The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 363: Cable - Blood and Metal #1, October 1992

There was a gap in my comics collecting. I can pinpoint it pretty accurately by my Animal Man collection. I know that the last issue of it I bought was around #14, in 1989. I picked up the hobby again around 1995, when I was living in London, Ontario. So I missed the Image explosion, and I definitely missed the X-titles that followed in its wake, when Marvel Comics was trying desperately to mimic the success of it's former employees.

Thank goodness.

There's a reason why comics from the early 90s are so mercilessly lampooned. They're really bad. And I'm saying this about a comic written by Fabian Nicieza, the man behind some of my favourite Thunderbolts stories, and by John Romita Jr., perhaps one of the most lauded of the Bronze Age/Modern Age comics artists. But, y'know, Cable. He was created, pretty much, by Rob Liefeld, and at this point in his history, he hasn't shed that image, so to speak. He still has giant puffy shoulders, and seems to spend his entire life grimacing over something painful, speaking in Frank Miller-esque bursts of exposition, and basically killing as many people and trying to sound like as much of a badass as possible.

It's hard for me to determine if this comic was good or bad, though. It's obviously picking up from New Mutants/X-Force storylines about which I have no knowledge. So in context, it might actually be a decent piece of superhero storytelling. Out of context, though, it suffers from the cliche of most X-books that one tries to read in a vacuum - it's so bogged down with continuity that the story just doesn't make sense. There's flashbacks, and references to apparently important characters. I half expected a Deadpool appearance, but maybe that's just a result of having spent time on the Internet in the last 2 months or so.

Bottom line, this is a Marvel X-comic from the early 90s. If you read them at the time, you have a nostalgic affection for them, but can't really convince me that they're any good. And if you didn't read them at the time, you probably avoid them like the plague. Like I would, though I don't have that option.

Okay, in an effort to end on a less negative note, Romita's art is always lovely to look at, even when I don't really know what's going on.

There. More tomorrow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 163: Cable #20, February 1995

This is one of my favourite comics. But it's one of those ones that I always forget until I've decided to re-read the AoA crossover.

I'll start with the cover. This is literally the most action that happens in this whole issue, but that's not the most interesting thing about it. This is also a rather poignant gathering of fathers and sons, and sets up very nicely the attention given in this issue to the relationships that define the characters and how they treat them in these, their final moments.

And that's what this comic basically is: a collection of final moments. While, for the characters, the outcome of Cable's mission to the past is not a foregone conclusion, it really seems here that the whole universe is ending (though let's perhaps say the whole timeline, or continuity. The universe continues, albeit in a different fashion). Thus what we are given here is final thoughts and words between characters with whom, as long-time X-readers, we have grown close. Cyclops and Phoenix finally reveal the truth of their future adventures to Cable. Angel and Beast, who've been there from the beginning, have a tender moment. Rogue and Gambit (a couple I've never really got) have a moment. Rather than beating a problem into submission, each of the characters is instead given the opportunity to do what probably any of us would do when faced with the certainty of our own demise. They say the things they probably shouldn't have waited so long to say.

Jeph Loeb is one of those comics writers that, I find, often disappears into his work. He's a competent writer, and though I've never been as blown away by his work as by someone like Moore or Gaiman, I've also never been disappointed by it. It's only when we look to his collaborations with artist Tim Sale that we begin to really understand how much he gets the structure of the superhero narrative, and I think that's why he disappears into his stories. This'll take a bit more thought, I think, but I'm going to keep my eyes on Loeb as I read through. Brilliance in art has two distinct outcomes. The first is the innovative, what we might call the literary in the written work, where a work is atypical, pushing boundaries both structural and narrative. The second, though, is the disappearance of the artist into the work. Grant Morrison is always front and center in his stories. His style is an intrinsic part of his storytelling. With someone like Loeb, his style is subsumed by the tropes and structures of the superhero tale, or is the tropes and structures of the superhero tale. Someone like Kurt Busiek has a similar handle on this kind of story. Mark Waid, perhaps, straddles the two different ways. We have artists whose work is stereotypically superheroic, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Loeb is amongst those creators whose writing is stereotypically superheroic, with definite emphasis on the good.

Speaking of art, this issue is drawn by one of my favourite artists: Ian Churchill. I've caught flack for liking his work so much, as he's of that school of hyper-sexualized, super-defined bodies. His women are tall and slender and buxom beyond all reason, and his men have 12 packs instead of 6 packs, along with muscles on top of their muscles. But, like Loeb, I think Churchill captures something essential about the stereotypicality of the superhero. These are ideals given 2-dimensional form. While most of his characters are unbelievably ripped, I can imagine that he would spend the same amount of time and hyper-realism on more typical characters. I've just yet to see it. I came to his work when he did an issue of Moore's run on Supreme, and his art style meshed perfectly with the highly symbolic world of the Pearl Paragon. His work here is no less wonderful, and it's a treat to see these hyper-realized characters having conversations rather than fights. How does the superheroic body function in repose, in tender situations, rather than in violent conflict? Churchill gives us an all-too-brief look.

So the universe crystallizes, even though we haven't read the final issue. Perhaps the crystal wave is moving backward through time, so the present (1995) day X-Men are hit by it before those trapped in the past. We'll find out their fate tomorrow. See you then.

Giant Box of Comics presents "Stories from the Comic Life" - "I'll Never Forget That Issue" by Brendon Lam

I always flipped right to the back. I had to have at least seven of the top ten books. Had to. No ifs, ands, or buts. If I didn’t have it, I knew I had one month to redeem myself. That’s how it went every month for 8 years. That’s how I would read Wizard Magazine.

As I grew older, I began to look back at my younger self with a sense of shame. All of those top ten lists had only helped to fuel a speculative market that would nearly put the mainstream comics industry in the ground. The amount of bad that Wizard has done and been through has been well-documented; and whenever Wizard is mentioned in a conversation, it’s almost always in a negative light. I usually don’t participate. I sit there, silently, and feel bad. I feel bad because as much harm as that magazine and company may have caused to the industry, I owe them everything.

I’ll never forget that issue. Wizard #81 boasted a “Bold New Wizard” and it was reflected in Wizard’s choice to feature the X-Man, Cable, on its cover. (Editor's Note: I couldn't find a scan of the Cable cover of Wizard #81. There were even variant issues for a collector's magazine!) Yes, that Cable. But I had never seen Cable like that before; I don’t know that I ever had seen anything like that before. It was 1998 and 14 year old Brendon had just had his mind blown. Frantically, I flipped through the pages, but not for the top ten lists like I had in the past, this was more important and I needed it right away. And just like that, there he was. Jose Ladronn. He was the artist responsible for the cover that made set my brain on fire. I couldn’t even get through the article because I couldn’t comprehend all the art that surrounded it. The stocky bodies, the square fingers, the sheer amount of stuff in the backgrounds.And where the hell were everyone’s eyes? In that exact moment, I knew that I needed to own everything this guy had ever drawn and will ever draw. I don’t remember exactly how long the article was, but it actually had very little to do with Jose Ladronn. It was actually a spotlight on a young, up and coming writer by the name of Joe Casey. That month, instead of trying to figure out the next top ten list, I hunted down every issue of that Cable run. It was so different from everything else I was reading, but it also helped that it was really, really good. All of a sudden, I went from being a kid who bought books just for the characters to being a kid who consciously followed creators. Later that year, Joe Casey would have a short stint on The Incredible Hulk and of course I would be there on that Wednesday to purchase it. Little did I know that I would be purchasing my first issue of the creator who would become my all-time favorite artist, Ed McGuinness. I owe that to Wizard. They led me to Joe Casey, who led me to Ed McGuinness, who led me to guys like Jeph Loeb and Joe Kelly. Ladronn led me down the slippery slope that was Jack Kirby, Moebius, Steve Rude, and Milo Manara. I never looked at storytelling the same way again.

That was the first time it happened, but it certainly wasn’t the last. Alan Moore, America’s Best Comics, Garth Ennis, Preacher, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, Bone, Herobear and the Kid, and Starman. The list is endless. Even as a retailer, I learned about things like the “Terrible Twos” from them. As a teenager with very few friends and even less internet, Wizard Magazine substituted as both, and for that I will always be grateful. Plus, I had tons of posters for my locker.

Brendon Lam is also a dude who used to own a store and also has a lot of comics.