King Sized Cable Spectacular artwork by Ken Lashley

In Victor Hugo's immortal 1862 novel "Les Miserables," the relentless Inspector Javert chased thief Jean Valjean across France for twenty years. In the 1963 television series and 1993 film, "The Fugitive," a lawman called Gerad pursued Dr. Richard Kimble across the United States. In March of 2008, a similarly epic pursuit kicked off in Marvel Comics' "Cable," when former X-Man Bishop began hunting the title character across time itself. This September, the chase continues in the special one-shot, "King Sized Cable Spectacular," by writer Duane Swierczynski and artist Ken Lashley. CBR News spoke with Swierczynski about the project."King Sized Cable Spectacular" was originally going to be a two-part story depicted within the pages of "Cable," but once Swierczynski and his editor Axel Alonso started working on the story, they decided it would be better served as a one-shot tale. The story is now a 43 page epic that bridges the gap between issues #6 and #7 of "Cable." The "Cable" series begins where the X-Men story "Messiah CompleX" ended. Cable is in custody of the first new mutant born since M-Day, when the Scarlet Witch used her reality warping abilities to depower most of the Marvel Universe's mutant population, declaring there would be no more mutants ever. Cable sees the newborn mutant baby as a possible messiah who one day might elevate and unite the remaining mutants of the Marvel Universe. Bishop wants to kill the infant because he believes she will grow up to cause the disaster that turns the world of the future, from whence he came, into athe nightmare it is to be. The story in "King Sized Cable Spectacular" is told from Bishop's point of view. "He's as determined as ever to kill that baby, and now we're going to see how he tracks his targets in the time stream -- even though it can be a little like hunting for a nano-sized sliver of a needle in a planet full of haystacks," Duane Swierczynski told CBR News. "Meanwhile, Cable knows that Bishop has a time machine, so he's doing what he can to--shall we say, discourage his old friend."The "King Sized Cable Spectacular" unfolds in a number of settings. "It's not so much 'where' as 'when,'" Swierczynski explained. "And unlike the first 'Cable' arc, there are many whens at play in this story."Swierczynski hinted that Bishop might not just be chasing Cable through time in "The King Sized Spectacular," but across space as well, as when asked about the obstacles and adversaries featured in the book the writer revealed that some weren't even human."King Sized Cable Spectacular" is both a fast paced, action-packed comic book, and an important one for the "Cable" story overall. "After this issue, the hunt for Cable and the baby will change radically," Swierczynski said. "The issue is very frenzied. Whereas [recent storyline] 'War Baby' was more of a Spaghetti Western, I think this feels a lot like a hyper-paced science fiction/action flick. And a lot of that tone is thanks to Ken Lashley, who's just amazing. I hope we have the chance to work together again soon. Like Ariel Olivetti's work, his pages just feel friggin' epic, like you should bow down before them."Now discuss this story in CBR's X-Men forum.