Clip It: Each day, Jon Davis looks at the world of trailers, featurettes and clips and puts it all in perspective.
Many years ago, when I was in college, I made one of the most consequential decisions of my life. I quit X-Men. It was not an easy decision. I had read every single X-Men comic since I was nine years old. Back then, we had three X-Men books we need to follow if we wanted to keep track of the X-Universe: New Mutants, Uncanny X-Men and X-Factor. By the time I was in college, the number of X-titles had ballooned to a second X-Men series, X-Force, Generation X, Cable, Wolverine… the list went on. It got to the point where I said to myself: Can I really commit to my humanities classes if I'm too bogged down in X-Men lore? I could do both, but will I go outside? Will I meet people? I went to college in NYC, so it seemed like I should take advantage of that. As Nancy Meyer once said, something's gotta give. I had to pare down my comics hobby.
When it comes to super-heroes, I've never been good at doing anything halfway. I'm either reading the entire line of a shared universe, or I've thrown in the towel. I read the New Universe and the Ultimate Universe till they dropped. It helped that if I wanted to be a completist for those comic book worlds, I only had to follow four titles a month.
When it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I can handle two movies a year. But then came there TV series, and now all these Marvel/Netflix shows. That's a lot of hours, man. I have a family! I have life goals! There's only so many visits I can take to the bathroom – where I can watch something without anyone asking me to be “social” – before someone notices my absence. There was a tipping point where I stopped reading shared universe comics altogether, and I think I've reached the same with Marvel's filmed entertainment. No one says you have to watch all the Marvel stuff to enjoy it, but I'm OCD, so it's all or nothing. Usually.
I have to make an exception for Luke Cage. If I didn't already believe in my heart of hearts that Luke Cage is the hero we both need and deserve, Ol Dirty Bastard's “I Like it Raw” has sold me. I always thought this ditty was an ode to unprotected sex, but I just looked at the lyrics, and it turns out I'm wrong. Either way, I'd rather the song be about Luke Cage and all his handsome bravado. Cage is the one of the all time Marvel greats, and for him, and him only, I will make an exception and give him thirteen hours of my life. While I'm in the bathroom. Don't judge.