Summary of Cable #66 part II

by Rainer Ho Ten Soeng

Unfortunately though Cable is suddenly rudely interrupted in his thoughts when the Harbinger unexpectedly counterattacks. After what seems to be a very casual move of the Harbinger, Cable is hit by an energy bolt and blown right through a skyscraper! The enormous blow would have killed almost anybody but luckily enough Cable could protect himself with a telekinetic shield just in time. His mutant powers saved him once again from an otherwise sure death!

But there's no occasion to celebrate or enjoy himself over the fact that he is still alive. The Harbinger is obviously determined to clear out and destroy every kind of opposition it faces and it is swiftly moving in for the kill. Cable has to think fast of something if he wants to live to tell the tale! However being an experienced and highly skilled warrior, Cable doesn't panic or flinch. Calmly and deliberately Cable lets the Harbinger get in closer and closer until it is close enough to be hit by a powerful TK-blast! Cable channels and focuses the awesome force of his telekinesis through his psi-mitar and fires a huge and devastating beam at his opponent.

But, as if it is nothing, the Harbinger lowers his density to such an extent that the TK-blast simply passes through it without doing any damage! The Harbinger can apparently adapt itself to any possible threat and evolve its abilities to respond in kind; as such it is not only the ultimate product of evolution but also, in a way, evolution itself! Apocalypse sure can be proud of his creation!

Cable's powers do not have any effect on the Harbinger and he seems to be unable to stop it. In fact the only thing the Askani'Son managed to do was endangering his own life by making the Harbinger notice him! And right now it looks like the Harbinger has had more than enough of Cable's futile resistance as he comes in head first in a frontal assault on Cable. Cable immediately recognizes the danger and he realizes that he has got to get away from there ASAP! It has now become a full scale war out there and Cable barely manages to escape before the Harbinger's attack hits him by jumping off the skyscraper and crashing through the window of a lower floor of another skyscraper! It's almost unbelievable and very spectacular but just like his earlier attempts it doesn't do him much good. The Harbinger has followed him and comes in crashing through the window as well, determined to finish up the job. It's time to use the last line of defense tactics and Cable decides to attack the Harbinger in a very direct way by stabbing his psi-mitar in its chest. But it's no use.... again. With a simple blow, the Harbinger shakes off Cable and sends him flying through the room. Cable is stunned and dazed for a moment and that gives the Harbinger the opportunity to ready itself for its killing move. Cable senses what is about to happen and instinctively manages to put up a TK-shield but this time even that will not help him much. Cable is hit by an enormously powerful energy blast and the impact which packs a wallop of a punch sends him crashing through two different skyscrapers! When Cable's body hits the ground its velocity is still so high that a huge and deep crater is being formed as a result of the impact. The Harbinger has hit him with an unbelievable amount of power and Cable is knocked out cold by the sheer force of the blow.

It's game, set and match for the Harbinger! Another one has bitten the dust, another one has proven again how weak mankind is and how much they are unable to rise above the challenges set upon it. The Harbinger feels nothing but contempt and disdain for this useless and unworthy race as it only seems to stagger and stumble time after time and doesn't even realize that in fact it is dying on its own feet. Humans are weak and pathetic and they need to be shown what true strength is. The weak need to be culled from the strong and the Harbinger will make sure that his master Apocalypse will be able to rule the world according to his own laws when he will step forward again. Nothing or nobody is going to stop him from doing that! Strangely enough despite the fact that it feels the success of its mission is unavoidable and incontestable, the Harbinger still feels a bit cheated and disappointed that Cable did not put up more of a fight. It seems like the so-called 'Chosen One' is nothing but a false Messiah actually.... And just like its master has ordered weaklings and imposters should be terminated and eradicated from the face of the planet! The Harbinger moves in closer until he holds the neck of the unconscious Cable in his hand, ready to snap it at the merest thought.

But before it can actually do so and thus kill Cable, it is being disturbed by Earth's Mightiest Heroes who have responded to the alarm signals which went off in their headquarter. The Avengers have arrived and they won't allow the Harbinger to kill Cable or cause more damage and destruction in New York City! If good timing ever saved somebody's life then it must have been now; Cable will probably never know how close he was to the touch of Death in the hands of the Harbinger.... It looks like the Harbinger will have to face yet another kind of serious opposition before it can carry out his master's will. Perhaps there's still hope for mankind after all....

"The foulest stench is in the air The funk of forty thousand years And grizzly ghouls from every tomb Are closing in to seal your doom And though you fight to stay alive Your body starts to shiver For no mere mortal can resist The evil of the thriller Can you dig it?!!!" (Michael Jackson, Thriller)

But even though Captain America, the Vision, Wonder Man and Iron Man will give it their very best shot to prevent the Harbinger from doing any more harm and damage, the chain of events which is set in motion cannot be stopped anymore even in the unlikely case that the Harbinger would get stopped by the Avengers. This war is taking place on various fronts and in various places all at once. And however unexpected it may be the former Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Ukraine is one of them. In the mud and amidst the ruins of the old nuclear plant none other than En Sabah Nur himself is pondering about yet another shortcoming of mankind. The accident at Chernobyl was nothing more than just another stop on the worldwide tour of mankind's evolutionary failures. Humanity shows time after time that it doesn't seem to be able to adapt and evolve itself and as such it is unworthy and unfit to live. Only the strongest survives; only to the victor go the spoils and that's a lesson humanity is about to learn the hard way! In New York City an event planned long ago is at the same moment coming to fruition and Apocalypse is going to assure the outcome of it. The weak shall be culled from the strong and the Earth shall be cleansed from all the unworthy and despicable elements which inhabit it. The fire has started and the Eternal One will make sure that it will not be put out before it has served its task fully!

"That it's a thriller, thriller night 'Cause I can thrill you more than any ghost would dare to try Girl, this is thriller, thriller night So let me hold you tight and share a killer, diller, chiller Thriller here tonight" (Michael Jackson, Thriller)

The End Times have begun and Blaquesmith realizes that all too well after seeing several of the prophecies Ozymandias has carved out in stone. New York City and its citizens are in mortal danger if Ozymandias is telling the truth and therefore Blaquesmith demands to be transported to New York at once. He has got to warn the authorities, he has got to help the people wherever possible and just as important he has got to see his pupil and inform him about the horrible dilemma he has to face. He has got to be there to aid and support Cable and help him through these rough times! However Ozymandias decides otherwise: the death of millions of people is, how how horrible and insensitive it may sound, insignificant when compared to two thousand years of darkness and oppression! Blaquesmith cannot leave yet since his destiny is to bear witness to everything Ozymandias has carved out in stone. And he has got to follow and live up to his destiny just like Ozymandias is fulfilling his own destiny by showing Blaquesmith and his pupil, the Chosen One, the prophecies and alerting them of the unspeakable dangers which are facing humanity as the new millennium approaches. If it's Cable's destiny to survive this battle with the Harbinger and to find ways to prevent those nightmarish prophecies from ever happening then that's what will happen no matter what. Being overly worried about Cable will not do Blaquesmith nor his pupil any good though right now. What will be of good use however in the upcoming battle against the forces of evil is knowledge; knowledge of the things to come and knowledge of the possible ways to make sure they will never become a reality. And some of the very few people who might be able to stop Apocalypse in his tracks are the so-called 'Twelve'.... Knowing who the various members of the Twelve are could therefore be very important in the battle against Apocalypse and if Ozymandias can do his share of the work by informing Blaquesmith and Cable about the Twelve, then his cursed existence as a servant of Apocalypse will at least has served a purpose....

The Good

Yeah.... I honestly don't know where to begin this time guys! This issue had a lot of goodies and I immensely enjoyed reading it. This book seems to be *the* place where action, excitement, emotion and compelling scenes are all together mixed to form one heck of a good comic book! I myself buy several Marvel comics besides Cable but IMHO none of these books have the impact and none of them provide the fun and joy I experience when reading Cable. Congrats and kudos to the creative staff behind the book! Mr. Casey and Mr. Ladronn please keep up the good work for a long time to come! :-)

Talking about Ladronn I must say that the outstanding art was one of the highlights of this issue. It seems like Ladronn has ever so slightly changed his style and the result is that his drawings look more fluent, more lifelike and above all: they look 'fresher'. The art hit me like a bomb even before I had read even one word of the story! Just look for example at the scene in which Cable rides his motorbike looking for the Harbinger while carrying his psi-mitar in his hands: perhaps it is me but I felt that he looked just like a medieval knight sitting on his horse carrying a lance! It was just wonderful! Besides that I think Ladronn did an especially good job on the various members of the Avengers: his renderings of Captain America and the Vision were absolutely cool. I don't know who the current artist on the Avengers book is (George Perez?) but I do know that Ladronn would be a great replacement for him if he would ever decide to leave! :-)

But not only the art was exciting; the story itself also left nothing to wish for. Seldom have i read such an exciting story in which Cable propels himself from bridges, is being blown right through skyscrapers and jumps off skyscrapers. Wow, that is exactly the kind of stuff I like! Cable is a true hero and his determination to stop the Harbinger from causing more damage and destruction even though the odds were against him, only proves that once again. The Askani'Son has come to this era to prevent a horrible future from ever happening and if that means that he has to take on enormously powerful creatures like the Harbinger then so be it. If it means that he has to leave Stacey, Kenny and Irene behind then so be it. Not his personal wishes, not his personal desires and not his personal feelings are important but those of others, those of humanity in general. That's the stuff what heroes are made of IMHO and I greatly respect and admire Cable for that.

However Cable is not only portrayed as a fearless and brave hero who will tackle any kind of danger which threatens mankind. No, Cable is far more interesting and a far more dimensional character than that. Cable is first and foremost a person, a human being with the same human feelings, doubts and desires as each and everyone of us. He is not an unbeatable superman who never doubts, who never gets angry, who always does the right thing and who always wins no matter the odds. On the contrary, Cable is in many ways just as human as anyone else. To see in this issue that Cable is in fact uncertain about his own feelings and about his mission is therefore not a weak point; no, it's IMHO something which makes him more realistic, more lifelike, more human and more interesting. It's a sign of weakness IMHO if one never doubts oneself and luckily Cable shows us that he is in fact far, far stronger than that.

Another good thing was Stacey's attitude towards Cable. She doesn't laugh at him when he tells her that he is from the future. She doesn't mock him when he tells her that he has come to this era to save mankind and prevent a hellish future from ever happening. No, none of that. Instead she coolly and calmly believes him. She has faith in him and stands by him no matter what. If that isn't true love then what is?

The kiss Stacey and Cable shared in this issue proved that something far stronger than mere friendship has grown between the two of them. And for what it's worth I think it would be great if Stacey and Cable would start a relationship together. The fact that Cable would date a normal human could possibly balance him more and convince him even more of the importance of his mission. It would mean that Cable would not only interact with other mutants but with humans as well. And that will not do him any harm I think. Can you already imagine Cable visiting Stacey's parents for example? Can you already imagine Cable going out fishing with Stacey's dad or Cable giving Stacey's mother a lift to a shopping mall nearby? And just think of the relationship Cable could begin to develop with Kenny.... It could really lead to some touching, heartbreaking or very funny scenes don't you think? In all of his innocence and youth Kenny could perhaps be the one who could make Cable laugh from time to time and give him a good time. Wouldn't that be cool? Interaction with humans would enrich Cables personality in far more ways then interaction with only mutants could.

Furthermore I have to say that it was good to see the Avengers (and perhaps also the Fantastic Four in the next issue) pop up in this issue. It's great to see such cross continuity and it makes things even more realistic IMHO. After all the Harbinger is here to teach mankind what true strength is and demolish New York City in the process. Therefore it is only realistic that several of the heroes who live in New York unite themselves and work together to defeat this common foe. I still hope that we will see the X-Men as well working together with the other heroes to defeat the Harbinger but even if that wouldn't happen I would still be glad of seeing The Avengers teaming up with Cable.

Last but not least it was good to see the Twelve being mentioned again. If I am not mistaken it very much looked like Ozymandias was about to reveal who the various members of the twelve are to Blaquesmith at the end of the issue and I really hope that Blaquesmith and Ozymandias will share that piece of information with us as well as soon as possible. There have been many speculations as to who would be a member of the Twelve and I am, especially after Marvel stated that some of the members of the Twelve would come as a complete surprise, very curious to see after all which people Marvel had in mind when they created the Twelve....

The Bad

Hmmm.... perhaps I should change the name of this column since i just can't seem to find any really bad things about the Cable-issues I have read. Perhaps I have imperceptibly become too much of a fanboy but I must admit I actually liked this issue very much. If there's any bad about this issue then it must be the fact that we have to wait thirty whole days before we can find out what happens further in the 'Sign Of The End Times'-storyline! :-)

However I did have some questions after reading this issue nevertheless. For example why was the US Army so much in panic when their sensors first noticed the Harbinger? Why was one of their fighter pilots ordered to fire two missiles at the Harbinger? I mean until that point in time the Harbinger had not done anything wrong, had he? The way I see it the Army acted a bit premature here and it reminded me of a 'shoot first and ask questions later'-policy. Besides that I am still wondering whether or not Ozymandias is really cast out by Apocalypse. It could very well be the case but somehow I am still a bit afraid that it is nothing more than a dirty trick played on Cable and Blaquesmith. I mean why would Apocalypse allow Cable and Blaquesmith to know that there's a way in which his reign of terror can be prevented? Why would he ever allow them to know that if the Harbinger would destroy New York City his evil schemes would never become a reality? Why would Apocalypse ever allow Cable and Blaquesmith to know who the Twelve are; the only ones who can possibly stop him? Couldn't Apocalypse have foreseen that if he would cast out Ozymandias, the former king would share this vital information with Blaquesmith to get his revenge? Besides that you can ask yourself whether or not Apocalypse knows as well what the prophecies are telling. Does he know that if the Harbinger destroys New York his evil reign of terror might never become a reality? And if he knows then what is he going to do about it? It would be reasonable to assume that somehow Apocalypse stops the Harbinger from destroying the city because only that way he could have things his way for sure, right?

Another thing which bothered me was that Ozymandias and Blaquesmith should be able to tell from the images Ozymandias carved out in stone whether or not Cable will be successful in stopping the Harbinger and Apocalypse. So why not check those prophecies out first before starting to panic? Ozymandias himself has stated that the prophecies are statements of fact so I would go looking for the prophecy which predicts what the outcome of the final battle will be: will Cable win or will Apocalypse have the last laugh? If it would turn out to be that Cable would succeed then I would act a lot more relaxed and calm then Blaquesmith did. So why didn't Blaquesmith check things out?

Besides that Ozymandias speaks of two millennia of darkness and oppression if Apocalypse would take over. Now that got me wondering: what would happen after these two millennia would have passed by? Would Apocalypse then lose all of his power again? Would his reign of terror simply collapse after two thousand years? Would the rebel forces of light then finally be able to defeat Apocalypse?

But the thing which bothered me most was without a doubt the question whether or not Cable will be skilled and powerful enough to defeat Apocalypse all on his own when the moment of truth arrives. I mean I have seen Cable doing some incredible stuff but a fact is that he has had more than enough trouble beating Agent 18 and the ACIDROID while the Harbinger gave him a beating he will not soon forget. Now I know that these are not opponents which you beat in the blink of an eye but if Cable has already so much trouble beating enemies like these who are definitely far less powerful than Apocalypse, then how on Earth could he even hope of defeating the High Lord one day? It worries me a bit but I guess I will just have to wait and see. Perhaps it will not be Cable's strength or his mutant powers which will bring Apocalypse on his knees but his humanity and the strength of his heart....

But these are just some minor points my friends! I liked this issue a lot in general and I am already waiting impatiently for the next issue! I just can't wait to see what will happen next in this storyline and I look very much forward to the interaction between Cable, The Avengers and possibly the Fantastic Four. I have the feeling we will be in for the ride of our lives in the upcoming issues! So hold on tight and hopefully we will see each other again in thirty days! :-)

Excelsior!

Rainer Ho Ten Soeng

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