"Avoid London. Area closed. Turn on radio"

Above is the sign greeting motorists attempting to enter London via the motorways. No posts yesterday as I spent a dread-filled morning ringing round friends who work in the centre of London, checking if they’re unharmed. My thoughts and sympathy go to the friends and families of the victims.

Soundtrack of my Skull:

Here’s what I’ve been listening to (or what my brain has been insistently playing during my waking moments):

Do Me Bad Things: Time for Deliverance – a great British band, that I had the pleasure of seeing live many moons ago, imagine Gladys Knight and the pips and Dr. John and the Ramones and Brett Anderson (from Suede) all up on stage playing together, literally this band has 6 different singers, combining Soul, gospel, glam, punk and swamp rock all in one heady mix, go get the debut album Yes! Today.

Bonsai Kittens: Poor Johnny – So damn good!

SWEET MAMA MARIAH!

And so we come to issue five of Luke Cage Hero for Hire, the debut issue of writer Steve Engelhart. After last issue’s battle with a ghost (in fact a midget strapped to circus strongman, jinkies!), Steve tries to go more urban with Black Mariah! A four hundred pound lady crime boss who talks like Gambit.

In this issue Luke interrupts a knife fight between a black cinema-goer and a couple of racists, who end up killing the movie lover. Luke calls the widow of the film fan and tells he the bad news. Meanwhile an ambulance takes away the body, even before the police get there. Luke smells something fishy, so after being hired by the dead cinephile’s wife, tracks down his missing body.

But what starts as maybe an interesting conspiracy thriller, along the lines of Eric Roberts-cinematic masterpiece The Ambulance, turns out to be a simple theft. Black Mariah is the criminal mastermind, who steals dead bodies and then picks heir wallets for cash. And that’s it.

Then Cage and her fight, and its embarrassing Luke Cage vs. a really fat woman. That’s Entertainment!

Engelhart tries to save the whole mess, by having the widow walk away disgusted by Luke’s apparent greed, but its so contrived it fails.

I’ve just read this great interview with Engelhart, Isabella and Wein (all early writers on Luke Cage) on Pulse, so I hope that the stories will improve.