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CABLE #101
"How Many Albanians Does It Take to Screw in a Lightbulb?"
Recommended (7/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: David Tischman
Artist: Igor Kordey
Colors: Chris Sotomayor
Letters: Comicraft
Editors: Andrew Lis & Mark Powers
Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN |
Though I'm liking Cable more than I ever have, I still find the
lead character a bit impenetrable, and I'm also having trouble with Tischman's
tendency to crowd the book with too many characters. Leaving aside that
complaint, though, I'm pretty impressed with the work that Tischman and Kordey
are doing on this book. Cable's second arc takes him to Kosovo, where he lands
smack in the middle of the hot topic of ethnic cleansing, a conflict which can't
really be solved... an interesting place for super-heroes, which generally
thrive on black and white morality.
Kordey's artwork is the big selling point for this book right now. His style here is rougher than the work he's been doing on New X-Men, and it fits the grim atmosphere of Cable better. His work on the
backgrounds in Kosovo is simply stunning, setting the tone for a believable and
realistic depiction of the conflicts and the people there, and he also does
impressive action sequences, whether it's jets bombing Kosovo targets or Cable
battling his way into a lab.
Cable's new globe-trotting
modus operandi means that Tischman has to introduce a new supporting cast with
every new arc, pretty much. In the Shining Path storyline, he went a bit
overboard, introducing too many characters, none of whom got enough screen time
to really develop, and the result was a bit of confusion in the story. He's
heading down the same path here, because while the basics of the situation are
quite clear, two competing laboratories trying to wipe out the opposition, the
number of people involved is staggering.
That number of people,
unfortunately, includes what is becoming a shared trademark between Tischman and
his American Century writing partner Howard Chaykin: the damsel in distress.
It's a time-honored tradition, but it feels out of place here, and if it winds
up in yet another unlikely romance for the protagonist, I'm going to be quite
disappointed.
The depiction of what it's
like in this long-time war-torn country is pretty stirring, though. The opening
scene is a powerful piece, and it speaks right to the heart of why the Western
world has been unable to do much about the situation in this country... it's a
mindset that is so completely foreign to our own. I also appreciated that rather
than simply seeing run-down infrastructure and a culture that has been regressed
into more primitive technology, we see the other side, with high-tech labs and
bars and businesses just like any other.
Though I might have quibbles with the execution of the stories, I can't fault the ideas or the talent behind the new direction for Cable. Tischman and Kordey have given Cable a more political bent, while
maintaining the action sequences that should keep fans of the character coming
back.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board. |
