X-Lapsed, Episode 129 – Cable #6 (2021)
X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred Twenty-Nine
Cable (vol.4) #6 (January, 2021)
“X of Swords, Chapter 19”
Writer – Gerry Duggan
Art – Phil Noto
Letters – VC’s Joe Sabino
Design – Tom Muller
Head of X – Hickman
Edits – Bissa, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $3.99
On-Sale: November 18, 2020
We’re coming down to the wire in our Contest of Champions! Today’s episode takes a look at the final two before our MAIN EVENT… which, is x-actly the fight you think it’s going to be!
We’re looking at:
- Kid Cable vs. Bei the Blood Moon
- The White Sword of the Ivory Spire vs. Gorgon
All that, and our always x-cellent mailbag!
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@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com
This was a good issue but a the vast majority of it was spent on setting up the end of X of Tens. As such it felt decompressed compared to the previous 2 issues. Earlier in the crossover you mentioned pacing as an issue and I think this whole story is going to read very oddly in the inevitable collection. The changes of pace seem utterly arbitrary.
Of course there are some wonderful character moments as it's Duggan and Noto. I don't know quite how they managed it but they convinced me that Doug and Bei have developed feelings for each other. Cable's inability to kill Bei in front of Doug and his despair at his failure are really well handled as is his reaching out to his parents.
Clearly Saturnyne wants Cable to communicate with Scott and Jean but only to a certain extent. I am really looking forward to to hearing your thoughts on the next part as I feel like the Scott and Jean plot is something we've all been waiting for.
The Gorgon fight was handled really well. Noto did a great job of showing how destroyed Gorgon was. The fact that the White Sword has 100 warriors was a great way of levelling up the score. I think we all knew it had to be a draw before the Apocalypse/Annihilation fight but they got there in a surprising way.
And we end on a useful text page. Will wonders never cease?
I really enjoyed the discussion of the time displaced X-Men you shared starting from your Sunday specials. One day I will get around to listening to them. It's interesting to hear that you think it was a good idea to bring them into the present.
My problem with the whole storyline goes back to Avengers vs X-Men. I can see why it was felt that the X-Men needed a reboot after AvX as they had been made into the villains of that story and everyone had behaved in weird, arbitrary ways that ignored massive parts of continuity. Bringing in the O5 then underlined the villainy of the Phoenix 5 by giving us a tangible comparison. As such it took much longer to redeem the current year X-Men than it should have because of the O5. I resented their presence even though I enjoyed some of the stories (I'm the man who liked the Hopeless and Bagley series).
I think we all know that part of the reason the O5 were not able to influence the current day team to change direction is the doomed behind the scenes attempt to promote the Inhumans so there was no chance of a reset.
I didn't know that the X-Men had retained their memories of their trip through time. That might explain Jean's costume and codename choices. If her teenage memories feel recent then maybe she feels a closer connection to her past.
Anyway until my teenage self comes to the future to stop me commenting, Make Mine X-Lapsed!