Marvel Cancels ‘Luke Cage’

Marvel Comics is officially bringing Luke Cage to an end.

The fate of the ongoing Luke Cage series was in doubt when the series did not appear in Marvel Comics’ March 2018 solicitations. Now writer David F. Walker has confirmed that February’s Luke Cage #170 will indeed be the series’ final issue.

“Sad but true…Luke Cage (the comic book, not the TV series) has been cancelled,” Walker tweeted. “Issue #170 is the last (and best) of the series. Oh well, on to other adventures. Thanks to everyone who supported the series.”

Walker went on to get pretty candid about the reason that Luke Cage was canceled and the state of the comic book industry as a whole.

“Time to get real…Luke Cage was cancelled because it sold poorly. VERY poorly. There are various factors that contributed to those poor sales, but they all add up to the same conclusion.

“The success of superheroes in film, television and video games ONLY carries over to comics when people actually buy the comics. Truth is not many people buy comics. Of the top 10 best selling comics in November, only four sold more than 100,000 units. That’s sad.”

This makes Luke Cage the sixth confirmed casualty of Marvel’s recent round of cancellations, joining Generation X, Hawkeye, Iceman, Jean Grey, and The Unbelievable Gwenpool. Like these other series, Secret Warriors and Defenders are also missing from Marvel’s March 2018 solicitations. While those two books have not yet been confirmed as canceled, Secret Warriors writer Matthew Rosenberg did comment on this recent round of news.

“There is no bloodbath of cancellations,” he Tweeted. “Some books end so new ones can take their place. That’s just the cycle.”

The Mighty Captain Marvel was also missing from Marvel’s March solicitations, but writer Margeret Stohl assured fans that the series has not been canceled.

“Concerned Citizens: nope Captain Marvel has not been canceled & we are hard at work on all things Carol Danvers even now!” tweeted Stohl.

Mark Waid similarly dispelled concerns about Champions possibly being canceled after the book appeared in the March solicitations with a synopsis seeming to hint at a team breakup. “Book’s not going away, not cancelled. No worries.”

Guardians of the Galaxy was also confirmed as canceled recently, though that cancellation is making way for the Infinity Countdown series.