CABLE #72 - October 1999

Broken Pillars

Credits: Shon C. Bury (writer), Chap Yaep (penciler), Marlo Alquiza (inker), Mike Rockwitz (colors), Comicraft’s Saida Temofonte (letters)

Summary: Cable responds to a telepathic prompt and heads to the Morlock Tunnels. There, he’s attacked by Post, who still blames Cable for ruining his life when Cable saved him from the Mandarin. When Cable makes a peace offering, Post decides to make amends for his past betrayals. He leaves, telling Cable he’ll look for answers within himself.

Continuity Notes:

· Cable remarks that his telepathy has been slowly returning since his encounter with Rachel Summers last issue. I believe this makes Cable the final mutant to regain his telepathic powers following the “Psi-War” storyline.

· A flashback reveals that Cable sent Post to live with Xavier following his escape from the Mandarin. Cable and Xavier have already had their pasts retconned together, but this implies an even stronger relationship. Going by the timeline established from Cable #-1 on, it looks as if Xavier was mentoring Post before he even formed the X-Men.

· Post’s ability to communicate telepathically with Cable and to block his psi-scans are allegedly “gifts” provided to him by Onslaught.

“Huh?” Moment: In one of Post’s flashbacks, Cable and Xavier are visiting a gravesite. I have no idea what the relevance of this is supposed to be.

Review: Rob Liefeld needed a fill-in after one issue? How on earth did this happen? I don’t think the most virulent Liefeld-haters even expected a fill-in after just one issue. Anyway, with one issue to fill, guest writer Shon C. Bury goes all the way back to Cable #33 for a follow-up to Post’s origin story. We all remember when Post was revealed as Cable’s old friend from his mercenary days, right? Because that revelation certainly added so much to the character…

I’m not saying Post is totally useless as a character; Bury’s actually on the right track with this story. He tries to reveal more about Post’s past and justify how exactly he fell in with Onslaught, but unfortunately all he comes up with is a cliché “spy is betrayed by his government” story, and Post’s past with Xavier is relegated to a one-panel flashback. Instead of fleshing Post out and trying to legitimize him as more than a retcon, the issue spends most of its time having Cable and Post yell at each other and make melodramatic hand gestures. The ending also assumes that Post has gone through some significant emotional catharsis throughout the story, which is a pretty generous assumption on Bury’s part. The only redeeming aspect of the issue is Chap Yaep’s art; Yaep isn’t a fantastic artist or anything, but he’s perhaps the best penciler to come out of Liefeld’s studio. I would prefer Yaep “fill in” for the rest of this run.