Editor's Note: Cable #12 arrives in stores tomorrow, March 4.

The Story: (From Marvel.com) For more than seven years, Cable has focused on one thing: protecting the little girl who he believes will grow up to become the savior of mutantkind. But now they've timeslid into a barren, lifeless pocket of the future, where there is no food, no water, and no way out. When
Cable collapses from hunger and exhaustion, the girl faces the first challenge of her young life: saving her protector.

Review: If I needed to summarize this issue down to a single word, I would choose "inspiration." Cable inspires the young mutant named Hope, and at the same time he believes she will become a savior and inspiration to mutantkind.

Cable has become a true father figure, sacrificing for Hope by denying himself food and water, which normally isn't a problem unless you time-slide into the future where humanity has nuked the planet and there isn't any food and water to be found. When Cable goes down, Hope pulls a few moves out of his playbook and is able to save them both by locating some supplies. I wonder if one of the benefits of putting Hope in Cable's care would be she comes out of it tough as nails and hard to kill?

This actually leads me to my next point, which is somewhat of a disappointment to have to voice. Hope, the baby from "Messiah Complex," was actually somewhat creepy. You can't tell if the X-Men are doing the "right" thing because you can't accurately say if the baby will be good or evil. She's just a baby. Even Victor Von Doom was once an innocent baby. However, now that she's spent seven long years side by side with one of my favorite good guys (Cable), I'm being led to believe that this story is about choice, and her having been with Cable will ultimately allow her to become a messiah figure rather than a murderer. So my complaint is that the story concept has lost some unpredictability, but this "Messiah" concept isn't even
halfway over yet.

In regards to the hard work put into the book, I enjoyed the writing and both sets of art. I'm not sure if it was setup this way on purpose, but the change in artists (from Jamie McKelvie to Ariel Olivetti) after the dramatic time-slide near the end gives a nice mood to the page, something that was missing from the earlier pages. Not that McKelvie's work was lacking (which it wasn't), but it was slightly more cartoonish which was most likely due to the coloring.

A minor complaint creeps up in the discrepancy between the two artists' depiction of Hope. McKelvie makes her look like a preteen in my opinion, closer to eleven or so years of age, whereas Olivetti keeps her at seven (which her established age in the story).

Final Word: I really enjoyed the issue but nothing really happens here. A lot of the issue feels like set up for the beginning of "Messiah War," but that's not to sound critical. Fans will not be disappointed.

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