Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… This week’s review is ‘Wolverine: Weapon X’. Hope you enjoy it.

Wolverine: Weapon X #10 (preview)
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: C. P. Smith

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP: The issue opens with Logan recounting his first time to Melita. It was with a Mexican migrant worked whose name he did not even know. He then continues to give some more details on his love life before she asks too many personal questions and he gets dressed and leaves.

In Japan, Logan kills some ninja and runs into Yukio. She tries to seduce him but Wolverine turns her down, something he has never done before. A little while later, he confesses this to Storm, while playing chess with her. She asks who his new girlfriend is but he is still denying Melita is his girlfriend later when he is playing pool with Rogue. But she gets him to admit it without ever saying a word.

The Black Widow offers to get the new girl some tech for communication or tracking in case she gets into trouble but Logan declines. Natasha says that at least  Melita needs to learn how to shoot then. Out shopping with Jubilee, Wolverine gets lectured on the difficulty of relationships and the problems with his current life style. She never really lets him get a word in edgewise.

At the New Avengers base, Cage and Jessica are trying to find their baby’s binkie to quiet her screaming. Jessica can not help since she is holding the child but Logan offers to take her. Although he holds her awkwardly, she silences instantly. Jessica seems concerned but Luke has faith and goes back to look for the toy.

Wolverine returns to San Fransisco and finds out that Garner is training at the Sons of the Tiger dojo and has a pretty good sidekick. He takes her to a shrine in Mariko’s honor and explains what happens to all the girls that get involved with him. She says that she did the research and knows all about his past women.  She kicks him in the face again to demonstrate what would happen if one of his enemies came after her but he is not impressed. He tries to talk her out of the relationship but she is determined and eventually he gives in and takes her to his room on Utopia.

In bed they talk about her past and interests before he goes to sleep. Later, Melita is walking the halls when she runs into Emma and asks about the bathroom. Frost starts laughing when she discovers that Garner is sleeping with Wolverine. The next day, Logan takes her back to San Fransisco and kisses her goodbye. Almost immediately she is bumped into by a very old woman who turns out to be Mystique is disguise. It appears the villain and former flame is planning to keep an eye on the new girlfriend.

MY TAKE: First off I want to say that I liked this issue, it is one of my favorites of the run so far. Wolverine is very well done and I am glad to see he is giving some real thought to the dangers inherent in getting involved again. Melita is starting to grow on me as well. She shows a much tougher and more confident side to her personality here which has been mostly missing so far. I like the fact that she actually looked into his past before pursuing him and that she understands the risks and is trying to learn to protect herself.

The cameos are mostly done very well, too. There was a good mix of the women in Logan’s life including some of his closest friends and allies. Since most of them were not ex-girlfriends, however, it would have been nice to see a few of his close male friends like Kurt. Most guys talk about woman troubles with their guy friends after all. I would have liked to see Domino in the mix too although I can understand the conflict of interest there.

Jubilee’s scene was kind of wasted to me personally. She is arguably the person he is closest too in the world and we have not seen them interact in years. Instead of a touching scene, we get her lecturing him like she is his parent. I would have liked to have seen more of them together, as well as a greater understanding and caring between them. She should be the one he can most easily turn to with these sorts of problems. Although, I can understand her being a bit upset, she can be jealous where Logan is concerned.

My biggest complaint with the whole issue is not with the story or the characters though, it is just with the relationship in general. I can certainly understand the desire to give Wolverine a new girl but this is still very familiar ground. Since this is an original character, she is almost certainly going to be ignored in other series and eventually killed off when this series ends or Aaron leaves. Just like the last two, Cassie Lathrop and Amir the Atlantean, one dead and the other in Limbo. In fact this issue does the same thing, ignoring Domino and completely glossing over Itsu who was still his wife.

Still, in the end we get a entertaining and well-done issue that actually has the guts to explore Wolverine’s love life. I especially liked the beginning when Logan was doing the pillow talk with Melita. In truth, I would have been happy to see this story stretched out a bit over a couple of issues with more time spent with the guest stars. But as it is, we get a well written-story that does a very nice job of getting inside Wolverine’s head and exploring who he is. Those tales are too few these days so I was glad to see it here. Next issue will be back to the slicing and hacking but I hope we can keep some focus on Logan’s personality and emotional conflicts as well.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.