The X-Men have been having quite the time over the last three years. Not only have they become a nation unto their own and entering the complicated and messy realm of national geopolitics as a major player in the Marvel Universe, but they’ve actually managed to conquer death itself.
Granted, dying in a comic book superhero universe is more of an inconvenience than something permanent, but writer Jonathen Hickman has taken tremendous pains to lay out the exact mechanics of how the X-Men live, die, and are reborn. Needless to say, it’s been a wild couple of years and–even though I’m not really a big X-Men fan–I’ve found it fascinating and really cool.
However, a paradise for mutants cannot last forever, and it looks like a lot of nasty secrets and lies are bubbling up to the surface in Marvel’s latest series: “The Life and Death of Wolverine”.
Written by Benjamin PercyCover by: Adam Kubert and Frank Martin
Illustrated by Federico Vincentini
Colored by Dijjo Lima and Frank Martin
Lettered by VC’s Cory Petit
WEEK 2 – If WOLVERINE’s future lies in the past, what does that mean for the present? The reciprocal series to X LIVES OF WOLVERINE, X DEATHS OF WOLVERINE is can’t-miss reading, chock-full of revelations for the best there is as well as the fate of mutantkind!
Funnily enough, “X Deaths of Wolverine” #1 isn’t actually a story about Wolverine, it’s a story about Moira Mctaggert, and Moira’s in trouble. Long, incredibly complicated story short, Moira is a mutant who can reincarnate her mind in a new body a certain number of times and played an instrumental role in helping the mutants form their own nation on Krakoa. Moira has spent most of her time in paranoid isolation and convinced Charles and Magneto to not resurrect the body of Destiny, a mutant with the ability to see into the future and Mystique’s wife, for reasons. Unfortunately, Mystique found out and in a fit of rage she stripped Moira of her ability to resurrect and chopped off her arm. Now, Moira is on the run from a very pissed off Mystique with no resources, no plan, and no ability to come back if she dies. Also, the CIA would like a word with her, and there’s something weird going on back at Krakoa involving a strange egg-like structure and Wolverine is there but…somehow different.
“X Deaths of Wolverine” #1 is written by Benjamin Percy, who is a novelist who made a name for himself in comics with excellent runs on Green Arrow and the Teen Titans before moving to Marvel and doing some awesome stuff with Wolverine. Percy is a very direct and concise writer who prefers to live in the brutal and violent world of street level superheroes who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. Percy’s strengths are enhanced by the comic’s use of what I like to call “Hickman pages”, which are pages of text scattered throughout the issue that provide exposition to the reader so the comic can skip straight to the action. As a result, the story for “X Death of Wolverine” #1 is basically one lone chase sequence similar to what you might find in a realistic spy thriller with hints of Wolverine’s role in the upcoming story being sprinkled on a few pages. Percy does a great job of crafting a story that has plenty of twists and turns, a few twists and emotional reveals, and lots of high octane energy. It’s a solid introduction to what appears to be an upcoming thriller that spans various times, places, and eras of the X-Men and Percy is the right person for the job.
The biggest problem with “X Deaths of Wolverine” #1 can be found in the summary of the issue’s backstory that was written in the first paragraph of this review. It’s not that the book is bad, it’s just that the more you know about what’s been going on in previous issues, the more you can understand the stakes. While the commitment to long form storytelling is admirable, anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with the dozens of X-Men books is either going to be very lost or will need a deep dive into several wiki pages.
Continued belowThe artwork for “X Deaths of Wolverine” #1 is provided by Federico Vincentini with colors by Dijjo Lima and Frank Martin. The comic looks absolutely gorgeous with interesting and dynamic artwork with characters that blend manga influences with enough realism to make the characters look expressive and dynamic while not barging into the uncanny valley. Vincentini has a keen eye for detail and it’s clear that a lot of attention has gone into tiny little things like shards of glass from broken windows or growing plant life in Krakoa that make the book really come alive. Coupled with Lima’s rich colors, it comes together to create a gorgeous book.
While the artwork is excellent and it’s very difficult to find any fault with it, it can come across as a little bit boring if you’ve been reading a lot of Marvel books over the last couple of years. It would be very interesting to get a glimpse behind the curtain and see any sort of rules Marvel lays down for its artists because a lot of the books look very similar to each other, especially across the X line. Granted, it’s easy to see why this is the case, artistic continuity is important for clear and concise storytelling across multiple titles, but sometimes it might be nice to see an artist with a really unique and crazy style take over an X-Men book.
“X Deaths of Wolverine” #1 is a celebration of everything that is great about serialized sequential storytelling and superhero universes, but is also a glaring reminder of what can make them difficult and inaccessible. The issue itself is a fun, tense chase sequence with great action and emotional reveals, but if you want to fully appreciate the book for what it is, start reading up on everything that’s happened before.
Final Verdict: 6.7- A fun and incredibly tense chase sequence that is well written with the usual Marvel quality art. However, if you really want to get the most out of this book, you have to either know what happened in previous books, or get ready for some homework.
