As I read Cable and X-Force #7 I had a thought about one of my favorite X-Men. Dennis Hopeless packs this issue with action, tense interactions and hilarious lines.
As bad girl Domino is breaking Colossus out of prison she tells him,”Look, I’m a big fan of yours. What can I say, big, burly and all sorts of broken. I’ve got a type.”
A sentiment shared by many girl and some guys for big emo lugs like Peter Rasputin.
The innocent Russian farm boy has had a universe of heartbreak and emotional torture over the years with deaths, resurrections, breakups and possessions.
Best Continuing Series: Wolverine and the X-Men Humor, action, heart and the unexpected. Jason Aaron pack big moments, hilarious exchanges and moments that went for the heart and the gut!
Best Artist: David Lopez (X-Men) This was a tough call with the always mighty Jim Cheung (AvX covers) in the lead. Nick Bradshaw made an outstanding debut. This cover and Lopez’s portrayal of Storm just stayed with me.
Best Writer: Jason Aaron (Wolverine and the X-Men, Thor: God of Thunder) Everything I’ve said about Wolverine and the X-Men plus a serial killer of Gods in Thor – nuff said!
Best Mini-Series: Avengers vs. X-Men
Best Single Issue: Wolverine and the X-Men #18I picked this issue because of how it made me feel with the most shocking ending of the year. The last panel just hurt in my gut and heart! Jason Aaron made me love a strange little student at Logan’s school and then blasted him.
Wolverine and the X-Men #17 courtesy Marvel
Funniest Issue of the Year: Wolverine and the X-Men #17 (the All Doop epic with Mike and Laura Allred art!)
Comeback of the Year: Scott, Jean, Bobby, Hank and Warren in All-New X-Men
Best New Talent: Seth Peck & Paul Azaceta (X-Men #38 & #39 aka Domino & Daredevil)
You just can’t keep a mutant cyborg from an alternate future down for long! Cable is back but he’s getting a rough reception in the Marvel Now. The son of Cyclops will become one of the world’s most wanted. Dennis Hopeless and Salvador Larroca launch Cable and X-Force this week. Domino, Forge, Colossus and Dr. Nemesis join Cable on his new misadventures. Hopeless and Editor Nick Lowe shared his take on the team and shared preview art on Marvel.com.
“You get dropped smack dab in the middle of a pretty horrible situation on the first page of Cable & X-Force #1. You see our X-Force team and a bunch of dead bodies. They’re surrounded by the Uncanny Avengers who have just arrived on the scene. Things do not look good,” said Lowe.
“Cable and X-Force have tried to stop something really bad from happening and it’s gone as bad as possible. Cable has one last job to pull before he can retire from being a crazy time-hopping Askani’son. It goes awfully,” says Hopeless, “Cable comes up the team and he’s the one they have to trust, even though he doesn’t say much.”
For fans of Hope Summers this is the book to watch. Lowe confirmed Cable’s adopted daughter will play a huge role in the book.
“The crux of my original pitch and the emotional core of the book is that Cable and Hope both want to be done with the craziness and live normal lives, but neither are very good at it,” said Hopeless of the mutant messiah and her father.
“Hope plays a unique role early on. She’s not strictly a member of the team, but in my mind, Cable doesn’t think of this as X-Force, just people who can help him with a problem. The news call them X-Force, which Cable finds asinine,” says Hopeless of the team name.
Cable and X-Force #2 courtesy Marvel
You can see Cable has a new look including an eye patch but the disease that’s cursed him since birth is gone.
“Cable no longer has the T/O virus. His arm is messed up and he’s never had to use his powers like this. He recruits Forge to help him with that, and we’ll explain why he’s not quite as crazy any more,” explains Hopeless.
Cable’s team will be on the run from Marvel Now’s newest supergroup.
“The supporting cast is basically the Uncanny Avengers. If this book is ‘The Fugitive,‘ they’re Tommy Lee Jones,” Nick Lowe explained.
Cable and X-Force #1 courtesy Marvel
“In my mind, Havok is the reason the Uncanny Avengers get pulled into this and become obsessed with finding Cable. Things have gone bad for the Summers family. His brother is in jail and now his nephew appears to be a terrorist. Rick Remender has made it very clear to me many times that they are not jackbooted thugs. There’s an interesting dynamic between the two teams,” said Hopeless of the crossover elements.
“Early on, the Uncanny Avengers are the big problem. The situations that lead to the job are less villain-based, more ‘something awful is going to happen and we have to stop it.’ We’ll roll into who caused this situation as the series continues,” he adds.
Cable has one of the most complicated backgrounds in comics. Personally there are moments when I love him and when I wish he’s stayed dead.
“Cable is an interesting character because his past is so varied. He’s not a guy who likes to talk about his feelings, but here he’s the guy with all the answers. He’s a complicated sort of guy. He’s a person who wants to make the world a better place and be a good father to his daughter, but he’s also really good at using big guns and breaking into military bases. We’re going to play with all his incarnations.”
I love this description – it’s a good way to explain who Cable is:
Cable and X-Force #1 courtesy Marvel
“Cable is Steve McQueen in the body of the T2 Terminator. He’s a super hero version of Parker. I tried to surround him with interesting characters who are really good at solving a certain kind of problem, but they don’t get along. There are some elements of the classic X-Force, but it’s wrapped around a crime story and an emotional story about a father and his daughter.” – Dennis Hopeless
Every incarnation of X-Force has had an outlaw element.
“We wanted to take the idea of X-Force as the intense paramilitary X-Men book to a new level,” said Lowe.
There will also be a new Uncanny X-Force in the Marvel Now. The X-Editor explains the difference:
“Cable & X-Force is about fugitives on the run from the Marvel Universe, criminals and murderers as far as the world can tell. Uncanny X-Force deals with the dark underbelly of the Marvel Universe and a lot of moral quagmires.”
Warpath was the angry big rebel in the first X-Force. After AvX Colossus is free of his demons but full of hate and anger.
“Colossus ends up on the team partially because where he is as a person after AvX. Things are not great. He gets sucked into all this in a way that is very much not what he plans or what he wanted,” explains Hopeless.
“Colossus is the muscle. A veteran. A guy who doesn’t get shaken under pressure,” adds Lowe.
It will be nostalgic to see Nathan and Domino together again. She was part of his Six-Pack team of mercs before joining his first X-Force.
“Domino can get you in and out of any situation,” said Hopeless, “Their relationship is interesting. They were together at one point and since then have both been through a lot. Cable was in the future for years and had a wife who died. Domino calls him on his crap, but they’re not going to jump in bed together just because they’re in the same room.”
Cable and X-Force #3 courtesy Marvel
After a long run on Invincible Iron Man Salvador Larroca is back with the Children of the Atom. You can definitely see how his style has evolved – a mix of his X-Men era and what he developed on Iron Man which is perfect for Cable and his crew.
“We talked about what roles the characters would play and then let Salva loose on the new costumes. We knew we wanted to limit the color palette and have them look not too much like super heroes, but keep the trappings. Cable needed a big mech arm because the loss of the T/O virus ravaged his body,” explains Lowe of the new designs.
“There is a story reason for why most of the characters are wearing what they are and why they have the tech they do. Salva deserves all the credit,” adds Hopeless
Hopeless confirmed the X-Force teams will interact.
“If you’ve got Cable in one book and Bishop as a villain in the other, that’s a big deal,” said Lowe.
For the entire liveblog here’s the Marvel.com link.
Nathan Summers is back running the team he founded back in the 1990’s. New Mutants evolved into the the first volume of X-Force. In recent years the X-Force concept evolved and the team was run by Wolverine as a covert ops unit doing the dirty work the X-Men couldn’t. This Cable and X-Force launches in the Marvel Now. Writer Dennis Hopeless recruits Colossus, Domino, Dr. Nemesis and Forge for this new team of mutants that have been branded as terrorists.
Hopeless told Comics Newsarama about his plans for the team and the roster. I was really interested in the inclusion of Colossus who has literally been to several versions of hell and back thanks to Magik, his bonding with Cyttorak and possession by the Phoenix Force. Apparently things will get even worse for Peter.
“Colossus is coming out of a pretty dark period when our book kicks off. Peter has a lot of regrets. He’s an introspective guy and his recent past will definitely weigh on him. All of that will affect his decision-making for sure.
Unfortunately, we won’t be giving the guy much of a break in which to reflect. He’ll be busy running for his life.”
This new book marks a reunion between Nathan and Domino. Hopeless says don’t expect the former lovers to have the same dynamic.
“Domino has developed into a different kind of character lately. She’s matured some I think and like you said, she now at least tries to be a hero first.
Both Domino and Cable have grown into different people than when they were together. Cable may not look it, but he’s a lifetime beyond the man Domino knew. He raised a daughter, got married and grew old with his wife. Fans shouldn’t expect these two to pick right back up where they left off and fall into bed together. That wouldn’t make any sense.
But they are going to have to work together. They’ll have to figure out what all that history means in the here and now. It’s a complex relationship that’s very fun to write.”
I was thrilled to see that Dr. Nemesis will be part of the team. The genius egomaniac has a new look Hopeless said was redesigned by acclaimed artist Salvador Larroca.
Hopeless says he will address Forge and his most recent appearance in which he was the bad guy in the Ghost Boxes storyline.
Sam Humphries and Ron Garney will launch a brand new Uncanny X-Force. Hopeless says “there will definitely be some interaction between the two X-Force books. Just not right off the bat. These are very different books.”
The most un-X-Men-like X-Men book I’ve read in a while is this week’s X-Men #39. Domino needed a vacation from her team so she decided to infiltrate an underground casino for criminals. The lucky lady crossed paths with Daredevil and in this issue the duo track down the weapons dealer in an action and humor packed conclusion.
Domino has always been a sidekick – she’s a feisty, sexy chick with guns and luck but not a ton of depth. Neena is lucky that Marvel decided to have Seth Peck write her with a dynamic, funny personality that makes her pop off the page. Neena and Matt’s chemistry sparks in this two-parter. I want to see her guest star in Daredevil now.
Peck deserves accolades for this caper and for how he made me feel about the villain of this two-parter. This secret of Armitage was a big surprise.
All of the art is top-notch! David Lopez’s cover is an in your face pop classic. Paul Azaceta and Matthew Southworth’s bold lines and dark colors really compliment Domino and Daredevil’s underworld adventure.
If this two-parter was an Seth Peck’s audition for Marvel then imagine me giving him a standing ovation! Domino pops and she deserves her own title or team-up book starring Neena! Any hero would be lucky to share an adventure with her!
Marvel – bet on Domino, Peck, Azaceta and Southworth you’ll win big!
In 2013 Cyclops’s son is back with a brand new team in a brand new book – and they’re branded Marvel Now’s most wanted! Dennis Hopeless and Salvador Larroca launch Cable and X-Force this January. Domino, Forge, Colossus and Dr. Nemesis join Cable on his new adventures. Hopeless and Editor Nick Lowe shared his take on the team and shared new art on Marvel.com.
“You get dropped smack dab in the middle of a pretty horrible situation on the first page of Cable & X-Force #1. You see our X-Force team and a bunch of dead bodies. They’re surrounded by the Uncanny Avengers who have just arrived on the scene. Things do not look good,” said Lowe.
“Cable and X-Force have tried to stop something really bad from happening and it’s gone as bad as possible. Cable has one last job to pull before he can retire from being a crazy time-hopping Askani’son. It goes awfully,” says Hopeless, “Cable comes up the team and he’s the one they have to trust, even though he doesn’t say much.”
Lowe confirmed Hope Summers plays a huge role in the book.
“The crux of my original pitch and the emotional core of the book is that Cable and Hope both want to be done with the craziness and live normal lives, but neither are very good at it,” said Hopeless of the mutant messiah and her father.
“Hope plays a unique role early on. She’s not strictly a member of the team, but in my mind, Cable doesn’t think of this as X-Force, just people who can help him with a problem. The news call them X-Force, which Cable finds asinine,” says Hopeless of the team name.
Cable and X-Force #2 courtesy Marvel
You can see Cable has a new look including an eye patch but the disease that’s cursed him since birth is gone.
“Cable no longer has the T/O virus. His arm is messed up and he’s never had to use his powers like this. He recruits Forge to help him with that, and we’ll explain why he’s not quite as crazy any more,” explains Hopeless.
Cable’s team will be on the run from Marvel Now’s newest supergroup.
“The supporting cast is basically the Uncanny Avengers. If this book is ‘The Fugitive,‘ they’re Tommy Lee Jones,” Nick Lowe explained.
Cable and X-Force #1 courtesy Marvel
“In my mind, Havok is the reason the Uncanny Avengers get pulled into this and become obsessed with finding Cable. Things have gone bad for the Summers family. His brother is in jail and now his nephew appears to be a terrorist. Rick Remender has made it very clear to me many times that they are not jackbooted thugs. There’s an interesting dynamic between the two teams,” said Hopeless of the crossover elements.
“Early on, the Uncanny Avengers are the big problem. The situations that lead to the job are less villain-based, more ‘something awful is going to happen and we have to stop it.’ We’ll roll into who caused this situation as the series continues,” he adds.
Cable has one of the most complicated backgrounds in comics. Personally there are moments when I love him and when I wish he’s stayed dead.
“Cable is an interesting character because his past is so varied. He’s not a guy who likes to talk about his feelings, but here he’s the guy with all the answers. He’s a complicated sort of guy. He’s a person who wants to make the world a better place and be a good father to his daughter, but he’s also really good at using big guns and breaking into military bases. We’re going to play with all his incarnations.”
I love this description – it’s a good way to explain who Cable is:
Cable and X-Force #1 courtesy Marvel
“Cable is Steve McQueen in the body of the T2 Terminator. He’s a super hero version of Parker. I tried to surround him with interesting characters who are really good at solving a certain kind of problem, but they don’t get along. There are some elements of the classic X-Force, but it’s wrapped around a crime story and an emotional story about a father and his daughter.” – Dennis Hopeless
Every incarnation of X-Force has had an outlaw element.
“We wanted to take the idea of X-Force as the intense paramilitary X-Men book to a new level,” said Lowe.
There will also be a new Uncanny X-Force in the Marvel Now. The X-Editor explains the difference:
“Cable & X-Force is about fugitives on the run from the Marvel Universe, criminals and murderers as far as the world can tell. Uncanny X-Force deals with the dark underbelly of the Marvel Universe and a lot of moral quagmires.”
Warpath was the angry big rebel in the first X-Force. After AvX Colossus is free of his demons but full of hate and anger.
“Colossus ends up on the team partially because where he is as a person after AvX. Things are not great. He gets sucked into all this in a way that is very much not what he plans or what he wanted,” explains Hopeless.
“Colossus is the muscle. A veteran. A guy who doesn’t get shaken under pressure,” adds Lowe.
It will be nostalgic to see Nathan and Domino together again. She was part of his Six-Pack team of mercs before joining his first X-Force.
“Domino can get you in and out of any situation,” said Hopeless, “Their relationship is interesting. They were together at one point and since then have both been through a lot. Cable was in the future for years and had a wife who died. Domino calls him on his crap, but they’re not going to jump in bed together just because they’re in the same room.”
Cable and X-Force #3 courtesy Marvel
After a long run on Invincible Iron Man Salvador Larroca is back with the Children of the Atom. You can definitely see how his style has evolved – a mix of his X-Men era and what he developed on Iron Man which is perfect for Cable and his crew.
“We talked about what roles the characters would play and then let Salva loose on the new costumes. We knew we wanted to limit the color palette and have them look not too much like super heroes, but keep the trappings. Cable needed a big mech arm because the loss of the T/O virus ravaged his body,” explains Lowe of the new designs.
“There is a story reason for why most of the characters are wearing what they are and why they have the tech they do. Salva deserves all the credit,” adds Hopeless
Hopeless confirmed the X-Force teams will interact.
“If you’ve got Cable in one book and Bishop as a villain in the other, that’s a big deal,” said Lowe.
For the entire liveblog here’s the Marvel.com link.
In the category of “….and now for something completely different…” here comes X-Men #38! It did not feel like an X-book but rather a Marvel Team-Up or A+X. New creative team Seth Peck and Paul Azaceta deliver an X-Woman’s detour into a gritty crime caper with an unlikely guest star.
After the intense missions of Brian Wood’s arc involving the Proto-Mutants, Domino takes a break from Storm’s team and heads for New York City. What are the odds The Man Without Fear would run into mutant mercenary? Domino and Daredevil find themselves in an underground casino populated by a who’s who of Marvel’s criminal underworld.
Brian Wood and David Lopez’s amazing arc was a huge act to follow. This creative team has made a smart move by going in a completely new direction. Of course Domino’s idea of a vacation is going undercover in a super villain casino! Peck nails Neena’s personality and the Matt Murdock of Mark Waid’s acclaimed run. The action and wit keep building and set the stage for big mystery. I’m in.
Azaceta and Rico Renzi create a perfect palette of gritty realism for this crime time story. The art reminds me of Frank Miller’s Batman Year One and Sean Phillips but with more eye-popping color. David Lopez crafts an iconic pop art cover. This a visual feast from cover to final panel.
I admit I considered dropping this book but I’m happy I took a shot. It’s definitely a very different book now but I’m betting you’ll enjoy it. Peck, Azaceta and Renzi are an impressive team to watch!
Grant Morrison took cheating on your spouse to a new level – a psychic level-during his New X-Men run. Cyclops is psychically unfaithful to Jean Grey with Emma Frost, former White Queen of the Hellfire Club. It’s like the old argument: Is it really cheating if there’s no physical sex? It didn’t seem to matter when Jean discovered the truth. Never cheat on a telepath with telepath!
Wolverine and Domino have an action packed fling in X-Force: Sex & Violence. The Assassins Guild puts a hit on Domino. Her special relationship with Logan goes to a whole new level as the two battle an army of killers.
