Cable #15 Writer: Duane Swierczynski / Artist: Ariel Olivetti

Coming in to this issue, I was expecting Duane Swierczynski to build on some of the developments of last issue. I wanted to see Cable overcome Stryfe, Hope realize her power, and Apocalypse make his presence known. None of that happened here. This issue was just one huge and utterly silly fight scene.

In one of the most ridiculous occurrences in comic book history, Wolverine can't think straight in this issue and tries to eat his friends. I've seen Wolverine get beaten up a lot of times, but never to the point where he needs to eat people. His entire dialogue consisted of "Rawwwwrrr" and "Snort." I am not joking. In an only slightly less silly moment, Apocalypse revitalizes himself...again. If you read the last issue of Messiah War you remember him already doing this. I suppose the big guy has gotten a little OCD in his old age. Not to be outdone though, Deadpool decides to fight against Stryfe. Why? Who knows? He's been working for Stryfe for a million years, and in one instant just decides to pull a bazooka out and attack him. No reasons were given and none could possibly be inferred from Swierczynski's terrible story telling.

To be fair though, some important developments do happen. X-23 and Domino find the source of the time-traveling problem. Apparently it's an old friend of X-23. I am vaguely interested to see how she handles the situation. Also, Stryfe makes me think he might know Hope's power. In one part he says "You don't understand, she's going to be me." I hope we finally get to see what Hope's powers are next issue, which happens to be the last chapter of Messiah War.

Another way, Swierczynski drops the ball is through his narrative boxes. In a few pages he uses three different narratives. It was actually a difficult to figure out who was thinking what. Even when I knew who was talking, the narrative was pointless. In one box Bishop says, "Ooh Cable's back is turned." I could see that, why would I want to read it?

Not content to let Swierczynski have all the fun, Ariel Olivetti provides his typical weak pencils. All his characters are laughably under detailed. As a matter of fact, his Elixir and Cable are impossible to tell apart if you don't remember what clothes they were wearing. And with his background and atmosphere work looking so bland, all his characters end up looking like colorful ink blots on a sheet of construction paper. None of his work is actually enjoyable to look at. With Humberto Ramos off of the Runaways series, I can proudly say that Ariel Olivetti is the worst penciler of any comic I read regularly.

The last chapter of Messiah War hinted at so much more than this issue of Cable provided. The story went nowhere and all the characters in it disappointed in some way. I really disliked this book. If you couldn't tell that by now though, then I must be as bad a writer as Duane Swierczynski is on this issue.