With Second Coming in full swing it couldn't be more serious in the X-books. The fate of the mutant race is on the line. Hope has returned from the future with Cable. There's no room for joking around, humor, or so much as a smile. So it comes as quite a surprise for a book like Cable 25 to come out, which is as heavy on laughs as it is on humor.
For anyone who hasn't been following the X-books up to Second Coming, it doesn't matter. This book takes place way back during Messiah Complex before the X-men even moved to San Francisco. It answered a burning question and gaping plot hole that had been lingering for years. How did Cable get to baby Hope before the X-men and the Purifiers? This one-shot answers that plain and simply. He had help from his old pal Deadpool and the results are both serious and hilarious.
Deadpool is one of those characters who can make even the most grave of situations something ot laugh about. He came into this comic helping Cable save Hope from being burned alive along with a whole host of other babies. Yet he finds room to make a Sarah Palin joke in the process. For anybody looking for a little something less depressing it's definitely welcome. Who doesn't love a good Palin joke in the midst of slaughtering a bunch of heartless baby killers?
This issue goes a step further. It shows how Deadpool helped Cable get away from the Purifiers before anyone could find out he was the one with the baby. They survived in the Alaskan wilderness and fought off a hungry Predator X in the process, which Deadpool made all the more entertaining and grotesque by allowing himself to be eaten (that's not an exaggeration by the way). It was full of action and the same witty humor readers have come to expect from Deadpool, but at the same time it had the right levels of drama that went along with Messiah Complex. It's very difficult to strike that kind of balance in a comic that plays a serious role in the plot of the trilogy. For there to be just the right humor and just the right amount of drama is nothing short of uncanny and it makes this book truly special in that regard.
It ends with Cable and Deadpool parting ways once again, leaving Deadpool to go off on his own series (which he even hints at with his 4th wall breaking awesomeness) and Cable to go into the future with Hope. It ties things together nicely, but at the same time the separation was a bit contrived. It felt as though Cable and Deadpool separated just so it would fit into what happened later with Messiah Complex. It wasn't blatant, but it wasn't very subtle either. If there was one knock on this book, it was this seemingly overt twist. It doesn't bring the whole thing down, but it does make it a little bit bland in the end.
Overall, it's still a solid comic. It earns itself a 4 out of 5 for doing all the right things, striking the right balance, and being damn entertaining in the process. Some have argued that Deadpool has been too overexposed in wake of Messiah Complex. This comic proves there can be no such thing with a character as awesome as him. If anything, it necessitates more Deadpool after Second Coming! He can only make the X-books more awesome.
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