Mourning The Passing Of Cable With X-Men: The Exterminated #1
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Cable is dead, killed by his younger doppelganger that was recently hunting the youthful versions of the original X-Men. Hope Summers is taking it harder than anyone else, as Cable had become a father to her. Jean Grey, who is kind of Cable’s mother, is feeling a loss too, and he is trying to help console Hope after Bishop fails in doing so. Hope and Jean come together to empty Cable’s safe houses.
In the back-up story, Cable reflects on his first day, where Cyclops, Madelyne Pryor, and Corsair cope with the strange situation they have found themselves in.
X-Men: The Exterminated #1 follows the X-Men trying to cope with the loss of Nathan Summers, aka the soldier from the future known as Cable. He died in the events of Extermination, and we see the fallout through his family, Hope Summers and Jean Grey.
It aims to be an cathartic experience for both the reader and the characters mourning Cable. It’s somewhat undercut, admittedly not due to anything in this specific comic, but Cable still sort of being around thanks to young Cable.
That said, it is nice seeing Hope Summers again, and it’s cool getting to see her team up with elder Jean Grey. Also, I’m glad we acknowledged that weird period where Bishop was pretty much a villain in this comic.
Also, Bishop is far and away the better future soldier X-Men.
The back-up story also has a good emotional moment, this time between Cyclops and Corsair. It also reminded me just how strange and convoluted Cable’s backstory really is.
Neil Edwards provides the art for the main story, and Ramon Rosanas handles the back-up. Both do good work in rendering their respective tales. Both artists go a long way to imbue the characters with emotion. Color artists Jay David Ramos and Nolan Woodard flesh out the tales with vibrant and appealing color work.
X-Men: The Exterminated #1 is a solid tale marking the passing of Cable from the X-Men and the emotional fallout of it. There are some genuinely somber moments, and the art teams do a great job of bringing it all to the page. This one is worth a recommendation for X-Men and Cable fans. Feel free to check it out.
X-Men: The Exterminated #1 comes to us from writers Lonnie Nadler, Zac Thompson, and Chris Claremont, artists Neil Edwards and Ramon Rosanas, color artists Jay David Ramos and Nolan Woodard, letterer VC’s Joe Sabino, cover artist Geoff Shaw with Antonio Fabela, and variant cover artists Kaare Andrews and Mico Suayan with Rain Beredo.
