Matthew (DC Comics)
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Matthew Cable is a character in DC Comics series Swamp Thing, who died and was later resurrected as Dream's raven in Neil Gaiman's rendition of The Sandman.
[edit] Swamp Thing/Doom Patrol
Matthew Cable was a government agent who thought Swamp Thing killed Alec Holland (actually, Alec died in an explosion and his conscience "infected" plant matter, giving birth to the Swamp Thing. For years, Swamp Thing believed himself to be Holland, and eventually revealed to Cable that he was "Alec".
He served with the Doom Patrol during this time.
Eventually, Cable's mind was damaged, leading to him gaining the ability to project realistic mental images. He eventually married Abigail Arcane, a longtime friend to Swamp Thing and neice to Anton Arcane, a ruthless man who wanted Swamp Thing's secrets so he could become immortal. Their marriage eventually deteriated, leading to Matthew's abuse of his power in the form of obscene sexual acts, such as using his powers to create decaying forms to arouse and please him, all the while straining his marriage.
After a fight with his wife that culminated in her leaving on foot to find the Swamp Thing, Matthew had an attack of conscience and drove after her. He had been drinking heavily and ended up crashing his car, mortally wounding himself. A fly, believed by him to be a manifestation of his power, said it would revive him, and he agreed. In reality, Anton found a way out of hell, and merely possessed Cable's body, gaining great power. Eventually Matthew managed to exorcise Arcane, but at the cost of the effects of the car-crash catching up with him, and only after Arcane had murdered Abby. Still possessing enough power to repair one body and not wanting to live, he managed to bring Abby back to life (though her soul would still have to be rescued from Hell by the Swamp Thing). Apologising to "Alec", he then fell into the coma he would remain in for the duration of his mortal life.
[edit] Sandman
Since Matthew technically died while in the Dreaming, Morpheus/Dream of the Endless revived him to a form of life as his raven. He lives with Eve in Dream's domain. His purpose -- and the purpose of any of the Ravens that Morpheus has 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 released them from service if they so wished.
Matthew is irreverent and somewhat crude, having 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 The Dreaming series Matthew plays a more important role and was often teamed with the Corinthian. He died twice more during the series, once as a result of being tricked by the Coyote, and for a final time by an accidental shot from Lucien during a fight with Echo and Eblis O'Shaughnessy. He came back briefly to tell Daniel to not let Lucien blame himself.
[edit] Other Ravens
The lettering of all ravens' speech is messy at the edges, and so are the speech bubbles, perhaps giving them a gravelly voice of sorts.
Notable predecessors as the Raven are Lucien, who was the first Raven, as well as the last Raven and Aristeas of Marmora who, centuries later, returned to his life as a man for a year. Disturbingly, when Delirium tried to recall the other of Dream's ravens she had seen, she mentioned 'Eleven and a Half'. Other predecessors who are mentioned are Jessamy, Francois, Jehuda, Vivien, Ming-Ti, Dechtire, Hatshepsut, and the infamous Aristea of Marmora. After he died, Daniel created a new white raven, Tethys, to serve him.
