LAST WOLVERINE #2
Writer: Saladin Ahmed
Artist: Edgar Salazar
Colour artist: Carlos Lopez
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Mark Basso

PAGES 1-4. Vindicator persuades Leonard to help her free Wolverine.

Vindicator. Heather confirms that she was indeed referring to Logan as her husband in the previous issue. Given that he becomes an agent of Revelation not too far into the “Age of Revelation” timeline, this must be something that happens not too far into the future, and so it’s potentially another piece of foreshadowing for regular stories.

Heather said last issue that she had found a way to “save” Wolverine, and she refers throughout this scene to breaking Revelation’s hold on him. Apparently Leonard never asks her what the plan is, because we’ll find out later that she’s simply planning to kill him. She believes, probably correctly, that being forced into service as a weapon again would be the most horrific thing he can imagine; evidently she believes that she’s freeing him from torment.

Leonard certainly takes Revelation’s claims of good intent at face value, and is willing to countenance the possibility that Logan has been driven to this by the need to defend his fellow mutants from human aggression; he’s very reluctant to believe that Wolverine would ever directly turn against his friends.

Heather claims that she wants Leonard on this mission because he wants to save Logan so badly; you have to suspect that she also just thinks he’s very gullible.

“When I moved Alpha Flight to British Columbia…” Alpha Flight relocated to British Columbia in Alpha Flight #29.

“It’s been ten years since 3K terrorists released the bioweapon we came to call the X-Virus.” This is the basic premise of “Age of Revelation”; other stories have told us that 3K were framed by Revelation, but Heather doesn’t appear to know that. She seems to take at face value that Revelation capitalised on the opportunity to build a mutant kingdom, and accepts that he saved lives in doing so.

“What people don’t know is that the fallout is still spreading.” This apparently does come as news to Leonard, but it’s not obvious why – we’ve seen in Cloak Or Dagger that the Territories are still expanding. Perhaps Leonard is surprised more by Heather’s claim that it’ll cover the whole planet, as opposed to being something that’s near to petering out.

“When I fought him a few years back…” We saw Leonard fight Wolverine in flashback last issue.

“I mean, America tried to nuke them!” X-Men: Age of Revelation #0.

“Revelation used Logan to kill the X-Men.” It’s not clear what Vindicator is referring to, if indeed she isn’t lying. There’s still an X-Men team as the event begins. Revelation did send Logan to kill the X-Men in Age of Revelation – Overture and Amazing X-Men #1, so it’s possible that this is very recent news which has just added to a plan that was already under way.

“My husband’s healing factor makes him different…” We’ve seen in Amazing X-Men #1 that Revelation has to repeatedly reassert his control over Wolverine. The theory that this is something to do with his healing factor was also advanced by Laura in Laura Kinney: Sabretooth #2.

PAGE 5. Vindicator and Leonard recruit Kurt.

Whatever caused Nightcrawler to lose his powers will reverse as soon as he returns to the Revelation Territories. This is all very odd, since plenty of other mutants are outside the Revelation Territories without apparent problems. To be fair, Heather and Kurt both seem to agree that this is all theoretical and they don’t know what will really happen – if this was actually a known issue with mutants generally, the answers would surely be known.

“We met when Kurt … put himself in front of a truck to save my daughter’s life…” Uncanny X-Men #6.

PAGES 6-8. Heather, Leonard and Kurt travel to the Revelation Territories.

All straightforward.

PAGES 9-12. Kurt gets his powers back, and their plane is shot down.

Leonard isn’t a mutant, but his Wendigo curse brings back his hunger when he enters the Revelation Territories – previously, he had it under control. What this has to do with the X-Virus isn’t entirely clear, but perhaps the effect of the virus on his body makes it harder for him to suppress the hunger in the way he’s become used to.

PAGES 13-16. Leonard kills Cyber.

Cyber is an odd choice for a Seraphim. But while he’s better known for his adamantium-plated skin, he is a mutant (which is how he survived getting the metal skin). Heather believes for some rason that Revelation has “levelled him up”, but we don’t really see how. He does seem to be much more controlled and disciplined than normal, and he appears to be a true believer in “Revelation’s paradise”. He still has golden rather than silver-plated arms, which is how he appeared when possessed by the Adamantine in Ahmed’s Wolverine – this might be a colouring error, or it might be part of his Seraphim costume.

Leonard kills Cyber by eating his exposed face, which is obviously his weak spot.

“I’ve owed you a debt… for shooting me in the head.” Cyber shot Nightcrawler in Wolverine #1, though it was only a glancing shot.

“I’ve known for a century that [Wolverine’s] a soldier through and through…” Burr’s back story has him meeting Wolverine when working as a drill sergeant in World War I.

PAGES 17-18. Nightcrawler teleports Heather and Leonard to Philadelphia.

Again, straightforward.

PAGES 19-20. Leonard discovers Heather’s plan.

Heather was apparently planning to sneak in and kill Logan while Leonard was still asleep – which somewhat begs the question of why she brought him in the first place. Maybe he was meant to help her fight her way to the citadel and make her escape afterwards.

Heather’s plan is to kill Logan with the Muramasa Blade, originally from Wolverine: Origins – as she says, it’s well established as a weapon that his healing factor won’t work around.