Issue(s): Cable #34
Cover Date: Aug 96
Title: "Loose cannons"
Credits:
Jeph Loeb - Writer
Ian Churchill - Penciler
Scott Hanna & Art Thibert - Inker
Joe Andreani - Assistant Editor
Mark Powers - Editor

Review/plot:
Cable wakes up from having been knocked out by Post last issue, but now he has to fight a mind-controlled Hulk.

Ian Churchill (and the colorist, etc.) are depicting a classic version of the Hulk, unlike Angel Medina's quasi-Maestro looking one that we'll see in the Hulk's half of this crossover. It seems Onslaught's influence goes so far as to cause the Hulk to revert briefly to a form that he's more familiar with. In fact, he even goes from the Hulk Smash version to the Merged/Professor look.

(It's true that the two have never met; not even during an Infinity crossover.)

Hulk later goes back to his grey skin, so the fluidity of his form is definitely intentional.

Cable tries to use telepathy to free the Hulk from Onslaught's control, but he has to worry about keeping his technovirus in check. Storm arrives to help.

Not much to this issue and bringing in the Hulk to deal specifically with Cable seems pretty random on Onslaught's part, but Churchill's art is nice.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This is an Onslaught Phase 1 title, but it continues directly in Hulk #44, which is an Onslaught Impact 1 title (meaning that it's meant to be of secondary importance). Both issues have the same amount of "impact" on the main story (not much) and it's possible that this issue was also actually meant to be an "Impact" issue. In any event, it begins not long after Cable was knocked out at the end of last issue, but since then the Onslaught crossover has begun in earnest and this takes place after Storm's appearance in Uncanny X-Men #335. Cameo by some SHIELD higher-ups saying they need to hurry up and get the Baltimore where Cable and Hulk are fighting, but they don't even appear in the Hulk issue let alone the rest of the Onslaught crossover.

References:

• We learned in Hulk #377 that the Hulk's physical form is psychologically controlled.
  
• Dum Dum Dugan tells G.W. Bridge that none of this would be happening if Bridge had taken out Cable in X-Force #55.
  
• Storm was dispatched to bring Cable back after Uncanny X-Men #335.

Crossover: Onslaught

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A