Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Wolverine Weapon X #5
Marvel Comics
Aaron, Garney & Keith
The first arc of Weapon X wraps up without any of the normal Wolverine stereotypes getting played. Sure, we have some death and fighting, but typically Wolverine charges in with his claws popped and all of the supporting cast, good or bad, gets killed off. Well, this arc wraps up with Wolverine doing something different, the cast of bad guys finding a way to survive (some of them) and a reveal of a different villain pulling the strings on the whole operation. It's a good comic and arc because it allows Wolverine to be seen in a different light and it tells a story that you don't see in every other Wolverine comic out there.
The comic starts out like you might expect after a Wolverine bloody battle as seen in the previous issue. Wolverine is healing and he plots out how he's going to kill off the rest of the bad guys. He gets warned from a government official to walk away and his own confidant and informer, Maverick, concurs. However, Wolverine grunts and puts his head down in search of Blackguard, the leader and the eleven remaining Wolverine rip-offs.
Then the comic takes a turn as we begin to see that this creative team understands the trappings of every other Wolverine story. Wolverine can't really die and every attack method has been played in some other Wolverine story. Instead of the usual, Wolverine takes a helicopter and invades the Blackguard hideout. It was brilliant as it all unfolded. Wolverine even manages to discuss exactly how he could potentially die and it actually makes sense. The comic ends with two other plot holes getting left wide open. It's a good story.
The pieces to the comic that don't quite add up as presented are how easily the government retreats from the Blackguard contract. It just seems like once an experiment gets dollars allocated towards it the project wouldn't be shut down so quickly. If Blackguard had so many Senators on the payroll would they simply let it all go with some news stories? I'm not sure I buy it.
The artwork is tremendous. This issue doesn't have a ton of dialogue so it relies heavily on the artwork and it works very well. This comic doesn't utilize the hand-to-hand combat that you'd expect so it isn't overly bloody but that doesn't mean its boring. The action is captured in an exciting manner and the softer spots are played with using great details.
With the first arc delivering so well I am eager to find out the next direction of this series. It seems like this comic is laying out long term ideas that will provide good stories for quite some time. It's no longer just a title that is really just a Wolverine-beserker comic or a big conspiracy with layers of cover-ups. It seems to be a series with good characters and significant plots worthy of an A-list character like Wolverine.
4 out of 5 geek goggles
