With the “Age of Revelation” done and dusted for the X-Men line, it’s now time for the “Shadow of Tomorrow” era. What better character to do that with than Cable, the militant telepath from the future? The Askani’son is back in the new series Inglorious X-Force from writer Tim Seeley and artist Michael Sta. Maria with a new mission: save the future, today. Well, it’s not exactly a NEW mission (more like the one he always has), but this time he’s assembled a team of past and new mutants into his cause, and the results are way more promising than I was initially expecting from the solicits.
After his initial time travel mission goes awry, Cable finds himself back at X-Force’s original Adirondack base years before his scheduled time. With minimal tech and no contact with his Belle AI, he has to scramble to assemble a small strike force of mutants to help ensure this new potential future doesn’t come to pass. Three names are carved into his metallic arm: Archangel, Hellverine, and Boom-Boom, giving him a starting point to start his recruits, and find their target: the future mutant President of the United States!
Tim Seeley’s script works at a breakneck pace, and yet never feels rushed. This opening issue sets up the stakes, the team, and the very surprising twist at issue’s end superbly, crafting a hook to the series that I will be honest, didn’t much appeal to me at first glance. Despite the ’90s era of X-Men being the foundation for my love of mutants, X-Force never had much of a hold on me as a kid, but that actually works to Seeley’s advantage as Cable is gathering members from all over X-Force history. Hellverine is the only one who technically was never a member, but seeing him interact with past members Boom-Boom and Archangel is fun, and makes the team feel like a true mix of underdogs. The small roster also allows Seeley room to really make these characters bounce off of one another, and it’ll be interesting to see how they all work together in the field and off (it sure seems like Boom-Boom and Hellverine are going to hit it off in more ways than one).
Most surprisingly for me is that Inglorius X-Force somehow feels pretty fresh despite featuring Cable in yet another “prevent the future” story that he’s (in)famous for. Going back to this particular well is beyond old hat for the character (and the X-Men in general), but the twist towards the end of the issue is genuinely surprising, and having Cable be at a disadvantage without his future tech gives Seeley the hook needed to keep me interested. This is the 1,999th possible future for the Marvel universe (give or take), but also one that could be one of the more interesting ones in modern times.
Marvel
Adding to the freshness here is Michael Sta. Maria’s pencils. While they’ve worked pretty consistently on Dynamite titles in the past, Inglorious X-Force is the first big Marvel title they’re providing art for, and the results are pretty astounding. Cable is the hulking presence you remember from the ’90s, but Sta. Maria also showcases some fairly surprising moments of pathos on Nathan’s face as he reminisces on his vast and winding past. There’s a great balance of gritty realism and bombastic comic book mayhem as this X-Force team takes on the newest version of the Mutant Liberation Front, and the makeup of our new team provides unique visuals for Sta. Maria to take on. It’s a great introduction for an artist that has a lot of potential for future titles if they can keep this type of work up.
Inglorious X-Force may seem like the same Cable story you’ve read time and time again (pun intended), but the way Seeley and Sta. Maria go about telling this particular Cable story makes it stand out in a lot of surprising ways. If all of the titles in this new run of X-Men books are half as engaging as this one, then “Shadows of Tomorrow” may be just the thing to get the books back on track.
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