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Wolverine: Weapon X #1
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Ron Garney
Colors: Jason Keith
Covers: Ron Garney, Adam Kubert, Justin Ponsor, Olivier Coipel, Alan Davis, Mark Farmer, Rob Schwager (Phew! Can it please be less variant cover time now?)
He’s the best there is at what he does! And he does is…pretty much the same thing he usually does.
With his evil son Daken taking over the main Wolverine title, Marvel opted to give Wolverine another title, because he doesn’t have any exposure. Honestly, when was the last time you saw this guy anywhere? Not like he has two other solo books, an animated series and an upcoming solo flick, right?
The premiere arc of “Wolverine: Weapon X” has Wolverine meeting up with former Weapon X member and current retiree Maverick, and discovering that someone has acquired the plans from the Weapon X project and is making a bunch of Weapon X’s. So, Wolverine decides that he needs to investigate the situation, find out who is behind it, and sway them to use their powers for good.
Nah, just kidding. He’s going to kill them.
Its pretty routine Wolverine action, but there is a considerable increase in the amount of violence. Wolverine cuts off a man’s arm before we even see his face, and has rammed a gun up another guy’s ass before the bottom of the next page. This is clearly not the kid friendly Wolverine of the cartoons, and he’s even sporting his black on gray X-Force uniform (sans mask in this title), which is a good sign. The blue and yellow costume is fine when he’s with the X-Men, but not good for the sneaking around murder machine that Wolverine really is deep down inside.
All in all, this first issue isn’t terrible, but its pretty obviously still a Wolverine series. The character remains true to itself, and the writer’s have a pretty good handle on the character’s history. Despite all this, I believe there could be potential for something really great here, as long as they aren’t afraid to actually explore and experiment. Wolverine has been Wolverine for as long as we can remember; isn’t it time someone reinvented the wheel and brought a new level to this character?
Final Grade: B A typical first issue . Nothing really happens, but nothing can really be expected to happen. I’ll give it a little longer before deciding whether or not to drop it.
