By Ben Morse
Dr. Phil could have a field day with the Summers family.
Scott Summers, aka the leader of the X-Men known as Cyclops, faced a choice years ago: allow his young son, Nathan, to die from a techno-organic virus implanted by the evil Apocalypse, or send his only child to the future in hopes of a cure being found, but at the cost of never seeing his boy again. He chose the latter, but would reunite with Nathan years later, when the prodigal son returned as the mutant soldier Cable.
It gets more complicated from there.
Needless to say, the relationship between father and son has seen numerous ups and downs over the years, the latest coming at the conclusion of last year's "Messiah CompleX" event when Cyclops trusted his son to escape into the timestream with a mutant child that could be the savior of the race, or its doom. In CABLE #6, on sale August 6, writer Duane Swierczynski explores, for the first time since that fateful decision, the fallout from Cyclops' perspective.
"Cyclops made a huge leap of faith by allowing his son to take the mutant messiah into the timestream," reiterates Swierczynski. "Bishop is dead certain in his beliefs [that the child will destroy mutantkind]; so is Cable. But Cyclops? Not so much. He must feel a little like the dad on a Vegas vacation who just bet the next six mortgage payments on a single hand of Blackjack.
"He hasn't heard a thing from Cable, and it's freaking him out a little. In fact, it's keeping him up nights."
This latest twist has caused further strain on a bond that has always been tenuous at best. While Swierczynski feels the faith Cyclops has placed in Cable to carry out this dangerous task means a lot to both, it's up against years of emotional hardship on both sides.
"Some people have dads who ignored them, who left them at a young age, [who] maybe saw them only on a few weekends a year," posits the writer. "Cable had a dad who sent him 20 years into the future. They've got issues.
"And from Cyclops' point of view, he has tremendous guilt and uncertainty, even
though he knows he did the right thing to save his son's life. And he's upset that Cable has never
truly seemed to forgive him for it."
Scott Summers will not be the only one losing sleep over Cables whereabouts�and fate�in the present day, as CABLE #6 and issues moving forward will afford readers an opportunity to see how the other X-Men feel about the choices their leader has made.
"As Cyclops tries to wrap his head around what he has done�and what he's about to do�he checks in with various members of the team," reveals Swierczynski. "Emma of course, but also Beast, Wolverine, Cannonball and a few others. By the way, these aren't just cameo appearances; you're going to see a
lot of he other X-Men in the arcs to follow."
And while he couldn't go into any greater detail on the "what he's about to do" portion of that little tease, Swierczynski did guarantee it�and the rest of this issue�would have major ramifications for Cable and his exploits in the months to come:
"This [issue] paves the road for the next story arc, beginning with CABLE #7 in October. I don't want to ruin the fun, but for those of who thought the series was all about Cable and the baby jumping through the timestream�you're only half-right."
CABLE #6, written by Duane Swierczynski with art by Michael Lacombe and Ariel Olivetti, shoots into stores August 6. For more Cable, head over to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
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 "CABLE #6 cover by Adi Granov")
 "Preview art by Ariel Olivetti")
 "Preview art by Michael Lacombe")
 "Preview art by Michael Lacombe")
