Wolverine Wednesday #73

Weapon X-Men #1

Writer: Christos Gage | Artist: Yildiray Cinar | Colourist: Nolan Woodard | Letters: Clayton Cowles

This was a lot of fun and I am not concerned to admit that my enjoyment of this really caught me off guard. I get sucked into anything with ‘Weapon X’ in the title and sometimes in the past that has burned me. But wow this was so much fun! That is high praise indeed seeing as it doesn’t really involve any alternate Wolverines I hold a soft spot for. Okay Old Man Logan is tried and tested, but I feel he has been overused. Here he is presented perfectly as like a Lethal Weapon ‘I’m too old for this shit’ Wolverine. Then we have Weapon X from Age of Apocalypse. That four-issue mini-series is a massive blind spot for me, but I am certainly tracking it down after reading this. In this story he is the Wolverine we have that is closest to a leading man. The next two are the most obscure and both skewer the story into dark humour territory. First up is Logan from Earth X. Yes fat Wolverine. In Earth X he was portrayed as a gimmick, a throwaway alternate version of a well-loved character. I didn’t think I would like him being along for the ride, but it wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong. Next up we have Zombie Wolverine from Marvel Zombies. Again this may seem like a gimmick pick, a team selection made for laughs. How could a zombie possibly contribute to saving the world? Well he does… me being wrong again. Rounding out the team is Jane Howlett. Is she going to be the breakout star of this series? An alternate version of Wolverine we are still talking about in ten years time? Certainly in this story she is the most grounded, the most superhero-like, the team member with her head screwed on. And like any good Wolverine she isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. I can not wait to see how she develops. Gage has done such a good job of making them all unique it doesn’t feel like you are reading the same voice four times over. The story itself spins out of the recent one-shot called Original X-Men. This tells an alternate take on the Onslaught origin and stopping Onslaught’s quest for global domination is where we pick things up here. Honestly, don’t let that put you off, you can totally follow this and enjoy it without having read that one shot. I may be seeking it out though! Gage doesn’t waste any time using the first issue to assemble the team in a paint-by-numbers fashion. Turn the first page and boom there they are, some looking more heroic and ready for action than others! If five Wolverines and an alternate Jean Grey aren’t enough to sink your teeth into, as our team crosses dimensions more than a few familiar faces pop up. There is a really cool sequence where Jean is telling Weapon X about her worlds Scott and Logan, it had a real animated series vibe to it. Which just hits perfectly with X-Men 97 streaming now. I would liken this in tone to the first Savage Avengers run, so if you enjoyed that, then is well worth your time. Cinar is no stranger to Wolverine having done work on the last Weapon X series. If he is a Wolverine fan then this must be a dream gig, he gets to play the hits essentially. His Old Man Logan is very much his own now, having drawn him for so many issues in Weapon X. He isn’t as gritty as McNiven’s original, but he is very much how I have pictured the character for some time now. Then he gets to do the big wild hair and big muscles of the 90’s AOA Wolverine. Fat Wolverine which is definitely channelling Homer Simpson in my opinion. Like the belly sticking out the bottom of the white t-shirt is brilliant. There are three clear visual homages I picked up that continue to play the hits of Wolverine stories past. The story and art are driven. It’s big, bright and bold! Normally when I do reviews I have to take notes, now I’m just free-forming and I actually have a smile on my face as I write. Bring on #2!

Wolverine #45

Writers: Benjamin Percy & Victor LaValle | Artist: Geoff Shaw | Colourist: Alex Sinclair | Letters: Cory Petit

The plates continue to spin and the tandem writing duo keep everything in balance. This issue very much had the feel of being another puzzle piece to the much larger picture. We see Sabretooth taking the lead in terms of being the central focus as the story develops. Again it feels like a LaValle-penned issue in terms of Sabretooth doing the narration and Lavalle now having a good hold on his voice after a succession of mini-series. With The Exiles featuring throughout the plot that leads me to think LaValle was in the driving seat. On the subject of The Exiles, I don’t think it was mentioned in their previous appearance but the boat they are on is actually Ship from way back in the day of the original X-Factor run. Why create something new when you can play the nostalgia card? I appreciate little details like this. The interaction between Sabretooth and Quentin Quire is just on the right side of sadistic! Referring back to the spinning plates in my opening, there are new plot threads brought to the fore that add new levels to proceedings. The inclusion of The Exiles is still of interest. There is the sense that now they have been included you want to see the arc have a satisfactory ending, while at the same time not overshadowing the main point of the story. Then we have the beginnings of a plot involving Cam and Savage and even in its earliest stages, you can just tell it is going to lead somewhere twisted. With this being Sabretooth centric this issue is low on both Wolverine and action. Being six issues into the arc this wasn’t a problem for me. At this stage I kind of feel like I understand the formula, it was Wolverine and action-heavy at the start which has allowed for this switching of focus and reduced need for Wolverine to be in the story all the time. If this move had been made earlier in the series perhaps it wouldn’t have had the same positive effect. Once again this issue moved at a good pace, as a reader it was easy to gauge the flow between the three rotating plot threads. There were two instances where it felt very Silver Age. Some readers may find the level of coincidence a little cringe but I really enjoyed the throwback to a past era of comic book storytelling. Why make things complicated for yourself as a writer? This is an accepted form of storytelling in comics, so why not use to your benefit to move the story along in a simplified manner? In the previous reviews for ‘Sabretooth War’ I had a lot of praise for Lenil Yu on the covers. So I am only mentioning this in the interest of fairness, but this time around I did feel it was a little generic in its design. There are no real stand-out moments art-wise in this issue, due in part to the lack of action. There was one Wolverine splash page as he evades some Stark Sentinels. Re-reading that sequence though it did feel like the artist did a splash page just for something to do. It wasn’t a pivotal moment that called for it to be a splash page. With the rotation between the plot threads, the subtle differences in style between them and the use of different colour palettes make for a pleasant reading experience.

Wolverine #46

Writers: Benjamin Percy & Victor LaValle | Artist: Cory Smith | Inker: Oren Junior | Colourist: Alex Sinclair | Letters: Cory Petit

I really loved the storytelling device used in this issue. It was completely different from anything we have seen in ‘Sabretooth War’ so far, by doing it this way it added a new layer and helped develop the story in an interesting way. With the use of said device the two titular characters come into focus and are actually side by side for the whole issue for the first time in the arc. Also, it allows the story not to rely on the tone set in the early issues, it really is it’s own thing with no reliance on the super amped-up violence we have seen previously. On the subject of the violence it has been much, much less in issue #45-#46. (Well apart from that one X-23 sequence) In fact #45 didn’t even carry the parental advisory label on the cover all the other issues have carried. A plot thread that was started last time out gained more traction here and further confirms my belief it is going to be something from the twisted side of Percy’s mind. Also the aforementioned planning of X-23 in captivity is definitely going to have a big payoff. It was cool seeing the Krakoan tech for like diving suits being used since I first saw it in the pages of X-Force. The cover is a step in the right direction again. Not as good as the earlier issue, but an improvement on #45. It’s funny because there was a team X-centric cover before which would have been a better fit for this issue. That being said the cover for this issue does actually pertain to the events of the story which is a rarity nowadays. Two things really stood out for me in regards to Smith’s are this time out. Firstly I really enjoyed his Team X renditions of Wolverine and Sabretooth. I think I mentioned before the Howard Chaykin vibe I was getting. He reinforces it here with the military tone of Team X evoking the memory of Chaykin on GI Joe. Secondly he does an excellent job of making the Team X versions of Wolverine and Sabretooth look younger if not necessarily being younger. What with the healing factor and all! It was just a little element that helped distinguish the two parallel running stories. Like I mentioned for #45 the difference in colour palettes for the two stories really adds another layer. It stands out even more with the past and present device in effect and it really makes the pages dynamic as the colour changes are happening panel to panel as well as page to page. If you can’t tell I really enjoyed this issue. I found having the two rivals side by side rather than facing off a nice midway interlude in the story. Of course, I want to see them go tooth and claw but I appreciate the build of a good story too. And that is exactly what we are getting six issues into ‘Sabretooth War.’