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Wolverine (2020) (Single Issues)
Wolverine #9
WEAPON X - TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER! WOLVERINE's back in MADRIPOOR for an underworld criminal auction specializing in super hero artifacts that will surface more than just bad memories for the mutant formerly known as WEAPON X! Parental Advisory
Comic
Published January 1, 2021
6 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Percy
789 books1,204 followersBenjamin Percy is the author of seven novels -- most recently The Sky Vault (William Morrow) -- three short fiction collections, and a book of essays, Thrill Me, that is widely taught in creative writing classrooms. He writes Wolverine, X-Force, and Ghost Rider for Marvel Comics. His fiction and nonfiction have been published in Esquire (where he is a contributing editor), GQ, Time, Men's Journal, Outside, the Wall Street Journal, Tin House, and the Paris Review. His honors include an NEA fellowship, the Whiting Writer's Award, the Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, the iHeart Radio Award for Best Scripted Podcast, and inclusion in Best American Short Stories and Best American Comics.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 8, 2022
Okay starting pick up. Didn't love it but solid 3.5 issue with a great ending. We are nobodies tools. Let's fuck shit up.
February 6, 2021
I want to know how did they get that hand.
January 31, 2021
A quanto leggo, queste storie tirano fuori parecchi problemi di continuity, principalmente riguardo la memoria di Logan.
Essendomi allontanato per parecchio tempo dal mondo Marvel francamente non ricordo quando e come Logan avesse recuperato i suoi ricordi, quindi non so dire se ci sia una scappatoia per questi buchi che ora denuncia.
Quindi mi limito a notare (con piacere) che storia, temi e cast sembrano provenire direttamente dai vecchi e storici Wolverine che recuperavo al tempo del liceo durante i Comics: il Team X, i ricordi mancanti e quelli finti, la lotta per essere liberi e sè stessi.
Non mi dispiace per nulla, ma su tutto quanto grava l'ombra della continuity... diciamo che non fosse per i due-tre riferimenti a Krakoa sarebbe potuta essere tranquillamente una buonissima storia ambientata nel passato.
Essendomi allontanato per parecchio tempo dal mondo Marvel francamente non ricordo quando e come Logan avesse recuperato i suoi ricordi, quindi non so dire se ci sia una scappatoia per questi buchi che ora denuncia.
Quindi mi limito a notare (con piacere) che storia, temi e cast sembrano provenire direttamente dai vecchi e storici Wolverine che recuperavo al tempo del liceo durante i Comics: il Team X, i ricordi mancanti e quelli finti, la lotta per essere liberi e sè stessi.
Non mi dispiace per nulla, ma su tutto quanto grava l'ombra della continuity... diciamo che non fosse per i due-tre riferimenti a Krakoa sarebbe potuta essere tranquillamente una buonissima storia ambientata nel passato.
February 7, 2021
Today is a victory over yourself of yesterday.
January 28, 2021
Sigh...let's just get this out of the way first, when reviewing anything you should review it for what it is, not what it isn't...and complaining about continuity issues in an X-book is like complaining about mutants in an X-book. They're going to be there, and unless you're going to have fun with them you should probably just move on. After all, there's an entire podcast dedicated to walking you through the ins, outs and retcons of comics greatest superhero soap opera. As I've said before, continuity exists to serve the story, not the other way around.
(You should totally listen to Jay & Miles X-Plain The X-Men, by the way.)
Anyway, on with the review...
Wolverine visits the Legacy House on Madripoor, an auction room that specialises in super hero ephemera, such as Spider-Man's grave, Captain America's mask, Wolverine's hand and...Maverick. Yes, that Maverick, the German mutant/secret agent and Wolverine's team X team mate from back in the 90s who was never actually as popular as Marvel seemed to think he was. He's one of those characters that Marvel occasionally takes off the shelf, dusts off and tries to do something with only to end up putting him back and forgetting about whatever it was they were doing.
Anyway, he's back, and he's been mind wiped and he's available to the highest bidder...not only as a super tough special agent but also, as he's a mutant, as a way onto Krakoa. This is, of course, very bad, and can't be allowed to happen. Handily, Logan and Maverick developed a mnemonic back in their Team X days to help them break their programming and remember who they really are. So, you know, Logan does the thing, and presto, one deprogrammed Maverick and, presumably, a whole lot of fighting next issue (because that's what Wolverine is the best at and it's not pretty...or words to that effect).
With Adam Kubert on art duties (stunning work, of course, but I do kinda find myself missing Vik Bogdanovic) this really does feel like a classic Wolverine book. The cover, by Kubert, is quite simply drop dead gorgeous.
All in all a solid bit of classic Wolverine action. Good stuff!
(You should totally listen to Jay & Miles X-Plain The X-Men, by the way.)
Anyway, on with the review...
Wolverine visits the Legacy House on Madripoor, an auction room that specialises in super hero ephemera, such as Spider-Man's grave, Captain America's mask, Wolverine's hand and...Maverick. Yes, that Maverick, the German mutant/secret agent and Wolverine's team X team mate from back in the 90s who was never actually as popular as Marvel seemed to think he was. He's one of those characters that Marvel occasionally takes off the shelf, dusts off and tries to do something with only to end up putting him back and forgetting about whatever it was they were doing.
Anyway, he's back, and he's been mind wiped and he's available to the highest bidder...not only as a super tough special agent but also, as he's a mutant, as a way onto Krakoa. This is, of course, very bad, and can't be allowed to happen. Handily, Logan and Maverick developed a mnemonic back in their Team X days to help them break their programming and remember who they really are. So, you know, Logan does the thing, and presto, one deprogrammed Maverick and, presumably, a whole lot of fighting next issue (because that's what Wolverine is the best at and it's not pretty...or words to that effect).
With Adam Kubert on art duties (stunning work, of course, but I do kinda find myself missing Vik Bogdanovic) this really does feel like a classic Wolverine book. The cover, by Kubert, is quite simply drop dead gorgeous.
All in all a solid bit of classic Wolverine action. Good stuff!
March 5, 2021
I love how Kingpin just casually hands Wolverine a handkerchief to wipe the blood off of his hand...but then he just drops it? Not like Wolverine to be so careless with his blood.
February 3, 2021
The new Wolverine series Logan once again donning his disguise of Patch, this time to infiltrate a criminal auction, the Legacy House, in order to gain a lead on the location of his old Team X colleague Maverick.
Where other X-Men titles have focused on the super heroics of the mutant heroes the Wolverine book has a much more grounded feel to it, taking more of a spy thriller angle to its stories, and this particular arc is a perfect example of why it works so well with the character. It doesn't take much rewriting to make Logan into a regular man in this story-line, remove his adamantium claws for example, and it would still work and be engaging, the story of a man who was brainwashed into being a killer who's looking to help his old friend.
I think this is a large part of why this issue works so well, it's a very human story, a story that relies of the evil that people do to each other to be effective, rather than something grand like an alien warlord coming to conquer the world. It makes it more interesting because writer Benjamin Percy has to make it connect to Logan as a person more than anything else.
Percy has dropped in a number of flashbacks to Logan's time with Team X throughout the book, flashbacks that not just show some of the clandestine missions that the group were sent on, but that Logan and Maverick helped each other through their brainwashing, developing mnemonic techniques to break through the mental conditioning put upon them, which would not only eventually help them to get away from Team X itself, but also comes in handy later in the issue when Logan and Maverick come face to face in the present.
One of the more interesting parts of the book, however, is the Legacy House itself. An elite organisation for criminals, it offers the wealthy a chance to collect interesting artefacts related to heroes. For example, there's the mask that Captain America was wearing when he was frozen in ice during World War Two, the gravestone that Kraven the Hunter buried Spider-Man under in Kraven's Last Hunt, and even the severed hand of Wolverine himself; though there's little explanation as to how they have something like that.
I really liked the idea that criminals and shady folk would want to collect rare items like this, and there are a number of familiar faces wandering around the auction, the Kingpin probably being the most recognisable here and one who instantly stands out. With people in our own world who collect the strange and unique, from people who own pieces of sunken ships or Nazi memorabilia, it's not hard to imagine something similar taking place within the Marvel Universe.
The artwork, provided by Adam Kubert, has a much grittier feel than some of the other X-Men books, and when coupled with the colours of Frank Martin it makes for an issue that feels a lot grimier than most. It helps to show that this isn't a story about brightly costumed heroes, but about the grim underbelly of the Marvel universe, and how more often than not Wolverine has ended up in some nasty places throughout his life.
The issue ends without resolving much, leaving readers on a cliffhanger that promises more action and excitement to come in the next issue, and I for one am eager to see what comes next; and hopefully learn some more about the Legacy House whilst we're at it too.
Where other X-Men titles have focused on the super heroics of the mutant heroes the Wolverine book has a much more grounded feel to it, taking more of a spy thriller angle to its stories, and this particular arc is a perfect example of why it works so well with the character. It doesn't take much rewriting to make Logan into a regular man in this story-line, remove his adamantium claws for example, and it would still work and be engaging, the story of a man who was brainwashed into being a killer who's looking to help his old friend.
I think this is a large part of why this issue works so well, it's a very human story, a story that relies of the evil that people do to each other to be effective, rather than something grand like an alien warlord coming to conquer the world. It makes it more interesting because writer Benjamin Percy has to make it connect to Logan as a person more than anything else.
Percy has dropped in a number of flashbacks to Logan's time with Team X throughout the book, flashbacks that not just show some of the clandestine missions that the group were sent on, but that Logan and Maverick helped each other through their brainwashing, developing mnemonic techniques to break through the mental conditioning put upon them, which would not only eventually help them to get away from Team X itself, but also comes in handy later in the issue when Logan and Maverick come face to face in the present.
One of the more interesting parts of the book, however, is the Legacy House itself. An elite organisation for criminals, it offers the wealthy a chance to collect interesting artefacts related to heroes. For example, there's the mask that Captain America was wearing when he was frozen in ice during World War Two, the gravestone that Kraven the Hunter buried Spider-Man under in Kraven's Last Hunt, and even the severed hand of Wolverine himself; though there's little explanation as to how they have something like that.
I really liked the idea that criminals and shady folk would want to collect rare items like this, and there are a number of familiar faces wandering around the auction, the Kingpin probably being the most recognisable here and one who instantly stands out. With people in our own world who collect the strange and unique, from people who own pieces of sunken ships or Nazi memorabilia, it's not hard to imagine something similar taking place within the Marvel Universe.
The artwork, provided by Adam Kubert, has a much grittier feel than some of the other X-Men books, and when coupled with the colours of Frank Martin it makes for an issue that feels a lot grimier than most. It helps to show that this isn't a story about brightly costumed heroes, but about the grim underbelly of the Marvel universe, and how more often than not Wolverine has ended up in some nasty places throughout his life.
The issue ends without resolving much, leaving readers on a cliffhanger that promises more action and excitement to come in the next issue, and I for one am eager to see what comes next; and hopefully learn some more about the Legacy House whilst we're at it too.
January 28, 2021
So many continuity problems.
1) Wolverine's amnesia --that was supposed to have been completely cured after House of M-- is not only back, but is a major plot point. This whole issue was about Wolverine and Maverick and how their "conditioning" required them to develop a verbal trigger to bring them back from mind control. It's like someone desperately wanted to write about Wolverine's time with Team X, so had this story in their back pocket for years, and thus chose to ignore storyline changes that made the original idea now impossible.
2) I like Maverick's mask and codename, don't get me wrong. But he hasn't actually used them in years. He was more recently going by "Agent Zero," and most recently appeared in the Doctor Doom miniseries in 2020 with the Agent Zero name and costume.
3) Is anyone going to address the complexities of Maverick's status as a mutant? Because his Legacy virus supposedly "burned out" his mutant powers back in the 90s. He originally just absorbed the kinetic energy of objects that impacted him, so that basically bullets would just fall to the floor upon striking him. Then his mutant powers came back stronger and altered, allowing him to channel kinetic energy to the point he melted metal with a touch. Then he underwent a lot of genetic engineering when he became Agent Zero, gifting him with an energy blast power that released an enzyme that could turn healing factors against their owners. Then he was depowered after House of M. Then there were two different events that could spark and/or restore mutant powers in the general population (Hope + Phoenix Force, and Scarlet Witch taking a crack at fixing what she had done), but it was never clearly articulated whether Maverick got his powers back from either event.
What powers does he have now? Any? None? Which of his powers would he get back if he goes through the Crucible and is resurrected with powers again?
1) Wolverine's amnesia --that was supposed to have been completely cured after House of M-- is not only back, but is a major plot point. This whole issue was about Wolverine and Maverick and how their "conditioning" required them to develop a verbal trigger to bring them back from mind control. It's like someone desperately wanted to write about Wolverine's time with Team X, so had this story in their back pocket for years, and thus chose to ignore storyline changes that made the original idea now impossible.
2) I like Maverick's mask and codename, don't get me wrong. But he hasn't actually used them in years. He was more recently going by "Agent Zero," and most recently appeared in the Doctor Doom miniseries in 2020 with the Agent Zero name and costume.
3) Is anyone going to address the complexities of Maverick's status as a mutant? Because his Legacy virus supposedly "burned out" his mutant powers back in the 90s. He originally just absorbed the kinetic energy of objects that impacted him, so that basically bullets would just fall to the floor upon striking him. Then his mutant powers came back stronger and altered, allowing him to channel kinetic energy to the point he melted metal with a touch. Then he underwent a lot of genetic engineering when he became Agent Zero, gifting him with an energy blast power that released an enzyme that could turn healing factors against their owners. Then he was depowered after House of M. Then there were two different events that could spark and/or restore mutant powers in the general population (Hope + Phoenix Force, and Scarlet Witch taking a crack at fixing what she had done), but it was never clearly articulated whether Maverick got his powers back from either event.
What powers does he have now? Any? None? Which of his powers would he get back if he goes through the Crucible and is resurrected with powers again?
March 23, 2021
I'm starting to enjoy this series even more than the current X-Men run. Storyline is more linear and there's more in-depth character exploration.
January 27, 2021
First time in years I drop a Wolverine series... let me know when another run start, because I can't get more of this one!
February 7, 2021
This is a good one!
Intellectually i want to call bullshit on anyone falling for the Patch costume especially in Madripor but i can suspend my disbelief. Harder to believe is Wolverine would just discard a bloody hankie after all that business with Domino's clone. Nope; that could have been done better. Like some dark figure sneaking of with the severed hand during the chaos, for example.
It's a rescue mission! But Wolverine is gonna regret it.
Number of times bourbon is mentioned or drank: 1
Intellectually i want to call bullshit on anyone falling for the Patch costume especially in Madripor but i can suspend my disbelief. Harder to believe is Wolverine would just discard a bloody hankie after all that business with Domino's clone. Nope; that could have been done better. Like some dark figure sneaking of with the severed hand during the chaos, for example.
It's a rescue mission! But Wolverine is gonna regret it.
Number of times bourbon is mentioned or drank: 1
January 29, 2021
I see a lot of continuity complaints about this but having been out of X titles until the Dawn re-start this doesn't bother me as I have no bloody idea what it all is.
I've always liked Maverick without really knowing much about him, so I'm hoping this isn't just an in and out appearance for him and we see some character development, I get the feeling though this won't happen.
The issue itself sets up for the next issue where I assume it will all go south, so whilst it read well not a huge amount happened.
I'm still all in on Wolverine and interested to see where it goes next.
I've always liked Maverick without really knowing much about him, so I'm hoping this isn't just an in and out appearance for him and we see some character development, I get the feeling though this won't happen.
The issue itself sets up for the next issue where I assume it will all go south, so whilst it read well not a huge amount happened.
I'm still all in on Wolverine and interested to see where it goes next.
March 30, 2024
Love the underground superhero stuff auction. Love Wolverine thinking he'll be incognito as Patch. Love the flashbacks. Good stuff.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews