Cable, Vol. 2: Waiting for the End of the World

Cable (2008)

by Duane Swierczynski (Writer), Michel Lacombe (Illustrator)

Meanwhile, back in the present...
In the aftermath of the Messiah CompleX war, Cyclops took a leap of faith and allowed his son Cable to disappear into the time stream with the first new mutant birth since "M" day - and the future of the dwindling mutant population - tucked under his arm. Weeks later, he still waits for a sign, however small, that he made the right decision. With evidence pointing to the fact that Bishop has jumped into the timestream and is hot on Cable's trail, the X-Men's unquestioned leader is about to make one final power move to protect the fate of mutantkind - one that he might come to regret.

Collecting: Cable 6-10, King-Sized Cable

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published May 27, 2009

About the author

Duane Swierczynski is an American crime writer who has written a number of non-fiction books, novels and also writes for comic books.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Swierczynski continues to take Cable to another level. The only thing I really don't like about this run is that the antagonist is Bishop, for which the rationality for him to be doing this does not really make sense. A team of heroes go after and target Bishop! Can Cyclops get the information he needs. Meanwhile in the future Cable is married and living in New Liberty!! Great series - a solid 8 out of 12, Four Star read.

2018 read

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm enjoying this series more than I thought I would.

This volume kind of slow downs for a bit to give much needed father/daughter bonding. Watching Cable, a Rough-edge warrior take care of a little girl is priceless. Even better is her nicknames for Cable like "Nay-nay!" and stuff is so adorable. So anyway they're still on the run but for awhile they're able to stop and settle and that's where Cable meets Hope and falls in love and begins a family. On the flip-side Cyclops gets a hold of Bishop and begins his newer ways of convincing villains to do it his way. Which means torture.

Good: I really enjoyed the moments with Cyclops and Emma. Their relationship is pretty interesting one, and kind of sad, but also this sense of powerful bond. I love Cable/Little Hope's relationship, it's wonderful and well told. Bishop's ways are insane yet somehow it keeps the series interesting.

Bad: The art still isn't my thing and I think it takes away from fight scenes. I also thought some of the bug-creature as enemies was bit boring.

Overall this is pretty damn fun, depressing, yet hopeful series. Duane is building bonds with characters I never cared for and that's awesome. A 3.5 out of 5.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Significantly better than volume one, story-wise, and the artwork was just as good. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cable and Bishop's cat and mouse game continues in volume 2. In the first volume, the plan was to just blow the hell out of each other. This time around, however, they are each getting smarter and setting up traps and finding better places to hide. The X-Men also get in on the action in this volume.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Waiting for the End of the World brings the X-Men back into Cable's time-traveling adventures as Cyclops and the team fret about Cable and Hope in the future and interrogate a captured Bishop. These initial parts of the book are good, expanding the mystery of how Cable's going to survive while keeping the action quotient high.

Then we flip tracks to the Cable vs. Bishop running battle from the first volume. Ariel Olivetti's bad CGI art makes the future seem awfully shiny and without detail. Cable and Hope settle down for several years (?), giving Cable time to find love - only for that love to be very abruptly torn away at the end. Oh, and then Cable has to fight off future soldiers who are (surprise) actually just roaches. Very weird.

Bishop predictably catches up to them - is this going to be the whole series? I guess I wanted some world-building and character growth for these individuals, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as engaging as the first volume, but still a solid book.

Continuing from the last book, Cable and the baby Hope head to the future where they seek asylum in one of the last communities left on an Earth that has been destroyed by nuclear war.

Much like the previous volume, there are plenty of very tense and great moments with Cable and Hope. Unlike the previous volume though, this book felt very splintered. Jumping back and forth between the future and present.

The jumping back and forth made stuff a bit confusing, and a lot of the time I felt things weren't communicated well, and I was filling in the blanks for things that should've been shown.

Regardless, still enjoying this more than I ever thought I would enjoy a solo Cable book of all things.

[guanaeps · Rating 3 out of 5]

Duane Swierczynski and Ariel Olivetti find their stride in this second arc, adding to Hope Summers' back-story, and heading towards Messiah War.

Looking forward to it.

Swierczynski makes some easy to read comics, which is a good thing. Minor panel-to-panel continuity issues aside, Ariel Olivetti's art continues to fascinate.

[salomé · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bon comme je savais depuis le début quel était le nom de la gamine, je n’ai pas été choquée par les événements. Mais j’ai bien aimé ce tome. On voit en parallèle l’intrigue avec les x-men et bishop, ça remet en perspective les enjeux
J’ai hâte de lire la suite !

[Travis Duke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 2 continues the saga of Cable protecting baby Hope from Bishop. This book has a little more x-men in it and it actually has a great balance, it almost feels like an "Old man" style of book like Logan or Hawk eye of coarse Cable is an old man so whatever. I love seeing Cable setting all this time traps for Bishop its fun plus we get to see the x-men primarily Scott and Emma torture Bishop which is really ironic considering the evil arc Bendis wrote years later. I wish The art was all the same with Ariel Olivetti cause that shit is awesome. I want to finish this series but I gotta find the other volumes :(

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man, Roaches really will outlive us all.

Cable finds a small amount of piece in the rough future, and Bishop gets tortured by the XM. It's probably not a good look to have the mom surrogate get killed, but the future is harsh. Art ranges from good to kinda messy. Bonus point for having Cyclops on Emma action.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 3 out of 5]

So often when I start a series where I like but don't love the first volume, I say I'll read the next volume to see if it improves. It is very rare for there to be any improvement (which begs the question why I get my hopes up) but in this case Cable did improve quite a bit. The plot was much more interesting and had some depth thanks to the X-Men joining the story. Cable is still the emotionless and somewhat dull character as before (as is Bishop) but adding another perspective really gives the story what it needed. It was nice to see a character like Emma Frost who has moral complexity being thrown into the mix as well. Best of all, the villains are legitimately creepy and perfect for a post-apocalyptic setting like this. I liked the new artist who did some more traditional comic art as well. Cable has my attention now and I'm looking forward to reading more in the hopes that this level of quality is maintained.

[Shannon McGee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cyclops is second-guessing his choice to let his son Cable take a baby girl mutant to keep her safe. He jumps forward in time as he is being chased by Bishop who also thinks that saving the world means killing the baby girl.

I have not read the volume before this and only know a little about the character Cable.

I was still able to enjoy the story and felt very involved. I have always enjoyed the X-men stories and this was no different. The art is great and the story moves quickly.

The only problem I have is that good graphic novels, like this, end too soon. I really want to know what happens next. My second problem is they are expensive so I may not find out for while.

If you like Marvel superheroes and the Xmen stories this is has a great storyline and keeps you hooked. I hope the movies bring Cable because he is interesting and all the time jumping you never know what will happen.

[jorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume was a much more enjoyable read than the first one! The artwork is the same but the story is faster-paced and more emotional. Cable and the mutant toddler are in much more danger than before with multiple enemies always popping up here and there, each with their own sinister motivations. Here, Cable and the toddler take refuge in a secluded, agrarian town called New Liberty that is somehow surrounded by a force field. The outside world is ravaged by war, famine, and disease all brought upon by Bishop’s weapons of mass destruction. He hoped to destroy the world’s continents so that Cable wouldn’t have anywhere to safely hide. Still, it’s shocking that a former X-Man would commit genocide to get to a little girl. The North American continent is shown to be ruled over by the US Army which are actually disgusting cockroach humanoids, that altered their own human DNA with insects to survive in the irradiated wasteland. Soon, Cable and the girl are on the run again..

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing the great x-read of 2017/18...

I have no idea how I missed this volume when I was at this point in my reread (just realized I hadn't reviewed it when I was looking for Cable vol 2 Newer Mutants...).

I don't remember this volume apart from my memories of the whole series, so I guess just look at my reviews for the other volumes...

[Tito · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lumayan seru. Cable dikejar-kejar Bishop melintasi waktu, sementara X-Men mencari cara mencegahnya. Beast berupaya melacak mereka lewat lengan bionik Forge yang dicuri dari Bishop.

Kalau biasanya nonton film dan komik post-apocalyptic itu melelahkan, kali ini tidak, karena art dari Ariel Olivetti menyegarkan mata.

[Roman Colombo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really underrated run on Cable. Duane just keeps upping the stakes and all the while Cable becomes more and more a father. It's a strange balance that works. Meanwhile, Olivetti makes it look like these events were sculpted into stone. So can good.

[Judith Groen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art on the first two issues were great! Way more in my style than the others. The others were the same as in the last volume, and I really do not like it. The story though, it's amazing. I am really enjoying it and can't wait what the future (or the past) has in store for them!

[Reed · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5, same issues w/ the art, still do love cable and his love for hope

[Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Significantly better than volume 1. Art is still a bit inconsistent; it can look great one panel and awkward the next.

[Nick Callebaut]

- king-sized Cable Spectacular

[Kalib · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much better than vol. 1

[Michael T. Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Cable's wife was an actual character and not a walking plot point/trope, this would be a five-star book. As it is, it's still pretty good.

[vk chompooming · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read. It tells the further adventures of Cable and Hope as they travel forward through time avoiding the murderous traitor Bishop.

[Cyril · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great concept, could benefit from a good art, especially when king sized cable comes after it.
3.5 stars
King-Sized Cable - 5 stars

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cable gets married and fights some cockroaches. It’s good.

[Jukka Kuva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cable is the son of Cyclops (from the X-Men if you didn't know) who was lately featured in a team-up comic with Deadpool. Shortly after that was finished, Cable got his own comic again. This time he's trying to protect a child who should grow up to save humanity from a horrible future. Cable is followed by another superhuman, Lucas Bishop, who believes that child to be the cause of that horrible future. Cable can travel in time but unfortunately for him, so can Bishop. Olivetti's artwork is quite different from anything I've seen in a comic before and although I've gotten used to it, I still don't like it very much. By episode five which is the latest I've read, the plot shows much promise and hasn't been that bad this far either. It takes a bit more from the next episode to get the fourth star and a like, but it's decent reading as it is.

If you're into Marvel at all, you might want to check this out.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little better than the preceding volume, we're offered various vantage points, including Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Beast's view from the current timeline.

While the art continues to be a bit too static for me, the fleshing out of the future world and how they've been targeted and destroyed by Bishop is one of the better time travel stories in X-history. It has me fully invested in the next chapter: X-Force/Cable: Messiah War.

If you're a fan of time shenanigans, or just someone who has read X-Men: Messiah Complex and wants to see where the story goes, this is a great book. It's not a wonderful entry point for new readers but it's okay.

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Volume 2 lacks the consistency of featuring only Ariel Olivetti's incomparable art, the back up artist delivers excellent art and the writing is certainly kicked up a notch from Volume 1. There is much more plot, and it is good! I have seen this artist handle the violent, the comic as well as the tender, all with remarkable skill, the art is actually painted, and the forms have texture, dimension, mass and weight the likes of which I have never seen in painted comic art before! My first thought after closing this book was " I need to get my hands on Volume 3!"

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this series, but it would never last. When you get past the fights with Bishop, you are left with a much more dramatic story that isn't all characters dressed up in spandex. Kind of a strange hybrid of post-apocalyptic survival and drama. Art is top-notch as expected in this series.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The basic story of Cable and Hope is okay. But the art is just barely okay, Cable is especially bad. And I just don't buy anything around what Bishop is doing. And the X-Men portion is mostly lame. New Liberty was cool as were the cockroaches. And I kind of like the Cable legends as traps. But all in all this should have been better.