The first page of Cable: Love and Chrome #5 opens when a haunting statement from the titular time-traveling soldier: “Long before I became a time traveler, I knew tomorrow was never guaranteed.” He’s not just talking about the Techno-Organic Virus that’s ravaging his entire body, forcing him to use his immense psychic powers to halt its spread, but how time itself has a way of slowly (or quickly) slipping through your fingers.
In the case of Cable: Love and Chrome #5, time has also robbed Cable of the one woman who could understand him: Avery Ryder. In a cruel twist of fate, Avery winds up becoming Cicada, the figure who’s pursued Cable across the timestream, and she intends to kill him to stop the Techno-Organic Virus from infecting her home of Salvation Bay. Cable chases her through time, leading to a surprising final confrontation – and a victory that’s bittersweet in so many ways.
What I love about Cable: Love and Chrome #5 is that it doesn’t shy away from the heavy aspect of time travel. No matter what happens, Cable is bound to lose something: if he doesn’t stop Avery, he loses his life, but if he changes the timeline and saves her he may very well wipe away the relationship he formed with her. In a genre that’s often been accused of lacking real, tangible change, David Pepose delivers a major upheaval to Cable’s life and goes for the emotional jugular in the process.
Marvel
Pepose’s script also takes Cable and Cicada through time, which allows Mike Henderson to draw different landscapes. Whether it’s the futuristic skyscrapers of 2099 or the snowy battlegrounds of 1944, Henderson excels in fulfilling the promise of someone traveling through time. By far, my favorite sequence happens when Cable is trapped in prehistoric times and has to fight a Tyrannosaurus Rex – it swallows him, but eventually he shoots his way out of its stomach. Eat your heart out, Jurassic Park.
Arif Prianto’s use of color is also noticeable, especially during the time travel sequences. Not only is the vibrant pink energy from the constant timeslides an eye-catcher, but so are the different landscapes. 2099 is a bluish-gray dystopia of shining steel and smoggy skies. The face off between Cable and the dinosaur takes place in a vibrant green forest. But the best use of color comes when Cable faces off against his past self. Prianto has a great way of differentiating between the two, as Past Cable is sporting his signature blue uniform while the current Cable has a darker uniform – reflecting his journey up to this point.
Cable: Love and Chrome #5 closes the book on what’s been a thrilling, and ultimately tragic story. I didn’t think I would ever be this invested in a story featuring Cable of all X-Men, but the creative team kept me hooked from beginning to end. Tomorrow may not be guaranteed, but this comic definitely holds the roadmap to telling future Cable stories.
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