels of a comic.
Style. That word defines Tartakovsky more then anything else. His art style is very exaggerated, colorful, and loud. Cage towers over the other characters, and seems to literally crush criminals in his hands, and everything and everyone is in a colorful palette that screams 70’s fashion.
It never feels like a parody of the classic Power Man, but rather a love letter, and only he could do it in this way to make it feel like that. Of course, there are sections of the comic with little to no dialogue, but what is interesting here is that when there is dialogue, it is very ‘street’ to match up with the style of Cage, which is shown in some of Tartakovksy’s work but it is very different to see on the forefront. There is a character who rhymes every line of his dialogue as well, which is very humorous. The entire comic is extremely funny actually, and I cannot believe how much effort and detail is in every panel. Even a cheesy ‘narrator’ talks over the pages.There are some interesting choices made that I don’t want to give away here, but man, he had complete freedom here, and it pays off.
I really hope this isn’t Tartakovsky’s last partnership with Marvel, and I want him to do more series like this. I loved this series, and this Saturday morning cartoon comic book is one of the best things I’ve read in a long time. Go read “Cage!” fool!!!
The Fan Men 