Best Cable Runs: 6 Comics Ranked, from 1991 to 2014

Nathan Summers is a character you never discuss without discussing what comes next: the soldier from the future drags behind him events, teams, clones and time jumps that discourage new readers. Our reading guide puts that path in order. Here we do something else: we rank what is really worth reading, accepting gaps between an important run and a successful one.

As always in this guide, only verified information (creators, issue numbers, dates) is stated as fact; the analysis is our own, with no reproduction of artwork or protected dialogue.

How we ranked these runs

Cable has no single run that everyone would cite, like Frank Miller for Daredevil or Walt Simonson for Thor. His bibliography is made of solo series that are sometimes uneven, a duo series that became a cult favorite, crossovers that outgrow him and teams he leads. To separate these bodies of work, we asked three questions. Does the story stand up for someone who has not read thirty years of mutant continuity? Is Cable the subject, or only an accessory? And did the whole leave a mark on what later writers did with the character?

This rank measures reading quality, not market value. The issue most sought after by collectors, New Mutants #87, is not in a run: it is an appearance in another character's series. The six entries below are periods of reading, not key issues.

Top 1: Duane Swierczynski and Ariel Olivetti, Cable (2008-2010)

The second Cable series, launched in 2008 and carried over twenty-five issues, takes a clear stance: remove the character from the team, the school and the usual mutant setting and throw him into a life on the run. Cable has taken an infant with him, the first mutant born since the species was decimated, and he crosses eras to put her out of reach of Bishop, who sees her as a threat. Duane Swierczynski, who comes from crime fiction, writes this journey as a chase story: few characters, ravaged futures as backdrops, a weary man guarding a child.

Ariel Olivetti opens the series with painted pages, heavy and textured, that give the soldier the look of a worn sculpture. Paul Gulacy then takes over part of the art in a more classical register. The Messiah War crossover grafts itself on along the way, which makes the passages concerned a little more dependent on the X-Force series of the same period.

This run matters because it sets the character's identity right side up: Cable is no longer a walking arsenal, he is an adoptive father at the end of his rope. It is the read that explains why part of the readership holds this character to be tragic rather than outsized. It is for the reader who wants a continuous, dense and emotional story, provided they have read at least the end of Messiah Complex.

For collecting, the series is found in modern single issues with a large print run, hence accessible; the collected editions gather the series in a few volumes and suit you better if you read before completing.

Top 2: Fabian Nicieza and Patrick Zircher, Cable & Deadpool (2004-2008)

Fifty issues, one main writer, an improbable duo. Cable & Deadpool was born in 2004 from the idea of pitting two former X-Force rivals against each other: one believes he can remake the world, the other mocks any plan of salvation. Fabian Nicieza, already the writer of the X-Force series at its start, knows Cable from the inside and plays with him. Patrick Zircher draws the opening, with other artists afterward.

The strength of the run lies in its form: short arcs, comic digressions, then issues where the tone shifts without warning toward gravity. It requires almost no prior continuity, and it gives Deadpool one of his best partner roles. It also explains why the two characters are associated in the public mind well beyond the pages: the film Deadpool 2 builds on this long history.

It is for the reader who wants to start with pleasure. We place it behind the 2008 Cable series only because this ranking is about Cable and not Deadpool; for reading alone, it is probably the best entry point of the lot. Our ranking of the best Deadpool runs puts it back on the mercenary's side.

For collecting, the fifty single issues are easy to gather and the complete collected edition spares you from hunting them down one by one. Issue 1 is the usual benchmark for collectors.

Top 3: Ed Brubaker, Craig Kyle and Chris Yost, the Messiah Complex, Messiah War, Second Coming trilogy (2007-2010)

This is not a run in the strict sense, but it is the moment when Cable stops being a passing warrior and becomes the center of a story. Messiah Complex (2007-2008) crosses the mutant series around one event: the birth of a mutant child after a long period when there had been none. Cable decides to protect her, while other camps want to capture or eliminate her. Messiah War (2009) picks up this flight in a future where Stryfe, Cable's double, resurfaces. Second Coming (2010) brings the child back and closes the arc with a sacrifice.

The trilogy takes third place because it depends on its neighbors: reading Messiah War without the Cable series and without X-Force leaves gaps, and the whole calls on many titles. In return it delivers a sense of conclusion that few mutant arcs achieve. If you like big sagas, it is the broadest read; if you want simplicity, go through the first two entries.

For collecting, this is a case where the collected edition is almost mandatory: the chapters are scattered across about ten series, and a bound set spares you from completing single issues with no apparent link. Crossovers of this scale are also the ones whose contents list is most easily wrong: check the reading order before buying.

Top 4: Dennis Hopeless and Salvador Larroca, Cable and X-Force (2012-2014)

After the events of summer 2012 that pit the Avengers against the X-Men, Cable takes the lead of a team of fugitives. Dennis Hopeless writes a nineteen-issue series, relaunched under the Marvel NOW! label, that returns to the father-daughter duo the Messiah trilogy had set up. The series is more modest than the 2008 one, but it has the merit of putting Cable back in the position of leader, with allies who know him and challenge him.

Salvador Larroca draws the opening and gives the series its polished style; other artists take over afterward. The run is for the reader who has finished the trilogy and wants to know what becomes of Cable next. It matters for what follows: it is one of the last long versions of the character before he was reworked for other eras.

For collecting, nineteen single issues, no rare issue, one collected edition per major arc: this is a run you read in volumes without regret.

Top 5: Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, X-Force (1991)

The starting point of everything. After Cable's arrival in New Mutants #87, the series transforms into X-Force, whose issue 1 came out in August 1991 with a famous print run. Fabian Nicieza writes, Rob Liefeld draws the first issues before Greg Capullo takes over. We place it fifth because its historical importance exceeds its quality as a read: the tone is martial, the pacing accelerated, the costumes overloaded, and the character's maturity only appears with later stories.

It is nonetheless essential reading to understand what Cable represented for a generation of readers. It interests the fan of 1990s aesthetics, and the collector who wants to pinpoint the shift at the start of that decade. We detailed the contents of issue 1 in our article on X-Force #1 and its cards, and the editorial turning point in the article on New Mutants #87.

For collecting, X-Force #1 is an issue with an immense print run: it is easy to find, and its distinctiveness comes down to version and packaging details. The rest of the series reads in collected form, with no urgency.

Top 6: Scott Lobdell and Gene Ha, The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix (1994)

Four issues that look like nothing and matter for understanding the character. Scott Lobdell sends Cyclops and Jean Grey into the future to raise the child who will become Cable, and Gene Ha gives this miniseries a graphic softness far removed from the 1990s arsenal. The result answers a question X-Force left hanging: where this man comes from and who raised him.

It is not our best choice for a first encounter, because the story assumes you already know the main protagonists. It is ideal as a second read, once attachment to the character has set in. It is a short read, which we recommend to those who prefer family stories to clashes.

For collecting, four single issues, easy to complete, or a collected edition that often places it within a broader volume on the character's origins.

Which one to start with, by reader profile

You are discovering Cable. Open Cable & Deadpool: the run is self-contained and funny, and it gives you the landmarks you need without imposing them. Then move on to the 2008 series.

You like dramatic stories. Go straight to Swierczynski and Olivetti, after reading the essentials of Messiah Complex to understand who the child is.

You like big sagas. Read the Messiah trilogy in one go, in collected form, then Cable and X-Force for the sequel.

You are interested in the character's history. Start with X-Force and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, which show the birth of the myth and its rewriting through the family.

You prefer Deadpool. Cable & Deadpool is obviously your read, alongside our ranking of the mercenary's runs, and you can skip the rest without losing the thread. Readers coming from Cyclops will find a parallel in our ranking of Cyclops runs.

What these runs are worth in a collection

A run is measured by its ratios, not by a figure. The first ratio sets the modern single issue against the collected edition: the series from 2004 to 2014 are plentiful, their secondhand price is low, and the collected edition is most often the right option if you want to read. The second sets the 1990s against the 2000s: X-Force print runs are exceptional, which points to condition and original packaging rather than rarity, whereas single issues from the 2000s only become scarce in near-mint condition.

The third ratio separates reading from speculation. New Mutants #87 and the first issues of X-Force are the issues that carry the character's price; the runs on this list sit downstream and follow movie-driven attention cycles far less. That is what lets you read them without fearing you will miss an opportunity. For the keys, see the article on the key issues of Cable.

The estimation method is constant: start from the median of current listings, cross-check it against completed sales at the same condition, and never confuse an asking price with a price obtained. Finally, keep an inventory per item, distinguishing the original single issue from the collected edition that reprints it: these are two different lines, with their date and page count. Our article on bound albums versus single issues details this choice.

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