Wolverines Vol. 4: Destiny

The final volume of Wolverines turns up the intensity which isn't saying much for this series.  Mr. Sinister has ambushed Mystique's team to get revenge for what they did to him in the first volume.  Characters die in this volume which helps to clear the board a little of all of the Paradise characters with the exception of Shogun.  They were never fully fleshed out & their deaths seem trivial compared to some others.   Mystique's plan is finally revealed when she turns on everybody to bring it to fruition only to be fooled by the very person who set her on this path.  Destiny who Mystique was trying to resurrect was really moving Mystique to resurrect Logan.  Most of the characters have lost their healing factor by the end of this story & Mystique has chosen to walk away instead of bringing Wolverine back.  Destiny knew even when she had this vision that the world needed a Wolverine but it was doing fine without her.  It was nice to see Man-Thing show up in this final volume I hope Marvel is going to give him a big push the way DC gave Swamp Thing a number of years ago.  In the end this is really a Mystique & enemies story but it ends to quickly.  I would have enjoyed seeing another issue to show some repercussions of the actions taken by the different characters on the team.  then have a splash page cliffhanger to show the looming threat of Secret Wars.  I am excited for All-New Wolverine though but that wasn't brought on by this series.

Wolverines Vol. 3: The Living & The Dead

The third volume of the Wolverines finishes off the Fang story arc.  Ogun & Lady Deathstrike are conspiring to take control of Shogun's body.  Mystique is playing everybody to her own ends.  This series has still not wowed me the way other Marvel series have, I am now three quarters through & still feel like its going nowhere.  Blade appears in this story as well taking one some vampires but there is a comment made that he takes out monsters.  I really hope that alluding to this upcoming Blade series.  Fantomelle meets her client that is having her steal all of this Wolverine paraphernalia.  Turns out Deadpool is one of Wolverines greatest fans & tries to fill the void left by Wolverine's death.  The high point for this volume is Fantomelle sneaking back aboard the Changeling to deliver a Wolverine uniform to Laura.

Wolverines Vol. 2: Claw, Blade & Fang

This second volume of the Wolverines picks up the the pace a little but it is still wandering all over the place plot wise.  After the events of the first volume the X-Men are in possession of Wolverines remains.  Fantomelle is off on another adventure retrieving a series of items for the Collector.  Shogun's team of misfits is scattered with some siding with Sinister after the dust had cleared.  Mystique has taken control of the band now while Lady Deathstrike has her eyes set on Shogun.  This really starts to shine when Fang shows up & starts playing devils advocate with the team by taking different members on a little side trip.  That part of the story alone makes this worth the read.

Wolverines Vol. 1: Dancing with the Devil

This first volume of Wolverines sees the partnership of the experiments from Paradise teaming up with former experiments of the Weapon X program.  All of these individuals are working to retrieve Logan's body, half so they can find a medical miracle & the other half to learn their trigger words.  Overall this isn't a great read & the art is only OK there are a few character moments that are really nice like Sabertooth having moral outlook on life is just hilarious.  Mystique really shines in her limited screen time but it looks like she could be a double agent.  The big bad is revealed rather early on as Mr. Sinister.  I'm not sure what Sinister's power set is but damn can he dish out the punishment.  Why hasn't he been put in a movie yet.  Other than Mr. Sinister this volume also gave us the first appearance of Fantomelle.  She is kind of a mystery like Fantomex but she is pretty cool it would be nice to see are in an upcoming New Mutants or Young X-Men book.  So far everything that has been happening on the Wolverine front since Logans Death has been mediocre.

Death of Wolverine: The Weapon X Program

This series is a direct follow up to the Death of Wolverine story-arc & features the experiments that Logan found in the Paradise facility that was a revamp of the Weapon X Program.  These characters are on the run from a mysterious government agency who is bent on recapturing them dead or alive.  All of these characters with the exception of Skel are not who they claim to be they each have a secret past which comes back to haunt this misfit crew in some way.  The biggest reveal in this story is that Sharp is really the new host for Ogun.  The overall story-arc The Weapon X Program is only OK again I have not been wowed by Charles Soule but the back up story Life After Logan in which the reader gets to see how various X-Men deal with Wolverine's death is great look at some of the characters who knew him best.

Daken, Dark Wolverine Vol. 4: No More Heroes

Finally Daken's true colors have come to the forefront.  He has always been a villain & now the whole world knows it.  This volume was just as good as the previous one & shows how cruel & deceptive Daken can be to Wolverine & the heroes of New York City.  Daken is dying due to his over exposure to the drug heat, so this final volume is his swan song before he disappears.  I am pretty sure he is not dead by the end of this but it is a great ending to the series.  Daken's relationship with Donna Kiel sends sets him to do this one last vengeful attach at those he used throughout the series.  In a way this series is about self discovery much in the same way X-23's series was.  The difference however is the Larua embraces the discovery of who she is & what she can be while Daken refuses to embrace who he is.  In a way both of these series have had a "Of Mice & Men" quality about them.  This series went a little longer then X-23's & helped ramp up the tension going into Avengers vs. X-Men.

Daken, Dark Wolverine Vol. 3: The Pride Comes Before the Fall

Rob Williams just kicked it up a notch with the third volume of Daken, Dark Wolverine.  All of the build up from the previous volume came to fruition in this one.  Someone is manipulating Daken like a puppet & the revelation is somewhat expected.  Moon Knight shows up in this book & has a throw down with Daken before he teams up with him to search for the claws killer.  Marcus Roston plays an even bigger role in this volume than in the previous one & there are even some revelations that he is related to the Runaways which brings them into mix teaming up with Daken.  Their team up gave me one of favorite scenes of this entire series so far; Molly Hayes walks up to the villain & says "You bad man. Me bad ass." while upper cutting him farther down the street.  This book rejuvenated the Daken, Dark Wolverine series for me I look forward to the next volume.   

Daken, Dark Wolverine Vol. 2: Big Break

This new volume of Daken, Dark Wolverine sees the character return to Los Angeles to broaden his criminal empire.  I didn't find this volume as interesting as the previous one or his showdown with X-23.  This volume also marks the the first entry of a new writer to the series, Rob Williams.  One of the unique plot points this story are these heat pills that have shown up in L.A. which can nullify Daken's healing factor it will be interesting to see where this leads, but overall I am not as impressed with this series as much anymore.

Daken, Dark Wolverine vs. X-23: Collision

This is the second book in both the Daken, Dark Wolverine & X-23 series.  This is a great read & displays both the of the lead characters in top form.  In all fairness though this feels more like a Daken story than an X-23 story.  The previous X-23 volume just didn't provide enough of of a lead in to this particular story.  The previous volume of Daken, Dark Wolverine connects flawlessly to this story.  I have to say I am rapidly becoming a Daken Akihiro fan.  Another plus to this story is that X-23 has shown some real character growth in this story-arc so much so that it makes me look forward to her next volume.  The two lead characters weren't the only characters to shine in this story Gambit & Tyger Tiger who both of whom stood out as great supporting characters.  Gambit's showdown with Daken is awesome on par with the two title characters showdown.  Tyger is a really complex supporting character which would make a great addition to future Wolverine-Family related stories.

Daken, Dark Wolverine Vol. 1: Empire

Daken is an intriguing character in that he is like a younger version of Logan but with an ambitious drive that Logan doesn't have do to his age & experience.  Whereas Wolverine is trying to atone for his past, everything he does is to in some way make up for something he regrets.  Daken is still young & willing to do anything to get what he feels is his in this world.  Laura on the other hand is trying to find her place in the world since leaving X-Force.  She knows that her life experiences have made her an outcast in the eyes of many of the X-Men similar to the way Wolverine probably felt when he first joined Alpha Flight.  However she wants to be in control of her future instead of having someone make her decisions for her like when she was an assassin.  Unlike X-23 Daken is not a clone of Wolverine but his actual son this makes her the closest thing he has to a sibling.  Daken is filled with rage & vengeance which makes for a great read but this first volume like that of X-23 is all set up in the Heroic Age & tying into the Wolverine Goes to Hell story arc.  I actually liked this better than the first volume of X-23 because there was more characterization with Daken than with Laura.  He is a character that you know is up to no good yet you still want to read it because he draws you in similar to the pheromone part of his mutation it can be used to manipulate people.  Just seeing how he interacted with Mystique was proof that there is more to him than he lets on.  This volume did a great job setting up the Collision story arc unlike X-23's first volume; bring on Collision.