Hi, folks… Brian, here! Today we have on deck a review of ‘Wolverine: Weapon X’ #2!  So, without further ado…

Wolverine: Weapon X #2
(mini-preview | threads)
“The Adamantium Men”- Part 2
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Ron Garney

We’ll be breaking this review down into a recap and then sum up with my thoughts. If you wish to avoid spoilers, then proceed to ‘Thoughts From A Human’s Point of View’.

SPOILERS BELOW…

We open our story in a meeting room at the San Francisco Post where investigative journalist Melita Garner makes a case to her editor for doing a story on Wolverine’s background since so little is known about him, much to the aggravation of a fellow reporter who’s already covering the X-Men beat. Her editor thinks that Wolverine is already overexposed as a public figure and wouldn’t be of much interest to the paper. Later on at home, Melita tries placing some calls to retrieve Logan’s military records, with no success. She then receives a mysterious phone call from someone warning her that she will get herself killed if she continues to dig and that Wolverine is only a smaller part of the picture. The caller tells her that she needs to set her sights on Blackguard, the same mercenary unit that Wolverine is after. With an abrupt click on the other end, Melita realizes that she has her story.

Meanwhile, Logan makes his way down to the Pacific Coast of Colombia, where he revisits a local drinking establishment he’s been to in the past. He drops a wad of money and buys drinks for the entire place. While acknowledging his own keen tracking senses, he opts to take a different strategy for locating the Blackguard unit by simply staying put and letting them come to him.

Hours later, Logan stumbles his way back to the hotel with a bottle in hand and a song on his lips. High above, two Blackguard soliders crouch in the branches of a tree, one of them aiming a high-powered rifle towards Logan’s room. The rifle is armed with three bullets designed to release 38 different kinds of cancer within the intended victim’s system. They figure it will at least slow him down. Jokingly, the two soldiers take bets as to which nostril of his nose they can shoot the bullet through, from their distance.

As the soldier takes aim he quickly realizes that his target is gone. The soldiers begin sniffing him out, as they are enhanced with similar tracking abilities as Logan. They lock onto the scent only to find Wolverine, suited up and ready, below them. He pops his claws and slashes at the tree, causing it to tip over. One of the soldiers falls right onto his claws, but continues to fight him off. Wolverine quickly uses his senses to size up his opponents’ capabilities…drug-induced animal-like senses, bionic implants giving them enhanced strength, artifically engineered techno-organic, nanite-induced healing factors, adamantium bones, and much to his dismay as he gets them shoved through his body…energy blades.

A long and fierce battle erupts between the three in the jungle. After a while, amidst spilled blood and fallen trees, Wolverine realizes that it’s inevitable that the two will go down. However, things take a turn for the worse as a dozen more soldiers like the ones he’s been fighting appear and surround him. Knowing his limitations, Wolverine breaks through the mercenary crowd and makes a tactical retreat into the wild. The soldiers fan out to look for him, not realizing that Wolverine has them right where he wants them…To Be Continued!

THOUGHTS FROM A HUMAN’S POINT OF VIEW: Jason Aaron delivers a great issue in this new series. The kid gloves are off as we now have our two opposing factions square off. The last half of this issue really has to go to the talents of Ron Garney as he gives us an especially brutal beginning to what will probably become a long and intense battle. Wolverine looks downright spooky with beady eyes, peering through shadows. The battle is so fierce, their jungle surroundings become decimated. You really get the sense that Wolverine will not have an easy fight on his hands. Aaron also does a great job with handling Wolverine as a strategic fighter who’s no longer willing to just throw himself into the thick of things without having a plan of action, hoping that his healing factor will make up for it.

The only part of this series that I’m still not completely sold on is the character of Melita Garner. The young, plucky reporter who will inevitably get in way over her head and most likely fall for Wolverine hasn’t exactly set my world on fire yet. But I’ll give Aaron the benefit of the doubt and see where he takes her.

All in all, a solid entertaining issue. If you haven’t jumped onboard with this series yet, do so!

Feel free to let me know how this review strikes you.  Share your opinion or your own review…

Hi, folks… your friendly neighborhood Brian Knippenberg back again! Today we have on deck a double-feature review of ‘Wolverine’ #73!  Waitaminnit! What happened to #72? No worries, the penultimate issue of “Old Man Logan” will still be hitting stores in two short weeks! So, without further ado…

Wolverine #73
(mini-preview | thread)
“A Mile in my Moccasins, Part 1”
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Adam Kubert & Mark Farmer

“One Percenter, Part 1”
Writer: Daniel Way
Art: Tommy Lee Edwards

We’ll be breaking this review down into a recap and then sum up with my thoughts. If you wish to avoid spoilers, then proceed to ‘Thoughts From A Human’s Point of View’.

SPOILERS BELOW…

In our first story, “A Mile in my Moccasins”, we are treated to a large montage sequence as we go through the days of the week, each week, to witness the crazy and intense world of Wolverine. Everything from a lone fight against the Juggernaut, his various battles alongside the Avengers, X-Men and X-Force, the random team-ups with characters such as Spider-Man, Punisher, Ghost Rider and Deadpool, his search for Romulus, and the various shootings, stabbings, explosions, and beatings he endures. We even catch glimpses of the quieter moments when Logan can settle down in watering holes across the globe and even for some solemn contemplation in a serenity garden.

After a fierce battle in Japan, Yukio suggests to Logan to get some “bed-rest” with her. Soon afterwards he’s up and dressed, ready to go. Yukio expresses her concerns to Logan about how he seems to be stretching himself thin lately and asks him why he does so, to no reply. She shares her theory that he may be experiencing a nervous breakdown, but Logan’s not there to listen as he’s already taken off on his motorcycle. To be continued next issue…

Our second story, “One-Percenter” opens with Logan getting pulled over by the police on his motorcycle.  Before the patrol officer can write a citation, he’s interrupted by the arrival of a motorcycle gang whose leader reminds the cop that they police their own and Logan is one of them. The cop, who knows this leader nicknamed “Horrorshow”, complies. Later on, at a dive-bar, the two old friends play catch-up. Horrorshow remarks to Logan how it seems as if he hadn’t aged a day in the last 20-30 years. He also shares the ups and downs of his life… how his oldest son died at sixteen, how he was able to kick his drugs & booze habit but his ex-wife and other son had not. His ex and her boyfriend had killed themselves, and Horrorshow reached out to his other son to come back, but only if he gave up the destructive lifestyle, which he would not.

Just then, Ram, a fellow member of Horrorshow’s Burnin’ Sons, bursts in claiming that a rival gang, the New Saints, killed two of their own and demands retribution.  Despite having approval from one of the “Three Lords”, Horrorshow (another one of the Lords) decides to wait until he can talk to the girlfriend of one of the dead, who was a witness, once she calms down. Ram balks at this, claiming that Horrorshow’s hesitation is due to his remaining son being a member of the rival gang and was probably behind it, only to receive a fist to the chin. Horrorshow’s decision stands.

Later in the evening, Horrorshow confides to Logan that he has little doubt that his son could be behind the deaths. He admits that the reason that his son is so bad is because he’s been addicted to drugs since birth and it’s led him down a dark path and that it’s not the boy’s fault, but only his own. Logan cannot help but to see the parallels in this situation and offers to go talk to the girl to perhaps do for Horrorshow’s son what he couldn’t be done for his own.

Logan finds the girlfriend of one of the slain Burnin’ Sons hiding out at her mother’s and she asks if Ram had sent him. When he tells her that he had not, she refuses to talk leaving Logan to wonder aloud if she would had he told her that Ram did send him. Before she can speak, the girl is shot in the head by a killer who takes off by motorcycle. Logan goes after him and places a call to Horrorshow, asking where he can find “Junior”. To be continued next issue…

THOUGHTS FROM A HUMAN’S POINT OF VIEW: ‘Wolverine’ #73 gives us the first parts of two stories that are not merely throwaways to bide time before the premiere of Dark Wolverine, but are relevant to what’s going on in Wolverine’s life. Along with the energetic, sharp, artistic hand of Adam Kubert, Jason Aaron embraces all aspects as he tries to weave the elements that has a typical reader wondering how Wolverine could be involved in so many titles and adventures into a justified cause… or what could be a serious downfall for our hero. A really entertaining (and in some ways funny) look at what makes Wolvie tick, leaving us with a mystery to be solved next issue as to what truly drives him.

Daniel Way’s first half of “One-Percenter” was a strong opening as Logan is drawn into a troubled milieu which has strong parallels to his own life and problems involving his son. Tommy Lee Edwards art is also fantastic. I could practically smell the sweat and booze in the bar scene and taste the dust in the air from open roads torn up byspeeding  motorcyles, as I was reading.

A great issue with two highly entertaining stories, leaving me counting the days to their conclusions!

Feel free to let me know how this review strikes you.  Share your opinion or your own review…

Hi, folks…your friendly neighborhood Brian Knippenberg back again! Today we have on deck the next chapter in  our X-Force/Cable crossover! Without further ado…

Cable #14 (preview | thread)
“Messiah War, Chapter 4”
Writer: Duane Swierczynski
Art: Ariel Olivetti

We’ll be breaking this review down into a recap and then sum up with my thoughts. If you wish to avoid spoilers, then proceed to ‘Thoughts From A Human’s Point of View’.

SPOILERS BELOW…

WHO’S GOT A PLAN?: In chapter three, Stryfe had captured Warpath and Hope, whisking them off to his citadel. We open chapter 4 outside of Westchester as Cable & X-Force desperately try to come up with a plan of action. Cable’s greatest fear has come true and all he wants to do is barrel through Stryfe’s domain, take him out and bring back Hope alive. Wolverine, thinking rationally, tells him that would do nothing but get her killed.

SHE WAS MINE FIRST!: Back at the citadel, Warpath is tortured as Stryfe tries to divine the identity of Hope and what she means to Cable. Bishop fears that Stryfe is getting too close to knowing, which could ruin his own plan of killing her himself to “save the future”. He checks his weaponry to ensure it’s in working order for the right moment.

DING-DONG, DEATH CALLING!: In the Adirondacks, Archangel meets with Apocalypse, who is barely clinging to life. He assumes that the evil one wants to die by the hand of his former Horseman, but as Apocalypse cluches at Archangel’s throat, he seems to have other plans.

DON’T I KNOW YOU?: Within the citadel, Hope notices something familiar about Stryfe as he studies her. Just then, Stryfe falls in agony and drops the telekinetic bubble which held his captive. Bishop had launched a nanite bomb, which has temporarily distracted him. He then pulls his gun to finish off Hope only to have the bullet stopped in mid-air. Stryfe attacks Bishop, thinking that he was his target, until he sees the look in Bishop’s eyes and realizes that it was Hope he was after.

WHO’S GOT A SCORECARD?: Meanwhile…our heroes have split up into two groups, one to the citadel for the rescue, the other to deal with the time trap they are all caught in. Domino learns from the older version of Deadpool that the timeshield holding them is not a place or thing…but a person. Outside the citadel, Cable is seriously injured but continues to fight on with Wolverine as Elixer tries to heal him. Back in the mountains, Archangel breaks free and refuses to help restore Apocalypse, leaving his decrepit form behind.

DADDY ISSUES: We close our issue with Stryfe beginning to understand what Hope’s purpose must be, as she lifts off his helmet. She is surprised to see that it’s Cable (so she thinks) in disguise to rescue her from Bishop. Stryfe tells her that he’s here to rescue her from her false father.

THOUGHTS FROM A HUMAN’S POINT OF VIEW: Duane Swierczynski & Ariel Olivetti continue to keep the ball rolling with the Messiah War, but with this issue I felt it was not much more than padding to help stretch out the arc for the 7 issues or so issues it was solicited as. Great when read as part of a collection, but as an individual issue it lacked much of the forward momentum that it could have used, other than the villain and our heroes learning a little bit of info that they didn’t know prior. An adequate read, but not very compelling.

Feel free to let me know how this review strikes you…Do you like the recap? Is it unnecessary? Share your opinion (or your own review)!

Hi, folks…your friendly neighborhood Brian Knippenberg here! We’re rollin’ on ahead with the reviews! Without further ado…

Wolverine: Origins #35
(preview | thread)
Writers: Daniel Way
Art: Doug Braithwaite

We’ll be breaking this review down into a recap and then sum up with my thoughts. If you wish to avoid spoilers, then proceed to ‘Thoughts From A Human’s Point of View’.

THE SET-UP: Recently, Daken had donned the guise of Wolverine and joined Norman Osborn’s Avengers team in an effort to discredit his father. He launches a plan to steal the Muramasa blade to have it’s metal (the one thing that can kill his father) bonded to him. He lures the X-Men into an open trap at Prospect Park, Brooklyn only to have Wolverine intervene.

SPOILERS BELOW…

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE: We open the issue with a flashback as Wolverine remembers the tragic loss of Itsu and how the legendary swordsmith, Muramasa channels Logan’s rage and forges it into the powerful and unique Muramasa blade.

STANDOFF AT PROSPECT PARK: The battle between the X-Men and Daken continues from last issue until both Cyclops and Daken make a run for the blade. Cyclops closes in only to have the weapon snatched away by Daken! Daken maneuvers quickly enough in an attempt to lop off the X-Leader’s head, only to have the young mutant, Armor, jump between them at the last second. As powerful as the Muramasa blade is, it is no match for Armor’s psionic shield. However, the impact from the blow causes an explosive feedback, scattering the opponents every which way. Wolverine and Daken, both groggy and disoriented, both go for the blade with Wolverine the victor…until they both pass out. When Wolverine awakens, he discovers that Daken has broken off a piece of the blade, which is all he needs for his plans.

BEYOND SALVATION: Wolverine helps up an injured and angry Cyclops and tells him what Daken has done. He also tells him that he cannot give him back the Muramasa Blade, which Cyclops also refuses. Instead, he orders Wolverine to track Daken down with it and deal with him, permanently. Wolverine refuses to kill his own son only to have Cyclops admonish him, saying that Daken is beyond saving and that Wolverine’s quest to do so  is nothing more than selfishness. Wolverine ignores him and walks off.

TINKERER TOYS: Nine hours later…an impatient Tinkerer, whom Daken recruited to help with the bonding process, awaits to meet him somewhere at Grand Central Station, New York. Nick Fury successfully tracks him down and dispatches Wolverine to the scene.

OCCUPIED!: Wolverine, who was nearby,  follows the Tinkerer, making his way through the station as he sees him wheelchair into a men’s bathroom. He waits for the old man to exit, which he never does, and goes in after him. The bathroom seems deserted, no sign of the Tinkerer, and then Wolverine catches a scent. He looks down at one of the men’s room stalls and sees a pair of boots. Suddenly, Wolverine recognizes the scent and is surprised. He quickly launches into action, pulling on his mask and popping his claws as he approaches the stall with lightning speed. As his claws make contact with the stall door, a hulking fist smashes out. Wolverine is pummeled and thrown across the room. As he struggles to get up, he remembers what Nick Fury had told him about the blind and mute baby who was Victor Hudson and how his mother had killed herself before a church congregation, claiming that the baby was taken back by the devil himself into his bosom. Above Wolverine, we see the silent and powerful Victor, fists clenched.

THIS IS NOT THE TRAIN TO THE LAND OF MAKE-BELIEVE: An impatient Tinkerer meets an amused Daken underneath the station, in an abandoned tunnel. An old, derelict train pulls up ready to take them to the next phase of Daken’s plan.

THOUGHTS FROM A HUMAN’S POINT OF VIEW: The struggle to stop Daken’s plan from coming to fruition continues. The X-Men get a chance to redeem themselves a bit, as opposed to last issue’s debacle. Daniel Way does a better job in this issue of portaying their strengths  in battle.

What I still have trouble getting used though (and it’s not Way’s fault) is the relentless Cyclops with his exteme views of dealing with mutantkind’s enemies. It’s a bit jarring.

This book is gelling better with me as it progresses. All-in-all this was a good issue. I admit I wasn’t sure how I felt about the Wolverine/Daken relationship at the beginning, but I grow more invested with every issue. As much as Logan tries to make himself a loner, he’s always drawn to a stable family environment or at least struggles to build his own, until it falls apart. Generally, the X-men “family” has been the most stable one he’s ever had, despite their ups and downs. He’s also played the mentor or father figure role to more than one young, impressionable girl, which I believe makes him feel more grounded. But, he now knows that he has a son, a son who was born from the same type of tragedy and loss that has haunted and plagued his entire existence. And now, as a grown man, he preys upon others in a twisted game of manipulation and death, all to benefit him. It’s easy to see why Logan feels the need to at least try saving him, even if it looks bleak and even if it puts him at odds with those who believe otherwise. In saving him, he’s saving a part of himself. However, the cost in doing so may become too much.

Either way, I am curious to see what blood-stained road that Logan and Daken will travel on next, especially once Romulous enters on-stage.

Feel free to let me know how this review strikes you…Do you like the recap? Is it unnecessary? Share your opinion (or your own review), but please be kind, otherwise you might find me watching the movie Ishtar in an endless loop, until I pass out.

Hi, folks…your friendly neighborhood Brian Knippenberg back again! I had so much fun reviewing the recent Uncanny X-Men, that they were crazy enough to let me do it again with X-Force! Without further ado…

X-Force #14
(preview | threads)
“Messiah War, Chapter 3”
Writers: Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
Art: Clayton Crain

We’ll be breaking this review down into a recap and then sum up with my thoughts. If you wish to avoid spoilers, then proceed to ‘Thoughts From A Human’s Point of View’.

SPOILERS BELOW…

FINDING NE…EN SABAH NUR: The issue begins with Bishop landing at a certain point in future time. Bishop thinks to himself how everything that he was “forced” to do, by creating a dead-end future, was having the desired effect of eliminating all of the places that Cable could hide. He hadn’t considered finding other troublesome characters in this future, but follows a lead which brings him to a cave and a technologically-entombed Apocalypse. If it were any other time, he’d put a bullet in his head, but rather thinks that bringing about the end of the world could be  used to his benefit.

…AND IT TURNED INTO A BALLROOM BLITZ: At a later point in time, the members of X-Force, Cable, Hope, and a really-old Deadpool are under attack by a legion of  Stryfe’s armored warriors! Wolverine orders the Vanisher to take off with Elixer and Hope to safety, much to the anger and dismay of Cable who believes that the team’s presence is making things worse by turning them into a bigger target.

AND NOW, A WORD FROM OUR FUTURE RULER: At the Celestial City, Stryfe receives word from an underling that “The Forsaken One” (Cable) is with the others. An impatient Bishop nearly blows it by demanding to know who else is with him, to a curious Stryfe. Bishop is relieved to know that his Psi-Shields did not give away the existence of Hope. Stryfe senses that some of the X-Men are with Cable.

DIE, ZOMBIE, DIE: With Vanisher, Elixer, and Hope on the run, X-Force barely holding their own, and Wolverine getting seriously injured, Archangel receives a familiar call that only he can hear and flies off when they need them most. Cable saves Wolverine, only to demand that Hope be brought back. Domino screams at Deadpool to stop shooting the same corpse over and over (well, in case he’s a zombie) and help. An annoyed Deadpool pulls out his guns and shoots every warrior dead within moments, only to go back to killing his “zombie”. Cable is reunited with Hope and is angry with the team. He tells them that they need to keep moving.

APOCALYPSE…NOW?: We flashback to when Bishop meets Stryfe in a bar and asks for his help in eliminating Cable. He sweetens the deal by offering to bring him to a point in future-time where he had found Apocalypse and is at his weakest. In one page, we bear witness to Bishop and Stryfe destroying the evil one.

YOU’RE THE WORST LEADER EVER: Wolverine expresses to an incredulous Warpath about how screwed they are and puts him in charge of protecting Hope, even over Cable, no matter the cost. Hope inquires with X-23 as to their purpose and is relieved to hear that they are there to stop the bad man who is after them. Vanisher pleads with Elixer to take the tumor out of his head that he put in and a suspicious Domino forces Deadpool to reveal what he had been hiding from them…the fact that Stryfe was on his way to kill them all.

A LITTLE BIT OF STRYFE: Stryfe lands with a telekinetic boom, scattering our heroes. He is appalled by how much Cable is but  a pale shadow of his former self. Wolverine warns him that violence can be avoided, that he had heard that the villain last went out like a hero, but Stryfe has no idea what he is talking about. A brief battle ensues as the team is quickly taken down and Cable launches his own attack. He gets in close enough to plant an explosive but it fails.

HOPE…TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE: Warpath tries to escape with Hope, but both are seized by Stryfe’s power.

WIPE YOUR BOOTS AT THE FOOT OF THE CAVE: Death finds the source of the call in the Adirondacks. Apocalypse, barely clinging to life, welcomes his last and greatest Horseman.

THOUGHTS FROM A HUMAN’S POINT OF VIEW: Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, and Clayton Crain do their very best to give us an issue where all hell breaks loose, never giving our heroes the breathing room they need. X-Force is sent to the future to rescue Cable & Hope from one threat, only to have it quickly become nearly a triple threat in a matter of one issue.

What I think I find most interesting about this book is that the starring team is, essentially, a mess. Yes, they are all very good at what they do but they are led by a reluctant leader who fought so long and hard to prevent teammates past from going down the same road of carnage and mayhem as he’s travelled. Then you have members that are part of this team because they feel they have no other purpose in life (threatening to eliminate their humanity) or were brought into this bloody world by circumstance, unsure of how to escape it. They are thrown into situations with overwhelming odds and it seems as if they can barely keep it together, that they fight on instinct just to stay ahead. You almost feel that everything will spiral out of control at any moment.

They are chaos personified. And Cable knows it as he feels that they are destroying what little control he had left in keeping Hope alive. I also find Bishop fascinating because he honestly believes that what he is doing is so right, that he is willing to unleash hell to prevent hell. What this will mean for everyone involved should be very interesting to see.

Oh, and old and even-crazier Deadpool’s a hoot!

Feel free to let me know how this review strikes you…Do you like the recap? Is it unnecessary? Share your opinion (or your own review), but please be kind, otherwise you might find me spending my remaining days in a broken down hotel room with an alcoholic mule in clown make-up…

Hi, folks…your friendly neighborhood Brian Knippenberg here! DiG has been kind and gracious enough to open the reviews up to others, so I thought to give it a whirl. Without further ado…

Uncanny X-Men #508
(preview | thread)
Writer: Matt Fraction
Penciler: Greg Land
Inker: Jay Leisten

We’ll be breaking this review down into a quick play-by-play and then sum up with my thoughts.

SPOILERS BELOW…

MIDNIGHT MASS: The issue begins with a gathering of The Red Queen (Madelyne Pryor) and her Sisterhood at a gravesite. Madelyne explains to a skeptical Lady Mastermind (Regan Wyngarde) her plan to resurrect her father, the original Mastermind, but only more powerful than before. But to begin, her masterplan will kick-off in Tokyo…

SHOWDOWN IN BIG TOKYO: Domino is on a visit to Tokyo and stops at a very non-descript, private memorial cemetary with flowers, at Logan’s request. It turns out that this burial place is owned by Logan, a place where he can bury fallen friends and family. Her visit is cut short when she interupts Spiral, Lady Deathstrike, and Chimera as they attempt to take off with a casket. A brief battle ensues, with Chimera getting a blade to the chest, but a confused Domino is left behind as they escape. She quickly calls Logan to let him know something had happened and to ask, “Who was Kwannon”?

WEIRD SCIENCE: Back at Graymalkin Industries, Hank McCoy meets with his new science team–Dr. Nemesis, Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi, Madison Jefferies, and Dr. Kavita Rao–to discuss and tackle the inert mutant gene dilemma. Dr. Nemesis believes that science will triumph over magic.

THE VESSEL: The Red Queen heals Chimera and has the others prepare the “vessel”, which turns out to be Psylocke’s original body which was inhabited by the mind and spirit of Kwannon. Her plan is to restore and fill the body with a new mind and spirit…Enter: Psylocke, as she’s bound and brought into the room.

WELCOME BACK, EMMA: Nightcrawler convinces Emma to teach once more, but before class is in session, all the psychics at Graymalkin experience terrible feedback from some large-scale psychic event.

PLUS-ONE: Logan travels to Mt. Shasta in California to meet with Northstar and Aurora, partners in Team Northstar Extreme Snowsports. Logan extends an offer of X-Men membership to Jean-Paul, since they took a recent defeat without having enough speed and power on the team. Logan also hopes to make amends for killing him once before. Northstar accepts.

I AIN’T GOT NO BODY (OR DO I?): The Red Queen, with the help of the Sisterhood, unleashes enough power to do the impossible…Psylocke is once again within her own original body (leaving Kwannon’s body lifeless), with seemingly no memory of what has happened.

THOUGHTS FROM A HUMAN’S POINT OF VIEW: Matt Fraction and Greg Land give us an issue of evil machinations in play involving resurrections (Hey, everyone at Marvel’s doing it!) and plans afoot by the good guys to tackle the threat of extinction to all Mutantkind, thanks to the Scarlet Witch. We learn something new about Logan in the process and watch him bring back into the fold an old friend. And for the conclusion, we get an unexpected body swap that would make ’80s movies of the same nature jealous.

Uncanny X-Men #508 is an interesting read, however filled with a bit more set-up than execution. I’m kind of anxious to see it move on, which it looks like it promises to do so based upon the ending. Fraction’s strength in this issue lies in his dialogue and interplay between characters, but I’m missing the dramatic tension that his Invincible Iron Man carries. One little thing that had me scratching my head was in one scene Logan receives some distressing news over the phone and the next time he appears it’s for a casual trip to recruit a member for the team. I would have expected Wolverine to kind of jump into action and rally the team, but it looks like they’re going to take a defensive position and wait it out.

As for Greg Land’s art, all I can say is that it always pulls me out of the story every time by keeping track of all the Sports Illustrated Models’ faces he adds to all of the women’s bodies.

This is my first review for The Wolverine Files, so, what do you think? Feel free to let me know how it strikes you…Do you like the recap? Is it unnecessary? Share your opinion (or your own review), but please be kind, otherwise you might find me huddled in a corner sobbing naked with my clothes burning in a wastebasket…