Cable #9: Trouble and Stryfe…

What do you get when you put teen Cable and Esme on an AIM atomic sub, a night with Uncle Patch in a bar in Madripoor’s Lowtown, and a rendezvous in Limbo with Magik? This issue.

In between juggling his dating life, some Logan/Nathan bonding time, and continuing his search for Stryfe and the kidnapped mutant babies, Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto continue to consistently pump out a solid and fun book every month. Their more immature and playful Cable has been a breath of fresh air after decades of the dour straight man he’s consistently played since his creation.
For an issue meant to be filler until the big showdown between Cable and his clone, Duggan peppers the story full of little nuggets of storylines that are more than likely going to affect the X line down the road. I really enjoy seeing the interactions Nate has as he continues to try to fulfill his mission. Duggan has a history with adult Cable, and he continues to show that he’s in good hands. Marvel would be a fool to not give Duggan another book dealing with AC (adult Cable) once this run ends at issue twelve.

Phil Noto is Duggan’s artistic partner in crime, and it’s just always a delight whenever he’s on a book. His self-proclaimed “retro paperback cover” style isn’t quite the look you’d expect when dealing with a teen sent into the future because he was infected with a technovirus by an emissary from his sisters cult dedicated to him so he can save the world from an External mutant, and it doesn’t quite get there, but it’s Noto, and I’ll read anything with him on art duties. Really beautiful stuff.

Unfortunately his style just clashes with the material he’s dealing with. It’s too much an Austin Powers meets what the 60’s thought the future would look like pastiche.  His demonic figures like N’Astirh, just doesn’t carry the weight they should, and his style just tends to work against him in a book like this. Fortunately the good aspects outweigh the bad, and this filler issue is a must grab, if only for the bar fight.