Didn’t think there was another reason to hate CABLE? Well, here comes writer Duane Swierczynski to prove you wrong.

Unfortunately, he winds up bringing comic legend Steve Dillion along for the ride.

Reprinting the six-page “Hope” backups, X-MEN: HOPE retreads the well worn ground walked by CABLE. The temporal displaced son of Scott Summers, Cable, is the lone wolf protecting mutant-kind’s last cub, Hope, in the far flung future from fellow X-Man, now murderous madman, Bishop.

This collection of shorts brings nothing new to that paradigm. Cable and Hope are running, running, running… and Bishop’s out to get them. That’s it. Oh, almost forgot… For good measure, we’re given more obtuse allusions that this girl has a tie to the Phoenix Force — again.

I have grown tired of the endless padding for the crossover that CABLE has represented since the “Messiah War” storyline and this one shot is emblematic of the problem. Swierczynski seems less concerned with giving the readers something new as he is filling up pages with enough padding before this series is mercifully put down.

What’s more, Dillion’s art is entirely serviceable. It exists for no other reason than if it didn’t this wouldn’t be considered a comic book. There’s nothing presented on these pages that even remotely recalls what made “Preacher” or even his “Punisher” special.

What else is there to be said about a comic who’s sole original content is the impending crossover’s checklist and Philip K. Dick preview in the back?