Review: Cable #4

Cable“s desperate quest for the final pieces of the time sword has led him from the Mayans to pre-revolutionary Russia. It has also lead him to a direct confrontation with Conquest. Can a timeline already strained by changes introduced by both Conquest and Cable hold together when they go at each other?

Also, Conquest gave Rasputin a bunch of robot horses for his Cossacks. Oh, my aching timeline.

Before Cable gets to Russia, Conquest has gotten the second to last piece of the time sword and it is nearly assembled. Once Cable arrives, Conquest springs his trap shut and Cable is strung up and surrounded by Cossacks and their cybersteeds. Before the big fight can take place, Cable and Conquest have a short monologue off and Conquest clearly only cares about entertaining himself in the now and pays no attention to the consequences. Cable on the other hand is all about fixing the consequences and his fun is fighting all comers.

For the first time, I“m a little disappointed in James Robinson“s storytelling. I get that Cable and Conquest are supposed to be the spiritual opposites, but here Conquest is coming across as a second-rate Kang the Conqueror. If I wasn“t a villain like that, I“d read an Immortus (or worse Rama Tut) story. I think the readers really deserve more than “I want to conqueror time just to watch stuff” break as a motivation.

I will say that Yildiray Cinar“s (Teen Titans, Fury of Firestorm) art really lifts up this issue of the story. I liked how the first and last pages were both splash pages that serve almost like fun house mirrors of each other — one featuring the villain and one the hero. Almost every element of those images is the opposite of the other.

Cinar“s art throughout the book is tight and efficient. You always can follow the action and see how the fights are progressing. The fight actually feels like there are several reversals going on. And in Cinar drawings Conquest appears to almost be a younger, unscathed version of Cable. One of the problems of the series is that with a new artist in each issue, it is hard to tell if this is intentional or just Cinar“s spin on the story.

I am not saying that Cinar“s characters all look-alike. Rasputin and the Cossacks are distinct. It is just that Cable and Conquest share a similar profile in this issue. It would be interesting if Cable does have a Kang problems in that all his bouncing through time have left various versions of himself floating around the multiverse.

Well there is only one more piece of the time sword left and thanks to some Celestial tech using Mayans, Cable has a better idea of where it is than Conquest. Looks like this story arc is going to draw to a close with a bang.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer: James Robinson
Artist: Yildiray Cinar
Colorists: Jesus Aburtov & Federico Blee

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Andy Hall

Sent from the future by our Robot Ape overlords to preserve the timeline. Reading and writing about comics until the revolution comes. All hail the Orangutan Android Solar King!