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X Lives of Wolverine/X Deaths of Wolverine #1-10
X Lives of Wolverine/X Deaths of Wolverine
A pivotal tale for the Krakoan era! The mutant known as Wolverine has lived for decades under many identities, but now the fate of the future is entwined with his past! When a time-traveling assassin targets a key figure in mutant history, Logan must travel back to various points in his own long life to stop him. Fan-favorite eras and never-before-seen adventures will be explored! And in the present, Moira MacTaggert finds herself cut off from Krakoa and on the run. Who — or what — is the mysterious figure chasing her? And with Wolverine busy saving the past, can his extended family step up to safeguard the future? Benjamin Percy presents a time-shredding saga across all of Wolverine history — and futures yet to come!
COLLECTING: X Lives of Wolverine (2022) 1-5, X Deaths of Wolverine (2022) 1-5
COLLECTING: X Lives of Wolverine (2022) 1-5, X Deaths of Wolverine (2022) 1-5
304 pages, Paperback
First published May 11, 2022
35 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Percy
786 books1,203 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 - 30 of 125 reviews
July 6, 2024
A key book for the Krakoan X-Men era; with X Lives seeing Wolverine assume his past lives in a race to stop an antagonist killing the ancestors of a key mutant! The slightly better and more essential Deaths continues the Inferno storyline, which is the key story being told in this era. I think it was a poor idea to market this as a Wolverine book, as it is a very much a flagship X-book with key roles for the likes of Xavier and Jean Grey. A great overall concept but the plot of Lives is one already heavily mined within Marvel. Yet another Krakoan-Hickman era seemingly deeply research for personal histories and poorly researched for characterisation. A strong Two Starred 5 out 12 rating from me.
2024 read
2024 read
June 30, 2022
In Lives of Wolverine, Wolverine is sent back in time to take over his body throughout his past in order to stop Omega Red who can not possess anyone in the past. He's trying to kill Xavier by killing him or one of his ancestors. It gets dumb real quick though when anyone he possesses get his bony death whips out of nowhere, even as he hops from body to body. At one point he even takes over Moby Dick and we see a white whale with giant whips along the sides of it and the omega symbol burned into its forehead. Nothing seems to be too over the top or silly for Percy. The storytelling is very poor too as each issue flips back and forth between 3 or 4 different times for that issue.
Meanwhile, Deaths of Wolverine is about the hunt for Moira MacTaggert. In the future she's turned herself into a robot and killed all the mutants and humans alike. Omega Wolverine is sent back to our time, Terminator-style to stop her. This story is at least easier to follow. None of it is very good though.
Meanwhile, Deaths of Wolverine is about the hunt for Moira MacTaggert. In the future she's turned herself into a robot and killed all the mutants and humans alike. Omega Wolverine is sent back to our time, Terminator-style to stop her. This story is at least easier to follow. None of it is very good though.
March 10, 2023
Another good idea poorly executed, for a book that gets promoted as the most expansive Wolverine story of all time, it barely scratches the surface of the Wolverine-verse, and some of the versions featured in the covers don't even show up in the story, or are relegated to a simple panel cameo, and the problem is that the book is split between two storylines, Logan's and Moira's, and Moira's story takes a lot of focus from Logan's, and by the end of it, it's really just another generic time travelling x-filler. I would have been way more satisfied if the entire book was just Logan and Omega Red going at it through all the different timelines, just keep it simple.
October 13, 2022
So in this story Logan is basically the T-800, Omega Red is the body-swapping T-1000, Xavier and Xavier's immediate ancestors are the target...
...but there's also a rampaging techno-organic Logan from the far future in our present day and Moira is on the run from Mystique?
Entertaining and gruesomely violent in places, but it is indisputably A LOT.
...but there's also a rampaging techno-organic Logan from the far future in our present day and Moira is on the run from Mystique?
Entertaining and gruesomely violent in places, but it is indisputably A LOT.
August 3, 2023
This was a very, very bad series. One title followed Moira MacTaggert, primarily, as an antagonist we were supposed to... like...? The other, following Wolverine, as he inexplicably had his mind transported back in time to his old body, hunting down Omega Red, whom also inexplicably had his consciousness projected backwards in time into other people's bodies.
This was a fucking mess.
I reviewed most of the earlier issues, but couldn't keep giving the same rant for the final few. So I'll sum it up again here--
Neither Jean Grey, nor Xavier, has the power to send someone's consciousness through time. Rachel Summers does. It's one of the few powers she has that differentiate her from her mom. It's part of why the combination of Summers and Grey DNA is supposed to produce godlike mutants, and that's why Mr. Sinister's whole character supposedly exists. But, Rachel isn't in this story. She isn't even mentioned. Xavier and Jean stand or float around Wolverine's unconscious body, and it is strongly suggested --though, not explicitly explained-- that they are somehow sending Logan's consciousness through time.
Mikhail is somehow also projecting Omega Red's consciousness through time. Even though, so far as we know, Mikhail isn't any kind of telepath. There was some hand waving about the "Cerebro Sword," and I will freely admit that my brain turns off whenever that thing is shown or mentioned. I don't want it to exist. It's too stupid. I don't understand it, don't agree with it, and the writers never adequately explained what it is or how it works or why we should care. Regardless, you have to accept some hand waving that it somehow enables a mutant with energy/matter manipulation powers to project the consciousness of a different mutant (with life-sucking powers and tentacles) into the bodies of different people throughout history. ... And then, to give those possessed people some version of his tentacles.
...
There was an issue that was all about the importance of Wolverine preserving Daken's life. I don't know why. When Daken was introduced around 2003, he was a serial killer assassin that Logan did NOT raise. We learned that he murdered his boyfriend, and chopped his body to tiny pieces, for purely serial killer reasons. It wasn't about self-defense or saving the world or anything. It was just homosexual murder. Because, that's the queer representation fans have been clamoring for.
Why the fuck does it matter if Daken's life is preserved? Letting him die in the womb would help save that innocent gay man's life.
Moira's storyline is more interesting and less illogical. Except, her personality swings so wildly far from how she used to be in the 90s, it almost is impossible to believe. She presents a new, heretofore unknown motivation for why she is a villain. And she is willing to engage in vicious, serial killer behavior, almost for no logical reason. Her behavior is more like torture porn.
And then, of course, the same point I raised a half-dozen times--
THIS IS NOT HOW TIME TRAVEL WORKS IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE.
Watch fucking "Avengers: Endgame" if you don't believe me. Yes, other writers have gotten it wrong before. But, generally speaking, the Marvel universe uses bifurcation. A timeline starts out as a straight line. But if someone travels back in time, just the simple act of visiting the past breaks the timeline in two. You could stay in the new timeline you have created (where you might possibly have a double), or you can go back to the original timeline you started out from-- where you would have changed nothing. It is not possible to actually change the past.
Here? Not so much. We are given bullshit handwaving about Jean Grey emitting a telepathic blast in the geographic area Logan's consciousness time travels to, to try to preserve events as more-or-less how they previously happened. (Setting aside the whole, butterflies-causing-hurricanes thing, about tiny differences in the timeline having major, long-term ramifications.) We are led to believe that Omega Red traveling to the past could actually result in him killing Xavier before he is born, and thus never forming the X-Men. We treat this as an actual threat, and not just Omega Red creating an alternate reality that has no impact on the 616 reality.
It's all ludicrous.
This was created for newbie fans who just love any comic book that has Wolverine in it. For those of us who hate Wolverine, and especially those of us who care about continuity at all, this is a dumpster fire.
This was a fucking mess.
I reviewed most of the earlier issues, but couldn't keep giving the same rant for the final few. So I'll sum it up again here--
Neither Jean Grey, nor Xavier, has the power to send someone's consciousness through time. Rachel Summers does. It's one of the few powers she has that differentiate her from her mom. It's part of why the combination of Summers and Grey DNA is supposed to produce godlike mutants, and that's why Mr. Sinister's whole character supposedly exists. But, Rachel isn't in this story. She isn't even mentioned. Xavier and Jean stand or float around Wolverine's unconscious body, and it is strongly suggested --though, not explicitly explained-- that they are somehow sending Logan's consciousness through time.
Mikhail is somehow also projecting Omega Red's consciousness through time. Even though, so far as we know, Mikhail isn't any kind of telepath. There was some hand waving about the "Cerebro Sword," and I will freely admit that my brain turns off whenever that thing is shown or mentioned. I don't want it to exist. It's too stupid. I don't understand it, don't agree with it, and the writers never adequately explained what it is or how it works or why we should care. Regardless, you have to accept some hand waving that it somehow enables a mutant with energy/matter manipulation powers to project the consciousness of a different mutant (with life-sucking powers and tentacles) into the bodies of different people throughout history. ... And then, to give those possessed people some version of his tentacles.
...
There was an issue that was all about the importance of Wolverine preserving Daken's life. I don't know why. When Daken was introduced around 2003, he was a serial killer assassin that Logan did NOT raise. We learned that he murdered his boyfriend, and chopped his body to tiny pieces, for purely serial killer reasons. It wasn't about self-defense or saving the world or anything. It was just homosexual murder. Because, that's the queer representation fans have been clamoring for.
Why the fuck does it matter if Daken's life is preserved? Letting him die in the womb would help save that innocent gay man's life.
Moira's storyline is more interesting and less illogical. Except, her personality swings so wildly far from how she used to be in the 90s, it almost is impossible to believe. She presents a new, heretofore unknown motivation for why she is a villain. And she is willing to engage in vicious, serial killer behavior, almost for no logical reason. Her behavior is more like torture porn.
And then, of course, the same point I raised a half-dozen times--
THIS IS NOT HOW TIME TRAVEL WORKS IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE.
Watch fucking "Avengers: Endgame" if you don't believe me. Yes, other writers have gotten it wrong before. But, generally speaking, the Marvel universe uses bifurcation. A timeline starts out as a straight line. But if someone travels back in time, just the simple act of visiting the past breaks the timeline in two. You could stay in the new timeline you have created (where you might possibly have a double), or you can go back to the original timeline you started out from-- where you would have changed nothing. It is not possible to actually change the past.
Here? Not so much. We are given bullshit handwaving about Jean Grey emitting a telepathic blast in the geographic area Logan's consciousness time travels to, to try to preserve events as more-or-less how they previously happened. (Setting aside the whole, butterflies-causing-hurricanes thing, about tiny differences in the timeline having major, long-term ramifications.) We are led to believe that Omega Red traveling to the past could actually result in him killing Xavier before he is born, and thus never forming the X-Men. We treat this as an actual threat, and not just Omega Red creating an alternate reality that has no impact on the 616 reality.
It's all ludicrous.
This was created for newbie fans who just love any comic book that has Wolverine in it. For those of us who hate Wolverine, and especially those of us who care about continuity at all, this is a dumpster fire.
May 20, 2025
pretty good volume. Terminator Wolverine looked pretty cool.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2025
The beginning (first few chapters/issues) of the book confused me. I was not sure if this was two limited series together or one big limited series but like the book of X and the power of X these need to be together and they definitely come together in the end.
Wolverine has lived a long time, done unimaginable things, and endured unimaginable pain and emotional suffering. Now, to save Charles Xavier in the past, he has gone through it all again. In this cat and mouse game across time, who is the predator, and who is the prey?
The only person who had lived longer than Wolverine is Moira MacTaggert. What has Destiny see that makes Moria such a threat? How far will Moria go for her revenge, and how is this familiar soldier sent after her?
It's a good epic story, great artwork. As confused as I was in the beginning, it definitely kept my interest, especially the further I got into the book. Unfortunately for the Mutants, only darker things are still to come.
Wolverine has lived a long time, done unimaginable things, and endured unimaginable pain and emotional suffering. Now, to save Charles Xavier in the past, he has gone through it all again. In this cat and mouse game across time, who is the predator, and who is the prey?
The only person who had lived longer than Wolverine is Moira MacTaggert. What has Destiny see that makes Moria such a threat? How far will Moria go for her revenge, and how is this familiar soldier sent after her?
It's a good epic story, great artwork. As confused as I was in the beginning, it definitely kept my interest, especially the further I got into the book. Unfortunately for the Mutants, only darker things are still to come.
July 9, 2022
Collecting both five issue mini-series, X Lives & X Deaths of Wolverine is the next big stepping stone on the road for Krakoa, although you wouldn't know it from any of the marketing.
X Lives sees Wolverine head back in time to various points in his history to prevent a time travelling Omega Red from murdering Professor Xavier's ancestors. Fairly straight forward, for a comic book plot, but it's nice to revisit some of these iconic moments (even if Wolverine's history really has been mined to death at this point), and the Omega Red plot comes straight out of Ben Percy's X-Force story (and continues there too). Regular X-Force artist Joshua Cassara pops over for these issues, and his brutal style is a great fit for a Wolverine story as always.
X Deaths is where the meat is however, as another, different time travelling Wolverine returns to Krakoa from the future to track down and murder Moira MacTaggert. Now that's more like it. This story jumps off of the end of Jonathan Hickman's Inferno storyline, and manages to hit some great character beats for Wolverine and his extended family as well as setting up some intriguing storylines going forward for Wolvie and Moira. Federico Vicentini heads up this series after doing a lot of good work over on Amazing Spider-Man; it's got a different feeling to X Lives, as you'd expect, but the two styles work fairly well together.
These two series aren't a true crossover like House Of X/Powers Of X and X Of Swords were, but there's no way to read them without getting both of them, so it's kind of a moot point.
X Lives & X Deaths aren't going to set the X-Men aflame like Inferno, but they're definitely the next thing that should be on your reading list if you're after the whole current X-Men experience (which you should be).
X Lives sees Wolverine head back in time to various points in his history to prevent a time travelling Omega Red from murdering Professor Xavier's ancestors. Fairly straight forward, for a comic book plot, but it's nice to revisit some of these iconic moments (even if Wolverine's history really has been mined to death at this point), and the Omega Red plot comes straight out of Ben Percy's X-Force story (and continues there too). Regular X-Force artist Joshua Cassara pops over for these issues, and his brutal style is a great fit for a Wolverine story as always.
X Deaths is where the meat is however, as another, different time travelling Wolverine returns to Krakoa from the future to track down and murder Moira MacTaggert. Now that's more like it. This story jumps off of the end of Jonathan Hickman's Inferno storyline, and manages to hit some great character beats for Wolverine and his extended family as well as setting up some intriguing storylines going forward for Wolvie and Moira. Federico Vicentini heads up this series after doing a lot of good work over on Amazing Spider-Man; it's got a different feeling to X Lives, as you'd expect, but the two styles work fairly well together.
These two series aren't a true crossover like House Of X/Powers Of X and X Of Swords were, but there's no way to read them without getting both of them, so it's kind of a moot point.
X Lives & X Deaths aren't going to set the X-Men aflame like Inferno, but they're definitely the next thing that should be on your reading list if you're after the whole current X-Men experience (which you should be).
March 24, 2022
geez I spent a lot of money on this series (Saga is $2 less). Art was cool , so were Moira, Sage and the designs on Phalanx Wolverine, but storywise it was a chore to get through.
I'm a glass half full person though and I learned to not have these X minis on my pull file (get collected edition if there are good reviews).
I don't even have Wolverine on my pull file, but dammit Percy's podcast voice is just so damn cool that he sold me on this series. I gotta respect that marketing game
I'm a glass half full person though and I learned to not have these X minis on my pull file (get collected edition if there are good reviews).
I don't even have Wolverine on my pull file, but dammit Percy's podcast voice is just so damn cool that he sold me on this series. I gotta respect that marketing game
March 27, 2022
- The only reason we won is Wolverine. He's the medicine - the penicilin, shall we say - required to fight. Fight an incursion on the timeline. Fight the deadly infection of AI. Fight, fight, fight.
- I suppose he is the best there is...
- And he's the best there is because he is so unlike the high-minded and ideologically driven mutants on the Council who supposedly guide Krakoa and worry endlessly over diplomatic nonsense.
- I suppose he is the best there is...
- And he's the best there is because he is so unlike the high-minded and ideologically driven mutants on the Council who supposedly guide Krakoa and worry endlessly over diplomatic nonsense.
March 26, 2022
That was pretty great. Mostly the Moira X and future stuff, but the Omega Red past stuff was pretty good too.
A strong sequel to Inferno and setup for things to come.
A strong sequel to Inferno and setup for things to come.
June 23, 2023
I LOVED THIS SO MUCH. ABSOLUTE GAS!!!!
June 22, 2022
3.5 stars
This is mostly fun with its parallel subplots of a time travel tour through Wolverine’s past and a glimpse at how the far future catastrophe that’s been teased since HoX/PoX may come to pass. The time travel plotting gets pretty elaborate in a way that doesn’t feel like it could handle much consideration, though, and ten issues is probably a few too many for something that’s basically just revisiting a popular character’s best known bits while setting in place a few overarching story pieces for upcoming X-men stories. Cassara’s vascular art in Lives looks great, but I was less a fan of Vicentini’s style in the Deaths issues.
This is mostly fun with its parallel subplots of a time travel tour through Wolverine’s past and a glimpse at how the far future catastrophe that’s been teased since HoX/PoX may come to pass. The time travel plotting gets pretty elaborate in a way that doesn’t feel like it could handle much consideration, though, and ten issues is probably a few too many for something that’s basically just revisiting a popular character’s best known bits while setting in place a few overarching story pieces for upcoming X-men stories. Cassara’s vascular art in Lives looks great, but I was less a fan of Vicentini’s style in the Deaths issues.
October 10, 2022
With the Reign (and Trials) of X over, we head into the next era of Krakoa, dubbed "Destiny of X". Though we begin with this crazy story taking place through the past of Logan trying to save Charles Xavier and his ancestors, I'm excited to see where we end up.
This story is divided basically into 3 different lines, that eventually come together.
1) Mikail Rasputin (with the Cerebro Sword, see X-Force for that story) has decided to use his powers to send Omega Red back through the timeline of Charles Xavier, trying to stop this whole thing with the mutants from ever happening. Xavier and Jean mentally help Logan to go through his past and memories to alter them, saving Charles, but causing significant mental anguish to him from memory alteration and restoration.
"You can't change the story that's already started. Only thing you control is the ending."
Wolverine is able to win out against Omega Red, seemingly killing him. (Is he dead?)
2) Omega Wolverine, a Phalanx infected future and final version of Logan, has come back to stop Moira MacTaggart from destroying the mutants. He tracks her down with the help of Laura, Gabby, and Daken, and is able to deal her a fatal blow, but not before she depowers him. The Phalanx take over and he must be stopped by Logan, who is back from his fight with Omega Red.
3) Moira MacTaggart, fresh from "Inferno" is on the run. Feeling betrayed by the mutants, she goes on the run and tries to find a way to destroy them and the entire nation of Krakoa. At the end, her mutant power gone, she dies her tenth life and is resurrected (in present day, not as a rebirth as the first 10 were) in a heavily robotic body, vowing to win at any cost.
Crazy story, but very well written. Looking forward to moving into "Destiny of X" and toward "A.X.E.", as I am hearing great things about that.
Strong recommend. The big stories coming from the X-Books have been great.
This story is divided basically into 3 different lines, that eventually come together.
1) Mikail Rasputin (with the Cerebro Sword, see X-Force for that story) has decided to use his powers to send Omega Red back through the timeline of Charles Xavier, trying to stop this whole thing with the mutants from ever happening. Xavier and Jean mentally help Logan to go through his past and memories to alter them, saving Charles, but causing significant mental anguish to him from memory alteration and restoration.
"You can't change the story that's already started. Only thing you control is the ending."
Wolverine is able to win out against Omega Red, seemingly killing him. (Is he dead?)
2) Omega Wolverine, a Phalanx infected future and final version of Logan, has come back to stop Moira MacTaggart from destroying the mutants. He tracks her down with the help of Laura, Gabby, and Daken, and is able to deal her a fatal blow, but not before she depowers him. The Phalanx take over and he must be stopped by Logan, who is back from his fight with Omega Red.
3) Moira MacTaggart, fresh from "Inferno" is on the run. Feeling betrayed by the mutants, she goes on the run and tries to find a way to destroy them and the entire nation of Krakoa. At the end, her mutant power gone, she dies her tenth life and is resurrected (in present day, not as a rebirth as the first 10 were) in a heavily robotic body, vowing to win at any cost.
Crazy story, but very well written. Looking forward to moving into "Destiny of X" and toward "A.X.E.", as I am hearing great things about that.
Strong recommend. The big stories coming from the X-Books have been great.
May 29, 2022
This appears to be a polarizing series. I'm more in the middle, although I'm slightly leaning towards the negative side.
For one thing, I haven't read House of X or Power of X or any of the X-books that came later, so maybe I just wasn't prepared for this without that background information. That being said, I found this more confusing than anything else. Wolverine is chasing Omega Red through time as they "body hop" throughout history. Wolverine jumps into his own body at various points in time, while Omega Red is jumping into other bodies. Then on the flip side of the story, we have a Phalanx infected Wolverine pursuing a now evil Moira McTaggart (something happened that I missed, obviously) in order to stop her from...well, I'm not exactly sure what he's stopping but I know it's bad.
This really wasn't a bad read if you just ignored the bigger picture on focused on each issue, but in trying to make a bigger story out of everything I got lost.
I went with three stars because it' still an enjoyable read, but I just felt like I was missing a lot, and that could have just been me.
For one thing, I haven't read House of X or Power of X or any of the X-books that came later, so maybe I just wasn't prepared for this without that background information. That being said, I found this more confusing than anything else. Wolverine is chasing Omega Red through time as they "body hop" throughout history. Wolverine jumps into his own body at various points in time, while Omega Red is jumping into other bodies. Then on the flip side of the story, we have a Phalanx infected Wolverine pursuing a now evil Moira McTaggart (something happened that I missed, obviously) in order to stop her from...well, I'm not exactly sure what he's stopping but I know it's bad.
This really wasn't a bad read if you just ignored the bigger picture on focused on each issue, but in trying to make a bigger story out of everything I got lost.
I went with three stars because it' still an enjoyable read, but I just felt like I was missing a lot, and that could have just been me.
Read
January 9, 2023Two interlocking miniseries, X Lives Of Wolverine and X Deaths Of Wolverine, which share a writer but have different artists, and which range back and forth in time: the obvious model here is House Of X/Powers Of X, with which Jonathan Hickman so spectacularly relaunched Marvel's mutants into their current era of post-human isolationism, biotech and fucking. But while Benjamin Percy has been getting solid stories out of Wolverine lately, despite the ease with which the character can come across as a previous era's exhausted conception of a cool badass, I'm sure even he would admit that he's no Jonathan Hickman. And similarly, while Wolverine has lived a long and painfully eventful life, an awful lot of that detail has already been filled in by an awful lot of past comics, an awful lot of which were awful, so there's really not the same scope for a bold new vision as when you're working with the whole tapestry of a species and their hundreds of named characters.
All of which means that this one had an uphill struggle to convince me, and the opening scene didn't help: Logan looking at a broken watch, internally monologuing about how it makes more sense to him than a digital clock. This is clearly intended to suggest the Zen wisdom of the ages, but more comes across like he's a grumpy old fuckwit. Soon he's hopping about through his own timeline, psychically beamed into earlier versions of himself to give the reader a scattershot recap, but ostensibly to save Xavier's ancestors from, of all people, Omega Red. A ludicrous nineties villain who, again, Percy has been using to much better effect than usual in his recent Wolverine and X-Force, but giving him the ability to pop up throughout history, taking people over and giving them his powers, recalls that infuriating period where Steven Moffat was insisting on giving all the classic Who monsters lurgy abilities to turn people into themselves. Mixed with the Netflix Sandman's mistake of taking a crap villain at his own estimation, because surely nobody except Omega Red thinks Omega Red is Wolverine's greatest enemy, and yet that's the row these series seem determined to hoe, for ten long issues. And then Future Wolverine, looking like a Tron reject, shows up in the present, because of course he does! For a while I thought the one thing to be said in this sort-of-event's favour was that, despite all its buggering about in Wolverine's timeline, at least there was no sign of bloody Romulus, so if nothing else it was an effectively cocked snook at Wolverine: Origins, a true classic in the field of timewasting retcon which everyone has since done their best to ignore – but no, by the halfway point, he's turned up too, as tedious as ever. There are a few decent scenes dotted around, and I enjoyed how amoral the coda with the moral was - "stabbing $#&% is what saves the world" - but on the whole it feels like a fundamentally misconceived effort in making Logan into a warrior across the timelines simply because he's old.
All of which means that this one had an uphill struggle to convince me, and the opening scene didn't help: Logan looking at a broken watch, internally monologuing about how it makes more sense to him than a digital clock. This is clearly intended to suggest the Zen wisdom of the ages, but more comes across like he's a grumpy old fuckwit. Soon he's hopping about through his own timeline, psychically beamed into earlier versions of himself to give the reader a scattershot recap, but ostensibly to save Xavier's ancestors from, of all people, Omega Red. A ludicrous nineties villain who, again, Percy has been using to much better effect than usual in his recent Wolverine and X-Force, but giving him the ability to pop up throughout history, taking people over and giving them his powers, recalls that infuriating period where Steven Moffat was insisting on giving all the classic Who monsters lurgy abilities to turn people into themselves. Mixed with the Netflix Sandman's mistake of taking a crap villain at his own estimation, because surely nobody except Omega Red thinks Omega Red is Wolverine's greatest enemy, and yet that's the row these series seem determined to hoe, for ten long issues. And then Future Wolverine, looking like a Tron reject, shows up in the present, because of course he does! For a while I thought the one thing to be said in this sort-of-event's favour was that, despite all its buggering about in Wolverine's timeline, at least there was no sign of bloody Romulus, so if nothing else it was an effectively cocked snook at Wolverine: Origins, a true classic in the field of timewasting retcon which everyone has since done their best to ignore – but no, by the halfway point, he's turned up too, as tedious as ever. There are a few decent scenes dotted around, and I enjoyed how amoral the coda with the moral was - "stabbing $#&% is what saves the world" - but on the whole it feels like a fundamentally misconceived effort in making Logan into a warrior across the timelines simply because he's old.
February 2, 2023
Benjamin Percy picks up Jonathan Hickman's reins from Inferno and does a decent job of it. The X Lives & Deaths of Wolverine perhaps lacks the gusto and gravitas of a Hickman production, but it manages to be a much more straightforward tale, even with time travel nonsense.
Essentially, Omega Red is being sent through time to kill Xavier's ancestors and prevent Krakoa from being established. Xavier and Jean Grey use their powers to send Wolverine back through time to stop Omega Red - or the people he's possessing. Meanwhile, in the other half of the book, Moira McTaggert has escaped Krakoa, powerless and chased by both Mystique and a mysterious far-future Wolverine.
Super confusing, right? Not so much in the book, which has far more SNKT action than I've suggested. With ten lengthy issues, Percy has room to explain what's going on (more or less) and reset the table for the next author to step into Hickman's X-shoes. The X Lives & Deaths of Wolverine certainly feels bigger than any individual X-series, so it's a worthy doorstop, but it also doesn't feel as much like required reading as Hickman's previous events. (It doesn't help that the art is fine, not astonishing.) Still, better than most of Percy's previous X-works.
Essentially, Omega Red is being sent through time to kill Xavier's ancestors and prevent Krakoa from being established. Xavier and Jean Grey use their powers to send Wolverine back through time to stop Omega Red - or the people he's possessing. Meanwhile, in the other half of the book, Moira McTaggert has escaped Krakoa, powerless and chased by both Mystique and a mysterious far-future Wolverine.
Super confusing, right? Not so much in the book, which has far more SNKT action than I've suggested. With ten lengthy issues, Percy has room to explain what's going on (more or less) and reset the table for the next author to step into Hickman's X-shoes. The X Lives & Deaths of Wolverine certainly feels bigger than any individual X-series, so it's a worthy doorstop, but it also doesn't feel as much like required reading as Hickman's previous events. (It doesn't help that the art is fine, not astonishing.) Still, better than most of Percy's previous X-works.
April 25, 2022
Three stars is generous here, one of them basically for the arc, Cassara is drawing his ass off here, spread after spread looks stellar. Vinentini also does good dark edge art for Deaths. But Percy oversells his premise, and this didn't need the elevation to a event, as it's a glorified X-force/wolverine arc with some Moria garnish to get people talking. It doesn't amount to much beyond Wolverine just being "the coolest dude with claws omg" and while I liked some of the paneling and art, the story is a mess and needlessly messy. I don't care for the fallout, and I'm happy I didn't drop money on the hardcover.
October 22, 2023
This one had me pumped to read since I’ve been really enjoying Wolverine comics through this Krakoa run. However, I felt as if through the first half of this book, there wasn’t necessarily a purpose or clear direction for where this book was going. The art is awesome and the action is great, which only makes sense since this is a Wolverine story, after all. Through the second half of this book, the story really begins to form around the future of Krakoa and mutantkind with the inclusion of Moira. The Wolverine and Omega Red and the Omega Wolverine storylines were really cool!
June 2, 2023
i love percy’s wolverine and x-force so this was a huge let down the plot is messy and feels all over the place at times moira x goes from one of marvel’s most interesting characters in recent years to a one dimensional villain there are a couple good inner monologue moments with logan that percy excels at but overall i did not enjoy this
May 9, 2022
3.75
It was decent. Good moments. But overall...not very interesting.
It was decent. Good moments. But overall...not very interesting.
March 6, 2024
Do you have any interesting interview questions to ask yourself about this book?
No, I think I’ll just review this with three similes and a rant.
Roger. What’s the first simile?
As someone who grew up reading Uncanny X-Men (collected issues 200 -350), reading this was like the time a friend came over to tell us why she’d split with her long-term boyfriend. After listening to the beginning of the story, I was sent out for wine and take out, and by the time I got back, all the characters in the story were the same, but their roles were different and I was hopelessly lost. I mean I read Joss Whedon’s run with Astonishing X-Men. Heck I even read X-23 a couple of years back. But wow. I was lost, and no one cared to help me along. I guess they figure if you pick this book up you already know everything you need to know.
OK. I’m starting to understand the three star rating. What’s the second metaphor?
I felt like Billy McMahon, Vince Vaughn’s character in The Internship, when the Golden Snitch appears on the Muggle Quidditch Pitch. He shouts, Now who the `&%$ is this guy?
That’s kind of a repeat of the last point.
Yea, I know, but I really like that scene.
Me too. Ok what’s the third simile?
No, no. I’ll try again. Here’s my second simile. If a story is a scene, then the window through which I’m seeing the scene is the storytelling. Gory pictures are like rain drops on the window. It makes me stop looking at the scene and start looking at the window. This was so gory that often that’s all I was thinking about.
Way too abstract, and besides, I think you used that somewhere else in a Goodreads review. What’s you third simile?
The action scenes are like when a parent at my school takes out their phone for a picture during class. I always freeze in an I’m-teaching-so-sincerely pose and I hold it too long to get a laugh out of the students.
Alright… what’s the rant?
I love a good mystery. I hate being confused. I know we’re supposed to figure out what’s going on as Wolverine tries to save Prof X or stop Moira (which by the way that’s just nuts. But like I said, I haven’t been here in a while). But if I can’t understand what’s happening, I’ll be too frustrated to solve the puzzle.
No, I think I’ll just review this with three similes and a rant.
Roger. What’s the first simile?
As someone who grew up reading Uncanny X-Men (collected issues 200 -350), reading this was like the time a friend came over to tell us why she’d split with her long-term boyfriend. After listening to the beginning of the story, I was sent out for wine and take out, and by the time I got back, all the characters in the story were the same, but their roles were different and I was hopelessly lost. I mean I read Joss Whedon’s run with Astonishing X-Men. Heck I even read X-23 a couple of years back. But wow. I was lost, and no one cared to help me along. I guess they figure if you pick this book up you already know everything you need to know.
OK. I’m starting to understand the three star rating. What’s the second metaphor?
I felt like Billy McMahon, Vince Vaughn’s character in The Internship, when the Golden Snitch appears on the Muggle Quidditch Pitch. He shouts, Now who the `&%$ is this guy?
That’s kind of a repeat of the last point.
Yea, I know, but I really like that scene.
Me too. Ok what’s the third simile?
No, no. I’ll try again. Here’s my second simile. If a story is a scene, then the window through which I’m seeing the scene is the storytelling. Gory pictures are like rain drops on the window. It makes me stop looking at the scene and start looking at the window. This was so gory that often that’s all I was thinking about.
Way too abstract, and besides, I think you used that somewhere else in a Goodreads review. What’s you third simile?
The action scenes are like when a parent at my school takes out their phone for a picture during class. I always freeze in an I’m-teaching-so-sincerely pose and I hold it too long to get a laugh out of the students.
Alright… what’s the rant?
I love a good mystery. I hate being confused. I know we’re supposed to figure out what’s going on as Wolverine tries to save Prof X or stop Moira (which by the way that’s just nuts. But like I said, I haven’t been here in a while). But if I can’t understand what’s happening, I’ll be too frustrated to solve the puzzle.
Read
March 24, 2022Lives es una continuación del trabajo anterior de Benjamin Percy en X-Force y la serie propia de Lobezno, pero Deaths es prácticamente una continuación/epílogo de Inferno potentísimo a todos los niveles.
Quiero decir, la trama de Lives en general no está mal, pero para mí destaca principalmente en el trabajo gráfico de Joshua Cassara y Frank Martin. No me vendría mal una relectura para terminar de asimilar todo. Pero la trama de Deaths... HOSTIA PUTA. Ni de coña esperaba que Moira fuese a ser la protagonista, y aunque no estoy del todo seguro respecto a ciertas decisiones (especialmente en cuanto a si traicionan el trabajo de Jonathan Hickman) me parece una de las mejores historias de la era krakoana. Además, por el camino me han dejado algunas de las mejores interacciones de Logan y su familia, y solo por eso ya me merecería la pena.
Esto se ha vendido mal porque no supone ese relanzamiento del nivel de HoX/PoX, ni de broma vaya. Como digo, Lives podría haberse publicado dentro de la serie de Lobezno o en X-Force, pero Deaths sí que me parece algo a reivindicar y que tendrá su peso en el futuro, para bien o para mal (digo esto por la última página, que me ha dado un escalofrío y no sé si eso es bueno). Pero eso, que en general bastante satisfecho con el trabajo de Percy con el mutante de adamantium.
Pd: Percy, yo lo sé, tú lo sabes, todos en Marvel lo saben. Si quieres una serie llamada 'Wolverines' para tener a Logan, Laura, Daken y Gabby en la misma serie no hay ningún problema.
Quiero decir, la trama de Lives en general no está mal, pero para mí destaca principalmente en el trabajo gráfico de Joshua Cassara y Frank Martin. No me vendría mal una relectura para terminar de asimilar todo. Pero la trama de Deaths... HOSTIA PUTA. Ni de coña esperaba que Moira fuese a ser la protagonista, y aunque no estoy del todo seguro respecto a ciertas decisiones (especialmente en cuanto a si traicionan el trabajo de Jonathan Hickman) me parece una de las mejores historias de la era krakoana. Además, por el camino me han dejado algunas de las mejores interacciones de Logan y su familia, y solo por eso ya me merecería la pena.
Esto se ha vendido mal porque no supone ese relanzamiento del nivel de HoX/PoX, ni de broma vaya. Como digo, Lives podría haberse publicado dentro de la serie de Lobezno o en X-Force, pero Deaths sí que me parece algo a reivindicar y que tendrá su peso en el futuro, para bien o para mal (digo esto por la última página, que me ha dado un escalofrío y no sé si eso es bueno). Pero eso, que en general bastante satisfecho con el trabajo de Percy con el mutante de adamantium.
Pd: Percy, yo lo sé, tú lo sabes, todos en Marvel lo saben. Si quieres una serie llamada 'Wolverines' para tener a Logan, Laura, Daken y Gabby en la misma serie no hay ningún problema.
December 18, 2022
This book collects two different intertwining series, the X Lives of Wolverine and the X Deaths of Wolverine, which are meant to be read one issue of Lives and one issue of Deaths, switching back and forth between the stories. Unlike the House of X/Powers of X intertwined series that launched the current era of the X-Men, these series barely feel connected and the jumping back and forth between them feels like an unnecessary gimmick.
In X Lives of Wolverine, Mikhail Rasputin and Omega Red use the Cerebro Sword to send Omega Red's consciousness back in time to try to kill Charles Xavier or his ancestors at various points throughout history (they mad at Chuck). Charles and Jean Grey somehow figure out that this is happening and send Wolverine's consciousness back to various points in his own past so that he can show up and stop Omega Red, who repeatedly possesses the body of someone close to an Xavier to attempt an assassination. This is a bit awkward, because at some of the historical moments Wolverine jumps to, he was far enough away that it took him a significant amount of time to reach the Xavier he was trying to protect. Conveniently however, he always seemed to arrive just in time to stop the unexpected assassin who for some reason at times apparently waited days to strike at his target. One also has to wonder why Mikhail and Omega Red didn't simply try to assassinate one of Xavier's ancestors from a time before Wolverine ever existed, thus rendering him incapable of jumping back into his own younger body to stop them?
The best part of this series was the beautiful art by Joshua Cassara. This was billed as the most expansive Wolverine story ever, but even someone like myself with only a cursory knowledge of Wolverine's convoluted history recognizes that this barely scratches the surface of exploring Wolverine's past.
The X Deaths of Wolverine initially centers on the depowered Moira MacTaggart immediately following the events of Jonathan Hickman's Inferno series, as she flees Krakoa on the run from a vengeful Mystique, who wants revenge for Moira's manipulations that kept her away from her lover Destiny. A mysterious cybered-up Wolverine covered in circuitry eventually shows up and seems to be chasing after Moira as well. This was the far more compelling of the two stories, but I was much more interested in Moira's story than anything having to do with Wolverine, and given whose name was on the cover, this was not a good sign for our story.
Eventually the mysterious circuity Wolverine is revealed About the only real connection between this and the X Lives series is that after Wolverine is done dealing with Omega Red and Mikhail, he immediately has to go and deal with his circuity doppelganger running amok on Krakoa. There was no reason to tie these stories together and make such a big production of it. I enjoyed the art by Federico Vicentini, which has a more chaotic, sketchy feel to it compared to Cassara's art in the other story. This style leant itself well to a story about a panicked Moira on the run.
The most interesting thing about the entire book is Moira's part in the story and what it promises for the future. Unfortunately this fairly forgettable book will likely prove to be vital reading, as the revelations and new direction for Moira will probably prove to be of major importance to the overall Marvel mutant narrative. I'd recommend it for that reason only.
In X Lives of Wolverine, Mikhail Rasputin and Omega Red use the Cerebro Sword to send Omega Red's consciousness back in time to try to kill Charles Xavier or his ancestors at various points throughout history (they mad at Chuck). Charles and Jean Grey somehow figure out that this is happening and send Wolverine's consciousness back to various points in his own past so that he can show up and stop Omega Red, who repeatedly possesses the body of someone close to an Xavier to attempt an assassination. This is a bit awkward, because at some of the historical moments Wolverine jumps to, he was far enough away that it took him a significant amount of time to reach the Xavier he was trying to protect. Conveniently however, he always seemed to arrive just in time to stop the unexpected assassin who for some reason at times apparently waited days to strike at his target. One also has to wonder why Mikhail and Omega Red didn't simply try to assassinate one of Xavier's ancestors from a time before Wolverine ever existed, thus rendering him incapable of jumping back into his own younger body to stop them?
The best part of this series was the beautiful art by Joshua Cassara. This was billed as the most expansive Wolverine story ever, but even someone like myself with only a cursory knowledge of Wolverine's convoluted history recognizes that this barely scratches the surface of exploring Wolverine's past.
The X Deaths of Wolverine initially centers on the depowered Moira MacTaggart immediately following the events of Jonathan Hickman's Inferno series, as she flees Krakoa on the run from a vengeful Mystique, who wants revenge for Moira's manipulations that kept her away from her lover Destiny. A mysterious cybered-up Wolverine covered in circuitry eventually shows up and seems to be chasing after Moira as well. This was the far more compelling of the two stories, but I was much more interested in Moira's story than anything having to do with Wolverine, and given whose name was on the cover, this was not a good sign for our story.
Eventually the mysterious circuity Wolverine is revealed About the only real connection between this and the X Lives series is that after Wolverine is done dealing with Omega Red and Mikhail, he immediately has to go and deal with his circuity doppelganger running amok on Krakoa. There was no reason to tie these stories together and make such a big production of it. I enjoyed the art by Federico Vicentini, which has a more chaotic, sketchy feel to it compared to Cassara's art in the other story. This style leant itself well to a story about a panicked Moira on the run.
The most interesting thing about the entire book is Moira's part in the story and what it promises for the future. Unfortunately this fairly forgettable book will likely prove to be vital reading, as the revelations and new direction for Moira will probably prove to be of major importance to the overall Marvel mutant narrative. I'd recommend it for that reason only.
April 3, 2022
I’m going to admit that while I was both blown away by HoX/PoX and Hickman’s work on the X-books since, Inferno, to me, started strong and ended with a whimper.
I’m assuming Hickman was kind of checked out after he decided it leave. Inferno threw a Big Idea out there (time travel within Moira’s Xth lifetime creating a second timeline) and then…just kinda flailed for a bit. So in a way, at least half of this book appearing to continue the weaker part of Inferno (turn Moira into a cliche villain) set the expectation that I might not like this book.
Meanwhile, Percy’s runs on Wolverine and X-Force were solid— I enjoyed his style and whole I don’t think all the stories were super interesting, there was a plan there.
This arc, meanwhile, has him going hog wild, replicating the HoX/PoX structure to tell…a very, very messy story. Wolverine is traveling in time! How? Don’t worry about it. Why? Because Omega Red is out there trying to kill the Xavier clan in many eras because…reasons.
If you like seeing Omega Red fight, boy, have we got a book for you here. Including him possessing a genuine gosh-darn *whale* while trying to kill, I guess, great-grandpa X or something.
If you want things to make—or rather, *feel like they make* sense, a vibe Hickman pulled off quite well, that course is sadly missing. Here, have some more Omega Red instead. Or maybe some Future Wolverine. He fights for pages and pages, too, and seems to want to be a retcon of a few amazing details in HoX/PoX.
I’m assuming Hickman was kind of checked out after he decided it leave. Inferno threw a Big Idea out there (time travel within Moira’s Xth lifetime creating a second timeline) and then…just kinda flailed for a bit. So in a way, at least half of this book appearing to continue the weaker part of Inferno (turn Moira into a cliche villain) set the expectation that I might not like this book.
Meanwhile, Percy’s runs on Wolverine and X-Force were solid— I enjoyed his style and whole I don’t think all the stories were super interesting, there was a plan there.
This arc, meanwhile, has him going hog wild, replicating the HoX/PoX structure to tell…a very, very messy story. Wolverine is traveling in time! How? Don’t worry about it. Why? Because Omega Red is out there trying to kill the Xavier clan in many eras because…reasons.
If you like seeing Omega Red fight, boy, have we got a book for you here. Including him possessing a genuine gosh-darn *whale* while trying to kill, I guess, great-grandpa X or something.
If you want things to make—or rather, *feel like they make* sense, a vibe Hickman pulled off quite well, that course is sadly missing. Here, have some more Omega Red instead. Or maybe some Future Wolverine. He fights for pages and pages, too, and seems to want to be a retcon of a few amazing details in HoX/PoX.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2023
Having separated myself from the current X-Titles, I'm only vaguely aware of what is going on. This mini-series isn't what I thought it was going to be which is probably a good thing. It serves two purposes: resolving the Omega Red storyline that's been running in a couple titles, but also advances Moira's story and her role in the direction of all of Krakoa. I'm not sure I like the idea of Marvel creating these separate mini-series that provide major changes in the direction of mutantdom. They aren't as significant as an event, but why not just put it in one of the main titles (other than the obvious cash grab)? Also, the X-Titles are already confusing to try and follow and keep up with everything going on, and constantly branching off into mini-series just makes it even more confusing.
Unless it was in another book, how Wolverine is able to do his portion of the story isn't really explained. Regardless, it's an opportunity to get a peak into Logan's head as well as revisit a few key moments in his life, but also to tie him even closer to Xavier. I liked it, although it probably went on a little too long, but I'm sure Marvel was hellbent on having 10 issues to fill.
It's a fun ride for Wolverine fans, and a little bit essential if you want to keep up with Moira.
Unless it was in another book, how Wolverine is able to do his portion of the story isn't really explained. Regardless, it's an opportunity to get a peak into Logan's head as well as revisit a few key moments in his life, but also to tie him even closer to Xavier. I liked it, although it probably went on a little too long, but I'm sure Marvel was hellbent on having 10 issues to fill.
It's a fun ride for Wolverine fans, and a little bit essential if you want to keep up with Moira.
July 25, 2022
A take on one of my most favourite arcs that’s revisited in a fun and compelling way. I’m not usually a fan of Wolverine-led books, but this event was so much fun and packed in a hell of a lot considering it picked up mere seconds after the last issue of Inferno. So beyond glad to have this kind of story telling at Marvel’s X-Office.
June 14, 2022
It's crap. The art is almost worthy of two-stars, but the writing ruins all hope of redemption from page one.
The book is overpriced, but even at half the cost, it's still not worth the paper it's printed on.
Consider this a warning.
Stay away.
The book is overpriced, but even at half the cost, it's still not worth the paper it's printed on.
Consider this a warning.
Stay away.
July 31, 2022
I had a hard time getting into this. Maybe because it's been a while since I read Inferno or any other Krakoa era X-Men books. Or maybe it's just not that good. The artwork is great but I didn't feel the stakes that the story is telling.
July 19, 2022
The continuation of the Moira plot line is the only part of this that’s worth reading.
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