Cable and X-Force #5 – Review

By: Dennis Hopeless (Writer), Salvador Larocca (Artist), Frank D’Armata (Colorist), VC’s Joe Sabino (Letterer)

Review: Much like I did with X-Men Legacy a while back, I caught up with Cable and X-Force by inhaling issues #1-5 in one sitting. The effect was akin to turning up late to an ice-cream party to find that the only flavor left is Peanut Butter Crunch and you’ve got to chug 5 scoops immediately in order to catch up with everyone else. Oh, and you’re allergic to peanuts. And you’re lactose intolerant. Come to think of it, why the smeg did you agree to this ice-cream party in the first place? What the hell is an Ice Cream party!? A more pertinent question: why have I spent $19.95 of my hard-earned Earth Dollars on Cable and X-Force? Because I’m an idiot, that’s why; no dodging the bullet on that one.

Cable and X-Force #1–Review

By: Dennis Hopeless (writer), Salvador Larroca (Art), and Frank D’Armata (colors)

The Story: Cable is back, and the first thing he does is make himself and his teammates fugitives. Way to go, Nate.

The Review: Vibrant art, vibrant writing. That’s the best way to describe Cable and X-Force. There is a lot of dynamic here that Larroca, Hopeless, and D’Armata bring to the comic, but this doesn’t mean that it’s a perfect book. The best comparison is the new Thunderbolts. Both books are about how the team comes together, but the difference is in the execution. This incarnation of X-Force is partly chance and partly planned. Cable  needs Forge and Dr. Nemesis, so he recruits them. But Domino and Hope arrive by other means…and Colossus’s role is not yet defined. This works well. It shows a team becoming something rather than Cable sipping tea in France watching Domino kill mimes (or whatever the hell that scene was in Thunderbolts with Deadpool). There’s a progression and a purpose. The problem is, the first issue doesn’t give us an idea of what that purpose is. We see them all on the run, not able to explain a lot of dead bodies to Havok and the rest of the Uncanny X-Force, and they have matching uniforms. They become a team–but why? This could be just a casualty of “writing for the trade.” But it didn’t leave me anxious for the next issue.Hopeless is good with the individual characters, developing them and letting us get to know them, but the plot is weak.