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Jul 1

Cable #11 annotations

Posted on Thursday, July 1, 2021 by Paul in Annotations

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

CABLE vol 4 #11
“Depression”
by Gerry Duggan & Phil Noto

COVER / PAGE 1. A close-up of young Cable’s face, with the Light of Galador superimposed on top. This is a companion piece for the cover of issue #12, which shows the other half of the older Cable’s face. The sword is placed over Cable’s eye, mirroring the familiar glow of Cable Classic’s left eye.

PAGE 2. Epigraph. Cable says the line later in this issue, but it’s at least a double meaning here, referring both to Cable’s knowledge of the future, and to the fact that the readers probably know where all this is going.

PAGE 3. The Five debate whether to resurrect Cable Classic.

Last issue, Kid Cable was pressing for the original Cable to be resurrected in order to help deal with the threat of Stryfe. As hinted at last issue, his plan seems to be to get the Five on side, and then use Cerebro himself to download the relevant mind. Hope is naturally keen to assist, since she views Cable as a father figure – and she makes the reasonable point that the Five are so essential to Krakoan society that they can never really be punished.

Over in Hellions and New Mutants, there have been stories regarding a strong policy against resurrecting copies and clones. Hope is well aware of this, and referenced it in issue #9. Interestingly, Professor X chooses not to object in this issue. This sets a precedent which will doubtless be prayed in aid over in New Mutants for Scout, and by Havok in Hellions for Madelyne Pryor. However, it’s a distinguishable precedent – earlier issues have shown us that these two Cables are the same person at different points in their lives, with Kid Cable’s arrival having altered their shared past, but without creating a divergent timeline. So the Five haven’t created a second Cable – they’ve resurrected the one and only Cable. There are two of them because of time travel, not because of cloning.

PAGES 4-5. The Summers family debate.

Cyclops remains strenuously opposed to resurrecting the older Cable. His reasons were spelled out last issue: he believes that once the older Cable returns, the younger one will return to his dystopian future. He wants to give Cable a new, happier history.

Apocalypse. Jean tells us that Cable has “made a very astute observation about Apocalypse and this family”, but we don’t actually see what it was. Last issue, Cable was wondering “Why the hell did Apocalypse do this to me?” Apocalypse, of course, is deeply embedded in Cable’s back story, both infecting him with the techno-organic virus and dominating the far-future timeline where Cable grew up. This version of Apocalypse sits oddly with the more benign version that we’ve seen in the Krakoan era, and Jean seems to be saying that the convoluted nature of Cable and his time paradoxes is all part of Apocalypse’s designs. (But if so, why did Apocalypse support the rule against reviving clones…?)

Sophie comes by to dump Cable, probably because the book is being cancelled. But Cable has been running off and ignoring her in favour of more pressing business for a couple of issues now, so it’s hardly surprising that she’s unimpressed with him. And her sister Phoebe is having a much more productive relationship with Quentin Quire, too. Sophie reverts very much to Stepford Cuckoos mode here, with the ironic distance, the lack of visible emotion, and the claim to speak on behalf of the group. (Though note also that the rest of the group aren’t there.)

The Last Knight of Galador is a new character, presumably. He somewhat resembles Rom, so it’s possible that this is meant to be Rom with sufficient modifications to sidestep licensing issues. Cable acquired the “Light of Galador” sword back in the opening arc.

PAGE 6. Recap and credits.

PAGES 7-9. Cable Classic is resurrected.

For once, this story does directly address the fact that Cable is brought back with his techno-organic infection, rather than uninfected. Of some note is that Proteus says that they “le[ft]” him infected – that is, they would have had to take positive steps to remove it. The implication here is that the husks created by the Five, presumably due to the reality-warping of Proteus, are not simply genetic clones, but (by default) actual copies of the deceased’s body, complete with prosthetics, pacemakers, adamantium and so on. That’s consistent with what we saw in New Mutants, where Karma was resurrected complete with her prosthetic leg.

Cable’s immediate concerns on being resurrected are to check that the virus is still there (presumably Apocalypse infected him with it for good reason and there’s a pressing need for it to remain), and then to embrace his daughter.

Cable mentions that he’s been on Krakoa before, presumably referencing his memories of being there as Kid Cable.

PAGES 10-12. Cable, Cable and Belle.

Belle, Cable’s AI from Uncanny Avengers, was mentioned last issue by way of foreshadowing.

Graymalkin II. This is new, but it’s the successor to Cable’s original Graymalkin base from the 1990s. It was mentioned last issue in the text page that introduced Belle, but without the numbering.

The TVA is the Time Variance Authority. Cable has indeed drawn their attention before, in the 2015 digital comic Deadpool & Cable: Split Second.

“In the days before Krakoa’s formation…” According to Belle, Stryfe has acquired Belasco’s spell book and planned to “sacrifice mutant babies and ignite a demonic invasion”, until Krakoa showed up and he started improvising. While Belle doesn’t say so in terms, Stryfe was apparently in possession of the spell that Madelyne Pryor was trying to cast in “Inferno” back in the 1980s.

Cable does mention in this scene that he had already tracked Stryfe to this alien dimension before getting killed. But it’s now clear that the scenes of Cable Classic which we saw in earlier issues of this series in fact take place during this issue – and indeed, he’s dressed identically here to the way he appears in those scenes. He also dusts off the vehicle that he uses in those scenes.

PAGE 13. Cable recruits Magik.

A bit of foreshadowing for some favour she’ll need to call in some day. As previously in Duggan’s stories, the marker is a literal marker.

PAGE 14. Data page. This is supposedly a history of the events in which the War Wagon has already participated, thanks to the wonder of time travel. We’re only on the second entry – the Summers War – but the timeline ends in 2015, so apparently the War Wagon eventually makes it through assorted time travel to a point in the past.

“1918: Tunguska racing catastrophe”. The Tunguska event was a massive explosion in Russia in 1908 (not 1918), generally assumed to have been a meteorite breaking up and exploding in midair. Presumably the suggestion is that Cable had something to do with it, and the date is a misprint. Reed Richards got materials for his rocket from the site of the Tunguska event. (No, really. He says so in Fantastic Four vol 1 #13.)

“1978: NYC blackout…” The famous New York blackout was in 1977, not 1978.

PAGE 14. Kid Cable recruits Deadpool.

Ah, we’re gathering the supporting cast for the big finale.

Deadpool was also angling for a spot on X-Force during the X-Force and Wolverine tie-ins to “Hellfire Gala”.

PAGE 15. Magik drops Cable off.

And this presumably leads into the scenes from earlier issues.

PAGE 16. Cable brushes the Last Knight aside.

As we saw last issue, he gave the sword to Cable Classic. The poor Knight is trying to get on with a completely unrelated mission, and is having to wait his turn while the title characters get on with things.

PAGES 17-21. The Cuckoos are recruited.

Esme gives a rather more emotional response. Clearly, she shares Cyclops’ interpretation that the young Cable is effectively going to tie up his business here and go back to a dystopian future, and she’s upset about that. In effect, by adopting this plan of action, Cable dumped the Cuckoos (and didn’t bother to tell them).

Hope and Prestige also join the mission, as we’re rounding up the whole Summers family. And, um, Deadpool, but Cable did have a long-running partnership with him.

PAGES 22-24. Cable in Stryfe’s dimension.

Stryfe only has five actual babies, but he’s cloned five more and figures that will work. Obviously that depends on potentially awkward questions like whether clones have souls and whether that matters to the spell.

Cable here picks up from the scene in the previous issue. He beats some of Stryfe’s demons, and plants a Krakoan seed so that the reinforcements can get here for next issue’s finale.

PAGE 25. Trailers. The Krakoan reads NEXT: IT NEVER ENDS.

Bring on the comments

  1. Krzysiek Ceran says:

    ‘I’ve cloned the five babies to have ten for the spell, it will probably work’. I have never liked Stryfe more than in this moment, it’s so adorably goofy.

    Well, let me amend that – I’ve never liked Stryfe, but the clearly intentionally silly way Duggan writes him appeals to me.

    And the hug with Hope was nice. Dad Cable is my favourite Cable.

  2. Chris V says:

    There have been a number of explanations given for the Tunguska event through Marvel history.

    It was explained as a spaceship explosion in an issue of Marvel Two in One, with the alien survivor appearing in the story.

    I’m pretty sure Warren Ellis gave a different explanation during the 1990s…I want to say in an issue of Druid.

  3. Allan M says:

    My fundamental issue with this series – that it was far too decompressed and not enough happened in any given issue – is turning out to be a benefit as it gets cancelled, since there’s not much to resolve. Whereas X-Factor had to make serious choices about which plots to tie up and which to leave, this run of Cable seems like it’ll end clean.

    I actually had come to like Teen Cable and am a little sad to see him go, but sales are sales, so welcome back, Cable Classic.

  4. Col_Fury says:

    I haven’t read this issue yet, but didn’t Madelyne’s spell require mutant babies? Did Stryfe mention anything about that, or just that he had to clone some babies?

    I wonder if the spell will fail for two reasons…

    Also, yes, it’s good to have Cable classic back. 🙂

  5. Claus says:

    “And the hug with Hope was nice. Dad Cable is my favourite Cable.”

    Seconded. Cable and Hope have one of the best parent/child relations among mutants (all the more remarkable as they spent most of her childhood in several dystopian futures).

    But if Kid Cable IS Cable Classic, and did not create a divergent timeline, does this imply that since Cable Classic first appeared in the present back in New Mutants #87, he would have had the memories of the time he spent on Krakoa as a boy? And never mentioned it?

  6. Drew says:

    “ But if Kid Cable IS Cable Classic, and did not create a divergent timeline, does this imply that since Cable Classic first appeared in the present back in New Mutants #87, he would have had the memories of the time he spent on Krakoa as a boy? And never mentioned it?”

    Not only that, but if he remembers Krakoa, then all of those “final” battles with Apocalypse where he was directionless and not sure what to do afterward were just really good acting, since he would’ve been well aware Apocalypse wasn’t dead

    Guh… please just go away, Cable. Go away and don’t return.

  7. Moo says:

    Off topic but I’m curious to know so I’m using the fact that Rachel is simply mentioned in Paul’s article as my justification for asking…

    Has there been a story yet where Rachel’s birthday rolls around? And I don’t mean just any birthday. I mean her exact date of birth. The exact day she *would’ve* been born were it her timeline and not this one.

  8. Michael says:

    “But if Kid Cable IS Cable Classic, and did not create a divergent timeline, does this imply that since Cable Classic first appeared in the present back in New Mutants #87, he would have had the memories of the time he spent on Krakoa as a boy? And never mentioned it?”
    We’ll see what happens with Kid Cable in the next issue. It’s possible that Kid Cable got mindwiped and the mind wipe only wore off when Classic Cable met Old Cable.

  9. Michael says:

    That should be “Classic Cable met Kid Cable”.

  10. Moo says:

    Plainly Cable Classic was once Diet Cable before becoming Cable Classic and Kid Cable is a separate Cable who’s meant to grow up into Cable Zero Sugar at some point in the future. That only leaves the question of whether or not Cherry Cable is a clone of Cable Lime. What’s so confusing?

  11. Chris V says:

    I always wonder what happened to New Cable from the 1980s. It seems like he only lasted for three months.

    Some people say that Kid Cable is just a marketing ploy to make people care about Cable Classic again, and that Kid Cable was never meant to be a lasting character.

  12. Allan M says:

    It only now dawns on me that we need a big Kang vs. Cable storyline. Teen Cable vs. Iron Lad! Classic Cable vs. Kang! X-Man vs. Immortus! Stryfe vs. Rama-Tut! Kid Stryfe vs. Marcus! A battle to the finish between the Summers and Richards dynasties, except all the combatants are basically the same two guys.

  13. Uncanny X-Ben says:

    Allan M- I would read that.

  14. Mark says:

    A relative of mine was deeply involved in the rollout of New Cable in the ’80s and he swore that tests showed people really did like New Cable better. The introduction wasn’t a gimmick — it was, as they say, the real thing.

  15. Dave says:

    “Not only that, but if he remembers Krakoa, then all of those “final” battles with Apocalypse where he was directionless and not sure what to do afterward were just really good acting, since he would’ve been well aware Apocalypse wasn’t dead”

    The (classic) Cable solo book, right after The Twelve, explicitly demonstrated that the future timeline where Cable was raised was gone, so he did still have reason to be directionless. It does now seem, though, that he should have been wondering WHY that version of the future was gone.

    I’ll now begin trying to work out when Rachel’s DOB should be.
    In 1980 DoFP was set 33 years in the future. In Marvel time, around 8 to 10 years have past since ‘1980’. Marvel editorial would probably prefer going with the lower end of that to keep characters from ageing too much, but the time skips in some of the comics actually published in that time would push it to the higher end. Anyway, that means as of now a DoFP setting should still be around 24 years away. Since Rachel was still a teen in DoFP, iirc, her birth date is still 5 or more years away. Ish. Which will take 20+ more years of comics to come around, by which time the DoFP setting will have moved a few more years again…

  16. Uncanny X-Ben says:

    People seem to be upset that Kid Cable is leaving, but I thought this made it pretty clear that it’s not going to be as simple as Old Man Cable just hanging around again in his place.

    I’m still not sure who this book was for. It was glacially paced. They immediately start Kid Cable as a more hardcore version of Cable. They have him murder Old Cable and mutilate Angel and Mimic. That had to have annoyed Old Cable fans.

    Then all the characters besides X-Force immediately forgive him, and X-Force does so after like a week.

    Then he starts skipping around Krakoa going on dates like Archie Andrews with a robot arm. All that grimdark goes away. They totally ignore the fact that he’s a child soldier from a nightmare future. They skip over any of the juicy story potential of him living on an island paradise with his immortal archenemy and a family he doesn’t really know. He should have had some real conflict over going from future soldier messiah John Connor to teen no one takes very seriously.

    At least Fallen Angels for it’s many faults understood this is a character that shouldn’t fit easily into happy orgy land.

    The fact is that Cable is the only X character that can theoretically sustain an ongoing besides Wolverine and Deadpool. And even in the very popular Krakoan era this couldn’t break twelve issues.

  17. Chris V says:

    Too many comics in the line.

  18. Si says:

    Ideally there should have been this scene where Xavier and Magneto welcome Apocalypse to Krakoa, next pannel multiple BOOM sound effects, then Cable standing there going “nope” as he throws Sinister’s DNA samples of Apocalypse into the burning crater.

  19. Uncanny X-Ben says:

    Agreed, I want that Cable.

  20. Luis Dantas says:

    Cable was very popular in the 1990s, but this is a very different market. Monthly ongoings arguably don’t even exist anymore.

  21. Allan M says:

    X-Ben, in fairness, I am the only one in this comment thread who seems unhappy to see Teen Cable go, and I absolutely agree that his rollout was a mess all around. I feel like this guy I remember from message boards years back who was a fervent fan of Century from Force Works. Firmly in the minority, can’t really defend my taste, but I’m gonna miss the cocky little bastard anyway.

  22. Uncanny X-Ben says:

    Nah you’re not alone at all, I was more referring to a lot of people on the X-Men Reddit who are very pro teen Cable.

    I like Cable, I just think they really didn’t do Kid Cable justice.

    I’m fine with him sticking around, hopefully they can hand him to someone who can give him more layers.

    X of Swords at least gave him a bit of an arc.

  23. Moo says:

    “I feel like this guy I remember from message boards years back who was a fervent fan of Century from Force Works.”

    Oh, I think I know who that is. I’m guessing this was at Alvaro’s Comic Boards?

  24. Allan M says:

    @Moo Yep. Century: Your Alien Hero from Alvaro’s Comic Boards. Going to bat for mid-90s Avengers stuff in the midst of the Busiek/Perez era, when Busiek was also posting on the same board. I could never tell if they were sincere or if it was a joke they committed to very hard.

  25. Moo says:

    @Allan M
    Yeah, I was a regular at those boards back then and I can assure you that guy was sincere. I recall getting reprimanded by both a fellow poster as well as a moderator for openly accusing him of having lousy taste.

    Good times. Do you remember the guy who pestered Busiek on a regular basis about writing a JLA/Avengers crossover? I’m convinced Busiek wrote the thing just to shut him up.

  26. Chris V says:

    I thought I was the only one who has felt it is long past time for a Century revitalization.

    I remember going through a quarter box and coming across a Century one-shot.
    I couldn’t believe Marvel expected it to sell.
    Force Works was on the verge of cancelation.

    It was published in 1996, long after the point where Marvel could expect fans to buy anything they put out, in the hope it would become a collector’s item.

    I guess it served a purpose, revealing the character’s origin…for the handful of readers who still cared.
    The book read oddly, more like a stand-alone 2000 AD serial rather than something meant to be part of the Marvel Universe.
    Abnett created an entire mythos unique to Century, much of it seemed derivative of other Marvel Universe characters.
    None of it ever mentioned again.

  27. Allan M says:

    I remember the guy pestering Busiek about JLA/Avengers though I forget the name. I also remember Carlos, who really, really wanted to tell you how much he liked the Enchantress. And berk, who really dug Englehart’s female characters from the 70s like Moondragon and Mantis was decidedly unimpressed with their handling since. And of course, though I believe it started on Usenet, the forever flamewar of “is Thor bulletproof?” Busiek doing actual research to weigh in on that was a transcendant “Why is a professional writer bothering with this nonsense?” moment. I assume he still gets angry DMs about it on his Twitter account.

    As for Century, he did crop up once post-90s as a member of Wonder Man’s one-and-done version of the Revengers in the late BendisVengers era. I do think Chris V is spot-on that Century’s basically a 2000 AD character who somehow wandered into an Avengers spinoff. If there was any logic to his dialogue tic of using synonyms/equivalent words/analogues, I could never detect the pattern.

  28. Moo says:

    “I remember the guy pestering Busiek about JLA/Avengers though I forget the name”

    It was Todd. I remember the ONE occasion where a question he asked of Busiek had absolutely nothing to do with a JLA/Avengers crossover, and Busiek hilariously began his reply with, “Damnit, Todd! I told you a thousand times, I’m not writing a JLA/Avengers cross…. oh.”

    Don’t recall those other guys you mentioned, but I actually asked Kurt about Mantis myself because I was also a fan of hers. Disappointingly, he told me that he had no plans to use her, but I respected his reasoning: that, to his mind, Mantis was one of those characters, along with Elektra and Howard the Duck, who was too tied in to the sensibilities of her creator for another writer to be able to do her justice. He went on to say that he never read a good non-Gerber Howard story, or a good non-Miller Elektra story, or a good non-Englehart Mantis story, and he didn’t want to add to the pile.

  29. Chris V says:

    Did anyone else outside of Englehart ever use Mantis? At least, at that point in time.
    I know she’s been brought back in Guardians of the Galaxy since that time.

    I don’t especially want to read Howard stories written after Gerber, but I will admit that the recent Chip Zdarsky Howard series was the best one could ever expect to see with a Howard comic written by someone other than Gerber.

  30. Moo says:

    “Did anyone else outside of Englehart ever use Mantis?”

    Well, she was presented as a villain in the godawful “The Crossing” storyline which Busiek rightly retconned the shit out of in a way that it wasn’t really her after all.

    Apart from that? I want to say Gruenwald, possibly? Perhaps in the pages of Quasar? But I honestly don’t remember if she appeared in that series or not.

  31. Moo says:

    Anyway, I get Allan’s whole “being in the minority” when it comes to certain characters. I’ve always had a soft spot for Sunfire who Claremont kicked to the curb in what was literally the first X-Men scene he ever wrote.

    To me, Sunfire was the Pete Best of the All-New, All-Different X-Men. He might’ve gone on to become a superstar had he not been fired* before the band became big.

    *(Yes, I know he walked out, but that’s because neither Claremont nor Cockrum particularly cared for him and therefore immediately wrote him out, so technically he was fired)

  32. Mark Coale says:

    For a second, i got excited because i thought you guys were talking about Turner D Century and then i realuzed you werent and was sad.

    Now there is a candidate for the Handbook (Presuming Al hasnt ysed him already).

  33. Chris V says:

    Turner D Century was great. He is the relevant villain for the current political climate, just as much as when DeMatteis created him.
    A guy who wants to return to the “good ol’ days” before everything got messed up by progress. Best of all, he flies around on an old-fashioned bicycle to accomplish his reactionary goals.

  34. neutrino says:

    Since there’s no one remotely like that in the current political scene, the Straw Man would probably be more appropriate.

  35. Chris V says:

    Nope. No one says anything about how transsexuals, gays, immigrants, or abortion are destroying the integrity of society.
    That doesn’t sound like anyone…at all.
    So, silly me.
    Good thing that everyone thinks that immigration, sexual freedom, and abortion are perfectly fine, and wouldn’t like to see a day when things like abortion or transsexualism were banned and immigration was reduced to nil….you know, like once was the case.

    Unless you meant someone flying around on a bicycle.
    That part is probably pretty far-fetched!

  36. Taibak says:

    Just Googled Turner D. Century.

    I’m incredibly disappointed that his bicycle isn’t a penny-farthing.

  37. Karl_H says:

    All this talk of people on old online forums reminds me of that person on Usenet who was always posting lists of obscure Marvel characters they wanted to see used again, repetitively (but politely) suggesting to any pro writers that they do so. Anyone else remember them? Are they still around somewhere?

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