Cable #12 Review

Writer: Gerry Duggan

Art: Phil Noto, VC’s Joe Sabino, and Tom Muller

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: July 28th, 2021

Kid CABLE has come to a crossroads. He’s had the time of his life including family, friends, and fun. He’s been enjoying life for the first time. However, he’s realized he’s not the CABLE currently needed. Therefore, he’s given over his resurrection privileges to his older self and has decided to go back to the future to evolve and mature. Let’s dive into CABLE #12 by Gerry Duggan as we watch Kid CABLE team up with his older self on one last mission to stop Stryfe before it’s too late.

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THE DISPATCH

Closure. That’s what readers will find in this culminating installment of CABLE. We finally get an ending that jokingly seems foreign to most comic books these days. Plus, we get an ending that makes sense and flows with the entire narrative. Carrots are dangled for future authors to revisit if they want with a reasonably happy ending for the gritty old man in the process. Moreover, Duggan fixes the events of EXTERMINATION and finds a path to give fans the CABLE they know and love back. However, he also finds a way to leave a little icing on the cake for the few that loved Kid CABLE in the process.

Ultimately, Duggan proved so much to this reviewer throughout the entire CABLE series. From his writing expertise to his imagination, I trust his vision couldn’t be higher. He took damaged goods and sold them at full cost to the store owner. He created a clever con that took some time to develop but showed fans and creative teams alike what it’s like to actually end a series without tons of nagging questions and nonsensical concerns. Readers, sometimes stories just need to end. And frankly, many ongoings need to do this very thing.

You can end an arc with closure and move forward. Current writing practice by many is to sprinkle in narrative clues 10-15 issues before making the story seem deep or cerebral. When, in all reality, readers just want a strong, solid story. It doesn’t need to blow our minds nor does it need to make the writer seem clever and intelligent. It’s obvious that Duggan strategically planned this story from start to finish. Readers can see the intention, orchestration, and organization behind each issue of CABLE, and CABLE #12 is no different. It’s fast-paced, exciting, has tons of quick cameos, and is crammed with touching moments for invested fans. What more could you ask for?

ART

Phil Noto deserves so much credit for the success of this series. That said, CABLE #12 is no different. Noto’s artistic style is beyond extraordinary and continues to look almost like moving portraits. Somehow, he always manages to convey a smooth, polished appearance mixed with a muddled, rough exterior. The colors were vibrant and stellar even in darker realms while the backgrounds never seemed to overshadow the action or events in the narrative. Furthermore, the panels were mainly straightforward yet Noto pulled out some unique displays to amplify changing events in the issue. It’s this clever strategy in which helped convey powerful tones in specific key moments throughout the issue. Noto once again finds himself in a class filled with some of the comic elite.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Duggan took a character that looked unfixable and repaired it. He took a practically untouchable character and repurposed it. However, the cherry on top is that Duggan arguably made the uninteresting CABLE one of the best X-MEN series to come out of HOXPOX. He saw potential where everyone else saw failure. After this concluding issue of CABLE, I couldn’t be more excited to see Duggan in control of the main X-MEN story. Plus, MARAUDERS has also been rock solid since this new era began. At this rate, I highly recommend grabbing the trade. If you’re a CABLE fan, this is a no-brainer. This needs to be in your collection. Thank you, Duggan and Noto, for an amazing series chalked full of outstanding art, imagination, and wickedly fun storytelling. Have a great week, let me know what you think, and God Bless!