New Mutants #87

[iamrman]

While the New Mutants are trying to find a way home from Asgard, the real action is taking place back on Earth. Get ready for the man called-- Cable!

Comments

[scorntx]

Tempo, as she's lying on the ground having been shot: "I'm fine. I meant to do this. It's all part of the plan."

Cable, starting as he means to go on: Covered in guns and pouches.

it's a little odd that for someone Simonson created to be a counterpoint to Xavier's "whiny" idealism (whatever that means...), his motivation here is protecting kids.
Which, methodology of doing so via shooting guns aside, seems like a pretty non-cynical sort of thing to do, no?

Also:
1: These are the best people Stryfe could pick?
2: How does he sit down in a chair in that thing?
(oh, hey. Now I gots Tom Lehrer playing on repeat in my forehead... go figure.)

[iamrman]

It is telling that there aren't any New Mutants in a post from an issue of New Mutants. I really dislike Louise Simonson's run that much.

No problem with her Power Pack and X-Factor, but her run on New Mutants was... not good.

I don't even hate the art on this!

[featheredserpent]

I choose to ignore pretty much everything after Inferno.
And anything involving Gosamyr.
And everything involving Birdbrain.

[beyondthefringe]

My brain violently rejects all things Bird Boy and Gosamyr, except the grudge match between the New Mutants and the Hellions.

Bird Boy got Doug killed and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

But yeah, the latter half of the series as a whole has some pretty lackluster storylines.

[iamrman]

Likewise.

[gnarll]

Tempo and Wildside are really powerful force multipliers and Zero... well a teleporter who can do entire teams is wonderful for an assault team. He is just really lacking in frontlines to take advantage of the setup.

[icon_uk]

Given it's cover date is March 1990, which meant it would have come out in late Dec 89/Jan 90, the 90's certainly launched with the 90's-iest 90's that ever 90'd!

Stryfe's costume will never NOT be hilarious, in terms of "How does that even turn his HEAD in that thing without his head plates hitting his shoulder spikes?"

[iamrman]

I unironically love Stryfe. I mean, just look at him. He is ridiculous! I love it!

[mindsweeper]

Well, turning one’s head is for lesser beings. Stryfe is always the center of attention and never needs to look at anyone else.

Also, the spikes can move out of the way, since in the panels on that one page, they change heights.

[featheredserpent]

I hope there's a fan behind the vent in the front of the full-abdomen codpiece to keep the interior of those metal pants cool.

[beyondthefringe]

The dark times are upon us.
Leifeld's work is very...

um...

energetic.

[iamrman]

I have a soft spot for this sort of 90's nonsense.

[mazway_75]

Ah, when Cable was just the "cool grizzled vet" before his backstory got insane.

[iamrman]

A Summers Family member is gonna Summers.

Remember when he was supposed to be Cannonball from the future? I guessed he wasn't so nigh-invulnerable while blastin' after all.

[scorntx]

Hey, he said nigh-invulnerable.
Not completely.

[icon_uk]

"Cable is Cannonball" idea is a new one on me, when did that crop up?

[iamrman]

I can't actually remember where I first saw the Cable is Cannonball idea. I just had it in my mind that this was his original intended origin.

[beyondthefringe]

Cannonball as one of the Externals, his immortality activated after being killed briefly in X-Force. Now that was a thing which didn't actually pay out. Surprised Hickman didn't decide to pick up that thread.

[cainofdreaming]

There was that rumor that Highlander franchise holders didn't really like Marvel using that concept. Dunno if it's true, though.

[beyondthefringe]

As opposed to the fans who didn't like the concept either... :)

[bravest_spinja]

That was always the rumor, but I'm not sure how much veracity was in that per se. Marvel at the time was, itself, often on the litigation offensive. The Highlander franchise itself seemed to be a bit hardscrabble--Clancy Brown claims he was never even paid. Also, some of the elements are themselves kind of derivative. Much of the idea goes at least as far back as back as Robert Adams's Horseclan novels.

[scorntx]

It's an idea that's been floating around for years, though... actually, come to think, where did it come from?
There must be some interview that says it somewhere.

Or is it just one of those things that everybody's heard?

[agharta75]

Pouches! Big guns! Very small feet!!

[remial]

wait, Cable is fighting MILFS? it really has been a while since I read this, I didn't remember that...

you know, I used to be a big fan of Liefeld's art. then I turned 18 and could buy porn.

[mastermahan]

Man, this is a terrible showing for Cable's first outing. He's all the advantage: he's striking from ambush, he knows his opponents, and he still gets his ass kicked by *Reaper and Strobe*. Reaper's power is having a stick, and Strobe's the one heat person who can't fly or shoot blasts. Both are extremely vulnerable to getting shot in the face. And they still beat Nathan.

[cainofdreaming]

Hey, Reaper is badass. Or so he kept telling anyone willing, or unwilling, to listen throughout his whole career.

[sabertoothlotus]

Often while having his limbs removed in battle.

[phantomfo]

It doesn't help you sustain the element of surprise when you shout "Now!" to yourself as you launch your attack.

[zylly]

I’ve heard Simonson wanted to call Cable “Commander X” and while it’s a bit derivative, it’s so much better a name than Cable.

I do love Louise Simonson, but I also definitely agree that her New Mutants run was… mixed at best. Even incorporating the X-Terminators into the New Mutants seemed like a poor fit. They were very different kinds of kids.