Captive Audience Credits: Joe Casey (writer), Ladronn (penciler), Juan Vlasco (inker), Gloria Vasquez (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)
Summary: Clay Quartermain meets with Horatio Belgrade, the SHIELD scientist who’s been given Cable’s body. Belgrade surgically removes a portion of Cable’s techno-organic virus and introduces it into the Nemesis Robots, hoping to develop a superior artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, Blaquesmith helps Irene reach G. W. Bridge, who’s discovered the plot within SHIELD to steal Cable’s techno-organics. Jack Truman also learns of the conspiracy, and in response, defiantly frees Cable from his bonds. With the telepathic coaching of Blaquesmith, Cable regains access to his telekinesis and awakes ready to fight.
Miscellaneous Note: The Statement of Ownership lists average sales for the year at 94,050 with the most recent issue selling 77,374 copies.
Review: Hey, Cable’s gotten a haircut. Despite the horrific human experimentation he’s endured, Cable should at least be thankful to SHIELD for shaving that horrible ‘90s boy band hairstyle. With the exception of one Greg Capullo pin-up, I believe this is the first time someone’s taken the obvious step and given Cable a military buzz cut. In non-hair related news, this issue continues the “Nemesis Contract” storyline, as the cavalry begins to arrive for Cable, and the exact nature of the Nemesis Project is revealed. It turns out that the elaborate conspiracy responsible for kidnapping Cable and hiding him from Nick Fury merely amounts to a plot to animate a few robots. They’re drawn spectacularly well by Ladronn, along with the rest of the Kirby-tech, but it’s a fairly pedestrian plan. Within the context of the Marvel Universe, these rogue SHIELD agents might as well have been developing a new coffee maker with the T-O virus. Casey is able to build up some anticipation for Cable’s inevitable comeback, and he’s still giving Ladronn some cool things to draw, but I’m more than ready for this arc to end.
2 comments:
"The Statement of Ownership lists average sales for the year at 94,050 with the most recent issue selling 77,374 copies."
Hmmm...I always thought sales were a little higher back then. I guess 1998 is when we start to see declines in the X-titles...of course, by today's standards, it would be marketed as a "smash hit" ;)
By this point, it looks like the spinoffs are mainly selling in the direct market, as newsstand vendors are beginning to ditch comics. The major X-titles probably stuck around grocery stores for a while, but spinoffs and lesser known titles were the first to go.
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