As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

WOLVERINE vol 7 #17
“Message in a Bottle”
by Benjamin Percy, Lan Medina, Cam Smith & Java Tartaglia

COVER / PAGE 1. Wolverine and Maverick as a playing card riddled with bulletholes and claw marks, showing them as intertwined opposites (or just partners).

PAGE 2. Jeff Bannister monitors Delores Ramirez.

We last saw Bannister in issue #8. His narration in this issue is apparently the letter to Logan mentioned on the closing data page, since its opening line is repeated there.

We last saw Delores in issue #10, where she met with Maverick in a diner. That scene took place in New York, though, and this is Baltimore – so apparently she’s meeting someone else here, or at least it’s a different meeting with Maverick. (It’s also drawn differently.)

“Ever since she tried to take you down in Madripoor”. Also in issue #10.

PAGES 3-4. Jeff returns to the diner.

We last saw Bannister’s daughter in issue #3. Oddly, she still doesn’t have a name. Her short hair is presumably due to her leukaemia treatment, though honestly, it was longer in issue #3.

The thing underneath the table is presumably a bug planted by someone using Krakoan or Terra Verdean technology, as Bannister explains later in the issue. (Terra Verde is mainly an X-Force concept, but it also cropped up in issue #13.) The Krakoans would be the natural bet, but Beast has gone out of his way in X-Force to tell us that he prefers using stone devices for that.

PAGE 5. Recap and credits. The title is a reference to the Police song (number 1 in 1979), which is confirmed by the “next issue” Krakoan text.

PAGES 6-9. The Krakoan karaoke night.

If you really need to be told, the song choices are:

• Blob: “Barbara Ann” by the Beach Boys (number 3 in 1966)
• Pyro: “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel (number 7 in 1989)
• Jean and Storm: “Un-Break My Heart” by Toni Braxton (number 2 in 1996)
• Maverick: “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” by the Righteous Brothers (number 1 in 1965)

Jean suggests Johnny Cash and Nick Cave for Wolverine, who is quite rightly having none of it.

Maverick made it very clear in issue #10 that he thought Krakoa was a bit of a cult and that he had no real interest in coming. Of course, that was before Delores hired him.

Most of the people in the bar are randoms, but Havok and Colossus are easily identifiable in the first panel. In the last panel on page 8, Bling! is recognisable on the right-hand side. The woman next to her, judging from the thing coiled around her arms, seems to be the Asp, a Captain America villain who I’m not sure has ever been established as a mutant before. However, she doesn’t have an origin story for her powers so, sure, she’s a mutant. Incidentally, her teammate Black Mamba is currently appearing over in X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic.

PAGES 10-12. Jeff Bannister at work.

Fairly self-explanatory. The guy who loudly announces to the office that they’ve found some Krakoan tech helps to muddy the question of who sends in the killers later in the issue.

PAGE 13. Data page. Someone in the CIA office reports the Krakoan discovery to someone else who’s blackmailing him, and Sage from X-Force intercepts the call. Or at least, her automated systems do.

PAGES 14-20. Wolverine, Domino and Maverick thwart the chemical attack.

“Some sort of annoying cult edict about not killing people.” Maverick is referring to the Krakoan law against murdering humans. It wouldn’t necessarily apply here anyway – not all killing is murder – but as Wolverine points out, X-Force are basically above the law and can do what they like.

The opposing forces’ costume design needs work.

Obviously, this is mainly an excuse for Maverick to ingratiate himself. Yes, he asks to be paid, but Wolverine would probably get suspicious if he didn’t.

PAGES 21-23. Bannister goes on the run.

Maverick is already after him. Since Maverick is meant to be working for Delores (as of issue #10), that raises the question of whether it was Delores herself who placed that Krakoan bug (she does have reasonably good relations with Kate and Storm over in Marauders). Or she might have nothing to do with the attack, and might be sending Maverick to investigate it for her own reasons. Who knows?

PAGE 24. Data page. Wolverine reports to Sage, and basically describes the relationship with Bannister that we’ve seen in earlier issues (plus the retrieval of Bannister’s message). Not sure that narration really reads like something Bannister’s scrawled in a hurry, to be honest.

PAGE 25. Trailers. The Krakoan reads NEXT: SENDING OUT AN SOS (which is a lyric from “Message in a Bottle”).