Cable #20

Cable #20
Writing: Jeph Loeb
Art: Ian Churchill

What Went Down: Legion Quest Interlude: This issue is a break in the Legion Quest story that takes place over the course of the end of Part 3 and the entirety of Part 4. We start off with Cyclops trying to wake Cable up after his time travel adventure in Uncanny #321. Cable wakes up and lashes out at Cyclops with his telekinesis. Xavier uses his powers to recap the events of #321 for the rest of the Blue Team, since Cable is confused about what happened. Everyone takes some comfort in the fact that the Gold Team is still alive, but Gambit becomes frustrated with the fact that Cable was their last hope, and nothing appears to have changed. Cable gets in Gambit’s face, causing Rogue and Domino to get in each other’s faces. Cyclops breaks up the arguments with a stern chastising.

Lilandra contacts the X-Men and bemuses their fate. Meanwhile Beast wonders whether he has wasted his life studying when he could’ve been living. Archangel and Beast comfort each other. Rogue tries to calm Gambit down, but he gets mad at her. Cable tries to profess his romantic feelings to Domino, but she mistakes it as an attempt to lighten the mood. Also Jean and Cyclops think about all the people they won’t be able to say goodbye to. Then they cheer up Xavier, who is wondering whether his efforts have been worth it.

Cyclops and Jean Grey decide to tell Cable that they were the people that raised him when he was a child in The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix. Cable surprises them by revealing that he already knew. Then Domino comes over and the two share a private moment and a kiss. The issue ends with Xavier thanking his X-Men and professing how proud he is of them. Then the world is engulfed with crystal and ends.

How It Was: First off, there are a number of details that don’t quite match up with the finale in X-Men #41. Archangel’s costume is the wrong color, and Gambit and Rogue don’t kiss at the end. It’s not that these nitpicks ruin the issue, but paying attention to them would have made this comic feel more like a part of the larger Legion Quest story, and it wouldn’t pull nitpicky readers, such as myself, out of the story.

As for the rest of the story, it is quite enjoyable. Basically, all of the characters have to come to terms with the fact that they are going to cease to exist in about an hour, so this becomes a quiet, contemplative issue. Since most of the X-Men did that already in the finale of the story, the majority of these moments revolve around Cable, since it is his book. Also, Beast didn’t really get a chance to express his thoughts in X-Men, so that gets to happen here.

Overall, it’s nothing to write home about, but it does have some logical emotional high points that would need to be hit before the end of the world. I like that Cyclops and Jean reveal that they raised Cable, and it is nice to see him finally admit his love for Domino. The fights at the beginning of the issue feel like a forced attempt to introduce conflict into the story, but other than that there is a nice tone of sentiment and love that courses through the whole issue. It’s nothing radical or revolutionary, it’s just giving Cable the end he would have deserved given this situation. Sure it’s a little mushy, but given the Age of Apocalypse’s dark, hopeless tone, this is a welcome lead-in to that story.

B