Credits: Written by Fabian Nicieza, pencilled by John Romita Jr, inked by Dan Green edited by Bob Harras.
Cast: Cable,/Nathan Dayspring Askani;son, Domino/Neena Thurman, George Washington Bridge, Garrison ‘Weapon-X; Kane, Eisenhower ‘Hammer’ Canty, Grizzly, Mrs Canty, Sumo, Dragoness, Wildside, Sally ‘Skids’ Blevins, General Clarke, Behenel, Reaper, Zero, Samurai, Rusty Collins, Foley, Stryfe.
Plot: (Flashback) The Wildpack (Cable, Domino, GW Bridge, Hammer, Grizzly & Garrison Kane) have been hired to visit Iran and blow up a corporate headquarters. They need a distraction, so they free some hostages as a smokescreen and kill a lot of bad guys. They’re working for a European guy called Tolliver and are keen to do more.
(Present Day) Several of the Mutant Liberation Front (Sumo, Dragoness, Wildside and Skids are breaking into is breaking into L’Museum D’Orsay in Paris, to steal an antique sword. They easily dispatch the museum guards, but the guards aren’t the only person there, Cable is there and immediately shoots and kills Sumo. Dragoness, Wildside and Skids escape via Zero and Cable is left with the dead body of Sumo and the sword they were stealing. Curious why the MLF’s leader Stryfe is interested in an antique sword, Cable pockets it and leaves through his own teleportation method, bodysliding.
GW Bridge from S.H.I,E,L.D. is visiting Department K in Newfoundland, Canada and is asking to see Weapon-X. I know what you are thinking, another Wolverine appearance? Really? But this is the new Weapon-X, Garrison Kane, who is testing his repaired bionic arms. Bridge tells him about Cable’s attack in the museum and Kane is confused. He saw Cable’s face behind Stryfe’s helmet. Why is he killing members of the MLF, his own people after abandoning X-Force? He realises that he has to look at Cable differently and goes to see an old friend.
(Flashback) Hammer drags Kane out of a bar for a job, more work from Tolliver. (Present day) Kane visits Hammer and his mother, seeing Hammer confined to a wheelchair, something he blames Cable for. Kane uses that need for revenge to get information on Cable’s safehouses. In Cairo, Cable talks with Benehl, a contact of his and sees that the design on the sword matches other items, a Buddhist wall scroll, a Mayan necklace, an Egyptian Heiroglyph and a Japanese shogun mask. Two of them already have been stolen, the mask is in the posession of the Yashida family in Japan, the Heiroglyph is in the same build they’re talking in.
Three days later, the enforced patience pays off and Dragoness, Reaper, Samurai and Rusty Collins appear through Zero’s portal and head for the heiroglpyh. Cable is upon them before they know what hits them, shooting off Reapers hand and shooting through Collins’ arm and with wrist mounted gun, into Dragoness’s body. This MLF team in disarray, retreats, leaving Reaper’s severed mechnical hand.
(Flashback) We’re in Austria and Tolliver’s consigliere Foley has hired Cable’s merc team for a new job and suggests that they change their name, since Silver Sable is trying to trademark it. Kane is searching for beer and finds both it and inspiration for Hammer, Wild Pack, becomes the Six Pack. Then the Six Pack are in action at the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan facing off against Soviet mechs and make short work of them. The question arises why the mechs were there and Domino finds a hatch leading to a secret underground base. The Six Pack investigate (for no reason, which doesn’t go unmentioned) and after defeating an army finds it’s leader Stryfe.
(Present day) Cable is at his Swiss safehouse when Weapon-X crashes in and the pair get into a knockdown drag out fight. Both of them are half metal at this point and it gets brutal until Cable gets the upper hand, asking why, why Kane is there, what he wants. Then Kane activates an until this moment unheard of hologram emitter and sends a 3D image of his memory, facing Stryfe who shows when removing his helmet has the same face as Cable. Cable is shocked, struck dumb with this new information. He and Stryfe have the same face.
Notes: If any character epitomises the 1990’s it is Cable. He first appeared January 1990 in New Mutants 87 and quickly became that title’s standout character. It bled from the grim’n’gritty 1980’s to the excesses of the 1990s, he was big guns and clenched teeth, spoke in mystery and cliches and had an agenda that differed from that of the other X-titles at the time. He had a convoluted back story that involved two different clones, time travel, ancient mutants and alien technology. There are those who can’t stand this character for these things he represents, but I am not one of those people. Cable is effectively Kyle Reese from the Terminator. He’s come back from a dystopia that is all he remembers and wants to prevent the only world he knows from coming to pass. This story really only has two interesting things that can happen. He fails, or he succeeds and that really can only happen once. In Cable’s case, there’s a third part of it, Stryfe. Stryfe is the wildcard villain from the world that Cable comes from, not trying to maintain the power of the established authority, nor is he trying to remove it, to make a better world like Cable. Stryfe wants chaos. He wants to rui the world and play in the ruins. This is interesting stuff, if played correctly.
This mini-series bridges the gap between Cable’s tenure in X-Force and the X-Cutioner’s song, which I looked at here. It adds texture to his relationships with GW Bridge and the second Weapon-X. Cable has done some damage, but it’s unclear to almost everyone why. This issue doesn’t answer that, but it tells you that there are answers somewhere. The mystery isn’t solved, only a layer or two is pulled back, but honestly, that was enough to get me interested.
Verdict – Writing 3 out of 5: Fabian Nicieza has a knack for dialogue and some nuance, but none of that is here. Due to the nature of both the type of story being told and the characters involved, we mostly get cliches and tough guy declaiming. Chewing the scenery is somehow a pre-requisite for being in this comic. At the time, this felt cool as s**t to my teenage self, now it just seems ridiculous, yet somehow it works. The plot jumps between past and present well enough and we get to see how the character’s changed over the years. Well except for Cable, he is who he always was, but you can tell Stryfe is something different.
Art 4 out of 5: John Romita Jr’s style at the time was big and blocky. He fits perfectly with the shoulder pads, pouches and unwieldly guns he is given to draw. Everyone looks on point, yet 100% JR Jr’s spin on that character. His Cable is huge, almost a bodybuilder in his size, dwarfing everyone around him, but that works for this kind of story. It’s large two fisted action and that was something that this vintage of JR Jr did exceptionally well. The pads are big, but guns are ridiculous and everyone’s taking this far too seriously, but it works really well when set against the most 90’s of dialogue.
Overall – 7 out of 10: A solid issue 1 that is as good today as it was then, just maybe I see it differently now. I’ll be glad to read the next issue and see if the whole thing holds together as well.
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