A new face in She-Hulk, Luke Jacobson, is more than just a fun character; he is actually another glimpse into the history of Marvel comics.
The fifth episode of Marvel‘s newest series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, recently premiered on Disney+. The show follows Jenn Walters (Tatiana Maslany), a lawyer who also happens to be a Hulk, as she attempts to survive the courtroom, her dating life, and those who keep trying to attack her.
Episode 5 – which is titled “Mean, Green, and Straight Poured Into These Jeans” – features Jenn going to court over copyright infringement, while her friend Nikki attempts to get her some new superhero threads from a designer named Luke Jacobson (Griffin Matthews).
The character himself may be a walking stereotype of a designer – fit with a disdainful demeanour and sophisticated accent akin to Edna Mode – but it turns out that there’s a lot of history behind him.
She-Hulk references another super fashion designer
Now, Jacobson may be the one helping out the main hero in this show, but he has actually been featured as someone needing help in a previous Marvel comic. And no, we don’t mean the She-Hulk comics.
He has actually featured in a comic series that you’ve probably never heard of: Dakota North.
Dakota North is a short-lived series that ran from 1986-1987, and was written by Martha Thomases and drawn by Tony Salmons. As an official synopsis reads, “She’s the Marvel Universe’s most stylish detective – Dakota North! She’s smart, tough and no-nonsense, and if you have a problem, she’ll solve it.”
Essentially, the comic was about a detective named Dakota, who would travel in and out of the Marvel universe solving fashion-related crimes, such as saving supermodels – including Mary Jane Watson – from a serial killer. She was also seen alongside characters like Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Power Pack.
How does Luke Jacobson relate to Dakota North?
So where does She-Hulk’s Luke Jacobson appear in the Dakota North comics? He was actually her very first case.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
In the comics, Luke was an award-winning fashion designer who, when his fashion line and life were being threatened by business rivals, hired Dakota as his security. She ended up saving his life, and then became his muse.
So while he shares little visual similarities to actor Griffin Matthews, comic Jacobson shares a similar love for designing tough outfits for tough people.
One big contention for his character was that he was shown to be straight in the comics, even asking Dakota to marry him, though this was not what the writer of the series, Martha Thomases, had intended, telling The Comics Journal that Jacobson was based on “my friend, the fashion designer David Freelander, who died of AIDS in 1987. I had wanted the character to also be gay and HIV+, but [Marvel] said that wasn’t why people read comics. I suspect that, if the series had continued, we would have gone there.”
Sadly, the series only lasted for eight months, and Luke only made appearances in issues #1, #2, and #5, so he wasn’t able to be developed much as a character. But Thomases did try to hint at his sexuality, as seen below.
As the Dakota North series wasn’t considered to be part of the main Marvel universe, She-Hulk is actually Luke Jacobson’s first step into the superhero foyer.
And as stereotyped as his television counterpart may be, he is still somewhat fun to watch, so let’s hope we see more of him!
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Episode 6 will premiere on Disney+ on September 22.
