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By Jason Bourgeois
When I first decided to change the focus of my column, it was to cast
a needed light on properties that need it, wanting to spread forth
from the cloistered halls of Marvel's X-books, to get some buzz going
for other titles that were in danger of going the way of the dodo, or
ones that are just plain good, and under appreciated.
Well, not three months out, and I'm running for the safety of the
X-House, hiding within it's halls once more. But at least it's for a
good cause. Just about a year ago, Marvel put out a new title that
had many scratching their heads with the concept alone:
Cable/Deadpool.
One is the son of the two primary X-Men, infected at a young age with
a techno-organic virus, taken into the future, cloned, and sent back
as a mercenary who eventually mastered control of his powers to
near-godlike levels. The other is a scarred, insane mercenary with a
healing factor who can't shut up for five seconds. Together, they
fight crime! Well, not exactly, but bear with me.
Not exactly the best match here. The only thing these two characters
really have in common is a shared creator, one Rob Liefeld. Oh yes,
it's legitimate Liefeld discussion time! He drew these characters,
and over the years, they've been fleshed out, given back stories and
personalities, and gone their separate ways, with a few run-ins here
and there along their careers.
So, someone at Marvel saw the possibility after Cable and Deadpool's
titles were canned, renamed Soldier X and Agent X respectively, and
cancelled again, to pair the two together in the SAME book. However,
they made the wise decision to put Fabian Nicieza on the title.
Now, I'm an unabashed Fabian fan. He's one of the better writers
Marvel has had since the '80s. The man is able to write, he knows his
Marvel history (Not perfectly, mind you. Let's not get into the issue
of Psylocke's eyes...), he lays plots well in advance, and plows
forward with clear ideas of where he's going with things. Sadly, he
rarely gets to stay long enough to see everything to fruition, but he
invariably gets to stick around long enough to get the major plot
points out of the way, with only minor danglers remaining.
Also, Fabian is closely associated with both Cable and Deadpool,
being one of the people to have laid the groundwork beyond Liefeld's
drawings.'
Mark Brooks started off with the pencilling, but left after only a
few issues to go work on Amazing Fantasy/Arana: Heart of the Spider.
Patrick Zircher came on-board with that departure, and has been doing
the art for every issue since. Patrick and Fabian have worked
together before, so they're a well-established team, and they work well
together.
So of course Marvel has to go and mess things up by having Liefeld do
the covers. With Cable's backpack all set for camping, and apparently
nuclear powered, and Deadpool with enough swords to put Ginsu out of
business. And Cable shouting wide enough to engulf a large bug.
Liefeld's covers were almost enough to put me off the book, but the
strength of Fabian's writing, and the sheer lunacy of pairing these
two together, brought me in, and I am rather glad for it. And Marvel
replaced Liefeld on covers shortly afterwards. Or he fell behind
drawing one page a month.
The first arc of the book had Cable and Deadpool both independently
hunting down the same MacGuffin, which eventually brought them
together, and through a series of contrivances, had them becoming
bonded together slightly, enough so that whenever Cable used his
teleportation systems, Deadpool gets pulled along for the ride. This
got around the two characters having some reason to be together in the
same book, so I'll allow some of the contrivance.
Once this was over with, Cable's powers were more powerful than they
had ever been, and he began manipulating events so he would be seen as
the messiah he oftentimes has tried to be, but this time succeeded in
showing people a new way. He became a global threat, and part of me
wishes the events in this book at the time would have been reflected
in other titles, maybe even a little bit of crossover. I'm normally
not one for the crossover, but in such a large-scale storyline, I can
deal with it a little, and the book could certainly use the exposure.
There were a number of guest-appearances through the book's second
half of its freshman year, but they all made sense and were germane
to the story being told. If Cable is trying to do the whole
god/tyrant thing, Cyclops and the X-Men are going to be right at the
front of the line to try and stop him.
After that, Cable had himself lobotomized, removing his telepathic and
telekinetic abilities for the most part, leaving himself as a martyr
to the cause. The next few issues concerned Deadpool looking for help
in getting Cable back on his feet.
Now, this all sounds like pretty serious stuff, but the book is also
a laugh riot. Where else do you get to hear about the virtues of Bea
Arthur, see naked superheroine pool murals, learn how humorous the
word spatula is, and delve into a characters Loony Tune-esque
mindscape, where large mallets and non-lethal explosions abound? And
let's not forget Wade Wilson's crossdressing, or the recap page being
done to the theme song from Happy Days.
Well-written, well-drawn stories that keep things light while delving
into serious matters, mixed in with continuity, action, and character,
all striking a wonderful balance for a vastly underrated book that has
slipped by many people's radar. The title is sinking down the sales
charts into the danger zone, and could definitely use some help.
Spread the word of the Askani'son, and buy this book!
Jason M. Bourgeois
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