CABLE #6 – December 1993

Fathers and Sons – Act One, Sunset Breaks

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Dwayne Turner (penciler), Jon Holdredge & Harry Candelario (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Marie Javins (colorist)

Summary

Tolliver reveals to Zero that he is actually Cable’s son, Tyler. Tyler gives this information to Mr. Sinister in order to serve his own interests. Cable visits Madelyne Pryor’s grave with Domino. They’re approached by Mr. Sinister, who reveals to Cable that he’s not Stryfe’s clone, but the actual son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor. He releases Stryfe’s personality from Cable’s body, saying that it will be “the final step in losing him forever”. Stryfe, now possessing Cable, attacks Domino and begins to plot the murder of Cyclops and Jean Grey. A member of the Askani arrives in the present day and observes the X-Men. Tyler and Zero arrive and kidnap her, while Jean senses Stryfe’s return.

Continuity Notes

This storyline is intended to be a definitive origin for Cable and Strfye, and as such, it involves quite a bit of continuity. This is the issue that confirms that Tolliver is Cable’s son, Tyler. It also confirms that Cable isn’t Stryfe’s clone.

Sinister tells Cable that he is the “the perfect blend of genelines and bloodties…the savior, perhaps of his people, and in turn, the planet.” This goes back to the Inferno storyline, where it’s revealed that Sinister created Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey, to mate with Cyclops and create powerful offspring.

Sinister also tells Cable “do not think of time as your enemy, but rather, think of yourself as its master. Do not lose yourself to the vagaries of time -- of what may or may not be, what should or should not happen…” Sinister is still implied to be a time traveler, although the origin he’ll be given in a few years doesn’t involve time travel at all. I believe the idea that Sinister has knowledge of the future recently came up again during the Messianic Complex crossover, though.

The Askani are an organization founded in the future by Rachel Summers.

Review

The Cable series finally gets around to doing something, at least. Cable’s origin certainly needed some clarification at this point, and considering his own past motives, Mr. Sinister had to be brought into the series at some point, too. The first part of the storyline is mainly setup and doesn’t give a lot of answers. A lot of the dialogue and narrative captions are intentionally cryptic, and it gets old pretty quickly. It’s not a very good issue, but I like Nicieza’s choices for the cast. Putting Sinister, Tyler, the Askani, Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Stryfe together in one story does kill a lot of birds with one stone, even if might give some readers a headache. Dwayne Turner is the “guest artist”, even though there’s been nothing since the third issue to indicate that this series has a regular artist in the first place. His work here is stronger than his earlier Wolverine fill-ins, but some of the pages still looked rushed.