CABLE ‘99 - April 1999

Something Sinister This Way Comes

Credits: Michael Higgins & Karl Bollers (writers), German Garcia w/Alitha Martinez (pencilers), Matt Ryan w/Candelario & Koblish (inkers), Mike Rockwitz (colors), BenchMark (letters)

Summary: Mr. Sinister visits Cable’s hideout, revealing to him that he engineered Cable’s creation to use him as the ultimate weapon against Apocalypse. Cable refuses Sinister’s partnership offer, even after he’s warned of Apocalypse’s approaching emissaries. Soon, a local nightclub is attacked by mutants claiming to be Apocalypse’s servants. One of them erases Cable’s powers, triggering his techno-organic virus. Sinister rescues Cable, curing the virus and restoring his telepathic powers. Cable returns home and rescues Irene and Blaquesmith from the emissaries. He reveals to Sinister that he knows they’re actually his Marauders in disguise. Cable demands to know all of Sinister’s secrets, but he revives Cable’s virus and uses the opportunity to escape.

Continuity Notes: A flashback scene reveals that Sinister created the techno-organic virus in the early 1900s in the hopes that it could kill Apocalypse. Instead, it only made him stronger. Apocalypse allowed Sinister to flee, but promised to kill him in the future. Just a few months after this comic was published, another flashback in Uncanny X-Men #376 shows that Apocalypse and Sinister were allies again during the early days of the X-Men, behind-the-scenes of the Living Pharaoh storyline. As for the Marauders, none of them has the ability to erase another mutant’s power, although Scrambler can…yes, scramble his opponent’s powers and make them go haywire.

Review: It’s easy to dismiss this as annual filler, but the creators have worked out a plot that ties in to the regular series’ ongoing storylines, and establishes a few continuity points as well. I’m not sure if anyone was actually looking for important continuity to be established in a Cable annual by this point, but it’s there if you’re interested. The ongoing Cable series has never really known what to do with Mr. Sinister, perhaps because the character’s traditionally a behind-the-scenes schemer and rarely someone who takes an active role in supervillain plots. Yet, his entire gimmick centers around Summers’ DNA, and the precious offspring that will be created by Cyclops and Phoenix. Well, here he is. And he’s had an ongoing series since 1993. Why don’t you care, Sinister? Jeph Loeb tried to write around this by having Sinister hint that he’s been more involved with Cable’s life than he could ever realize, but that hint, of course, went nowhere.

So, the premise moves the book slightly past the “generic” marker, but unfortunately the execution is a disappointment. The art is clearly a rush job, making even the normally excellent German Garcia unrecognizable on many pages. Cable versus the Marauders should be a fantastic fight scene, one that’s been in the works since “Inferno,” but it’s pretty lifeless here. The story attempts to build a thematic link between Apocalypse and Sinister, but the conclusion we’re expected to reach -- Sinister’s no better than Apocalypse because he wants to save humanity for his own experimentation -- isn’t much of a revelation. Cable’s also supposed to learn some grand lesson about appreciating humanity instead of agonizing over his heavy responsibilities, but that’s an idea that Joe Casey's used more effectively in the monthly title. There are a few amusing lines, though, and the script is easier to read than Higgins & Boller’s effort in the previous annual. So, it’s not as terrible as you might expect a late ‘90s Cable annual to be; it’s just regular bad.

MACHINE MAN/BASTION ‘98 - August 1998

Deus X Machina

Credits: Mike Higgins & Karl Bollers (writers), Martin Egeland (penciler), Howard M. Shum (inker), J. M. Baggins (letters), Kevin Tinsley (colors)

Summary: Having merged with Master Mold, Bastion’s memories are now unblocked. Machine Man attacks Cable, as Bastion recounts his origin. Cable eventually undoes Bastion’s reprogramming of Machine Man telepathically, and the two heroes unite. They trap Bastion inside the Prospero Clinic, where human test subjects are still held captive. Machine Man wants to rescue them, but Cable confirms that they have no brainwave activity. The duo triggers the clinic’s self-destruct sequence and escapes.

Continuity Notes: This issue establishes that Bastion is the amalgam of Nimrod and Master Mold, created after the two were sucked into the Siege Perilous in Uncanny X-Men #247. A “higher authority” judged their consciousness and stripped them of their “artificiality” before sending them back to Earth as one being. Bastion was discovered by Rose Gilberti, who took him in and taught him human kindness. As Bastion learned more about mutants, his programming drove him to develop new Sentinel designs. He abandoned Rose and sought out high-profile mutant critic, Graydon Creed. Soon, he amassed power within the government and formed Operation: Zero Tolerance.

Review: When the mysterious Bastion debuted as the latest and greatest threat to mutantkind, I don’t think anyone expected his origin to be revealed a year or so later in a Machine Man annual. Some characters, like Omega Red, are just made to be disposable cannon fodder for the lower-tier spinoffs. Bastion was supposed to be the personification of the anti-mutant threat, taking his place alongside the likes of mutant supremacists Magneto and Apocalypse as one of the X-Men’s major foes. And as muddled as his debut might’ve been, Scott Lobdell was on to something with the character.

Who were the major anti-mutant figures in the Marvel Universe? None of the Trasks could ever last for long. Senator Kelly had already mellowed out. Graydon Creed was dead, and was usually portrayed as a joke anyway. The X-Men do need an iteration of “The Man” to fight against, and making him a Sentinel masquerading as a human allows him to be an actual physical threat to the team. That Nimrod/Master Mold dangling thread had never been resolved anyway, so there’s even a door already open for his debut. Unfortunately, Marvel’s half-hearted delivery of the OZT crossover didn’t capture the scale Lobdell was going for, and the story actually ended with Bastion getting talked into surrendering. We also learned he had a mommy fixation with some old lady in the woods. Bastion was now the overhyped Next Big Thing, a subject of contempt and mockery by the nascent online fandom.

Marvel could’ve let him rest for a while before trying again, but instead he’s revived for two of the next year’s forgettable “team-up” annuals. And he didn’t even merit an Uncanny X-Men or X-Men annual. He got Cable. Cable was drawn into the OZT crossover for a few issues, but the story had no real impact on the main storyline, and his interactions with Bastion weren’t particularly exceptional. And it’s obvious Machine Man’s here because Marvel doesn’t want that trademark to lapse…and, oh yeah, he’ s a robot too, so that’s a perfect fit. The story’s filled with holes (how did Machine Man come to the Prospero Clinc in the first place…why didn’t SHIELD discover the human test subjects months earlier during the initial raid…where did Master Mold come from…?), and since large sections of it are narrated by Bastion, the reader’s forced to endure a hideous “robot” font that’s hard to read for much of the issue. The dialogue is stilted, and the only idea that’s close to being a compelling conflict is quickly dismissed. Cable wants to destroy the clinic with Bastion inside…without rescuing the human test subjects. Machine Man objects, but Cable assures him that they’re brain dead. Machine Man politely agrees, killing any debate on the nature of “life” -- which is a subject Machine Man might have an interesting take on. The building blows up, the heroes escape, no one mourns the dead SHIELD agents or test subjects, the end. Oh, well. At least no one can steal the name “Machine Man” from Marvel for a few more years.

CABLE/MACHINE MAN ‘98 - June 1998

Metamorphosis

Credits: Mike Higgins & Karl Bollers (writers), Rick Leonardi (penciler), Dan Green (inker), J. M. Babgins (letters), Matt Webb (colors)

Summary: When Bastion breaks free of his imprisonment, G. W. Bridge sends SHIELD agents to investigate his former base, the Prospero Clinic. When the agents break contact, Bridge asks Cable to search the clinic. Meanwhile, a confused Bastion returns to the home of his mother figure, Rose. She’s accidentally killed by the authorities, which sends Bastion into a rage. When Cable reaches the clinic, he’s attacked by Machine Man, who’s lost touch with his humanity. Bastion arrives and makes contact with the clinic’s Master Mold unit. Master Mold is drained of its energy as Bastion is transformed into Nimrod.

Continuity Notes: A scan of Bastion’s body reveals that he isn’t human, but is made up of “complex inorganic systems” which are constantly being recreated by “microscopic robots called nanotechs.” When Master Mold is found in the Prospero Clinic, Cable isn’t surprised at all, and even knows for a fact that Master Mold was responsible for the clinic’s “bio-engineering” that turned people into Prime Sentinels. However, Master Mold never appeared in the Zero Tolerance storyline, so there’s no reason for him to know this.

Review: I guess Marvel’s ‘70s nostalgia craze wasn’t quite over yet, as now Machine Man is being dusted off. This is the same writing team behind his short-lived 1999 series, so it’s possible that Machine Man was slated for a monthly title during 1998, but was held back to be a part of the M-Tech line. M-Tech was based on the assumption that the audience automatically cared about a concept if it tied into “technology” in some way, which makes as much sense as assuming that nostalgia alone could revive interest in concepts like Devil Dinosaur, Shang-Chi, and Machine Man (I doubt most of the audience was old enough to actually remember these characters…yes, Machine Man did briefly join the Avengers during the ‘90s, but I don’t think his membership left much of an impression).

The story opens with Machine Man apparently killing a room full of SHIELD agents, which is quite an attention-getter, but the full significance is only felt if you know this obscure character is actually a kind-hearted hero who understands the concept of love better than most humans (I’m basing this on the recap given to him at the very end of the issue). The image of Machine Man, not exactly one of Kirby’s most inspired designs, going on a murderous rampage is faintly ridiculous. Just looking at him, it’s obvious this character is from a different era, one with a significantly lower amount of blood splatter in its superhero comics. Cable’s from the opposite end of the spectrum, although he’s mellowed out by this point in the ‘90s. Aside from his own vague connection to technology, Cable doesn’t have much of a compelling reason to be in this story, and his role probably could’ve been played by any X-character. He’s also adamant that this is his mission and he won’t bring in any of the other X-teams, which is patently absurd. Bastion led a nationwide manhunt of mutants, looted the X-Men’s database, kept Professor Xavier prisoner, revived the Sentinels, and nearly killed his father…Cable shouldn’t be concerned with “needlessly worrying” his allies. He should be leading his own crossover-worthy cadre of mutants against the menace.