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X-Men: Bland Design – A Techno-Organic Good Time is Had in Cable #155

Published Sun, 25 Mar 2018 16:30:22 -0500

Welcome, dear readers, to X-Men: Bland Design, the weekly multi-part recap column that strives to answer the question: "What if Ed Piskor had no art skills, a juvenile sense of humor, and less classic material to work with?"

Each week, we aim to recap what happened in all of the X-books that come out that week, praise the things we like about them, and complain about the things we don't. It's almost like a review, but without any worthwhile critical insight! This week, there are just three X-books in stores, which we're gonna say is the first time there's been less than four since 1989.

Let's dive right into Cable #155…

CABLE #155
ZAC THOMPSON & LONNIE NADLER (W) • GERMAN PERALTA (A)
Cover by Daniel Warren Johnson
VARIANT COVER BY Ryan Stegman
NEW MUTANTS VARIANT COVER BY TYLER KIRKHAM
Past Fears Part 1
• Travel back to an untold tale in Cable's past when he was the leader of the New Mutants!
• What happened on this day that Cable hasn't spoken of since? And how will this affect him today?
• From the new creative team of writing duo Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler (THE DREGS) and artist GERMAN PERALTA (THANOS)!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Cable has the dual honor of being both a nostalgia throwback to the XTREME glory days of the 1990s and a modern movie cash-in, with Cable playing a major role in Deadpool 2. This issue introduces a new story arc, Past Fears, and a new creative team.

We start out with a flashback to Cable's youth. Longtime readers will remember that Nathan Christopher Summers was the son of Scott Summers and Madeline Pryor, but they had to send him to the future after he became infected with a techno-organic virus because they didn't have universal healthcare back then (thank goodness we eventually got that one right). But he was actually raised in the future by Scott Summers and Jean Grey, due to time travel shenanigans. Look, it was the '90s.

In his flashback/dream, young Nate is being chased by the techno-organic virus, but before anything of consequence happens, we jump to the year 2049 in Osaka, Japan, where he's in the middle of stopping future-sentinel Nimrod from killing a mutant girl. Cable jams his fist inside Nimrod and infects him with techno-organic virus, putting him out of commission. Cable returns the girl to her parents and explains that because her mutant power allows her to communicate with machines, she'll have an important role in a future war between mutants and sentinels. Taking a lesson from his own parents, Cable brings the family to the future, to 2070, and leaves them to hide in Sydney, Australia.

Later in the present, while Cable chills in his safehouse, his surrogate daughter, Hope Summers, arrives at the X-Mansion in Central Park in New York City. Kitty Pryde is a little nervous that Hope has brought a gun to the school, but hey, Donald Trump said it was a good idea, didn't he? Seeing as she's already armed, Kitty offers Hope a class to teach at the school, but she's only there on a social visit.

Later that night, a sort of spider-clone of Cable appears and tries to kill her…

Our thoughts exactly. The thing tells Hope that she's the source of Cable's fear, and it wants Cable to suffer, but it's not going to kill her right now. The next day, Cable shows up at the X-Mansion to visit Hope, and Kitty tells him about last night's attack. Cable grabs Hope and they teleport out to the woods to talk. Cable explains that the thing that attacked her is called Metus, and it's a techno-organic monster that's been chasing him since his childhood (that explains the flashback earlier).

Cable alludes to being responsible for Metus in some way, but doesn't give any details. Hope is annoyed that Cable hardly keeps in touch with her, but he apologizes. With that over with, Hope and Cable agree to team up to fight Metus. Cable builds a campfire and hangs out in the woods that night. Metus shows up. A fight ensues, and Metus quickly gains the upper hand. It alludes to knowing about something bad Cable did in the past. We're treated to a flashback montage of Cable fighting Metus in the pa… holy crap, is that Nate Grey?!

Metus is about to kill Cable when Hope shows up and blasts it with a gun. They combine powers to hold Metus still with telekenisis, and then Cable reaches in and takes something back from Metus. It's the techno-organic virus! He's infected again (apparently he was most recently cured of it – it's hard to keep track. The issue ends there, on a great cliffhanger, as Cable is all techno-organicking out.

Cable as a series is turning out to be sort of like an anthology, with different creative teams coming in to play in the 90s goodness for a few issues and then moving on as a new takes over and gets a chance. This issue started this new story off strongly, and it's always nice to see Hope Summers. The previous storyline by Ed Brisson and Jon Malin was chock full of '90s in the best possible way, and will be hard to top, but Thompson, Nadler, and Peralta are going to give it a run for its money.

See you next week!

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