From the looks of my Poll in the left Column people are into anything X-Men. I can’t say I am really surprised they do represent one of the most successful comic book series to date. I am just not a huge fan of the X-Men. It’s not even hate, it’s always disappointment as the team has great storyline ideas, but their comic book(s) seem to lack focus and are constant tools for sales with every crossover imaginable happening. I won’t even count the number of offspring series the X-Men have.



However there was a series I was excited about starting up and it was at a perfect point in the X-Men universe. House of M raised the bar and diminished the community. Endangered Species explored the social ramifications and tried to address the problem. Messiah Complex wrapped everything up and brought hope to a community on the brink of extinction. So what Cable #1 was or is carrying with the series and he is truly the beginning of a new chapter in the X-Men universe.



For those of you lost after the events of House of M when the Scarlet Witch diminished the ranks of the mutant population with just 4 words, “Daddy…No More Mutants” the world of the X-Men spiraled out of control until Messiah Complex when a baby girl was born with the mutant genetic code. The first born after the House of M series and as far the whole mutant community is aware the only and possible last. Cable took the baby and began time jumping to protect her. That’s where we pick up with the story Duane Swierczysnki and Ariel Olivetti are crafting. Unfortunately in the first issue the story is just not crafted well. We get very little information that we want from a first issue in a series, which answers pretty much the 5 W’s. The artwork is great, but the action and the way it aides the story is mediocre. All in all it was a pretty boring and bland #1. I really felt like canceling my subscription, but I said I would give it another 2 issues.



What we get out of Cable #1 is he is playing single dad trying to protect his baby girl. Would be even more interesting if we got to see that in the panels, but what we get is a lot of talk about strategy in fighting in order to protect the child while it is hidden by a cloak or Cable’s large hulking body. So we never get to feel drawn into the protector in the character or a sense of whom he is protecting.



Cable #2 did very little to help the series. As a matter of fact it could have been called Bishop #1 and it would have made no difference. This issue follows Bishop’s action in order to hunt down Cable. It’s funny that now both of these future mutants have mechanical arms on opposite sides I thought. Either way here goes another problem I have with the issue here we have two bruisers who are hopping through the time stream which is something I hate because I can just see another spin off coming down the road that will deal with an alternate reality, crafted and written as if it actually happened in order to sell more comics. The two of them are having a tough time though with locals, non-mutants?



Either way this series isn’t turning out so well. Ariel Olivetti’s art is great, but there is nothing dynamic about it in these first two issues. Everything looks kind of ordinary even the text. Nothing about the series is really leaping at me to say, read more, is what I am trying to say. At one point in this issue Bishop and Cable are actually squaring off and everything is inner thought on the strategy of fighting rather than actual fighting. It’s a dull fest and I really like Olivetti’s art. We even get a flashback of Bishop being blasted by Cyclops; this looks oh so dull even for Ariel Olivetti. If I had to draw two regular guys squaring off these panels would probably have more weight. When I am drawing Bishop and Cyclops or Bishop and Cable I just expect more. Do not confuse Swierczynski with Straczynski, I doubt many will, but what one was able to do with 3 issues of the revived Thor franchise the other is finding difficult to do with the Cable franchise. IGN rates this 8.5 out of 10, I am giving it a 6 out of 10 rating, due largely in part to the visual.

We will get back in the saddle at least once more with this series and see what Swierczynski has up his sleeve. In the meantime for those who are reading this series let me know what you think, drop a comment. We will be getting back into the saddle with our VS Reflections series and creating more Thor cards, but look forward to some Nova and Cable interpretations as well. Also vote for Darkseid Revenge over on the VS System Network. Link is in the upper-right column of this blog. Scans were taken from IGN.COM previews. I'll probably change them out for others later on with scans of my own.