Call them a duo with a special kind of dynamics…call them the odd couple but with guns…call them 90s comics distilled down into two characters. Deadpool and Cable are back together bringing with them writer Fabian Nicieza and artist Reilly Brown.

In Deadpool & Cable: Split Second, Cable gets a vision of a terrible future set off by the death of one man, he knows he must protect him no matter what! I’ll get you three guesses who’s been hired to kill that guy. Go on, guess.

I have some fond memories of Nicieza’s writing when I was growing up, but I also missed the whole original Deadpool and Cable teaming up in various series. After reading this first issue, I think I might be happy I haven’t gone back to check it out.

36 year old me is beyond gay jokes, wife jokes, and a lot of lowbrow humor, preferring my Deadpool to be the scary crazy version in Remender’s X-Force run. This first issue is filled with the former, none of the latter, to give us a comic that feels like it was made for the lowest common denominator. Cable too has changed, turning from a rather interesting character who was a religious warrior in some ways fighting a revolution and having to use his powers to keep a virus in check, to a generic soldier who’s a precog.

So, both characters in this comic are in their most uninteresting in every way. That isn’t helped at all by boring dialogue and a predictable plot that wants to have crazy twists and turns.

On art is Reilly Brown whose art I’ve appreciated elsewhere. Here though, it follows the narrative in a retro 00s style that doesn’t quite work for me. Cable especially falls short, especially compared to his current Avengers version. The art isn’t horrible, it just doesn’t suck me in.

The comic is a throwback in many ways, and that’s not a good thing. Both characters have come far and have been done better in many ways. While some are all about nostalgia, I myself have moved along and look for something a little bit more in my comics.

Story: Fabian Nicieza Art: Reilly Brown
Story: 4 Art: 7 Overall: 4 Recommendation: Pass