I am all for a female title-character book. And since it’s the ’90s, I accept that that means she has to have a gun and be a mercenary.
Since this is an issue #1 and this book has an ensemble cast, we have to start by introducing all the team members. This is done with a game of capture the flag.
Followed by a massage.
Through the training session and the dialogue with her business manager, readers are told that Sable’s Wildpack is a bunch of generic soliders with Sandman, and only Sandman. No other mercs or named heroes.
Nevertheless, her Merc business is very successful, and they go on a rescue mission where Sable’s niece—and some other Symkaria citizens—are held hostage by Hydra.
Spider-Man assists. And in the end, Sable yells at Sandman and complains that it wasn’t a paid mission.
Not a bad set-up issue. Unlike most of the #1s debuting in 1992, this issue doesn’t introduce any new characters and doesn’t really change the foundations of familiar ones.
The only new hero/action character is Doug Powell, who is simply a Wild Pack member that will be featured throughout the book as a side character. (I don’t tag non-heroes, like business manager Dimitri, who is introduced in the “massage panel” above.”
Overall, this is a pretty standard get-to-know-you issue, fairly well done.