comicsroundtable | New Comic Book Day: June 28, 2017

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New Comic Book Day: June 28, 2017

This post is for discussion and reviews of new comics for the week of June 28! Feel free to start threads for anything you've just read, want to read, or are curious about.

Here there be spoilers. Read at your own risk.

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Out of the new comics you read this week, which one book would you most recommend to your fellow fans?

(The Story So Far: ...Cable goes through time and fights guys while chasing a villain and being taciturn. That is literally all.)

In this issue, Cable travels through time and fights guys while chasing a villain and being taciturn. Again. This book is a complete waste of time and no one should bother reading it, and I'm giving up on it right now. The end.

The thing about Cable is, he's a character who just does not work in a book alone. He is a SUPER interesting guy, but when he's by himself doing things, it's like a little kid playing with GI Joe by just holding him up and shouting "Bang! You're dead!" a lot. Lots of firepower, no heart. Because he's square-jawed and reserved and keeps more in than he lets out, and because he deals in big-picture stuff like saving the future while his personal life is tragic since he can't focus on details, he needs a lighter, more "present" character around to force him into situations he wouldn't get into himself, to make him talk. The entirety of Cable & Deadpool was this; him with Hope was this; him leading X-Force in all its various incarnations was this; even him with the Six Pack/Wildpack was this, though that dynamic was pretty different from his norm as most of that group were grizzled old mercs and Cable stood out less.

If I were in charge of plotting/editing this book, keeping the hook basically the same with the time-travel and chasing the villain through history and things, I would insist that Cable get a companion to travel with (I know, too Doctor Who-y probably) or somebody helping him out behind the scenes in the present whom he can communicate with and relay information somehow. I particularly think that Deadpool's inventor friend Weasel would be unexpected but great in a tactical-support sort of role, but maybe that's just me. Or give Hope some stake in this (beyond her dad throwing himself alone into harm's way again, which I guess is always a stake) and let her be stubborn enough to make him take her along. The villain can stay, and it's okay to have him and Cable only interact through the traps he leaves Cable at every timejump, but we also need some kind of narrative stake beyond "he is killing people in history and that is bad". Cable trying to prevent a bad future is EVERY Cable story; give us a reference point upfront as to exactly which bad future it is this time so that we can care about whether he succeeds or not.

Anyway, this is just to say: Marvel, this book is such an incredible waste. It is bad and you should feel bad. Cable is one of my favorite characters (I have a bobblehead doll of him sitting on my bookshelf staring at me right now!) and I am so disappointed and honestly pretty mad that his new solo book is being wasted like this. :(

Now I'm going to go read something that will make me happier. Ugh.

Whelp, I noticed this on the list at my comic store this week and wondered if it was worth checking out, but I guess you've answered that! What a shame.

It's a pity that this book seems to be such a bust :(

Robinson is someone who is very hit and miss. I enjoyed his Scarlet Witch run but from what I read of Cable #1 and the way you are describing the #2 this sounds more like his Squadron Supreme run, which was 'wasted potential' incarnate.

(The Story So Far: Jean has been having premonitions of the Phoenix coming to devour her; she's gone to the previous Phoenix hosts seeking help, but none of them have been able to give her any advice but to run.)

This issue is DELIGHTFUL and AMAZING and EVERYONE SHOULD READ IT. The art (Victor Ibanez, I am even more in love with you today than ever before)!! Oh my god, the coloring when the entire issue is set underwater is just absolutely divine (Jay David Ramos and Dono Sanchez-Almara, whoever you are, I salute you). And the writing... can I just say that Hopeless was already one of my favorite writers, and that him writing NAMOR THE SUBMARINER in all his snarky egotistical majesty is everything I hoped and dreamed it would be?? I will say it! I will say it again!

This book has just got me in the heart and I love everything about it. I love Jean's perspective, I love how she relates to all the characters who knew other versions of her (and vice-versa -- Namor talking about the original Jean, comparing the two of them, and admitting near the end that young!Jean has the potential to surpass the first one was <3333), I love how she crushes on Namor as is a Summers/Grey family tradition. I love her uncertainty and fears and the fire she has under it all! I love her glimpses inside the minds touched by the Phoenix and the exploration of what that kind of corrupting power has done to all of them; I love her being Omega-level, whatever that might mean at the moment, but she's so young and still struggling to use her powers effectively in a super realistic, relatable way. I love her resolve that she is not going to give up and let the Phoenix win, and I love that she's going to train and become a badass warrior and ahhhh, it's going to be so fun.

Next issue looks like it's going to be a training montage with Odinson! I can't tell you how excited I am. Seriously, guys, this book is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Go out and pick it up if you haven't!

(The Story So Far: The young X-Men and their new mentor, Magneto, have moved to a base on the island nation of Madripoor where they can respond to incidents all over the world. One of those incidents was in Colorado, where they picked up an amnesiac sniktbub named Jimmy Hudson who is Wolverine's son from an alternate universe and discovered that the villain Ms. Sinister has gathered a team of extra-dimensional New Marauders for some sinister purpose.)

I thought that this issue was going to be the start of the Secret Empire tie-in, but it wasn't, so crisis averted... for two more weeks.

Anyway, I've been really liking this book, but this issue was just so-so (still don't really care about the will-they-or-won't-they with Scott and Jean, now with tertiary actor Son of Wolverine) until the fight scene with the Madripoorean ninjas! I was thinking how '90s the art and battle senes were the whole time, up until where the Raksha were like "we fight in honor of the one called Patch!" and I laughed and laughed. That dumb yet charming storyline is still bearing fruit! :P

Oof, the art was uneven in this issue, though, ranging from passable to just straight-out bad. The backgrounds and fight sequences were okay; every closeup on a character face was just cringy (especially Jean, ughhh).

I liked the bits of foreshadowing as to the villains the team has/will face! I know that Emma Frost is coming up as a villain and I am both excited and nervous about that... :/

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New Comic Book Day: June 28, 2017

PULL OF THE WEEK

Cable #2

Re: Cable #2

Re: Cable #2

Jean Grey #3

X-Men: Blue #6