CABLE #103 REVIEW

[Brandon Yates]

<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/cable-103.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/cable-103t.jpg" align=left alt="Cable #103"></a><b>Reviewer:</b> Brandon Yates, brandonyates@zentertainment.com
<b>Quick Rating:</b> Excellent!
<b>Story Title:</b> Viktor, Viktoria

After being shot in the head in Macedonia, Cable teams up with a Serbian scientist, Viktoria, and gathers clues about a certain double-dealing profiteer known as Goldberg.

<b>Story by:</b> David Tischman & Igor Kordey
<b>Script by:</b> David Tischman
<b>Art by:</b> Igor Kordey
<b>Lettered by:</b> Randy Gentile
<b>Colored by:</b> Chris Sotomayor
<b>Assistant Editor:</b> Lynne Yoshii
<b>Editor:</b> Andrew Lis
<b>Editor-In-Chief:</b> Joe Quesada
<b>President:</b> Bill Jemas

This isn’t your daddy’s Cable. Dad’s Cable spent most hours of the day worrying about the Apocalypse, or at least some guy who had that name. This new Cable is a vagabond who topples corrupt, foreign governments in his wake, with a little help from his guns and his powerful telekinetic abilities.

I haven’t read a clone-story this good since... well, since... hm. Moving on...

Nathan Summers, Cable, joined forces with a scientist who used to work for the Serbian government, and they set off to stop the evil machinations on both sides of the cold war between the Serbs and the ethnic Albanians.

A quick recap: the Serbs are synthesizing a virus that attacks persons with ethnic Albanian DNA, while the ethnic Albanians grow human clones in an underground laboratory probably for dubious purposes. Cable is hot on the trail of the latter facility (after blowing up the former) while a new player in the game, Goldberg, shows himself. Goldberg is an “government sponsored instigator” of sorts. He instigates conflicts between two militant factions and once they’re done beating on each other, leaves the door open for other governments and NATO to sell their wares (road repair, medical treatment, etc.) leading to more profits.

Though Tischman will be leaving the book soon, I’m enjoying his take on Cable more than I ever thought I would. This is my favorite Cable-in-Kosovo issue so far, as the hero is more of a presence this time, as are his powers. I'm not interested in a silent-Cable who defines himself by his actions. That's more like PUNISHER territory, and, in my opinion, doesn't work well with a character many times seen shouting commands to his fellow soldiers/teammates. I hope Tischman keeps Nathaniel Summers in the forefront for the rest of his all-too-brief run.

Igor Kordey, obviously, has outdone himself with this month’s issue more along the lines of the excellent New X-Men fill-ins he’s done recently. He has a keen eye for angle and perspective and, enhanced by a brilliant light-effect courtesy of Chris Sotomayor, it makes for an awesome second page. If you doubted Cable's telekinetic power level, you'll be pleasantly shocked by that scene, a scene that should be enough to draw you in just by its sheer cinematic flair.

The stakes are raised when a scientist who worked on the DNA virus is sniped while on the street, and Cable discovers the secret location of the hi-tech Albanian laboratory. I’m assuming there will be some Chow-Yun Fat style theatrics once next issue begins, but that’s the thing about Cable - you never know what will happen next.

<b>ART:</b>
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<b>STORY:</b>
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<b>OVERALL:</b>
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Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://www.x-worldcomics.com/x/bstore/newbooksmain.html) and save!

[rougueboy]

Ok, so I'm starting to like the new Cable. It's nowhere near as good as Weinberg's or Casey's, but it's pretty good. But am I the only one who thinks Igor Kordey's art really isn't very good? I mean, the couple issues he's done on New X-Men looked ok, but his work on Cable is not as good as everyone is giving him credit for. Cable doesn't have the TO virus anymore, right? Then why is his arm still drawn like it was when he had the TO virus (unless it's an artificial arm, in which case I apologize for not knowing)? And why does Cable look deformed half the time, along with most of the other people? And don't get me started on the backgrounds. Anyway, I guess I'm just curious as to whether or not I'm the only one with these opinions.

[unit04]

thank you rogue boy i thought i was crazy! kordey's art doesn't really appeal to me, its not bad but it's not all that spectacular to me.

[rougueboy]

well, at least i'm not alone

[Freezerburn]

I'm not too fond of Igor's art, either. It suits Cable better than NXM, however.
Since the techno-organic virus devoured a good portion of the left side of his body, he still has the bionic remains of the virus. And it wasn't like his body was going to heal up and replace an arm, leg, and an eye,

[Brandon Yates]

Kordey's art, at least to me, seems like an "acquired taste." At first, I didn't care much for art either, but then it grew on me and now I can't imagine CABLE without it. And then, of course, I was blown away by his New X-Men issues, where you could tell that he worked extra hard to keep that book as visually stunning as it has been since the revamp.

Does any other Kordey fan want to get in on this?

[charm]

I thought this issue was brill!. The first few pages when Cable returns form the dead are excellent. I really enjot Kordey's artwork, I think it totally suits the current take on Cable, which I think is among the best. Kordey has returned Cable to his beer drinkin', gun totin' best.

I like all the different angles and views, I think there is a great feeling of movement and energy created on the pages. I also like the colouring.

There is alot of difference between this and Ryan's Cable and although I enjoyed Ryan's run I much prefer Kordey.

Charm

[Brandon Yates]

whew... "better late than never."

[Plagioclase]

Originally posted by Freezerburn
I'm not too fond of Igor's art, either. It suits Cable better than NXM, however.

I like him better on New X-Men. His work doesn't fit Cable, in my opinion.

Since the techno-organic virus devoured a good portion of the left side of his body, he still has the bionic remains of the virus.,

I'm just curious: In what issue was this explained?

And it wasn't like his body was going to heal up and replace an arm, leg, and an eye,

Why not? That bullet-hole in his head healed up right well.

[Monolith]

Originally posted by Plagioclase
I'm just curious: In what issue was this explained? Why not? That bullet-hole in his head healed up right well.

Cable divested himself of the T-O virus in #100. Also, we aren't certain that the bullet actually pierced Cable's flesh. The concussion alone might have been what knocked him for a loop, with the bullet itself caught by a hastily-erected TK shield.

[Plagioclase]

Originally posted by Monolith
Cable divested himself of the T-O virus in #100.

I've read #100, but it doesn't go far in the area of explaining as to why his arm is still techno-organic in appearance. In the past, whenever Cable had a T-O flareup, its effects were most observable through his arm. Now, with the greatest change in the virus's hold over him (its removal), there is no reflection whatsoever in his arm. It does not follow.

Also, we aren't certain that the bullet actually pierced Cable's flesh. The concussion alone might have been what knocked him for a loop, with the bullet itself caught by a hastily-erected TK shield.

That would make sense, but by all the blood present in the issue and even on the cover, I'd believe that it at least pierced his forehead. I was more inclined to believe that Cable has evolved to his utmost psionic potential, and he has discovered an ability to reconfigure matter at a cellular level to mend flesh, as Phoenix had shown the ability to transform her attire at a molecular level in the past. I suppose we'll have to await further explanation in the title.

My main contention with my comments is to suggest that with Cable's expulsion of the virus his body should have been capable of repairing his arm and eye so that they would appear normal, and would not retain their T-O composure. In the past, when Prosh caused a breakdown in Cable's control of the virus, or when the High Evolutionary suppressed the mutant gene with the same result to Cable, the virus claimed more of his body and ravaged his flesh. But when Prosh left for space, and the High Evolutionary's work was undone, Cable's body mended itself and reverted to his default appearance. Why, then, should his present situation be any different from similar events in his past? No virus should equate to an all-human Cable.

[charm]

/Q/ That would make sense, but by all the blood present in the issue and even on the cover, I'd believe that it at least pierced his forehead. I was more inclined to believe that Cable has evolved to his utmost psionic potential, and he has discovered an ability to reconfigure matter at a cellular level to mend flesh, as Phoenix had shown the ability to transform her attire at a molecular level in the past. I suppose we'll have to await further explanation in the title . /Q/

This is what I thought happened too - too much blod for a TK field. With regards to Cable's arm, leg etc, I thought only new incursions of the virus had been previously eradicated ie whenever the virus retreated previously, it only retreated from new areas of infection, hence, Cable retained the virus in th eoriginal sites of infection.

I agree with Monolith's explanation that Cable couldn't regrow his arm / legs etc and currently doesn't have the wherewithal to alter their appearance. It'll be interesting to see how this will be dealt with - possibly in #104, where he's supposed to be somesort of tranforming Cable (?!!!).

Charm

[jono]

i thought Cable's arm was amputated when he was a child in the Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix in order to stop the techno virus and that part of him really IS cybernetic.

[Monolith]

Originally posted by jono
i thought Cable's arm was amputated when he was a child in the Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix in order to stop the techno virus and that part of him really IS cybernetic.

Not at all. His arm is where the techno-organic virus has been concentrated for all these years, but it is still his arm.

[acheronw]

Originally posted by Monolith


Not at all. His arm is where the techno-organic virus has been concentrated for all these years, but it is still his arm.

yeap I'd agree with this. And maybe this is the reason the TO residues remain on Cable. Maybe he cannot 'mend' these parts due to his long time exposure of these body parts to it and their advanced mutation by it. And I would also agree that Kordey's art is at least not appropriate for this book. I don't know if his work on NXM was good (or at least in my opinion tolereable) but the book lacks a lot by his art...

And a little info for the not-knowing out there: Macedonia is called, historically at least, a territory in Greece and not the new-found state of F.Y.R.O.M. as it is called. I'm not a hot-headed ethnicist (far from that I can assure you) but some things are obvious for those who know their History. That said...