Wolverine, Vol. 6

Wolverine (2020)

by Benjamin Percy

Collects Wolverine (2020) 31-35.

Beast will stop at nothing to protect Krakoa as he sees fit. Having lost the faith of X-Force and Wolverine, there's only one mutant that Henry McCoy can turn himself! Join Beast, Beast, Beast and Beast - under the leadership of Beast - as a new Krakoan era dawns! Just don't expect Logan to be happy about it, because Hank isn't the only one getting Wolverine is about to face his own clone saga! He may be the best there is at what he does, but which Wolverine is the best? And as clones lock claws, who will be left standing? When Maverick finds himself caught in the middle, Beast makes a critical move against Logan - and someone else makes their own moves against Beast!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

135 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 18, 2023

About the author

Benjamin 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.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

The relentless Marvel creators' march from Beast to Dark Beats continues as Wolverine, Maverick and the FBI's Jeff Bannister team-up against ex-X-Man, ex-Krakoan gone majorly rogue, the Beast. The Beast has cloned his allies, the Weapons of X, multiple brainy copies of himself and feral Wolverines! A lot better in concept than in delivery it's still a thrill watching Beast's brain being used for badness! Sadly in Marvel they seem to have got to stage where Wolverine character development has plateaued. Overall a Three Star, 7 out of 12 Jam, for one of the better writers of the Krakoan X-Men era.

2025 read

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still don't know how I feel about Beast being a villain, and being the archenemy of Wolverine in particular, but it sure was an entertaining read.

The climax of Wolverine's adventures in the morally flex CIA-style X-Force of the Krakoan era, now ended just in time for the Fall of X. I wonder how comics history will remember this time. Benjamin Percy wrote a ripping good Wolverine here, with stakes and an arc and messed up consequences in the end.

The evil Beast thing most likely won't last, a redemption for the next clone is certainly coming, for now however it's hard to imagine these characters ever getting along again. That's the thing about the superhero genre, it often gets reset to the status quo, just the way it is. In the meantime, that was a disturbing take and perhaps it will never be forgotten.

With the benefit of hindsight, a whole lot of Krakoa stories sure ended up dark didn't they? It all began so hopeful, a utopia for mutantkind, and then it gets destroyed by hubris again and again. Well, X-Men's gotta be a tragedy...

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe not as good as shocking previous volume, and storyline dragged a bit too much in my opinion, but still an hell of a good read and Deadpool's dialogue balloons going downward 4th wall breaking joke totally made my day.



Four gory stars and one half.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could be mad at Benjamin Percy for making me hate one of my previously favourite Merry Mutants but this story is just too damn good!

Also, Juan José Ryp is perfect for these grisly stories, glad to have him contributing to the Krakoa era.


Taking the concepts of the Krakoa era to their logical and goriest conclusions.

[johnny ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

why is beast such a piece of shit?

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the better half to the new X-Force book. Here Beast is in full Animal Farm mode. This book shows either just how far Beast has fallen or simply has no more fear of showing exactly who he is.

Whilst Sage deals with the fallout of Beasts being removed from X-Force, Wolverine is on the hunt for Beast himself. However, he is not the only one. Can Wolverine work with others without killing everyone. Also, who are Beast's new army the Weapons of X?

The book sets up the next chapter for Wolverine. I have to say I agree with his choice at the end. I would have liked a more of a reckoning fight between Beast and Wolverine, but maybe that is saved for later. The book finishes with a cover gallery and a thumbnail version of the varient covers.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant! I love this chess match between Beast and Wolverine. Beast as the bad guy here is something I can really get behind because of how bad and how intellectual he really is. Wolverine is as good as it really gets when it comes to taking care of those he cares about. Beast is tainting the mutant name in the name of mutants. Wolverine seems to be the one really working to protect mutants by putting an end to the mutant reputation’s biggest threat. Can’t get enough of this series!

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beast going complete heel!

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've finally made my peace with what Beast has become. So now, I have to admit, this volume is pretty good.

Beast is a cold, analytical machine and a Wolvie enraged by what he has dared to do is the hot, burning heart that intends to put a stop to this perfectly calculated plan.

I've never been a big fan of Percy, who I normally find rather mediocre, but he masters this arc with a detestable, arrogant Beast in his exercises in self-justification and a Wolvie remarkably in control of himself given the circumstances.
It's far from perfect - the day hasn't yet come when I'll give a Percy book more than a 3* rating - but it's still an entertaining and well-executed read, once again very well drawn by Juan Jose Ryp.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beast's behind-the-scenes escapades finally come to a head as he pilots a Krakoan kaiju out into the ocean to continue dishing out sweet mutant revenge with his band of Wolverine clones. It's nice to see this "Beast is kinda evil now" storyline finally going somewhere, although the big question "why is Beast kinda evil now?" doesn't get much of an answer (He seems to tell Wolverine that it's because he just doesn't feel like playing by the rules anymore... which feels like a lackluster reason.)

Naturally, Wolverine Prime is pretty pissed that his clones are sullying his good name, so he and Maverick team up to take down Beast. X-Force also gets in on the team-up. Oh, and Jeff Bannister is still around to muck things up because he's a stupid human who should really just stay behind the X-Desk.

This is a fast-paced, action-packed volume that really hits a high point for the Wolverine series, at least in terms of big-picture excitement. It really feels like we're going somewhere! Of course, Beast gets away at the end, so there's more to come.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a story that's been itching to be told.
Prime Beast has made copies of himself and a bunch of feral Wolverines in order to continue X Force.
Logan/Maverick have other ideas.
The Beast from 60s/70s has come a long way....no going back?

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm still not sure how I feel about this "Beast as a bad guy" thing, but this was a good story at least. I've always liked Ryp's art, and if anything he seems to be getting better. We have a bunch of cloned Beasts, a bunch of cloned Wolverines, one real Wolverine, and one real Maverick. And X-Force shows up too. A solid volume.

[Bertazzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confirmed: Villain Beast from nothing to nothing.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent continuation of the Beast villain arc, though the contrast that exists between this character and how I understand him otherwise remains to where I’d be more interested to see how he gradually became this way rather than just be told via exposition in thought bubbles.

[Aisling · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Percy carved out his own little niche away from the rest of the crap that forms this era of xmen and dials up the rift between wolverine and the beast.

Some outstanding art from Ryp helps hammer home the wild ideas

Go big or go home.

[Tim Rooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Originally posted in my substack newsletter at https://urbaneturtle.substack.com)

I’ve been collecting and piling up issues of Wolverine every month and never reading it since X Lives and Deaths of Wolverine. It’s not because I didn’t want to read it. I love what Ben Percy was doing with the character in that first year and change on the title. I wrote about it on the site. But I also knew that Percy’s storytelling worked better in chunks when you can appreciate his lyrical approach to the story beats and dialogue and, more importantly, track the slowly simmering and intricate threads. This week, with a few days of from work, I finally climbed Mount Logan, supplementing it with X-Force because I knew Beast would play a role in the Wolverine solo. I wanted to understand Beast’s trajectory to appreciate the big climactic story with ol’ Hank McCoy.

Somewhere in the last few years, someone at Marvel decided that the Hank McCoy character had crossed the line from a character who was compelling in his morally dubious but ultimately well-meaning and heroic actions, to irredeemable villain. A decision was made to find a way to reboot the character to his more happy-go-lucky, Avengers-era, X-Men Animated series persona, where he was erudite and a bit arrogant and self-loathing but also quippy and lovable. But Ben Percy said WAIT! Let me take this version of Beast to his ultimate extreme. With a throwaway line about how the X-Men’s resurrection protocols have that classic Beast saved away as the only remaining back-up of his personality, Percy throttled Beast’s utilitarian worldview into overdrive until he was a full-on terrorist war-criminal, who doesn’t so much as hesitate to brainwash and torture his allies and old friends.



I am less into Percy’s X-Force than I am his Wolverine as a book, but having it as a companion piece on Beast’s descent is illuminating and adds to my appreciation for the way he has positioned Beast as a climactic endgame for his run on Wolverine (at least in the Krakoa era, for all I know Ben Percy will write Wolverine forever.)

As a character, this troubled and detached Beast of the aughts through now is a perfect counterpoint to Wolverine. Hank McCoy is a man who has slowly come to view himself as a tool and weapon more than a human being. Over the years he has become less human, physically and emotionally. As his form becomes more animalistic, his view of the world has become stripped of human ideas of ethics and morals, viewing the relatonship between human and mutants from a purely evolutionary standpoint. Decades of hatred—external and internal— and traumatic genocides against his people has metasticized within Beast’s soul until he no longer even recognizes the name of Henry McCoy. All of the decisions he has made have slowly chipped away at his humanity. It’s a stirring counterpoint to Wolverine, a man who was rapidly turned into an inhuman weapon and stripped of agency and emotion, who has spent most of his life trying to regain a sense of that lost humanity.

Beast’s journey has been a steady but consistent one, but every compounding moral compromise built and twisted him until the last few years when those failures stopped being something he wrestled with and a part of himself he accepted. As he became more animalistic his moral code became more utilitarian and self serving—under the guise of mutant safety.

But Wolverine has spent decades trying to tear away the chains and mental scars that told him he was a mere animal. Wolverine defines himself by his constant battle to fight against his base urges and the twisted ways humanity has tried to tell him he is less. Wolverine fights as a member of the X-Men less because he cares deeply about Xavier’s dream of human/mutant peace but because it gives him a way to channel his violence for the sake of building a better future. He is unable to fully embrace Krakoa both because he sees no place for an unforgivable man like him in it but also because his dream is not about mutant kind. It is about a world free of men like him and those who would create more. But Beast sees an individual, a cold, calculating, dispassionate killer, as not just necessary but important. It is his mind, his ability to make morally questionable choices for the greatest good for the greatest number of mutants. Might makes right, and right is defined by what Beast’s calculations say will benefit mutant kind. But what is good for mutant kind must also mean what brings him comfort and power and respect.

Wolverine knows that violence can bring easy solutions to many problems. But he fights for a world where his kind of problem solving will be irrelevant. He is weary of a hundred lifetimes of war. Beast revels in global conflict that makes him feel powerful.

Having these two twisted reflections of one another, who early on seemed to view the harsh reality of X-Force as a regrettable common good, come to irreconcilable differences is a brilliant stroke from Ben Percy, and it only has the gravitas it does becasue he was given the uninterrupted runway to tell this story with these characters for four years. Beast and Wolverine as opposing forces would not have been logical or inevitable before now. But as a conclusion to an ongoing and intentionally, slowly plotted serializd story, it is more satisfying, more tragic, and more compelling than it would be if it was just plucked out of disparate parts of different writers’ stories. Percy saw the history of both of these characters and set them up on parallel journeys that could only end with them in deadly opposition.

Of course, Percy’s not alone. He’s been aided by a murderer’s row of talented artists including Joshua Cassara and Andy Kubert. But in this kind of longform storytelling where artists come and go, it is the writer’s voice that ultimately stands out. But the visuals of the bloated Beast and the barely sheathed savagery of Wolverine has brought that voice to life. Beast stuffing his face with lobster as he monologues to a disgusted Wolverine is unforgettable. It is the height of the conflict between the two. Beast is awash in extravagance and savagery, despite his erudite pretensions. It is Wolverine, whom Beast views as a lout and base creature that is recognizably human. Juan Jose Ryp’s artwork sells the contrast in stunning fashion.


It’s astonishing to look at Percy’s time at Marvel—in the period he has worked there—and see him given so much time to play without being forced to acommodate larger initiatives or relaunch his book. In an era when Marvel cancels and relaunches a book at arbitrary moments, that he has been given the freedom to lay so many plot threads and pay them off is remarkable. Not since Brian Bendis has a writer had the opportunity to weave so intricate a story for any set of characters in any mainstream superhero title. But the potential for these kind of longform stories is one of the biggest assets superhero comics have that no other genre in no other medium have. We should all be grateful that we’ve had the chance to read these books. Not every part of these individual issues has worked (I always felt like there were pieces missing from certain stories that just kind of disappeared) but the macro story is an all-timer. Percy does not reinvent either Beast or Wolverine but he synthesizes decades of history into something singularly compelling and focused.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Alex Sarll]

This time out, Percy wraps up a lot of his ongoing threads ahead of the Fall - which, as with most of the X-books, turns out to have nothing to do with all the serpents he carefully set slithering through the mutant Eden. Beast has now gone fully rogue, signalling his villain status through subtle details like roaming the globe in a giant skull-headed mech/kaiju. That said, he is still acting to protect Krakoa, most of the people he's killing seem entirely deserving, and the most morally iffy thing he does here is mess up medicine supplies to Britain to force us into acknowledging Krakoa and taking their medicines instead. Which given we've already managed the first bit just fine ourselves, without even that carrot, is not exactly peak supervillainy. Anyway, because everyone else keeps quibbling, he's made himself a new team of Beast clones for strategy and obedient, savage Wolverines for ops. Yes, there are problems with both of these plans, and yes, they do come up, even aside from the real Logan being about as pleased with developments as you'd expect. Ryp and D'Armata are perfect choices to make everything look suitably amusing yet grotesque for a story knowingly walking the line between horror and absurdity.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bestia se ha emancipado de las reglas Krakoanas, desligando la base de X-Force y convirtiéndola en un "mecha florónico" que asienta bajo aguas fuera de todo territorio. Ahí no solo controla ese equipo de Lobeznos clonados manipulados para estar en un estado primitivo que los conviertan en los perfectos sicarios, como vimos en el anterior volumen. En su estado full "mad doctor", Hank se ha clonado a sí mismo con la intención de asentar la verdadera X-Force. En esta locura de situación, Logan se alía con Maverick y vuelve a cruzarse con el agente Jeff Bannister en una ofensiva total contra Bestia y su proyecto Armas de X.

Benjamin Percy sigue realizando en esta cabecera quizás la trama más potente de X-Force. Pero también dejando que antes funcione la acción y shock value que el tener en cuenta un enfrentamiento entre dos compañeros de formación y raza como son Logan y Hank. Y eso que hay cierto capítulo donde las garras se calman un rato para poder charlar. Pero si venimos de Dennis Quaid en The Substance haciendo de comer gambas lo más grotesco y vomitivo posible. Resulta que Benjamin Percy se adelantó a Coralie Fargeat para que el Bestia "Mad Doctor" no tenga ni un ápice de empatía hacia el lector.

[Michael Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is still exactly what I wanted to be reading. I think the most interesting villains tend to be former heroes. Think about the most iconic X-Men stories: Dark Phoenix, Inferno. Look at what’s been done to make characters like Magneto sympathetic. It’s most effective when the villain is someone you want to care about, or that you genuinely want better for. I wish this wasn’t happening with Beast, but it makes sense. It’s a logical extrapolation of his characterization over the last 20 years.

There’s nothing too deep in this one, just a lot of action over top of the general philosophical question of what is morality and how far is too far when protecting the mythical “greater good?” It’s pretty obvious that Beast is supposed to be in the wrong, so the question rings kind of hollow, but it’s ok for a Wolverine book. More than anything, I’m just annoyed that what we saw happen in X-Force had to pay off in a different book. Kind of like what just happened with the Brood story in the main X-Men title.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this yesterday and this was a pretty fun one time read..

The story is about Logan finally taking on Beast whose been experimenting so much with him and has his own clones now and become full on villain now and Logan has had enough and goes after his one time ally and then the battle is fun with predictable twists, the way Maverick gets involved is funny and he even brings this to the attention of Quiet council and the writer does well to show this version of Beast is so far gone.. and no redemption is there for him (still assuming this is actually Dark beast from the AOA timeline) but still you see the battle and it has some great battle scenes and twists and then the escape was obvious but if you read Percy's X-FORCE together with this, it lines pretty well with it!

But the ending with Logan leaving Krakoa maybe a good idea as Logan thrives better on his own on random wild feral adventures so this should be a fun status quo, and next up GR crossover!

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's about time Beast got his comeuppance, and who better to give it to him than Wolverine? When Beast crosses the line and clones Wolvie, it's up to Logan to kill himself (himselves?) and put an end to Beast's machinations once and for all.

Percy's Beast plot comes to a crescendo (at least for now) in these five issues. It's cathartic to see things finally blow up in Beast's face, even if this isn't quite the ending of the story just yet. His justifications and the way he's slowly slid into this Dark-Beast-But-Not mindset has been one of the more intriguing parts of the Krakoan era, to the point that I'm surprised this story has played out in Wolverine and not X-Force itself.

Ryp is a good fit for this arc, lots of blood and gore and Wolverines running around. His Beast manages to look both maniacal and composed all at the same time.

Beast's been heading for a reckoning for a long time, and this is as satisfying as we're going to get for now.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Weapons of X? Really? (Everything Wolverine related has to imply Department H or Weapon X?)

We've been watching the slow slide of Beast's morality since he chose to oversee X-Force. Neutral Good to begin with (aren't most heroes pegged at that alignment?) and now we get Beast's latest soliloquy shifting him to (probably) Neutral Evil. This opens up a whole can of worms. Beast burns his bridges and shows off some of the things he's been working on in his top secret prisons and labs. Creepy clone BS. (Marvel loves clones, amirite?) Wolverine has had enough and...'does what he does best'

BTW, Hellfire Gala is coming. This house of cards is falling....again.
=====
Bonus: Another novel use for Wolverine bodies. Forge was right. This is a mess to clean up.
Bonus Bonus: EVERYBODY in this series is....toxic and possibly better off being cancelled for a bit.

Yes.
EVERYONE.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beast.... Beast... Beast.... what have you done Hank? Come on man, you are better than this!
This Volume covers a full story "Weapons of X". In it, Beast leaves Krakoa, and not only clones himself many times over, but also creates a small army of Wolverines to help him with missions. He claims to be doing what is necessary for the betterment of Krakoa, whether they want his help or not. X-Force, Maverick, and Logan step in, and by the end, Beast Prime and 3 feral Wolverines escape, setting Logan on their path.
A pretty straightforward Volume. Good story, closely linked to X-Force. Looking forward to seeing how this ends and how it factors into "Fall of X" overall.
Recommend.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

YOU’RE KIDDING!!! They didn’t beat him! I’m so tired of this Beast story! How are we about to dedicate a third volume to him in this series marking it a total of 5 if my math is correct. I don’t think anyone cares at all at this point and they need to see that. I guess good on them, they plotted out the Krakoan age and they’re sticking to the plot no matter what. Even if that means there’s big misses like this story and the Other World nonsense. This was the best of the Beast stuff because we got to see a lot of Beasts die and that felt like a consolation prize.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like a fairly satisfying climax to the Wolverine/Beast showdown, though I feel like we’re getting another round of their confrontation in an upcoming volume. I also worry that we might have a culmination of this story in some cast off two issue arc buried in a volume of X-Force or another X-Men comic, which would feel massively odd. Jeff reduced to “damsel in distress” alongside his daughter felt a bit weak, but I enjoyed the grittier art and the design of the mobile Kaiju base used by Beast. If you’re hoping for a redemption for McCoy…you’ve come to the wrong series!

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beast's character assassination continues. I feel like Percy really just wants to write two Beast comics at this point as that's all Wolverine and X-Force have been about for a long time. Beast has realized the gig is up and fled Krakoa. But he's still attacking mutantkind's enemies because he's become a sociopath devoted to mutantkind whether they like it or not. Now he's cloned both Wolverine and himself multiple times and using the clones as a strike force.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been dipping in and out of Percy’s Wolverine, but I have enjoyed most of what I have read. I think this was my favorite arc. Like with Moira in X lives/deaths, Percy has a hard time not letting his “morally grey” characters go full arch, but the seeds for beasts transformation could be traced all the way back to Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, maybe even earlier. The art by Ryp is pretty interesting.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the stronger of the two--X-Force and Wolverine--which have basically been telling the same story for a while now, of the fall of Beast. Here, we find out that Beast has cloned several versions of himself, along with multiple versions of a feral Woverine, and is busy fighting what he perceives to be threats to mutantkind. The original Wolverine isn't having any of this and is on the hunt and this is a very fast-moving, action-packed, and bloody volume. Excellent artwork from Ryp.