Cable and X-Force #2 Review

Sometimes it seems like you're damned if you do and damned if you don't with team books. If you spend early issues establishing the cast and their collective mission, the series is boring and formulaic. But if you simply throw readers into the deep end, they'll either drown or float there wondering what the point of it all is in the first place.

Somehow, Dennis Hopeless has managed to wrestle with both problems at once on Cable and X-Force. Thanks to the massively jumbled approach Hopeless has taken to the first arc's chronology, we've seen the beginning, the end, and various chunks of the middle in these first two issues. But even at the end of issue #2, there's only the vaguest sense of why this team has assembled or what they're trying to accomplish. The series is being too obtuse in setting up its mission statement. And in the process, it's providing a mess of poor scene transitions. In one instance, Cable's brain is being scanned for abnormalities. When next he appears, he's waking up from extensive brain surgery. It really seems like a more linear approach to establishing the team would help the series.

In general, Hopeless' characterization is decent enough. There's some fun banter to be had between Doctor nemesis and Forge, while Colossus remains true to his noble self while also reflecting recent hardships. However, it's difficult to feel invested in another plot involving Cable dying of a mysterious illness, especially since the whole point of curing him of his techno-organic infection in Avengers: X-Sanction was ostensibly to finally move the character past that familiar conflict. As for Hope, time will tell whether she has any lasting contribution to make to this series. The obnoxious pro-Hope commentary from the news reporter character is certainly no help.

I do enjoy Salvador Larroca's artwork, perhaps more so than on his extended Iron Man run. The rampant technological elements suit his style well and bring out a more detail-oriented Larroca than we've generally seen in recent years. Even Frank D'Armata's coloring fits this book better.

I'm not ready to write this series off yet. However, I don't want to have to wade through an entire story arc full of jumbled storytelling before getting a clear sense of what place Cable and X-Force will occupy in the X-Men franchise. With Uncanny X-Force's relaunch imminent, this series really needs to make a stronger case for itself immediately.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

Source : ign[dot]com