About Heroes

Author: Fabian Nicieza
Pencilers: Reilly Brown & Jon Malin
Inker: Jeremy Freeman
Cover: Skottie Young

I swear to God I think that Fabian actually reads every script for comics before they actually hit the stand. This issue is a must buy for those people that bought X-men 200. Yes a must, because I totally missed something from X-men 200 that I saw here plain as day. That is that Cable apparently dies...again.

The story starts out with Irene Merryweather doing a recap of the last few issues and asking herself: "If the dreamer dies....what happens to his dream?" Then a 90's splash page of future Cable and a story where a woman from his squad sacrifices herself to save Cable and the rest of his soldiers. Throughout the rest of the issue he is trying to remember her name. Cable and Deadpool have a funny yet sentimental goodbye as they separate to each acquire a copy of data storing information of future events. Deadpool fights Senyaka, an Acolyte I always thought they would do more with because he really looked cool. Needless to say his action figure got a lot of play under my demented hands. Cable has the same fight and almost same dialogue with Sunfire and Gambit as the one that took place in X-men 200. Cable manages to bodyslide Deadpool out before he remembers the name of the woman that sacrificed herself. He whispers "Requiem" and a huge explosion takes place.

I totally missed the fact that Cable perhaps died in that explosion that took place in X-men 200. Mainly because I thought he could Bodyslide out with no problem and that there was that lack of inner monologue that you get a healthy serving of in this book. Gambit has his slick accent back and Cable sounds just like Cable is supposed to. Nicieza gets us so attached to these characters that by the end we really feel for Cable and his sacrifice seems meaningful. I think that is what is missing from Carey’s book; the catch your breath for a second moments between fights to let us know what the characters are all about. There was a nice tie-in to the very first arc with the Priest that wanted to turn everyone Blue and it really felt like a Goodbye to not just Nate, but to the book itself (damn, that’s a scary thought). I can't believe that I saw no advertisement for this issue or the previous ones in the pages of X-men. God knows this book could use the help in sales.

So how will Deadpool go on without Cable? Hell that's easy; he managed to have his own title for 60 + issues and is a fan favorite. But I think the editors and some occasional readers really missed out the point of this title. The two characters are extreme opposites yet so similar that their chemistry is what makes this book tick. The Ying to the Yang, the Alpha to the Omega, the G'nort to Sinestro (that's right G'nort is going to show up in the last issue of Sinestro Corps and kick all kinds of ass!) This formula worked for books in the past like Luke Cage and Iron Fist and Cable will be sorely missed. Of course this is all speculation that Cable is dead, but then again there was an explosion and we all know what happens to characters that die in explosions, don't we Bucky?!!!

This was a really fun read and even though I'm not a big fan of the art. The artist make it work, going back and forth between Cable and Deadpool. Malin seems to be a graduate from the School O' Liefeld that has produced such talents as: Dan Fraga, Chap Yaep, Mark Pacella, Marat Michaels, and Stephen Platt...where the hell are these guys now anyway? But that style works with him doing all of the Cable parts of the story. B+ Now that Cable is gone let's see what title sounds the best:

X-man and Deadpool
Marvel Zombies and Deadpool
Wolverine and Deadpool: This one’s for you Morph!
Taskmaster and Deadpool
Slapstick and Deadpool
Deadpool and Skrulls (Bendis isn't writing this down is he?)
Bob, Agent of Hydra and Deadpool
Deadpool Loves Mary Jane
Deadpool Eats Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy!!

As long as Fabian Nicieza is writing it, count me in!