CABLE #8 – February 1994

Fathers and Sons Part Three, Dayspring

Credits: Fabian Nicieza (writer), Aron Weisenfield (penciler), Holdredge/Vey/Sellers/Minor/Hanna/Conrad/Banning/Hudson (inkers), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), Marie Javins (colorist)

Summary

Stryfe confronts Tyler, who is still holding the Askani captive. When Stryfe learns that the Askani’s presence was sent back in time to warn Jean Grey of his return, he shoots at her, destroying her containment field. The Askani’s memories are then channeled through Tyler, who shows Stryfe the details of his creation. Shortly after being cloned from Cable, Apocalypse’s soldiers break in, ravaging the Askani. The Askani Boak escapes with Cable, but the others are killed before Stryfe can be saved. Apocalypse takes Stryfe and raises him, taking advantage of his mutant powers. In Arizona, Zero reveals that Stryfe’s body was destroyed in the temporal vortex, but his consciousness was able to live in Cable’s body, taking control of it when “specific frequency alignments occur”. Zero teleports Xavier, Domino, Cyclops, and Jean Grey to Tyler’s base. Jean Grey links their minds to Styfe’s, and the Askani tries to talk Stryfe into letting go of his hatred. Stryfe gives Cable back his body, but says that he’ll continue to wreak havoc after death.

Continuity Notes

The Askani were largely destroyed shortly after Cable was cloned, but a few members carried on.

Tyler says that his mutant ability is the power to “telepathically affix myself to someone’s memories and visually display them”.

This issue marks the first time Cable and Xavier meet, although Xavier has “the oddest feeling” that they’ve met before.

Xavier says that Cable might be the key to curing the Legacy Virus.

Creative Differences

Quite a few word balloons have been poorly re-lettered towards the end. The altered lettering has Jean say that she tried to get info on the Legacy Virus from Strfye, even though it was futile. Xavier’s feeling that he’s met Cable before is also in a re-lettered balloon.

Review

The dangling mysteries involving Cable and Stryfe are resolved, but the resolutions are presented in such a cluttered way they don’t really feel like much of a payoff. One problem would be the number of characters involved in the story. Tyler doesn’t serve much of a role throughout the storyline (even disappearing “behind the scenes” at the end), and he mainly ends up as a distraction. Even though it’s confirmed that he was Tolliver, there’s no explanation for why he posed as an arms dealer in the 1980s in the first place. There’s also no real reason for Stryfe to kill him (other than simply wanting Cable’s son dead, I guess). There’s really no reason for Zero, Domino, Rictor, and Siryn to be brought into all of this, either. There’s also a tacked on explanation of how Cable and Stryfe survived the X-Cutioner’s Song, which distracts from the simultaneous flashbacks about Stryfe’s childhood. The basic idea behind the story, giving the answers about Cable and Stryfe in one place after years of vague hints, is fine. The delivery doesn’t work though, with so many characters and even more mysteries introduced before the story’s even over. The art doesn’t help things, either. This issue has eight inkers, which would average out to less than three pages per inker. It’s a rushed, ugly-looking mess.