Cable (comics) - Publication History - New Mutants, X-Force, and Cable (vol. 1)

New Mutants, X-Force, and Cable (vol. 1)

Cable is first seen in conflict with Stryfe's Mutant Liberation Front, the United States government, and Freedom Force. The New Mutants intervened and he asked for their help against the Mutant Liberation Front. Cable saw them as potential soldiers in his war against Stryfe. He became their new teacher and leader, and outfitted them. He came into conflict with Wolverine, noting that the two had an old feud between them. Cable and the New Mutants teamed up with Wolverine and Sunfire against the MLF. Cable also led the New Mutants against the Genoshans.

With the aid of Domino, Cable reorganized the New Mutants into X-Force. The New Mutants ended with issue #100, with Cable and other characters then appearing the following month in X-Force #1. The X-Force series provided further detail for the character's back story revealing that he was from the future and that he had traveled to the past with the aim of stopping Stryfe's plans as well as preventing Apocalypse's rise to power. Cable traveled between the 1990s and his future with his ship Graymalkin, which contained a sentient computer program called Professor, the future version of the program built into X-Factor's Ship.

In 1992, the character had a two issue miniseries, titled Cable: Blood and Metal, written by Fabian Nicieza, pencilled by John Romita, Jr., and inked by Dan Green, published in October and November of that year. The series explored Cable and the villain Stryfe's ongoing battle with one another, and its effect on the people that surround Cable.

Shortly after Blood and Metal, Cable was given his own ongoing title. Issue #6 (Dec. 1993) confirmed the character to be Nathan Christopher Summers, the son of the X-Man Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, who had been taken to the future in X-Factor #68 (July 1991), introduced by writer Chris Claremont, and appeared in Uncanny X-Men #201 (Jan. 1986). The series ran from May 1993 until August 2003, including the revamping of the book to Soldier X, and the book initially had trouble finding a stable creative team. A writer/penciller team would complete no more than three issues in a row until Jeph Loeb and Ian Churchill began work on issue #20 and finish on #35. Loeb and Churchill provided the first instance of stability, working together on fifteen of the twenty issues from #20-39. During their run, they explored characters in Cable’s past, his feeling of responsibility toward Nathan Grey, his relationship with Domino and Blaquesmith, and further adventures with Kane, the Sugar Man, and the Microverse.

The 1994 miniseries The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix provided further information on the character's back story. In the future, Mother Askani, a time-displaced Rachel Summers, pulled the minds of Scott and Jean into the future where, as "Slym" and "Redd", they raised Cable for twelve years. During their time together, the "family" prevented Apocalypse from transferring his essence into a new body, ending his reign of terror.