Wolverine Weapon X #1–5 and Wolverine #73–74 by Jason Aaron, Ron Garney and Adam Kubert

Because I’ve been enjoying Aaron’s take on Wolverine in various mini-series and stories, I was keen to try his new series, especially because it would be about new villains and not be mired in continuity. This collection does that strikingly: Blackguard is a private military contractor who obtained the Weapon X plans and have used them on mercenaries to create its own Wolverines: men with nanite healing factors, unbreakable adamantium bones, enhanced reflexes and laser claws. When Maverick tells Logan about it, Logan’s not happy and wants to shut it down. However, they are as good as he is and there are lots of them, so things aren’t so easy …

The story is a good excuse for lots of tough fight scenes that actually have a reason to continue beyond a few pages, and Garney does a great job, with visceral action, dynamic panels and great figure work, while he is still able to cope with the dialogue scenes that set up the plot. He’s got a style suited to the dark violence of Wolverine’s world and it’s a lot of fun to see him unleashed. The thing that matches this is Aaron’s internal narration from Logan; he’s really got the voice down of the tough guy with a conscience and a soul and years of experience. The final chapter in particular, as Logan describes his attitude to bodies of water and the death it can provide is a great insight in the middle of a firefight.

The rest of the book is taken up with ‘A Mile In My Moccasins’, which is an amusing attempt at giving an overview of the typical Wolverine month, based on the amount of different comic books he appears in. A lot of the panels are a single day and a different scene, as it shows different interactions and team-ups along the way (with lots of nice in-jokes). The second half of the story is Logan having a chat with Spider-Man in a bar about the state of Logan’s life and his reaction to it. It’s an enjoyable filler story, with decent art from Kubert (although it’s a little dodgier in the second part), which shows a bit more of Aaron’s range. It makes for a good collection.