New Mutants #87
New Mutants #87 introduces Cable to the Marvel Universe. It’s not every month a character who is going to have this big an impact on the series debuts every month.
Not only did Cable debut in this issue but his primary nemesis Stryfe does as well. Stryfe is part of a group of terrorist mutants called the Mutant Liberation Front. They’re attempting to rescue the incarcerated New Mutants Rusty and Skids. And by rescue, I mean wind up brainwashing them into joining their ranks.
As this is going on, Cable shows up in an attempt to stop Stryfe from abducting the duo. The book ends with the MLF escaping and Cable being locked up by the government, as he was blamed for the attack.
What this issue did was set up the last year of the series, as well as it’s relaunch/metamorphosis into X-Force. In the issue, it wasn’t very clear why Cable needed to protect Rusty, Skids or the rest of the New Mutants, but it was established that there was some reason he would not accept them joining Stryfe’s forces. There’s a lot of mystery about what is going on and it does get explained in later issues.
New Mutants #87 is also pretty cool in my book, as it’s a collaboration between writer Louise Simonson and artist Rob Liefeld, both of whom I am a pretty big fan of
Ridiculously Awesome 
Cable, exactly like his creator Rob Liefeld, became a symbol of 90s comics, a period usually remembered as full of excesses — excessive violence, excessive masculinity, excessive pouches and so on. I don’t think it was excessive at all: yes, the characters became ruthless instead of light hearted, manly instead of teen aged and so on, but I liked this process, and I don’t think it was as ridiculous as many readers describe it.
To make Cable’s connection with that resentfully remembered period more flebile, Marvel subsequently redesigned his outfit, making him less manly, removing some pouches from his costume and so on. I didn’t appreciate it: it’s like drawing a smile on the Punisher’s T – shirt instead of the skull. The costume is part of the identity of the character, so, if you change it so much, you distort him, in my opinion. Give us back Cable’s pouches, Marvel! : )
Cable from this period just looked awesome and it really worked for the character. I just loved how over prepared he was for EVERYTHING that came his way!
That’s what makes a man a natural born leader. Cable is self confident, he never loses the control of the situation and he always knows the right thing to do. He really is an awesome character. Thank you for your reply! : )