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Cable & Deadpool (Collected Editions)

Cable & Deadpool, Volume 1: If Looks Could Kill

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Wade Wilson and Nathan Summers - Marvel's mightiest mutant mercs - are back, and this time they're stuck with each other. Can two grown men armed to the teeth with deadly genetic weaponry live together without driving each other crazy? Action, adventure, black humor, black-ops, face-changing viruses, gratuitous France-bashing and lots of gunfire mark the return of two of Marvel's fan-favorite anti-heroes.

Collecting: Cable/Deadpool 1-6

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 2004

275 people are currently reading
1375 people want to read

About the author

Fabian Nicieza

2,028 books420 followers
Fabian Nicieza is a writer and editor who is best known as the co-creator of DEADPOOL and for his work on Marvel titles such as X-Men, X-Force, New Warriors, and Robin.

His first novel, the Edgar Award-nominated SUBURBAN DICKS, a sarcastic murder mystery, is on sale now from Putnam Books.

The Dicks will return in THE SELF-MADE WIDOW, coming June 21st.


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5 stars
1,261 (37%)
4 stars
1,065 (31%)
3 stars
752 (22%)
2 stars
219 (6%)
1 star
58 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 157 reviews
Profile Image for Kylie🐾.
72 reviews48 followers
April 30, 2019
So this is the first proper comic book I’ve ever read and the graphics in this one is absolutely phenomenal. I love that it ended on a sort of cliffhanger with the x men. It’s rather quick witted as well. Kept me interested and it had a good plot to it.
Profile Image for Subham.
3,040 reviews101 followers
June 16, 2022
This was so fun omg!

And yeah may not be the greatest start but it sets the stage for some wild story telling to come!

So both are to retrieve some virus called "facade virus" and well it turns people's body structure into a different one and Deadpool's employers "One world church" wants to make everyone blue skinned and well they send Wade for that and Cable (the hero) wants to stop it and thus we see the conflict between the two and battle and whatever is going through Deadpool's hate and maybe how he succumbs to this and some more twists and Cable having his own Techno-organic virus a challenge but when both come together to defeat the villains.. its fun.

Its a filler volume what feels like and yeah the villains feel boring but its the dynamic between the characters that I kinda loved and yeah its alright and hoping the future volumes get better and as for the art, Brooks make it look wonderful and each page a joy to look at!
Profile Image for praiz.
275 reviews61 followers
December 1, 2014
I laughed a lot, Deadpool is hilarious! So much cynicism portrayed through one character, even the errrm... whatever-the-comic-book-equivalent-of-a-prose is enticing to read. This is my first Deadpool experience and I adored it! Cable and Deadpool are such opposites and the combo really works. Interesting ending in this volume with the X-Men cameo too, will have to carry on reading...
Profile Image for Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈.
1,985 reviews6 followers
February 6, 2017
2.5 stars

I just can't get into this version of Deadpool. The dialogue is like a watered down version of better Deadpool books. With a writer like Way or Dugan, this could be great but instead, this feels like I'm reading the jokes they rejected. I didn't laugh once reading this book. I was also uncomfortable with the joke about underage girls being "babes in waiting". Gross.

As for the plot, it wasn't enough to draw me in either. A blue religious guy wants to make everyone blue and unified. Okay, what's stopping anyone from taking him down? He has no powers so the conflict is that he's already taken steps to make everyone else like him. It's not super interesting.

I like Cable as a character. He's interesting and I want to know more about him. The scene where he and Deadpool save each other is the only part that grabbed me.

Anyway, I want to know more about how they work together but I don't care for Nicieza's writing style at all.
Profile Image for David Dalton.
3,005 reviews
May 22, 2018
Not as much fun as I thought it would be. Also, I was not crazy about the art in the stories. Deadpool works well with Cable, but I suspect he works well with many characters (such as his recent team-up with Old Man Logan). The villains were not top notch either. But I guess we can't have Magneto or the Sentinels every time. I will not let this deter me from trying out Cable & Deadpool, Volume II. This is 3rd collection I have read using Comixology Unlimited.
Profile Image for Mike.
1,579 reviews147 followers
April 11, 2020
Second read: compared to the original couple of appearances DP had in the earlier 90’s (stiff like roadkill baked in the Louisiana sun), this is actually funny stuff (once Liefeld’s earnest exaggerations we’re properly deloused from the art, perhaps). All in your perspective it seems...

Original review:

Having read the later works and really enjoyed them (laugh out loud funny), the early Cable/Deadpool seems tame by comparison. Decent writing, interesting/creative storyline, but somehow left me feel... wanting.
Profile Image for Kurt.
419 reviews3 followers
September 28, 2017
I like both Deadpool & Cable too much for any book w/ them to be a total dud, but I couldn't get into this plot @ all.
Profile Image for Katie.
420 reviews40 followers
June 7, 2018
This was great! I had to do some research on Cable's history, but that was a quick fix. I really liked seeing Cable and Deadpool go head to head.
Profile Image for Edward.
Author 8 books26 followers
February 4, 2019
I enjoyed this one a lot. It’s a fun action packed romp with the Merc with a mouth and his not so easy going frenemy Cable. The writing was good and the art was enjoyable. What more could you want?
Profile Image for Mady.
95 reviews2 followers
August 3, 2018
This didn't really feel like Deadpool. He wasn't as crazy and as funny as I hoped he would be and I couldn't get into the story at all.
Profile Image for Luke.
5 reviews
April 3, 2021
Usually I don’t write reviews but I needed to explain the 3 stars. Most Deadpool graphic novels I’ve read would be an instant 5 with maybe the odd 4 stars but this volume was different. Basically the 1st 3 issues are probably a 2 and a few 3 moments. So things just seem out of character for deadpool and humour isn’t his best. It was kinda dull and a struggle to read through but the 2nd half of the volume, issue 4 onwards definitely picks up and is mostly 4 stars with some 5 stars Deadpool moments. Just don’t read this as your 1st Deadpool graphic novel because it will give you the wrong impression of one of Marvel’s best characters.
Profile Image for Zala.
570 reviews137 followers
March 21, 2021
This was kind of nice but weird as hell...
It's more about Cable than it is about Deadpool.

But this:
description
All those funny comments, hilarious scenes and ironic outcomes make me rethink my rating.

But I didn't like this Wade all that much.

A great Cable comic but a meh Deadpool comic.

[image error]
Profile Image for Travis Duke.
1,118 reviews15 followers
December 19, 2015
Cable and deadpool minus the rest of the x-force sounds pretty good. Both heroes are tasked by different groups to recover a virus. The virus can change the looks of a person which could cause serious trouble. Deadpool joins an aggressive religious group who plans on using the virus to change everyone in the world to look the same, while cable is tasked with bringing it back to another group.
The art was O.K. and the story is a little thin for me but overall a fun ride with cable and deadpool.
Profile Image for 47Time.
3,370 reviews92 followers
February 20, 2022
I never have to ask for references to 47. They're everywhere. So that's a five star review right out of the box. While Wade is pretty much regular, ol' Deadpool - albeit the funniest I've seen him - Cable has far cooler abilities than just perfect aim with weapons bigger than he is. This story takes the two of them round the world, first separately. By the end they are inseparable - by chance, rather than choice.

Wade is hired by the One World Church to acquire a biotoxin from the pharmaceutical company Sunic. Cable is on the same trail, though he wants to destroy the biotoxin. The two of the will come to blows as a result.

Profile Image for Luke.
62 reviews5 followers
May 25, 2021
Maybe it's me but I just can't get into Deadpool. Not the movies or the books. Perhaps it's because the character is "supposed" to be funny instead of just funny because the book is funny. Regardless, if this book was supposed to be funny it completely missed the mark, and if it wasn't supposed to be funny... Then what was the point of it?

Overall I found the story pretty dull and a waste of time. By the end I was completely gone, barely skimming what was on the page. Maybe if you really like Deadpool or Cable this is series will be worth something for you, but to me it was an hour or so of my life I'll never get back (and wish I could!).
Profile Image for Jacko Cabrera.
226 reviews6 followers
September 19, 2018
Me encanta el comic, me encanta Deadpòol y me encanta Cable. ¿Qué más se puede pedir?. Guiones sólidos, humor, sangre y unos dibujos a la altura de los personajes de moda de Marvel.
Profile Image for Dominic Sedillo.
418 reviews2 followers
July 9, 2024
Patrick Zircher is such a good illustrator for this series. It’s too bad that the story falls apart at the end and becomes way too bonkers.

I like Cable as a character but also he’s not entirely consistent in who he’s been; kinda like the Hulk in that regard, but I guess it’s the peaks and valleys of a character that make them interesting.

I don’t really recommend. It passed the time but that’s all.
673 reviews6 followers
June 14, 2018
Twisted and funny, Deadpool and Cable are on missions with the same target but with opposing outcomes needed. Violence and hilarity ensue. Not for everyone,check it out.
Profile Image for LordTBR.
642 reviews155 followers
Read
July 7, 2018
DNF. I don’t see how this one has 4/5 Stars. I was bored out of my mind 25% in.
Profile Image for Gem (The Creepy Geek).
546 reviews259 followers
February 27, 2020
Really enjoyed this one! Deadpool was as sassy as ever and I enjoyed getting to know more about Cable who I'm fairly new to but love!
Profile Image for Erica Robyn Metcalf.
1,325 reviews107 followers
February 23, 2016
This volume includes issues 1-6.

In the first issue of the volume, Deadpool goes to France to meet Anton Kruch, Prime Minister of One World Church (where everyone looks the same). Anton gives Deadpool a job- to go to Germany and retrieve a toxin (the Facade Virus) from the Sunic lab. Anton believes that the toxin can be used for good rather than evil. Next, we see Cable calling Irene Merryweather to get info about Sunic. While Deadpool is causing a huge scene at Sunic, Cable shows up.

In the second issue, we pick up with Cable and Deapool. Deadpool says, "blow my mind," so Cable shoots him right in the head and says that he will be long gone by the time Deadpool's healing factor kicks in. Next, we see a group of college kids (two boys and a girl) who call themselves the Spammers, who have taken the "virus." Then Deadpool and Cable meet up and discuss the virus. Cable says it needs to be destroyed and Deadpool says his employer says it can be used for good. Then Cable shoots Deadpool in the head again and head to a hotel where a man who has used the virus is melting. Cable takes him out, then takes out the other two that took the virus. Then Deadpool goes back to the blue colony.

In the third issue, we pick up with Cable testing his telekinetic powers to talk to Irene Merryweather. Then he has a discussion with Charles Xavier to ask him what good he can do with his powers before he can no longer control them. Later, Deadpool is being used as Anton Kruch's guinea pig and Cable is there watching without being seen to figure out what they're doing. They transform Deadpool into one of them. When they let Cable know that they knew he was snooping around the whole time, he then check the place out in the open. When Anton Kruch shows Cable "the Deliverance" he also says that they found a way to transmit the facade through the optic nerve, and Cable has been infected. When Cables goes to wreck the machine, Kruch lets Cable know that the facade also blocked his mutant abilities. Then Deadpool begins to fight with Cable.


In issue four, Deadpool and Cable fight quite a bit. Meanwhile, Irene Merryweather is trying to get information out of Sunic, but they aren't giving her much. Next, the readers find out that the batch that was stolen was flawed and that the good one is protected. Deadpool and Cable only stop fighting when Deadpool realizes that Cable isn't looking so good. Then Cable tells Deadpool that he's infected and will start to melt, Deadpool doesn't believe him until it starts happening.

In issue five, Deadpool and Cable are in quite the pickle. Deadpool is crawling over to Cable, but he melts before he gets there. Cable uses the last of his ability to move some of Deadpool's blood to him, which heals him. When Cable throws up, Deadpool grows out of the mess...Deadpool isn't pleased, but at least their both alive again and back on the same team. Then the head to Singapore to take out the real virus. When Cable gets there, their security (the Lightmaster) steps in. The Lightmaster is on One World Church's side, but Cable already knew that. So the plan that the Lightmaster and Anton had blows up, literally.



In issue six, we pick up after the explosion..which had turned everyone but Deadpool and Cable pink. Turns out Cable is behind this trick. The explosion infected everyone with a biological agent that Cable can control. Next we see Hammer and Irene Merryweather planning to save Cable from himself. Meanwhile, Cable is pulling up remnants of a space station that he used to own in order to restore his teleport matrix. What Cable doesn't know is that since he and Deadpool are now genetically bonded, when he goes to teleport, he merges with Deadpool and they have to split. Of course they begin fighting, and then Cable ends up "curing" the population of the virus and is called a savior. However, Deadpool walks away from the situation with the power to teleport just like Cable. In the very end, we see the X-Men approach SHEILD and tell them that they are ready to punish Cable for this stunt.


Favorite lines:
(In issue 1) "Colony? What're you, ants?"-Deadpool

(In issue 2) "Hey, if you looked like Ryan Renolds crossed with Shar-Pei, you'd understand!"-Deadpool

(In issue 4) "He's taking away the one thing that matters more to you than anything else in the world..."-Cable
"HE NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT TAKING MY PORN!"-Deadpool
"Even more-- important --than that."-Cable
"Sweet Odin! Is that blue bozo going to take away the Taco Bells?"-Deadpool
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Speedtribes.
121 reviews7 followers
November 28, 2007
I decided to give this series a try despite the first few frightful sets of Liefield covers -- and I was glad that I did so. At times hilarious, at times heartfelt, this is a tale of "We-are-not-at-all-best-friends-and-we-certainly-don't-platonically-love-each-other" odd-straight-man passionate friendship/bonding between a delusional man and a psychopath.

I read this without knowledge of either Cable or Deadpool's canon and past histories, and going back to read them-- I found this current incarnation, as written by Nicieza, to be far more interesting and layered. It helped that for most of the series, where was a consistent artist and colorist group.


The series is not without its failings. Two completely disparate characters are thrown together without much thought (though the few times they have ever interacted within the confines of their own series, they had had that odd resonance with each other for very little reason.) There are McGuffins aplenty, Deadpool borders only being a bit too needy and too noisy (which, I suppose is the point). And while the art starts off strong, with Udon doing the first volume or so, and... I forget the artist that picks up after them who did a wonderful meld of his own style to the what Udon had been doing. Towards the end of the series, about when Civil War shinnanigans kick up, the art becomes pretty inconsistent. Some of the art is good, some not so much. The story begins to derail a little as Nicieza has to deal with a billion outside plotpoints prior to cancellation. Still, considering any strong portrayals of a conflicted and intense male friendship that cheerfully pokes fun at social concepts of gayness, emotionalism, and doesn't/i> disappear when the love interest/girl shows up? I read it just for that. Really.

A wonderful story while it lasted.

Also props for the interpretation of Shen Kuei-- the Cat. From a vaguely Bruce Lee villain rip off into uber hawt HK action hero star... He's been wonderfully improved upon. :D
Profile Image for catechism.
1,400 reviews24 followers
October 1, 2019
I mean the idea of ending racism by making everyone the same color (blue, in this case) is not exactly unproblematic but I guess for comics plots it was kind of okay? I'm not entirely sure how well everything hung together, really, although there was a part where Cable goes to Charles for therapy and I couldn't stop laughing. Imagine thinking Charles Xavier is a good person to get advice from! Anyway, Deadpool was pretty tame and sometimes I would turn the page and some Liefeld art would be staring at me, and I dislike that pretty intensely every time it happens.
Profile Image for Lillian Francis.
Author 16 books101 followers
December 27, 2021
I know I'm doing a read of all X-men (and adjacent runs) from 2000, so I really should read this. But Liefeld is involved and I don't think I can bring myself to read it.

ETA: After some research it appears Liefeld is only doing the covers. I shall give them a chance.

The covers for 1 to 4 are shit but the art inside is great. I enjoyed the story and the characterisation of the Deadpool and the relationship with Cable was excellent.
Profile Image for J.M. Giovine.
661 reviews8 followers
July 15, 2024
The series that began publishing in 2004, "If Looks Could Kill" (issues #1-6) brings Cable and Deadpool together (literally) after the cancellation of their respective solo titles. In this first story arc, Deadpool is hired by "The One World Church" to steal a virus that will allow them to turn everyone on Earth blue. Meanwhile, Cable is trying to figure how to best use his newly enhanced mutant powers to help change the world. Through a series of events, both Cable and Deadpool end up back at "The One World Church" where they are both infected by the virus. Both anti-heroes will have to work together in order to survive, both the church, and the effects the virus will unleash on each one of them, meaning life or death for the two of them.
Written by veteran “X-Men” writer, Fabian Nicieza, and illustrated by recurrent Marvel artists, Mark Brooks, and Patrick Zircher (the last four issues), this first volume in the first official team-up series of these two characters starts with a blast, and solidifying the fan favorite duo in the industry, resulting in one of the better remembered “buddy teams” in comics.
In good Nicieza fashion, the plot might feel all over the place, and in many occasions quite convoluted, which could benefit from a re-read, but the entire plotline regarding the cult, the virus, and the way it affects both, Cable, and Deadpool, saturates the whole pacing of the 6 issues. While most of the volume is filled with tons of jokes, and dark humor, the overall interaction between Nathan and Wade Wilson is enjoyable enough to get through this, and the action does deliver, mostly thanks to the skills of both, Brooks, and Zircher as the main artists in here. Both shared- back in the day- a similar pencil-style, and the way both artists worked the colors with their respective colorists was consistent with the final art. Rob Liefeld worked also on the main covers of the first four, and its always a blast to see him involved in anything related to the characters he created. A part of me- if I am being honest- would have loved to see Liefeld as the interiors’ artist of this series, however I do see why Marvel kind of limits his contributions to cover-art almost to an exclusive matter.
As for the story presented in these 6 issues there isn’t much I could say, both Cable and Deadpool clash, fight, and team-up as expected, and we get to see appearances of few other familiar faces, such as Charles Xaviar, Nick Fury, even the X-Men. The conclusion of the volume obviously clears the pathway for more conflict with the use of a cliffhanger, but all in all, this is a self-conclusive story. For anyone willing to give this a try just so they can check a title crossovering these two characters, this is a great place to start. Not really a groundbreaking or astonishing work, by all means, but it delivers exactly what its title promises, and seeing these two legends of the 90s together, with tons of action, an irreverently inside premise, and with fairly serviceable artwork, it’s more than enough to give this a pass.
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