TITLE: Cable: Blood & Metal Issue #1
YEAR: October 1992
COMPANY: Marvel Comics
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Dan Green Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colorist: Brad Vancata
Asst. Editor: Lisa Patrick
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom Defalco
Back in 1986, an infant Nathan Summer, the biological son of X-Man’s Cyclops (Scott Summers) and Madelyn Pryor (a clone of Jean Grey) made his debut in “Uncanny X-Men” issue #201.
But it wasn’t until 1990 when writer Louise Simonson and artist/co-writer Rob Liefeld debuted the adult version of Nathan Summer a.k.a. Cable in “The New Mutants” issue #87. The same issue that would introduce readers to his evil clone, Stryfe.
With a convoluted storyline, to put things in simple terms, he was an infant transported into the future, where he would eventually grow into a warrior.
When he comes back into the present, he is battling Stryfe’s Mutant Liberation Front, the US government and Freedom Force. With the New Mutants intervening, he would eventually become the group’s new teacher and leader. And with the assistant of his former Six Pack teammate Domino, the New Mutants were reorganized and became X-Force.
Cable proved to be a popular character not just in comics but even later in the video game in the Capcom fighter, “Marvel vs. Capcom 2”.
Despite having telekinetic and telepathic abilities in combination with awesome experience with weapons, he is limited to using his power because he is infected with a techno-organic infection and he used his power to restrain it.
But the current incarnation features a changed Cable, fully cured of the virus and also gaining other abilities.
And now with the character slated to star in “Deadpool 2”, there is growing interest in the character.
And while “Cable” had his solo series, before his series came out, a limited series consisting of two issues was released known as “Cable: Blood & Metal”.
The series begins with Cable and his Wild Pack teammates on a mission in Tehran, Iran in the ’80s. The team which includes Kane, Hammer, Domino, Grizzly and G.W. Bridge and would later be known as Six Pack.
Fastforward to the early ’90s and Cable finds members of the Mutant Liberation Front trying to steal an old relic and manages to stop them, even going so far to kill one of them.
But we learn that things are no so well with the members of the Wild Pack, as G.W. Bridge is trying to hunt down Cable, Kane is now the known as Weapon X augmented with two bionic arms with shooting fists and when exposed, he can shoot plasma degenerators from each wrist.
G.W. Bridge goes to Weapon X in hopes he can find members of the Six Pack in order to find Cable.
We learn from a flashback that Hammer was the man responsible for getting Kane a job with the Six Pack, but in present time, Hammer is no longer anything like his old self. He is now relegated to a wheel chair and he is willing to help Kane out and wants him to put a bullet through Cable’s spine.
Why is everyone after Cable? What did he do to betray his team? And why is Cable pursuing the Mutant Liberation Front?
This first issue of the limited series is important to establish Cable and his former teammates, especially establishing an early link to Domino and also Kane, who became the latest Weapon X. Meanwhile, G.W. Bridge became one of the highest active members of S.H.I.E.L.D. and would become an important character in relation to Cable for years to come.
But most importantly, this issue also set more stories up between the rivalry and hatred between Cable and his clone, Stryfe.
Overall, an issue that definitely caught a lot of attention during the time when Cable was a super-hot character of Marvel Comics. Featuring a solid story from Fabian Nicieza and artwork from John Romita Jr., if you have a chance to find a copy of the limited series, both issues are worth reading!