The Blade Himself

Sorry for the quiet around here lately. It's been Deadline City. But I'm pulling my nose out of Word long enough to pass along a cool bit of comics news: I've written a one-shot, X-Men: Curse of the Mutants: Blade #1, that ties into this crazy new X-Men series Victor Gischler is writing. The issue's not out until August, but you can read Vaneta Rogers' story about it over at Newsarama.

Your First Look at Hope...

... all grown up.

CABLE #21
Written by DUANE SWIERCZYNSKI
Penciled by HUMBERTO RAMOS,
LAN MEDINA & PAUL GULACY
Cover by MARKO DJURDEVIC
“HOMECOMING,” PART 1
PRELUDE TO “X-MEN: SECOND COMING” EVENT!

From the moment Cable jumped into the time stream with the infant “mutant messiah,” he's had only one goal: keep Hope alive until she can choose her own destiny. But now, stranded on a planet in its death throes, eating fried rat on a stick for the millionth time, Hope turns to Cable and tells him she's ready to go home. Thus begins “Homecoming,” the penultimate chapter in the X-Men saga that began with “Messiah CompleX.” It's not only zero hour for Cable and Hope, but also for the mutant hunting them, Lucas Bishop, who is rapidly running out of chances to save mutantkind and the world. Because if Hope does make it back to the present, everything changes for the X-Men.

40 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

An Anniversary Gift So Cool, You'll Wish You Were Married to My Wife

The Bride just handed me the best anniversary present ever: a Limited Edition Cable statue by sculptor Junnosuke Abe, inspired by his appearance in Cable #5 (and the artwork of the amazing Ariel Olivetti). But man, the photo just doesn't do it justice. This Cable is 13 4/5 inches of cold-cast porcelain bad ass-ery, complete with the armored baby carrier and oversized Liefeld-style gun. Plus: Flip a switch on the base and Cable's techno-organic eye lights up.

But wait! That's not all! Remove the top of the baby carrier, and look who's there!

Awwww, it's baby Hope, long before she even had a name!

So now Cable (and the baby) are guarding my comics collection. If you're nice to me, I'll let you look at it next time you visit. It's scary how well The Bride knows me, after all of these years. I feel like a kid at Christmas.

(Special thanks to fellas at Brave New Worlds in Philly, who helped The Bride acquire this glittering, techno-organic prize.)

A Fistful of Cable (Interviews)

In case you missed it, I answered reader questions about Cable in this week's "X-Position" at CBR.com. Plus, you'll find some exclusive art from Gabriel Guzman, who joins the series with issue #18. Also, I talk about Cable #17 with Marc Strom over at Marvel.com, and there you'll find three cool preview pages from current artist Paul Gulacy.

And finally, some readers have mistaken the "Hope Summers" in the X-Men relationship chart (a few posts down) for the other "Hope Summers." I dedicate this 1960s cheeseball classic to those readers.

Girl Missing

The "Messiah War" may be over, but that doesn't mean it's all marshmallows and rainbows for Cable and Hope—as you'll see in these preview pages for Cable #16, out today. Joining Cable is legendary artist Paul Gulacy, and his stuff blew me away from the very first page. Here's hoping you'll check out a copy.

Cable: Kind of a Slut

At least according to Uncanny X-Men.net's X-Men Universe Relationship Chart (via BoingBoing).

Get Your Cable On

Newsarama has posted a double-barrel "Messiah War" interview with Chris Yost and yours truly, if you want a sneak peek at what lies ahead. Cable #15, the penultimate installment of "Messiah War," appears next Wednesday; you can find a 5-page preview right here at CBR.com.

New Comics Today: The Next Fist, the Last Bishop

I've got two new comics in shops today: First up is Immortal Iron Fist #25, which is the third installment of the "Escape from the Eighth City" arc. Art is by the stunning Travel Foreman—you really haven't seen Hell until you've seen it through Travel's eyes. Anyway, you can find a bunch of preview pages right here at CBR.com.

And also out is X-Men: The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop #3: "His Name is Bishop, And Nothing Will Ever Be the Same," which will probably go down as the longest title on anything I've ever written. CBR.com also has some preview pages right here.

This Means War...

... Messiah War, that is, which is a big X-Men mini-series kicking off this March. It's the official sequel to X-Men: Messiah Complex, and will play out over issues of X-Force and Cable. For more details, check out IGN's Richard George Q&A with me and Chris Yost right here.

(I was visiting the Marvel office earlier today, actually, kicking around some Cable cover concepts with X-Editors Axel Alonso, Sebastian Girner, John Barber and Jody LeHeup. Meanwhile, on the other side of Manhattan, a hero pilot saved 155 lives with a spectacular water landing in the Hudson River. Tell me today wasn't full of magic.)

Cable #6 Out Today

And it happens to be the perfect jumping-on point, if for some reason you've missed the first five issues, or don't know much about this "Cable" business, or wonder why, if Cable's such a big deal, he wasn't in any of the movies. Well, this issue features Cyclops... who was totally in all three movies. (Okay, he kind of got bumped off quick in the last one. But still...)

For everyone who has been keeping up with their Cables: here's an oversized issue that checks in with Cyclops and the rest of the X-Men in the wake of Cable's jump into the timestream along with mutantkind's last hope. You can find some preview pages right here.

Update the First: Dave Richards fired some Cable questions my way over at CBR.com.

Update the Second: See many of the impossibly handsome X-Men editors and writers over at C.B. Cebulski's blog. (Note: This was snapped mere hours after surviving the strongest Southern California earthquake in six years. Look how at ease we are!)

Temblor

The book I re-read on the way out to L.A. was Harlan Ellison's Slippage, a 1996 collection of stories (including "Mephisto in Onyx," which was yesterday's "Opening Shots" selection). The first few lines of the introduction:

Where to open the fissure: the earthquake or the heart attack?

The earthquake. It is officially listed as a 6.8-magnitude temblor by the U.S. Geological Survey's geophysicists at the Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado.

The Northridge, California "thruster." It hit at precisely, exactly, 4:31 a.m. on Monday the 17th of January 1994.

I read those lines early, early Sunday morning. I'd picked Slippage because a.) I'd just moved my science fiction bookcase down to the soon-to-be office, and it caught my eye, and b.) I had fond memories of reading it while flying to Las Vegas for our honeymoon back in 1997, and c.) I consider Ellison a California writer, and I try to read California writers while in California.

Today, at about 11:42 a.m., I was sitting in an X-Men idea meeting at the Marvel West offices. I heard a noise. Not a rumbling; not rattling. I'm sitting here, racking my brain trying to find a comparison, but I don't think I've ever heard anything like it. It just sounded... wrong.

And then the room started to shake.

Not vibrate... shake. Back and forth, like we were on an amusement ride. And we continued to shake for what felt like three minutes, but turned out to be only 30 seconds or so. And then it died down.

And then it hit me: I'd just felt a geniune California earthquake.

I wonder where Harlan Ellison was this time around...

Braaaiiiinnnnssss

Here's a sneak preview of an 8-page story I wrote for X-Men: Divided We Stand #2, out this Wednesday, May 21st. I'll be signing this issue, along with C.B. Cebulski, Andy Schmidt and Mike Lilly at Jim Hanley's Universe in Manhattan that same day, from 5 until 7 p.m. Stop by and say "yo," if you're anywhere near the Empire State Building.

Out this Wednesday: Cable #2

If you liked Cable #1, the second installment of the first story arc ("War Baby") is out this Wednesday at finer comic shops everywhere. And if you haven't gotten your Cable on, here's what you'll be missing in issue #2: robot tentacle asphyxiation (shown at left). Mutant cauterization. Jersey diner stand-offs. Salty Scottish barge captains. Who can say no to salty Scottish barge captains? Anyway, you can check out more preview pages at Marvel Noise.com.

Available Now: Cable #1

Just a quick reminder that the first issue of my X-Men comic, Cable, is out today. You can check out a sneak preview here, and over here. Even if you don't know much about the X-Men, I think you could catch on here with little to no trouble. This first issue is full of knifeplay, flying grenades, flesh wounds, parenting advice, Dirty Jersey diners, global disasters, beer for breakfast—you know, all of that good stuff. And all for just 299 cents!