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The last of the three relaunched books is
Soldier X, the retooled version of Cable.
Darko Macan's first couple of issues on
Cable suggested that he was simply going to follow the
same general direction established by David Tischmann, albeit
with more character focus on Cable himself. Last month's
final issue of Cable took a surprising leap off to the
side, and now Soldier X departs the rails completely
with some really incredibly odd elements.
Two years have passed since the last issue
of Cable. The story leaves it unclear whether
we're meant to take this as one of those six month gaps that
are forever happening in the Marvel Universe these days, or
whether we're now in an alternate future of some sort.
The opening sequence, a joke about paranoid overreaction to
September 11, suggests the former. Personally, I don't
care which is the answer, but it does matter to know - the
story is about time travelling soldiers, and in that context
I'd like to know whether this is supposed to be the present or
the future.
The series isn't turning its back on Marvel
continuity, however. SHIELD are here, albeit in a
Keystone Cops form. Irene Merryweather is reintroduced
to the regular cast. Joe Robertson turns up on loan from
the Spider-Man books. Throw this in with the
claim that two years have passed, though, and you end up with
something that feels a bit dislocated. Perhaps that's
intentional, although I'd be surprised.
Most of the story follows Irene, who is
still trying to track down Cable instead of doing her job as a
Daily Bugle reporter. Her part of the book is the
weirdest, as she gets cornered by klutzy SHIELD agents,
attacked by lunatics, and finally passed a message from Cable
by a transvestite sumo wrestler. It's at such points
that it's impossible to avoid wondering whether Darko Macan
has taken leave of his senses.
Meanwhile, Cable is off in a completely
detached story of his own. Casting the Tischmann run
aside altogether, Macan steps back to the fundamental problem
with Cable - the character's reason to exist was to defeat
Apocalypse, and now that that's over, he doesn't have a story
any more. Macan's solution is to make the character's
lack of direction the centre of the book, and that's a
perfectly sensible approach.
In Egypt, Cable stumbles upon two
soldiers who have inexplicably been transported through time,
and takes the opportunity to kindly recap the essential parts
of his backstory for the benefit of any new readers.
It's quite a nice idea, but it's not immediately apparent that
it's heading anywhere, and as a result there's not much
dramatic tension about it. The reintroduction of
Blaquesmith at the end of the issue raises some more
possibilities, though, since his mentor role is rendered
equally invalid by the resolution of Cable's mission.
Kordey seems to be having fun
drawing the more eccentric plot points, and I like his version
of Irene. He draws a wonderful sumo wrestling sequence,
as well, with a great sense of movement and weight.
I'm not sure quite what to make
of this book. Against my better judgment, I quite like
it. But I suspect I'm going to be in a very small
minority. Bluntly, I anticipate a brutal and swift
cancellation within twelve issues. I cannot for the life
of me imagine this finding an audience. It's just too
damned weird, with bizarre shifts from straight dramatic
scenes to absurdist comedy coming out of nowhere.
There's a cult audience out there who will like this sort of
thing, but something tells me that they're not the sort of
people who are prepared to try an issue of Cable, no
matter what it's been retitled.
It's certainly a brave attempt to
do something different with Cable, but heaven only knows who
they expect to read it.
Rating: B
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