CABLE: LOVE & CHROME #3: From the Brink to the Brink…

It’s high drama from the creative team. Pepose’s script splits the action between Cable’s internal struggle against the techno organic virus as he lays dying in a resistance med bay with reality as Avery prepares for an assault on the Conclave’s flying citadel. Henderson’s paneling feels perfectly in step with Pepose’s pacing and jumping between what’s happening in Cable’s mind and what’s happening in reality works exceptionally well this issue. The goal of any comic should be to draw the reader into the story unfolding on the page and this issue does a marvelous job of making you see and feel Cable’s internal struggle through really well written first person character narrative and cinematic wide angle paneling. The explanation Pepose uses of connection and the how deeply Cable feels for Avery is brilliantly handled and has you cheering for our wild man of Borneo as he makes his return to the land of the living with a marvelously dramatic entrance.

What’s also impressive is how neatly the creative team splits the two acts of the book. The first sixteen odd pages concentrate on Cable finding his was back from near oblivion and then it’s time for the heavy action as the assault on the Citadel gets into full swing. The Cicada makes his full return this issue and there’s a royal rumble with all involved. The Cicada can kick rocks but I can’t shake the feeling of how ominous his words are during the battle scene. It wouldn’t be a x-book without some tragedy and the creative teams don’t spare your feelings as it strikes once again opening the door to what’s going to happen in issue four. It’s impressive how the team balance Cable’s very human side with the hardness from a lifetime of fighting across the timestream. I think the highest compliment I can pay to this issue and the team involved is that the strength of this book is it’s balance between how well the main characters are written and how well the art communicates this while never feeling overdone or trite.

Mike Henderson does great sci-fi (read The Forged, seriously read it.) From showing the techno organic virus in Cables mind as terminator like skeletons with red eye’s, to the detail of Cable’s techno organic arm, everything is cinematic, dramatic and dynamic. Prianto is excellent on color  and Sabino gets to show off some amazing sound effects for the action scenes. Wide cinematic paneling to the dreaded nine panel grid to some amazing splashes, the issue sets not one single foot wrong from start to finish. The solo X series of the current line have been exemplary so far and this issue is no exception.