Cable #59
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeCable #59 holds a firm spot in the Marvel reference canon as the first appearance of Jack Truman — the covert S.H.I.E.L.D. manhunter designated Agent 18 — whose story arc across the surrounding issues seeds his traumatic transformation into Deathlok VI, breathing new creative life into the Deathlok legacy. The issue also marks the opening chapter of 'The Nemesis Contract,' the storyline that anchored writer Joe Casey and artist José Ladrönn's run on the series and steered Cable away from 1990s excess toward a grittier espionage register. As the de-facto origin point of a character who would carry his own eleven-issue Deathlok series the following year, it functions as a genuine continuity pivot rather than a routine chapter. The careful world-building Casey and Ladrönn packed into a single issue — introducing Truman, developing Cable's escalating techno-organic crisis, and folding in Nick Fury and G.W. Bridge — demonstrates how much narrative leverage a well-constructed 'Part One' can carry.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Joe Casey took over Cable's writing duties and teamed with Venezuelan artist José Ladrönn, whose lush, Moebius-influenced linework gave the book a visual identity distinct from the series' earlier 1990s house style. 'The Nemesis Contract' arc beginning here was edited by Jason Liebig and Mark Powers under editor-in-chief Bob Harras, placing it squarely in the late-1998 period when Marvel was beginning to stabilize creatively after the turmoil of Heroes Reborn. The Jack Truman character was conceived by Casey and Ladrönn specifically to serve as both antagonist and eventual protagonist — his design as a hyper-competent, morally ambiguous S.H.I.E.L.D. operative was built from the ground up to earn his own spin-off, which arrived the following year as the 1999 Deathlok limited series.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Jack Truman (Agent 18 / Deathlok VI), created by writer Joe Casey and artist José Ladrönn — confirmed across Marvel Fandom, League of Comic Geeks, Comic Book Herald, TV Tropes, and CMRO.
- Story title: 'Pressure Points'; part one of the multi-issue 'The Nemesis Contract' arc running through approximately Cable #59–70.
- Full creative credits: Writer Joe Casey; Penciller/Cover José Ladrönn; Inker Juan Vlasco; Colorist Gloria Vasquez; Letterer Richard Starkings (Comicraft); Editors Jason Liebig and Mark Powers; Editor-in-Chief Bob Harras.
- Jack Truman is depicted as a deep-cover S.H.I.E.L.D. manhunter — so covert that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s own database carries no information beyond his first name — tasked with apprehending Cable, whom S.H.I.E.L.D. officially classifies as a mutant terrorist.
- Truman deliberately unleashes the classic Hulk foe Zzzax on Hell's Kitchen as a field test of Cable's capabilities before engaging him directly; Zzzax's first appearance was Incredible Hulk #166.
- Jack Truman's arc across 'The Nemesis Contract' directly seeded a dedicated 1999 Deathlok limited series (11 issues) in which he formally became the sixth person to carry the Deathlok identity.
- Cable #59 kicks off a run collected in the trade paperback Cable: The Nemesis Contract, which collects Cable (Vol. 1) #59–70, Cable Annual '99, and X-Man #45–47.
- Released on-sale August 5, 1998, with an October 1998 cover date; a Newsstand Edition variant was distributed simultaneously.
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Reprinted in Marvel Top #15 (1999), Deathlok: Rage against the Machine #[nn] (2015), Cable: The Nemesis Contract #[nn] (2017)
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