Copper's Heating/Selling Well on Ebay 33 33

[JayT]

Folks...a little perspective.

 

Cable was IMMENSELY popular when he first appeared on the scene. Within literally 6 months of his first appearance...and granted, New Mutants #87 didn't take the world by storm...he was the single hottest new character in comics.

 

By the time New Mutants #100 came out, #87 was a $65 book...that would be roughly equivalent to a new issue of Fantastic Four selling for $350 now.

 

Cable was huge, the clear leader of the new Marvel "triad" of Cable, Gambit, and Bishop.

 

Deadpool, a cultural icon...?

 

 

Shouldn't one have to be fairly popular for a generation or more to be a "cultural icon"...?

 

Deadpool was nothing, and "nobody" cared about him until about 2008. Up to that point, he was just another failed 90's intro, and there are hundreds of them.

 

Clearly, Deadpool has become a POP icon, and is the most popular character currently in comics...which is saying something...and I'm not saying that DP didn't pass Cable in popularity a while ago. He did.

 

But...Cable did what Deadpool never did, and there's quite a bit of nostalgia for the character that simply isn't present for DP. Does that mean Cable could become as popular?

 

Maybe. The Fox/Marvel thing is a great problem.

 

But we'll see.

 

This fits and mirrors and my recollection.

 

I would want to add that while sure, both Ghost Rider and Punisher experienced renewed interest and titles, I would not underestimate how, even compared to healthy titles, dominant the X-brand was.

 

Cable was the biggest new thing at the X-verse and was weaved into the mythology from the start, and while we can count miniseries and solo series, Cable was major in big X events, and there were no consistently bigger events (you'd have outliers like Death of Superman, which was in many ways an act of desperation for DC which was not only getting killed by Marvel, but was seeing other publishers grab heat).

 

If one wasn't a fan personally or maybe not a fan of Marvel, or the X-Men block specifically, or the era, but this was arguably the biggest era of comics and for a awhile there Cable felt like the third most talked about character at Marvel, behind Spidey and Wolverine (people have to remember that the Avengers related books of the time and FF were just not anything near what the X-Office was.

 

Obviously he's not as popular as Deadpool now, and kids did know of Deadpool before the film via games, and ever con will reveal how popular he is relative to other characters, but Cable was huge in a pure comic book sense for awhile and if you are an X-men head always will be important just based on that initial impact and his familial ties. Hell, just recently he was at the forefront of X-events from Messiah Complex on.

 

I think it's arguable, and maybe RMA can comment, there was a like 4-6 year period where the X-Men brand constituted the biggest thing we've ever seen in comics. Even after the IMAGE exodus those books were crowding the top 20 sales. Generation X, Age of Apocalypse, Fatal Attractions, and freakin' Scott Lobdell was probably making more royalties of any Big 2 writer.

[MrWeen]

Maybe I am jaded, but it seemed like some of Cable's popularity was because Wizard was telling collectors he should be popular. Deadpool's current popularity seems more organic and natural.

 

Cable had Wizard, Deadpool has the internet. I think we know who wins that battle.

Edited February 23, 2016 by MrWeen

[Lonzilla]

My parents are well into their 70's, don't read comic books and knew who Deadpool was long before the movie. T-shirts and other merchandise in every department store, it's unavoidable

[Rick moma]

There should be no argument..Deadpool is deadpool. Cable is Cable. I love the deadpool movie but never liked his comic. I grew up on Cable and believe he is a very good Character. It's all a matter if opinion. Who's more popular? OK..I didn't know it was a popularity contest . Sure Deadpool is more popular and know "pop culture wise". So what?? Most of these people are not even comic readers. It's all good I say but to imply Cable is a scrub is ubsurd. But actually that normal for posers who are only jumping on the bandwagon due to "popularity". If you are a comic fan in heart...you appreciate everything for what it truly is..not just the latest fade.

[chrisco37]

Count me in the camp that Cable was the biggest "new guy" on the scene in the early 90's.

 

Someone else posted, the Marvel hierarchy of awesomeness at the time was:

 

1. Spidey / Wolverine

2. Cable

 

And a large gap between Spots #2 and 3.

 

Deadpool is the bigger character now, but there was a whole lotta love for Cable back in the day.

[the blob]

Count me in the camp that Cable was the biggest "new guy" on the scene in the early 90's.

 

Someone else posted, the Marvel hierarchy of awesomeness at the time was:

 

1. Spidey / Wolverine

2. Cable

 

And a large gap between Spots #2 and 3.

 

Deadpool is the bigger character now, but there was a whole lotta love for Cable back in the day.

 

Why did Punisher have 11 titles and Ghost Rider 2 or 3? I understand neither was really a "new guy", although nobody had heard from Ghost Rider in several years.

[showcase22gr1959]

New Mutants 87 is such a Nostalgic and Classic book. Was a lot of dough in the 1990's and commanded up as high as $80.00.

[the blob]

I think Cable is getting extra credit in this analysis because he was made a centerpiece of various story arcs in the X-universe. Those books would have sold a quadrillion copies without him like they were doing before him.

 

Mind you, I DO have a horse in this race as I have several NM 87 (and 88, 89 and 86) and no NM 98 (and have sold most of my 1998 series books and it looks like I will never retire on my stack of X-Force 2sssss), so I should probably just shut up, but for some reason I can't seem to help myself. It is a problem.

 

I think Thor 339 is better than all of them though....

 

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by the blob

[FutureFlash]

For me only Wolverine and Colossus were cooler than Cable (and Gambit) back in the 90s for the X-Men. As for Deadpool, I thought he was okay, nothing special. I was quite surprised when I came back to comics and saw how popular Deadpool had become and it seemed like Cable, Gambit and the rest of X-men (minus Wolverine) were not that big of a deal anymore.

 

BTW I thought the Deadpool movie was great and as an added bonus finally got to see Colossus done right on the big screen.

[JayT]

I have a question. I think we are agreeing Deadpool is obviously bigger, but are some people arguing that Cable was never a big character in the comics? I think there is an objective answer regarding that.

 

I think Cable is getting extra credit in this analysis because he was made a centerpiece of various story arcs in the X-universe. Those books would have sold a quadrillion copies without him like they were doing before him.

 

Mind you, I DO have a horse in this race as I have several NM 87 (and 88, 89 and 86) and no NM 98 (and have sold most of my 1998 series books and it looks like I will never retire on my stack of X-Force 2sssss), so I should probably just shut up, but for some reason I can't seem to help myself. It is a problem.

 

I think Thor 339 is better than all of them though....

 

 

Oh, I agree, there's no question that it would have sold no matter what, but they chose to use Cable, not Gambit, not Deadpool, not Psylocke, not Dazzler, not Longshot, not Havok, not whoever, they put the hot character at the forefront. There were also a series about Cable and feeding into people's interest in the character's origins like that Cyclops and Phoenix book. There was interest in anything associated with him, see Stryfe's Strike File or Askani's Son.

 

Now consider how popular the X-Men already were and that a new character was able to pretty much jump over them all.

[natevegas]

Cable was popular back in the 90's and it took Deadpool a lot longer to gain steam but it doesn't matter once more characters are introduced in the movies more fans will be exposed to him.

 

Take a look at this miniseries Marvel has planned.

 

Deadpool vs. Gambit

Apocalypse Wars (planned to run cross its three core X-Men series)

 

Comic book readers who haven't got a chance to read very much from these characters will soon and its all lining up to coincide with the next movies, X-men Apocalypse and Gambit.

[the blob]

I really liked colossus. All that moralizing with the Russian accent was hilarious. I can see Putin's media reporting on the movie as being a horrendous show of american moral decay, but the hero of the movie being Colossus who rises above it all.

 

the guy who does the voice could be a decent peter (looks wise, if he shaves the beard).

 

the other colossus in the movies is too scrawny!

 

is the current colossus always in steel form? it would have made more sense to show him eating breakfast or whatever in his human form and then transforming. i think movie goers who didn't know the character may have been confused as to what the heck he was. (and what a negasonic teenage warhead is...)

[JayT]

Colossus hasn't been interesting since probably Whedon's Astonishing before that Deadpool movie. Odd pairing, totally pulled it off.

[jsilverjanet]

The difference as someone pointed out is they screwed up the Cable character over time whereas they found a voice for deadpool

[natevegas]

Maybe I am jaded, but it seemed like some of Cable's popularity was because Wizard was telling collectors he should be popular. Deadpool's current popularity seems more organic and natural.

 

Cable had Wizard, Deadpool has the internet. I think we know who wins that battle.

Cable had Wizard and Deadpool had Wizard....the internet wasn't around yet. Its not about winning or losing or which character will be more popular now or in a year etc. What is important is how much of a impact just one good movie adaptation can launch the popularity of a character.

 

Here are the facts....

Deadpool has a record breaking movie debut.....he's not going to become less popular.

Cable will be in the sequel and possibly x-force and/ or new mutants who knows how many movies and spinoffs might be made in the next decade. This will undoubtedly raise his popularity to the masses to both comic book genre folks and pop culture.

[the blob]

thing is there are plenty of bad arse super heroes. cable will just be another one, probably not played by someone like jackman or downey who had such star appeal (and did the character so well) they knocked it out of the park, deadpool is the funny one who splatters brains on highways.

 

anywayz, nobody is saying cable wasn't really popular among comic folks during his prime 5 or 6 years, it's just that deadpool is currently transcending that.

 

and heck, it took wolverine 8-10 years to really become a big deal, maybe longer depending on how you look at it. the fact that he was not an instant hit just adds to the aura!

 

so, i don't think nm 87 is going to hit NM 98 numbers, despite a smaller census profile, but it's going to be a healthy book no doubt.

 

with that said, why are we obsessing over either? ASM 300 sells for more or about the same right now as far as I can tell (yes, there was one on christmas eve that sold in the $700s, but that had an unverified signature in it that somehow slipped through the qualified label apparatus), came out around the same time and ought to have more copies out there. who is/was bigger, deadpool, venom or cable?? (guessing the answer is not venom)

[EwanUK]

I absolutely remember in the early 90s period there were 2 super-hot books above any other -

 

NM 87 & Omega Men 3

[natevegas]

thing is there are plenty of bad arse super heroes. cable will just be another one, probably not played by someone like jackman or downey who had such star appeal (and did the character so well) they knocked it out of the park, deadpool is the funny one who splatters brains on highways.

 

anywayz, nobody is saying cable wasn't really popular among comic folks during his prime 5 or 6 years, it's just that deadpool is currently transcending that.

 

and heck, it took wolverine 8-10 years to really become a big deal, maybe longer depending on how you look at it. the fact that he was not an instant hit just adds to the aura!

 

so, i don't think nm 87 is going to hit NM 98 numbers, despite a smaller census profile, but it's going to be a healthy book no doubt.

 

with that said, why are we obsessing over either? ASM 300 sells for more or about the same right now as far as I can tell (yes, there was one on christmas eve that sold in the $700s, but that had an unverified signature in it that somehow slipped through the qualified label apparatus), came out around the same time and ought to have more copies out there. who is/was bigger, deadpool, venom or cable?? (guessing the answer is not venom)

+1

Only thing to add is this. X-men movie (2000) was Jackman's first US movie so they got a star before a star and didn't have to pay through the nose right away on those first couple films. Yet if you compare that to say Iron Man with Downy Jr he already was a known commodity

[Illustrious]

When I was 11 in 1990 I wanted NM #87 more than anything, and when the second print finally hit the stands months later, I was finally able to get a copy, which I still own to this day as one of my most cherished books from my childhood collection. I remember Cable being absolutely huge at that time, and he was the favorite character of most of my school friends from that era.

[the blob]

Only thing to add is this. X-men movie (2000) was Jackman's first US movie so they got a star before a star and didn't have to pay through the nose right away on those first couple films. Yet if you compare that to say Iron Man with Downy Jr he already was a known commodity

---------

 

what do you mean, jackman was all brokeback with guy pearce on some australian western tv show for years. he was already big time! ;-)

 

and anyway, he was so hot it didn't matter if he was still an unknown (plus, solid ensemble cast anyway)

 

downey sort of resuscitated his career a bit with IM, but he was known