Last week, one X-book.  This week, seven - and every single of one of them qualifies for a review, either because it's the closing part of a storyline, or a major anniversary issue, or a new title.  Even discounting the satellite teams, the X-Men alone have four comics this week.

Next week, we're back to one comic again. This is ridiculous.  This has been going on for months.  Somebody needs to get a grip on this, because one-seven-one is not a sane scheduling policy in this universe or the next.

Bluntly, I have neither the time nor the inclination to write seven full-length reviews, whether the books deserve it or not.  Quite frankly, after re-reading them all in detail before sitting down to write these reviews, the prospect of doing full-length columns makes me want to throw myself out of a window.  So chances are these will be short.

Cable & Deadpool #42 is the final part of "Fractured."  "Fractured" was a crossover with X-Men.  You might not have noticed, because they didn't bother to advertise the fact.  This issue, for example, is basically the events of X-Men #200 (or at least the Cable subplot) shown from Cable's perspective.  You'll find no mention of that in X-Men #200.

This may set new standards in idiocy.  There are only two reasons why people do crossovers.  One is because the story genuinely belongs in both books.  To be fair, that applies here.  Cable, he go boom.  Don't worry - there's no body, and people are talking about teleportation devices on the previous page, so we all know he'll be fine.  But, nonetheless, Cable go boom, in such a way as to suggest he'll be away for a while.  This arguably belongs in his solo book and his team book.

But the other reason for doing crossovers - and the reason why Marvel do so many of them these days - is because they sell.  Well, not if you barely mention that they exist, they don't.  True enough, the two titles are written to stand independently. Even so, Cable & Deadpool #41 dealt directly with the question of what happened to Sabretooth after he escaped in X-Men #199.  That's quite a major plot point for X-Men readers. 

I can't imagine why somebody would commission this crossover in the first place, and then do virtually nothing to advertise its existence.  It's absolutely bizarre.

Anyway, this story makes a bold attempt to persuade us that Cable is really dying.  I'm not buying it for a second, but it does more or less work as part of this book's emotional arc.  His island of Providence has been torn apart, and Cable is no longer around to pursue his dream, so Deadpool is left behind as an admiring sidekick who kind of wants to live up to Cable's legacy, but knows he isn't up to the task.  It works because Deadpool believes it, even if we don't.

Art comes from regular artist Reilly Brown, who's as good as ever, and somebody called Jon Malin, who does most of Cable's pages and seems to be tentatively emulating Cable's creator Rob Liefeld.  I've seen a lot worse, and it's clear enough to read, but it's nothing special.

As good an issue as could reasonably be expected in the circumstances of a crossover with a much bigger book.

Rating: B+

back | continue