| Character Name: | Matthew Cable |
| Publisher: | DC Comics |
| Debut: | Swamp Thing (vol. 1) #1 (October–November 1972) (as Matthew the Raven): The Sandman Vol. 2 #11 (December 1989) |
| Creators: | Len Wein Berni Wrightson |
| Full Name: | Matthew Joseph Cable |
| Species: | Raven, previously Human |
Matthew Joseph Cable is a character appearing in DC Comics' Swamp Thing series. Introduced in Swamp Thing (Volume 1) in November 1972, he was created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson. Years later, the character dies and is later resurrected as Dream's raven in Neil Gaiman's rendition of The Sandman.[1]
Henderson Wade played Matt Cable in the television series based on the comic book series of the same name for the DC streaming service.
Matthew Cable is a government agent assigned to protect Alec and Linda Holland as they work on their bio-restorative formula deep in the Louisiana bayou. Cable fails to save them from the machinations of the Conclave, a secret organization that wants the couple to work for its own ends, and the Hollands are killed. When the Swamp Thing rises from the bayou, Cable believes it was responsible for the Hollands' deaths and sets out to avenge his friends' murders. Cable's search take him through the Balkans, where he meets Abigail Arcane, niece to Anton Arcane, a ruthless man who wants the Swamp Thing's body so he can become immortal. For years, the Swamp Thing believes himself to be Holland, and eventually reveals to Cable that he is "Alec," which leads Cable to let him go. Cable and Abigail later marry and settle in Houma, Louisiana, near the Swamp Thing.
Cable encounters the Doom Patrol during this time (in the 1977 Showcase series) as well.[2]
Eventually, Cable's mind becomes damaged, which gives him the ability to alter reality. His marriage with Abigail begins to deteriorate, leading Cable to abuse his power; he creates decaying forms to arouse and please him through obscene, sexual acts, which strain his marriage even further. Cable only seems to be able to access his power while stressed or intoxicated.
After a fight with Abigail that culminates in her leaving to find the Swamp Thing, Cable has an attack of conscience and drives after her. Having been drinking heavily, he ends up crashing his car, mortally wounding himself. A huge, unnatural fly appears and offers to revive Cable, who agrees, allowing it to crawl down his throat. In reality, Anton Arcane, who died and went to Hell, finds a way out by way of Cable. He possesses the fly and then Cable's body, and with it gains Cable's godlike power.[3] Eventually, Cable manages to send Arcane back to Hell, but at the cost of the effects of the car crash catching up with him, and only after Arcane molested and killed Abigail (the plot point, incidentally, that resulted in DC dropping the Comics Code Authority seal on Swamp Thing for good with issue #31 and Swamp Thing Annual #2, adding instead the words "Sophisticated Suspense" across the top). Still possessing enough power to repair one body and not wanting to live, Cable manages to bring Abigail back to life (her soul is later rescued from Hell by the Swamp Thing). Apologizing to "Alec," he then falls into a coma.[4]
After lessons learned within the Dreaming while comatose (and in an effort to help Abigail move on), an emaciated Cable rises one final time and destroys the machinery sustaining him, thus ending his life.[5]
Since Cable technically died while in the Dreaming, Morpheus/Dream of the Endless revived him to a form of life as his Raven.[6] This is truer than Cable first suspected ("I suppose I figured I'd be a man in a raven's body. Nope, it don't work like that. I'm a raven").[7] He lives with Eve in Dream's domain. His purpose, and the purpose of all the Ravens that Morpheus had previously, is somewhat questionable. Morpheus seems to keep the Ravens around out of some sort of unspoken need for companionship. The Ravens are created by Morpheus, offering the position to people who died, usually while dreaming, and releasing them from service if they so wish.
Cable is irreverent and somewhat crude, having left a questionable life behind him. However, he served Dream loyally by providing advice and occasionally going on missions for him. His loyalty extended so far that when Morpheus was slain, he at first was going to seek release from service to Daniel, who had taken Morpheus's place as Dream. He eventually decided to stay on as Daniel's Raven.
In the Dreaming series, Matthew plays a more important role and is often teamed with the Corinthian. He dies twice more during the series, once as a result of being tricked by the Coyote and for the final time by an accidental shot from Lucien during a fight with Echo and Eblis O'Shaughnessy. He comes back briefly to tell Daniel not to let Lucien blame himself. In the most recent versions of The Dreaming by Simon Spurrier and continued by G. Willow Wilson, Matthew the Raven is very much alive, and there is no acknowledgment of the events from Caitlin R. Kiernan's version of The Dreaming, which has not been published since 2011.
Other characters who are mentioned as predecessors of the Raven are Lucien, who is the first Raven, and Aristeas of Marmora, who centuries later returns to his life as a man for one year. When Delirium tries to recall the other of Dream's Ravens she saw, she mentions "eleven and a half." Other predecessors mentioned are Jessamy, Francois, Jehuda, Vivien, Ming-Ti, Dechtire, and Hatshepsut. After Cable's death, Daniel enlists Tethys, a deep-sea creature who dreamed of the surface world,[8] to serve him as a White Raven.
In the Swamp Thing film, the character of Alice Cable (played by Adrienne Barbeau) is loosely based on Abby Holland - basically an amalgam of her and Matthew Cable. She is portrayed as a government agent who falls in love with Alec Holland, a.k.a. the Swamp Thing.
In the Audible adaptation of the Sandman series, Matthew was voiced by Andy Serkis.