The Luke Cage Syllabus: A Breakdown of All the Black Literature Featured in Season Two of the Netflix Hit

***Some spoilers for Season Two of Netflix’s Luke Cage*** As someone who thoroughly enjoyed the first season, I was hoping for the best, especially since the Marvel Comics Universe has taken some critical hits after Iron Fist and The Defenders were released. I had my moments of crinkling my nose at the Carhartt collaboration, the bad subtitles for Jamaican patois. Although I enjoyed the 1990s hip hop references, especially when they were well-choreographed fight scenes set to a Wu-Tang classics like “Protect Ya Neck” or Luke Cage’s stiff little dab in the first episode, but the richest aspect of season two is how it expands on the identity of black people converging in New York City. As this season unfolds, the references to hip hop and books differ from season one, but we go deeper into other diasporic influences—blues, reggae, kung fu movie style, and gang culture peek out as influences too. In the first episode, Luke is holding Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the popular collection of essays address blackness and masculinity in America.

Luke is chilling on the couch with Claire when he closes Charcoal Joe by Walter Mosley, another Easy Rawlins mysteries—which he seems to enjoy, if you remember his reading choices from season one. Nina Simone is a sonic presence in several episodes from episode one to mid-season. It’s easy to find any number of “greatest hits” compilations by Simone and there are a few biographies, including I Put A Spell On You: The Autobiog…