THE CREATORS: Darko Macan and Igor Kordey on issues #7-8; Karl Bollers writes issues #9-12, with assorted artists.

THE FILL-IN ARTIST COUNT: Four.

WHAT HAPPENED IN 2003: The Macan/Kordey run ends with some really bizarre stuff about Kashmir, and the Askani in the far future.  Then Karl Bollers kills time while waiting for the axe to fall.

Bet you'd forgotten about this one.

Soldier X actually made it up as far as June, but like Agent X, it was on life support for 2003.  Under Darko Macan and Igor Kordey, the book had been an interesting attempt to reinvent Cable as an absurdist hero.  It was certainly an intriguing attempt to do something very different.

However, there were two major problems.  First, not many people want to read an absurdist Cable comic, no matter how good it is.  Cable's audience aren't interested in that style, and the readers who like that style won't touch Cable with a ten foot bargepole.  Second, it wasn't really all that great.  It was too busy being weird to work as a story.

So by the end of 2002, Macan and Kordey had already been relieved of their duties.  Marvel then turned to Karl Bollers to write the series, and cancelled it almost immediately afterwards.  Bollers yanked the book back towards the centre ground, although he did at least try to maintain some of its quirkiness.  Still, the results - a story about domestic terrorism and another about a wrongfully accused murderer - were less than satisfactory.

After the end of this series, Cable was packed off to the supporting cast of Weapon X, for the extended "Underground" storyline.  Fortunately for him, he's not been left to languish there indefinitely.  Marvel are having another stab with him in 2004, in the Cable & Deadpool series.  With Fabian Nicieza and Udon, it's fairly safe to assume that the character will be moving back into more traditional territory, although he's likely to end up as the straight man in their double act.

Soldier X was dead on its feet by the start of the year.  Points for trying something completely off the wall, but it was always a long shot that this was going to work.  The fill-in stories in the run-out period showed more effort than usual for those sorts of issues.  But if you only read one Karl Bollers comic in 2003, you'd certainly have been better off with Emma Frost.

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