Highlights From The December 2010 Marvel Solicitations

These are some goodies that caught my eye in the latest Marvel Solicitations:

THOR BY WALTER SIMONSON OMNIBUS HC

Written by WALTER SIMONSON
Penciled by WALTER SIMONSON with SAL BUSCEMA
Covers by WALTER SIMONSON
Considered by many to be the greatest run on Thor ever, Walt Simonson’s classic tales of the God of Thunder are collected here—completely remastered from the original artwork and newly colored by Steve Oliff! And there are too many timeless tales to count: The Casket of Ancient Winters! The death of Odin! The origins of Asgard! The sacrifice of the Executioner! Thor as a frog! The Mutant Massacre! The curse of Hela! The debut of Thor’s body armor! Guest-starring Beta Ray Bill, Nick Fury and the Avengers! Featuring the threats of Fafnir the dragon, Loki, Lorelei, Malekith the Dark Elf, Surtur, Hela, the Titanium Man, Kurse, Zaniac, the Marauders, the Absorbing Man, Fin Fang Foom, the Destroyer and the Midgard Serpent! Collecting THOR #337-355, #357-369 & #371-382 and BALDER THE BRAVE #1-4.
1192 PGS./Rated A …$125.00
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4633-9
Trim size: oversized
THOR BY WALTER SIMONSON OMNIBUS HC CLASSIC COVER (DM ONLY)
1192 PGS./Rated A …$125.00
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4634-6

X-FORCE: UNDER THE GUN PREMIERE HC

Written by FABIAN NICIEZA & ROB LIEFELD
Penciled by ROB LIEFELD, MARK PACELLA, MIKE MIGNOLA, TERRY SHOEMAKER & GREG CAPULLO
Covers by ROB LIEFELD

X-Force has survived its first fights—but the stakes just keep getting higher, and the villains deadlier! A new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, including Toad and Sauron, has formed and joined forces with the Morlocks, and their frightening attack on our heroes leaves one team member mortally wounded! Plus: the mysteries between Cable and Stryfe deepen, Deadpool goes after Domino and Cable, a government task force comes after X-Force, and one mutant is revealed to be an imposter! And just who are the X-Ternals? Collecting X-FORCE #5-15 and material from X-FORCE ANNUAL #1.
272 PGS./Rated A …$34.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4985-9
Trim size: standard
X-FORCE: UNDER THE GUN PREMIERE HC — VARIANT EDITION VOL. 61
272 PGS./Rated A …$34.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5075-6

The two big hardcovers are the only things that really caught my eye. I'm happy that Marvel is finally collecting the Liefeld "X-Force" in hardcovers. Even happier that Simonson's "Thor" is finally available together in one place as a huge omnibus edition. I may not be able to afford any of the above but I'm happy as a lark that they're going to be available in the stores. :)

Finally, my favourite cover from the solicitations has to be the one below (from Strange Tales II #3):

The Death of Cable

The above cover shows Cable carrying a mountain on his back in order to protect his surrogate daughter, Hope. It is reminscent of the Hulk carrying a mountain in Secret Wars to protect the MU heroes. This variant cover to X-Force #28 is everything you need to know about the man Cable - Nathan Christopher Summers. Oh yes, and did I forget to mention that he dies in this issue?

Yes, Cable is finally dead. And what a way to go. Protecting mutantkind, fighting for his beliefs, and giving his life for the daughter that he loves more than life. I'll miss the character. He was the reason I continued reading the X-titles throughout the 1990s and into the present. I guess this is as good a time as any to finally jump off the bandwagon. My favourite X-Man is finally dead.

From the above preview images, Cable died holding up Bastion's time portal, overstraining himself and losing control of the techno-organic virus that ultimately consumed him entirely. What a way to go. As a soldier, mutant messiah-prophet and father.

Cable is the poster boy for mutant-cool. Wolverine and Cyclops can step aside...

How would I like to remember Nathan Christopher Summers? To me, he'll always be the Rob Liefeld Cable from the New Mutants/X-Force books in the early 1990s: