I didn't know that I needed a series about a horny and hot Nathan Summers dating Armor and Pixie in one issue and all five Cuckoos in another one. But, man, I did.
Duggan does a spectacular job of giving us a Nathan who isn't just a recognizable version of the older Cable whom we all know (and some of us love) but who's also a teenage bro just trying to have sex and make his dad proud.
This entire series is a delight, from start to finish.
Cable #1-#4 (TPB): To start, Duggan infuses these issues with such incredible joy.
You'd think that Nathan would be concerned when Spaceknights attack him after he removed a sword - the Light of Galador - from a rampaging Arakkii monster's paw. But, honestly, he's delighted. It does cause a slight problem with Esme as they're on a date at the time; as she notes, Celeste got to break into the Louvre and go to a two-star Michelin restaurant on their date.
In the end, Duggan reminds us just how smart Nathan is, as he forces his future self to replace the time-traveling device in his arm with a nuclear bomb so that he (younger Nathan) can take out the aforementioned Spaceknights with said bomb in the present. Duggan also has an eye for continuity, because it explains why Cable was unable to teleport to safety when Nathan came after him before events of "Extermination."
Given that Nathan is pretty much hard for all four issues, Duggan shows the joy that Nathan feels in getting to be a normal teenage boy with girls surrounding him. In a great sequence, Cyclops has to ask Nathan to stay for dinner with Corsair before he goes and investigates the missing mutant babies that the Order of X are stealing (something that he and Esme were doing before the Spaceknights arrived). When the cops basically narc on Nathan to Scott that they caught him kissing Esme, Cyclops realizes that he also has to have a birds and bees conversation with Nathan and, OMG, please, please, please let us see that!
Also impressively Duggan manages to avoid tripping over the questions surrounding how Nathan is connected to Cable. By showing that older Cable did something in the future so he could affect his (Nathan's) past, it's clear that Cable remembers every experience that Nathan has from this era. It's a little much, to be honest, but so far Duggan isn't throwing events in our faces that make us question this premise too much. Moreover, it leads to fun questions, like the one that Armor asks him in issue #1 about whether Cable knew that he and she (presumably) had sex when he recruited her.
Cable #5-#6: These issues tie into "X of Swords."
Issue #5 fills in the gaps after Saturnyne sent Jean, Nathan, and Scott to the Peak station in "X of Swords: Creation" #1. Most importantly, it answers why the station was empty: an inter-dimensional parasitic species devoured the humans in it.
In other words, this issue is essentially the Summers family going "Alien." Jean learns that the Peak staff managed to stop the invasion by knocking out the station's battery, but Cable reviving it with the Light of Galador means that they're active again. (I think technically the gate that they use to cross into our dimension is again powered, but I'm not entirely sure.) At any rate, the Summers do their thing in time to get Nathan to the External Gate before everyone leaves for Otherworld..
That said, this issue is really about giving Scott time to tell Nathan how concerned he is over him fighting in Otherworld. Nathan acknowledges and appreciates the concern but declines Cyclops' offer to fight for him by noting, correctly, that it doesn't really work that way.
Issue #6 pulls out this theme more. Nathan loses to Bei the Blood Moon because he takes a moment to position himself between her and Doug so Doug doesn't have to see her die. (Nathan greeted Doug at the circle at the end of issue #5, and I love the idea of these two unlikely dudes being friends.). Duggan really amps up the emotion here, as Nathan - believing that he's going to die - tells us that he just wanted his father to be proud. (When it looks like Bei is going to kill him, his last word is, "Dad.") Doug intervenes and saves Nathan, since Saturnyne agrees that some deaths are of the spirit. Oof.
A broken Nathan calls his parents telepathically to note that they're now losing 18-6 and confirms what Sinister previously told the Quiet Council, that they're none of them coming home. Saturnyne breaks the connection, and Scott collapses in despair. Jean tells him that they're going to go get their boy.
In terms of "X of Swords," I understand now why Gorgon's sacrifice mattered. When the White Sword decides to send his blades after Gorgon, it allows Gorgon to run up the score to 19-18 until War demands that he fight Gorgon himself. He kills Gorgon, tying the score and setting up Apocalypse's fight with Genesis.
In terms of "Cable," Cyclops watching his worst fears confirmed as a desperate Nathan contacts them, man, it hits right in the feels. I know that this series is going to end with Nathan returning to the time stream, and I wonder how Scott is going to handle that.
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