Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Cable #8
Marvel Comics
Swierczynski & Olivetti

Cable has to drop the hoe and pick up his gun as he goes from peaceful farmer back to the soldier he usually is. While Cable fights for his life (and the kid’s life) in the future, Bishop is being tortured in the present by Emma. I enjoyed this comic very much as it had the right mix of humor and drama. When you think about things too much, though, you have a bag full of things to complain about. The artwork isn’t my taste, but I felt it was good with only minor spots where I really disliked it. This is a fun comic in what is shaping up to be an interesting series.

The US government enters the New Liberty town in the future and tells everyone to come out of hiding and that all is well. Cable doesn’t believe it and begins to plot an escape. When he figures out the kid is missing he is confronted with a soldier. A short fight reveals the soldiers are a hybrid of roaches and men. Cable needs to figure out how to kill a bug and believe it or not, you can’t just kill them by taking their heads off. This fight with the bug had me laughing as the bug’s dialogue is a crack up. Cable enlists the help of another farmer to help him fight off a couple of other bugs.

Bishop gives away part of his plan to Cyclops. It seems he has planted bombs around the world to destroy entire continents in hopes of limiting where Cable and the kid can hide in the future. Now I don’t want to dissect the problems with this time travel situation but this plan has some holes in it. Cyclops enlists Emma to destroy his mind through torture to find out where the bombs are hidden.

The comic ends with Cable digging up his weapons and deciding instead of running, to stand and fight for everyone there instead of just the kid.

Some of the details of the comic are odd but raise interesting questions. Why would Cable, a trained soldier, bury his weapons? Especially knowing Bishop is out there hunting him. If it is to make a compromise with his wife then he must really love her so why does he need convincing from the girl to save her?

Also, if Cable is so tough on people in terms of trust when it comes to the nameless kid then why is he living in a big community? In conjunction with this, how is that the bugs round up everyone except Cable? Don’t they notice some the other bugs are dead?

The artwork does one thing really, really well and that is how time has aged Cable. Cable is old and he looks beaten down. I can feel his bones crack when he moves too quickly. I did find some depth issues with the artwork or its direction when Cable was hiding (seemingly three feet) from the bugs. The scene looked odd visually. Overall the art told a good tale.

The comic is good because it makes you think about the plot as described by Bishop and it has you second guessing the decisions made by Cable. I realize this story might just be a guilty pleasure of mine but I found this comic to be funny, thought provoking and loaded with mysteries to be solved. You really don’t need to be too into the X-Men continuity to like this comic.

4 out of 5 geek goggles