Wolverine Wednesday #52

X Lives of Wolverine #5

Writer: Benjamin Percy | Artist: Joshua Cassara | Colourist: Frank Martin | Letters: Cory Petit

The curtain comes down on X Lives with a very well crafted issue, that strikes a good balance between story and action. The narration excellently explains everything that has been going on how it has all come to a head, clearing up some questions from the previous issues along the way. What makes this such a good issue and what makes it stand out for me is that not only does it wrap up the series so well, the story told within this issue kind of encapsulates the whole Wolverine mythos. While answers were provided I don’t think the ending was as satisfactory as it could have been, considering the hype the series had. It has felt throughout this series that with every positive there is a negative to keep all things balanced. For example, there are a few juicy plot threads left dangling that you feel could be picked up in places other than the Wolverine series. If it is within the pages of X-Force that is fair enough as it is another Percy written title, but if it is elsewhere it raises the question whether this needed to be a Wolverine centric mini-series. Like with the previous four issues Percy again delivered a great cliffhanger. One that this time finally, finally promises a crossover between X Lives and X Deaths. Again the art is amazing. Despite there being a lot of exposition Cassara still has a lot of space to showcase his talents. It is always fun seeing the current generation of artists do their takes on the old classic looks. The opening page is a testament to that as he flexes his creative muscles showing us his versions of Patch, X-Force, Whiskers and Old Man Logan. I think I have mentioned it before in the main Wolverine series but I have really enjoyed him being back in the brown and tan costume. In the scene where he comes out of stasis and masks up Cassara makes it his own. He really is on par with what Kubert has been producing over on the main series. The climactic fight with Omega Red takes up six pages of the issue and it is as brutal as it is well choreographed. As an artist he has a real skill for knowing when to go in close to highlight some action without words or come out and expand the action to something grander. None of the six pages look the same. For example, there is a splash page, a nine-panel grid page and pages constructed of all sorts of panel sizes and counts. There is something to take in and absorb from every page and every panel. Whether it is the bloody wounds being inflicted on our two combatants or the location of a weapon he makes it all count.

X Deaths of Wolverine #5

Writer: Benjamin Percy | Artist: Federico Vicentini | Colourist: Dijjo Lima | Letters: Cory Petit

This issue delivers the most Wolverine action of any issue in the series. After all this time spent with Moira she is swept to the side, appearing very briefly with the feeling of an afterthought. The action continues at a high tempo as it has in the previous two issues. Again Percy delivered a very good conclusion and another cliffhanger. I feel it was easier to land the landing in this series as it has been as strong throughout its five issues. That said any issue should be reviewed on what happens between the two covers rather than as a whole story and there aren’t many complaints this issue has on those grounds. There were a few instances in this issue when it felt like an X-Force spin-off, especially when Sage and Beast were brought to the fore, which was fun to see. I have enjoyed the cameos Beast has made in Percy’s Wolverine run and Sage is a character I don’t know much about. So it is always good to have a solid portrayal of a character when reading them for an extended period of time. Like I said it felt like an X-Force spin-off and I really wouldn’t have minded if the whole series had carried that feel, as opposed to the Moira stuff. Like with X Lives in the final act exposition there are a few plot points that you feel will be picked up in other titles further down the line. I am wondering of the glimpse of Sabretooth we got was a connection to his current mini-series seeing as I am a little behind on receiving the X Death issues? It was a real joy seeing the Wolverine extended family fighting side by side in a story that actually had consequences for the x universe, rather than it just being a team up for the sake of fun. It is in these moments that Vicentini provides all the visual highs of the story. He dictates the action brilliantly as the Wolverine family battle Omega Wolverine one on one and as a team. You have big open panels, complimented by small over lapping panels, highlighting select moments of the fight. During the fight sequences there is a real sense of motion, you know what way punches and kicks are meant to be going. Things get turned up a notch when it is Wolverine vs Omega and the breakdown in his tech is really well portrayed. A feast for the eyes! One last side note, it took me days to realise that the two final issues were connecting covers. They are so similar and as I received them apart I went through a moment of thinking I had ordered the same issue twice! That then made me think I had been calling the two series by the opposing titles this whole time and had to recheck my reviews against the cover solicitations. X Lives/Deaths has provided Wolverine fans with a wealth of cool variant covers, maybe in future years if I see them cheap I will pull the trigger!

______

I thought the conclusion of X Deaths/ X Lives would be a good place to kick off a new era for Wolverine Wednesdays. It’s very own letters page I’m calling Claws For Thought, just like the comics of the bronze age. So email me your thoughts on these two series to claws4letters@gmail.com. Did it meet expectations? How will its outcome affect the X universe? In my opinion, as a whole, the two series together fell short of my expectation. But not by much. I don’t know if I was influenced by the hype of Wolverine having his own mini-event, but while there were some very high highs it could have been much more. Of the two series X lives was much more consistent through the five issues and struck a better balance between story and action. X Deaths got better after three issues and was always more interesting when it was Wolverine centric and not focusing on Moira. Do you think Moira can not hold a title on her own power so they dressed it up as a double Wolverine series like House/Powers of X. Really both of these stories could have worked as shorter story arcs within the Wolverine series. Especially with the way Percy has been dipping in and out of storylines. To be honest I am looking forward to getting back to the main Wolverine ongoing series and even though we are now in the Destiny of X era I don’t see that series changing too much. If anything any fall out from X Deaths/Lives will be handled in X-Force. I look forward to hearing from you all. Oh, one last thing the Patch mini-series will be reviewed as a whole rather than issue by issue, so save any emails for that when it is wrapped.

Wolverine #20

Writer: Benjamin Percy | Aritst: Adam Kubert | Colourists: Frank Martin & Dijjo Lima | Letters: Cory Petit

The machinations between X-Force and the CIA’s X-desk heat up. Wolverine finds himself in the middle of a mission gone wrong. A situation where he normally works best alone, but the Merc with a Mouth has other plans!

As you can see I am trying a new direction for my reviews and thought this new jumping-on point would be the best place for it. Just a simple Twitter-length synopsis to kick things off and then into the meat of things as usual. Right off the bat, Percy writes great Deadpool. His Wolverine run has largely been series and action orientated. Here it gets to spread his comedic wings and slots perfectly into Deadpool’s signature narration. In fact, the issue starts with nine pages of Deadpool breaking the fourth wall and catching people up on the status quo of the Wolverine series and Wolverine generally as a character, as well as setting up Deadpool’s role or lack thereof so far in the new age of X-Men. It works really well as an introductory piece as this is a new jumping-on point for the series after the last issue in December. Maybe nine pages are too much, but even that is addressed in true Deadpool style. Some of the best jokes in this nine-page opening include the can of beer ‘Bub Lite,’ Deadpool shooting up slabbed copies of Percy’s Wolverine #1 and Deadpool looking at back issues of his own title. The remainder of the issue is pretty solid stuff, much in line with what Percy and Kubert have offered so far in a very consistent series. The writing recasts the simple mission gone wrong scenario with each turn of the page. Obviously, there is the inclusion of Deadpool in the mix and the chemistry between him and Wolverine is as expected. All the pieces add together to come to a very surprising cliffhanger, the inclusion of a character I had long forgotten about. If you do follow the clues closely maybe you will get there before the final reveal, but that doesn’t make it any less exciting. I don’t feel like the ‘Destiny of X’ label on the cover means anything significant beyond this being a jumping-on point for new readers. The events of X lives/Deaths is mentioned very briefly in an editor’s note, but the aftermath is rather glossed over in a text page from Sage’s logbook. Again good to see Sage. But if ‘Destiny of X’ is meant to be a big thing shouldn’t how we got to this point be addressed more? Anyway, that is a minor flaw in an otherwise entertaining story. No complaints again from what Kubert is bringing to the series. He crams a lot into the Deadpool opening with a creative selection of panel layouts. They feel very 90’s with their decorative borders, coloured bright purple by Frank Martin, which is super appropriate for a comic with Deadpool in it. If I was being ultra-critical maybe the Deadpool section could have been brighter and bolder in colour and the whole issue felt rather toned down. Martin only colours the Deadpool pages and Lima does the rest, but it is not a major difference in their work and therefore the work of the whole series to this point so I don’t know why I felt this. Perhaps because there were a lot of night scenes, usually the stories have been jumping between locales they have been experimenting with lots of colour in that regard. One highlight is the sequences with Sage explaining the mission to Wolverine, where the panel borders take on a blue light, electrical feel to evoke the monitors the two are looking at. Looking forward to seeing how this goes although I do like my Deadpool in small doses, so I am hoping for a short story arc. It feels like I have mentioned him more than Wolverine in this review!