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.

Death of Wolverine

The Wolverine is dead but was it meaningful? Throughout the year I have been reading different Wolverine titles starting with Jason Aaron's run on the character.  This is the first official title I have read by Charles Soule & I can't say I was impressed, it was good but I think he is a little overrated.  That may change when I pick up some of his other titles.  This is really a vignette type story of Logan back tracking to where his roads always inevitably end up, the Weapon X Program.  I like that Viper, Sabretooth, Ogun & Lady Deathstrike are part of this title but why is Nuke in here it seems off & a little confusing.  Having Kitty Pryde team up with Logan against Ogun harkens back to an old Wolverine story.  Overall the real gem of this book is Steve McNiven's art, it is some of the most beautiful work I have seen in a book ever.  As a reader of this series another problem I have is that Dr. Cornelius has gone through all this meticulous planning for his experiments that he would know ahead of time that the Wolverine had lost his healing factor.  In the end Logan died the way he lived saving others from the experimentation that was done to him.  But having Wolverine encased in a shell of adamantium & turned into a statue is like a set up for a glorious return in the future, even Steve Rogers death after Civil War looked more permanent.