{"id":8418,"date":"2022-12-04T10:58:07","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T10:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8418"},"modified":"2022-12-04T10:58:07","modified_gmt":"2022-12-04T10:58:07","slug":"the-incomplete-wolverine-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8418","title":{"rendered":"The Incomplete Wolverine – 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 1: Origin to Origin II<\/a> | <\/a>Part 2: 1907 to 1914<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 3: 1914 to 1939<\/a> | <\/a>Part 4: World War II<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 5: The postwar era<\/a> | <\/a>Part 6: Team X<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 7: Post Team X<\/a> | <\/a>Part 8: Weapon X<\/a>
\n<\/a>Part 9: Department H<\/a> | <\/a>Part 10: The Silver Age<\/a>
\n1974-1975<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/a>1976<\/a> | <\/a>1977<\/a> | <\/a>1978<\/a> | <\/a>1979<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>
\n1980<\/a> | <\/a>1981<\/a> | 1982<\/a><\/em>\u00a0| 1983<\/em><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a01984<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>|\u00a01985<\/a>
\n1986<\/a>\u00a0| 1987<\/a> | 1988<\/a><\/em>\u00a0| 1989<\/a> | 1990<\/a><\/em> | 1991<\/em><\/a>
\n1992<\/em><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a01993<\/em><\/a> | 1994<\/em><\/a> | 1995<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a01996<\/a> | 1997 <\/a><\/em>
\n1998<\/a> |<\/em>\u00a01999<\/a><\/em>\u00a0|\u00a02000<\/em><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a02001<\/a> | 2002<\/a><\/em> | 2003<\/em><\/a>
\n2004<\/a><\/em> |2005<\/em><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a02006<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Welcome to 2007. We’re in the middle of\u00a0Civil War<\/em>. But the X-Men are on the margins of that crossover, and Wolverine’s already had his tie-in arc. In\u00a0Civil War\u00a0<\/em>#6<\/strong>, we’re told that Wolverine declined to join Captain America’s rebel forces because he wasn’t ultimately willing to break ranks with the X-Men. Instead…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>BLADE vol 5 #5<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Vendetta’s Echo”<\/strong>
\nby Marc Guggenheim, Howard Chaykin & Edgar Delgado<\/strong>
\nJanuary 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the fact that Wolverine isn’t actually an unregistered hero, SHIELD want to hunt him down in this story. Blade agrees to do the job in exchange for SHIELD’s help against vampires. But when he realises that Wolverine saved him from vampires decades ago, Blade abandons the mission and tells SHIELD to leave Wolverine alone. As for Wolverine, he doesn’t recognise Blade at all and is baffled by the whole thing. Officially this is a\u00a0Civil War<\/em> tie-in, but nothing turns on it. For some reason Wolverine is shown living in an apartment in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

The rest of\u00a0Civil War<\/em> plays out without Wolverine’s involvement, and Captain America is assassinated at the end. Don’t worry, kids, he’ll be fine.<\/p>\n

In a flashback in\u00a0Fantastic Four<\/em> #543<\/strong>, Wolverine appears briefly as an interviewee in a documentary about the Fantastic Four, and criticises Reed’s choice of side during\u00a0Civil War<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>FALLEN SON: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA – WOLVERINE<\/a><\/strong>
\nOne-shot<\/strong>
\nby Jeph Loeb, Leinil Francis Yu & Dave McCaig<\/strong>
\nApril 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine persuades Daredevil and Doctor Strange to break into the Helicarrier with him, and verify that Cap is really dead. It’s strongly implied that Wolverine really<\/em> wants to confront the apparent assassin,\u00a0Crossbones<\/strong> (Brock Rumlow), who is already in SHIELD custody, and find an excuse to kill him – but Crossbones seems to be innocent. Wolverine verifies that the dead body really is Cap, then persuades Iron Man to let him confirm the news to the heroes who are still on the run after Civil War<\/em>.<\/p>\n

FALLEN SON: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA – AVENGERS<\/strong><\/a>
\nOne-shot<\/strong>
\nby Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness, Dexter Vines & Jason Keith<\/strong>
\nApril 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine duly confirms Cap’s death to the New Avengers. Spider-Man refuses to believe it and storms out; Wolverine goes after him. We skip the next chapter (which rejoices in the title\u00a0Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America – Captain America<\/em>) and pick up again with…<\/p>\n

FALLEN SON: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA – SPIDER-MAN<\/strong><\/a>
\nOne-shot<\/strong>
\nby Jeph Loeb, David Finch, Danny Miki & Frank D’Armata<\/strong>
\nJune 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

At Uncle Ben’s grave, Wolverine tries to cheer up Spider-Man by inventing a story about how much Cap believed in him. Spider-Man sees right through it, so Wolverine offers advice about coming to terms with grief instead. There’s also a fight with the Rhino, but Wolverine’s not involved in that.<\/p>\n

FALLEN SON: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA – IRON MAN<\/strong><\/a>
\nOne-shot<\/strong>
\nby Jeph Loeb, John Cassaday & Laura Martin<\/strong>
\nJuly 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

A cameo of the New Avengers watching Captain America’s funeral on television, regretting the fact that, as outlaws, they can’t go. There’s a fundamental problem in the next year or so, where\u00a0New Avengers<\/em> wants Wolverine to be part of an outlaw team on the run from the authorities, but the X-books have him living at the Mansion, which is monitored by O*N*E around the clock. You can square this somewhat by claiming that nobody ever manages to prove that he’s hanging out with the New Avengers, but it really is getting close to parallel tracks of continuity in a way we haven’t quite seen before.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN: PHOENIX – WARSONG<\/a><\/strong>
\n5-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Greg Pak, Tyler Kirkham, Sal Regla & John Starr<\/strong>
\nSeptember 2006 to February 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sequel to\u00a0X-Men: Phoenix – Endsong<\/em>. That mini was better than I remembered; this one is not.<\/p>\n

The Stepford Cuckoos turn out to be escapees from a batch of flawed Emma Frost clones created by John Sublime. An A.I. copy of Sublime<\/strong> plans to trap the Cuckoos’ fragment of the Phoenix force within their organic diamond bodies, and then use that fragment to access the Phoenix’s infinite power. The Cuckoos thwart his plan, but have to stay in their emotionless diamond forms in order to contain the Phoenix. The X-Men chase around after them, during which they meet SHIELD agent Jake Oh<\/strong>. Mediocre.<\/p>\n

X-MEN vol 2 #200-203<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Blinded by the Light”<\/strong>
\nby Mike Carey, Chris Bachalo, Humberto Ramos, Carlos Cuevas, Tim Townsend, Edgar Delgado & Antonio Fabela<\/strong>
\nJune to September 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men fight a new Marauders team; Wolverine is there, among the guests from other\u00a0X-Men<\/em> titles. Not much more to it, as far as he’s concerned.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0flashback in the third story in\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> vol 6 #12<\/strong> appears here on the MCP timeline:\u00a0Detective Chikeko Tomomaatsu<\/strong> takes Logan to the Guernica bar, newly popular wihth the superhero community. Wolverine meets the current writer of his comic,\u00a0Marcus Harold<\/strong>, and they argue. If the bar owner is to be believed, “Logan and some of the guys who’ve written his comic, they go back a long way. They’re close like brothers, but damn they fight.” Does Wolverine really have the profile to have a long-running solo title within the Marvel Universe? Apparently so.<\/p>\n

NEW X-MEN vol 2 #38-39 and #41<\/strong><\/a>
\n“The Quest for Magik, parts 1, 2 and 4”<\/strong>
\nby Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Skottie Young, Sean Parsons & Jean-Francois Beaulieu<\/strong>
\nMay to August 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Belasco captures the X-Men while searching for Magik; they get freed at the end just in time to get teleported back home by\u00a0the Darkchylde<\/strong>, a soulless version of Magik. Little more than cameos.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS vol 2 #8 (Cyclops & Wolverine story)<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Rabbit Hunt”<\/strong>
\nby Andy Schmidt, Marco Turini & Chris Sotomayor<\/strong>
\nApril 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prompted by the death of his father (which happened in July 2007, hence the placement of this story), Scott Summers decides to brush up his survival skills, claiming that it’s a response to mutants’ current predicament of near extinction. Logan shares some tips. They discuss Xavier’s dream and realise that Scott comes to the wilderness to vent, while Logan goes there for calm. Logan’s advice prompts Scott to talk properly with Alex about the death of their father. This is a nice little story, the subtext being that Scott is turning to Logan as a possible replacement father figure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN: ENDANGERED SPECIES<\/a><\/strong>
\nOne-shot<\/strong>
\nby Mike Carey, Scot Eaton, John Dell & Frank D’Armata<\/strong>
\nJune 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men attend the funeral of a mutant boy who retained his powers only to get run over by a truck; the boy’s father is furious at what he sees as an intrusion into the family’s private grief by a bunch of mutants mourning a kid they never met, solely because he was another mutant. It’s basically a collection of character vignettes. Logan reflects on how it’s taken the near wipeout of mutants to make the X-Men truly value every life, and says that they will fight on because they don’t know how to do anything else.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0flashback in the backup strip in\u00a0X-Men<\/em>\u00a0vol 2 #201<\/strong>, the X-Men ask Wolverine for information about the Neverland death camp (from\u00a0Weapon X<\/em>) and he gives them some fairly uninformative answers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>SHE-HULK vol 2 #16<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Planet Without a Hulk, part 2”<\/strong>
\nby Dan Slott, Rick Burchett, Cliff Rathburn & Dave Kemp<\/strong>
\nFebruary 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine and the She-Hulk team up to capture a new Wendigo. He lets SHIELD’s\u00a0Hulkbuster Unit<\/strong> take the Wendigo into custody – this group includes Clay Quartermain,\u00a0Agent Cheesecake<\/strong> and\u00a0Agent Crimson<\/strong> – but privately tells She-Hulk that he doesn’t trust them in the slightest.<\/p>\n

SUB-MARINER vol 2 #2-3<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Revolution, parts 2-3”<\/strong>
\nby Matt Cherniss, Peter Johnson, Phil Briones & Paul Mounts<\/strong>
\nJuly & August 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Namor shows up at the X-Men Mansion, looking for Professor X’s help in dealing with Atlantean terrorists who have destroyed a Kansas town. Wolverine tries to drive Namor off, on the curious pretext that his presence will provoke Sentinel Squad O*N*E and endanger the remaining students. It’s a very<\/em> gratuitous fight scene, in other words.\u00a0Professor X eventually calms the situation but ultimately refuses to help anyway.<\/p>\n

PENANCE: RELENTLESS #3 and #5<\/strong><\/a>
\n5-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Paul Jenkins, Paul Gulacy & Rain Beredo<\/strong>
\nNovember 2007 and March 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is from the desperately stupid period where sad Speedball was wandering around in a BDSM suit and calling himself\u00a0Penance<\/strong>. He steals nuclear launch codes as part of a convoluted scheme to get his hands on Nitro, currently a prisoner in Latveria. Wolverine tries to deal with that, but winds up diverting the new\u00a0Thunderbolts<\/strong> –\u00a0Moonstone<\/strong> (Karla Sofen),\u00a0Songbird<\/strong> (Melissa Gold),\u00a0the Swordsman<\/strong> (Andreas Strucker, formerly of Fenris),\u00a0the Radioactive Man<\/strong> (Chen Lu) and\u00a0Venom<\/strong> (Mac Gargan) – so that Penance can steal their plane for his\u00a0actual\u00a0<\/em>plan. Later, Wolverine helps him escape after he’s finished torturing and killing Nitro. Cheerful!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>NEW AVENGERS vol 1 #27-31<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Revolution”<\/strong>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Yu & Dave McCaig<\/strong>
\nFebruary to June 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

The “New” Avengers are now hanging out at Dr Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, which is magically disguised to look abandoned. Following a tip-off that Captain America is alive after all, they try to rescue him from the Raft, but it’s a trap set by Iron Man’s official Avengers – himself, Wasp, Ms Marvel, Sentry, Wonder Man, Black Widow and\u00a0Ares<\/strong>. Fortunately, Iron Man’s team aren’t prepared for Dr Strange’s magic, so the New Avengers escape. The next day, the official Avengers show up at the Sanctum with\u00a0Brother Voodoo<\/strong> (Jericho Drumm) to have another go, but they can’t get in.<\/p>\n

The New Avengers discuss whether there’s any real point in staying together, and Luke Cage continues to insist that there’s an alien invasion they need to deal with. Clint Barton joins as the new\u00a0Ronin<\/strong>, and they all head to Japan in answer to a distress call from Echo, who has been investigating the Hand. (Wolverine claims later that he only sticks around at this point to make sure Echo gets rescued.)<\/p>\n

The Avengers fight the Hand and Elektra – who gets killed and turns out to be a Skrull impostor. Despite the fact that the Hand are Wolverine villains, he doesn’t get much to do here. A\u00a0flashback in\u00a0Daredevil<\/em> vol 2 #112<\/strong> shows the New Avengers reacting to the Skrull body, and the MCP has a generic fight with ninjas, from a\u00a0flashback in\u00a0Punisher<\/em> vol 8<\/strong> #3<\/strong>, placed as taking place during the fight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>NEW AVENGERS vol 1 #32-34 and #36-37<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Trust”<\/strong>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Yu & Dave McCaig<\/strong>
\nJuly to December 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

The New Avengers fly back to the USA on Iron Fist’s private jet, bring the body of “Elektra” with them. Wolverine blithely points out that if there are Skrull infiltrators around, none of them can be trusted, including himself – someone who “is everywhere at once”. Because of an EMP taking place over in Mighty Avengers,\u00a0<\/em>the plane crashes. “Spider-Woman” (still a Skrull impostor) takes the opportunity to escape with the corpse. Wolverine notices, but wrongly concludes that she’s taking the body to Iron Man.<\/p>\n

Once he’s back in New York, Logan goes looking for Skrulls, but winds up fighting\u00a0the Hood<\/strong> (Parker Robbins) and his sidekick\u00a0John King<\/strong>. He learns that the Hood is planning to attack Avengers Tower using a Deathlok cyborg.\u00a0The New Avengers decide to warn the official team, but wind up getting stuck in a team-up against a horde of symbiotes instead. “Spider-Woman” switches teams and joins the official Avengers; Wolverine confronts her about it, but gets fobbed off again.\u00a0Later, the New Avengers take down the Hood and his army of villains, who include\u00a0the Wizard<\/strong> (Bentley Whitman), the Wrecking Crew,\u00a0Madame Masque<\/strong> (Whitney Frost) and\u00a0Chemistro<\/strong> (Calvin Carr). Wolverine gets a couple of nice moments in this arc, but there’s still no particularly good reason for him to be here at all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>CABLE & DEADPOOL #43-44<\/a><\/strong>
\n“With Friends Like These–?” \/ “Head Games”<\/strong>
\nby Fabian Nicieza, Ron Lim, Jeremy Freeman & Gotham<\/strong>
\nJuly & August 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

We’re in the dying days of Cable & Deadpool\u00a0<\/em>here, where Cable had been written out and the book was limping on as a\u00a0Deadpool team-up series.<\/p>\n

Wolverine travels to Benghazi to investigate contraband shipments of hi-tech materials. Deadpool’s old sidekick\u00a0Weasel<\/strong>, currently a reluctant ally of HYDRA,\u00a0is gathering these materials in order to make his “Penetrator” teleporting armour. Deadpool and his new sidekick\u00a0Bob, Agent of HYDRA<\/strong> try to rescue Weasel before Wolverine can get to him and kill him. But Weasel has talked the HYDRA agents into accepting him as their new sector commander, and outfits them all with his new teleporter devices – which take them all directly to Guantanamo Bay.<\/p>\n

Wolverine is basically a foil here, playing the unstoppable force that Deadpool has to try and rein in. He does come across as a bit dim, since he fails to figure out a twist that even Deadpool anticipates.<\/p>\n

NEW WARRIORS vol 4 #2-3<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Defiant, parts 2-3”<\/strong>
\nby Kevin Grevioux, Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco & Marte Gracia<\/strong>
\nJuly & August 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

New heroine\u00a0Wondra<\/strong>, from the latest incarnation\u00a0New Warriors<\/strong>, is actually the de-powered Jubilee, using tech to fake new superpowers. Wolverine warns her that it’s dangerous to try to replace lost powers, and reminds her that when he lost his adamantium, he had to learn that he was still himself.<\/p>\n

WORLD WAR HULK: X-MEN<\/strong><\/a>
\n3-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Christos Gage, Andrea DiVito & Laura Villari<\/strong>
\nJune to August 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Hulk has returned to Earth after being fired into space by the Illuminati, and shows up at the Mansion to confront Professor X. Even though he wasn’t actually there for the meeting in question, Hulk wants to know how he would have voted. Much fighting ensues, until the Hulk sees the graves of all the mutants who have died recently, concludes that the X-Men are already in hell, and wanders off to get back to the main plot of his crossover event. Wolverine is just a face in the crowd.<\/p>\n

WORLD WAR HULK: AFTERSMASH! – DAMAGE CONTROL #2-3<\/strong><\/a>
\n3-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Dwayne McDuffie, Salva Espin & Guru eFX<\/strong>
\nFebruary and March 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just two cameos in the crowd – one among the heroes helping to rebuild after\u00a0World War Hulk<\/em>, and one among the heroes who fight the Chrysler Building when it briefly comes to life. (Literally, his hand is in one panel.) Wolverine ticks a few minor names off his list here:\u00a0Black Goliath<\/strong> (Tom Foster),\u00a0Monstro<\/strong> (Frank Johnson),\u00a0Visioneer<\/strong> (Abby Dunton),\u00a0Slapstick<\/strong> (Steve Harmon),\u00a0Komodo\u00a0<\/strong>of\u00a0the Initiative<\/strong>, a Skrull impostor Thor Girl<\/strong>, and Damage Control intern\u00a0Bart Rozum<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 3 #50-55<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Evolution”<\/strong>
\nby Jeph Loeb, Simone Bianchi, Andrea Silvestri, Simone Peruzzi & Frank D’Armata<\/strong>
\nJanuary to June 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh dear. This.<\/p>\n

Brace yourself, because this is really bad.<\/p>\n

Ever since regaining his memories, Logan has been plagued by visions of a werewolf-like race, the Lupine<\/strong>, who have existed since the dawn of time with a repeated cycle of conflict between warriors who resemble himself and Creed, while a shadowy villain watches from above. By this point, Sabretooth is living at the Mansion again, and Wolverine fights him for no particular reason. He asks Sabretooth what he meant when he said “quod sum eris<\/em>” after killing Silver Fox years ago, and after more pointless fighting, Sabretooth explains that it’s Latin for “I am what you will be” – in other words, one day Wolverine will become like Sabretooth. After yet more pointless fighting, the story randomly heads off to an archaeological dig in Wakanda which has apparently discovered Lupine skeletons. Wolverine’s visions reveal the Lupine’s leader as Romulus.<\/p>\n

The Black Panther and Storm then explain a bizarre pseudoscientific theory: the Lupine are a split evolutionary strand evolved from wolves, who somehow became part of mutantkind. This supposedly explains the number of mutants who have lupine components, and Sabretooth indicates that all Lupine degenerate into murderers like him in the end. When Wolverine asks directly about Romulus, Sabretooth is shaken and won’t answer. Soon after\u00a0that<\/em>, Wolverine has an encounter with Wild Child, and winds up pursuing him to the Weapon X facility alongside Sasquatch, Wolfsbane, Feral and Thornn (who are all presented as somehow linked to the Lupine, even though Sasquatch isn’t a mutant, and Feral and Thornn are cats). Logan now recalls seeing Romulus in Weapon X when he was a prisoner there. Finally, all this builds to Wolverine confronting Sabretooth at the old cabin that he used to share with Silver Fox, and beheading him with the Muramasa Blade. Romulus briefly puts in an appearance in person, to tell Wolverine that everything he has learned is true, before moving on.<\/p>\n

“Evolution” is incoherent drivel, and its attempt to tie Wolverine and Sabretooth to some sort of hidden race never took off – in fact, Loeb’s own sequel will brush it aside as mind games by Romulus. It’s particularly bizarre that this idea was introduced at the same time that Daniel Way’s\u00a0Wolverine: Origins<\/em> was already under way, initially set up as a straightforward story of Wolverine hunting down the black ops conspiracy that had exploited him in the past. Romulus gets plugged in to the\u00a0Origins<\/em> conspiracy as the head of a shadowy criminal organisation, but even that book didn’t touch the Lupine nonsense.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE vol 3 #50 (second story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Puny Little Man”<\/strong>
\nby Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness, Dexter Vines & Dave McCaig<\/strong>
\nJanuary 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weird meta story in which Wolverine dreams about his first fight with the Hulk, and it then segues into the version from\u00a0Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk<\/em> (which at the time was the most recent version of the fight). I suppose the idea is meant to be that the story keeps being re-told, but so what?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE: ORIGINS ANNUAL #1<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Return to Madripoor”<\/strong>
\nby Daniel Way, Kaare Andrews & Shannon Blanchard<\/strong>
\nJuly 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan returns to Madripoor in search of a box kept by his old partner Seraph, which supposedly contained secrets that she would take to the grave. Police officer Tai turns out to be part of Romulus’s conspiracy and commits suicide; Seraph’s coffin contains no box of secrets, but does have Romulus’s name written inside.<\/p>\n

Largely a framing sequence for a flashback story set in 1942, but very pretty at least.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #16-20<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Our War”<\/strong>
\nby Daniel Way, Steve Dillon & Matt Milla<\/strong>
\nAugust to December 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine reminisces about his encounters with Captain America and Bucky during World War II, in a private wake for the late superhero. Just a framing sequence for a story we covered back in the World War II chapter.<\/p>\n

NEW X-MEN vol 2 #43<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Children of X-Men, part 2”<\/strong>
\nby Christopher Yost, Craig Kyle, Skottie Young & Jean-Francois Beaulieu<\/strong>
\nOctober 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men discuss the traumatised state of their remaining pupils, but get them back to training regardless.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE ANNUAL vol 2 #1<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Death Song of J Patrick Smitty”<\/strong>
\nby Gregg Hurwitz & Marcelo Frusin<\/strong>
\nOctober 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan has a pleasant encounter on the streets with an old woman, only for her to be killed by crossfire in a bank robbery soon after. He hunts down the robbers, but leaves one of them – the titular J Patrick Smitty<\/strong> – alive in order to send a message of fear to the others, promising to return and kill him last. And in the end, that’s exactly what happens.<\/p>\n

It’s really Smitty’s story, the point being that he spent his whole life telling himself that there was still time to change, and that he left it too late. Quite good, though it does veer towards the Punisher interpretation of Wolverine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 3 #56<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Man in the Pit”<\/strong>
\nby Jason Aaron, Howard Chaykin & Edgar Delgado<\/strong>
\nAugust 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

A mystery villain (identified in the epilogue as Romulus) keeps Wolverine in a pit for eight weeks, with guards paid to keep shooting at him in order to keep him subdued. Over several weeks, Wolverine drives one of the guards to madness and convinces the guy to let him out in an act of attempted suicide.<\/p>\n

It’s a banality-of-evil story told from the point of view of the guard, along with a Sherlock Holmes routine based on Wolverine picking up details about the guard’s life through his enhanced senses. A lot better than the over-the-top high concept makes it sound.<\/p>\n

BREAKING INTO COMICS THE MARVEL WAY #1 (New Avengers story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Modern Love”<\/strong>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, Christian Nauck, Terry Austin & Matt Wilson<\/strong>
\nMarch 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

The New Avengers have a brief cameo, reacting to a whirlwind romance between Iron Fist and Spider-Woman.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 3 #57-61<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Logan Dies”<\/strong>
\nby Marc Guggenheim, Howard Chaykin & Edgar Delgado<\/strong>
\nSeptember 2007 to January 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

And now, back for the last chunk of Marc Guggenheim’s run. Remember Amir, the Atlantean spy from the\u00a0Civil War<\/em> arc last year? Well, she and Wolverine head to Iraq to fight the mercenary group\u00a0Scimitar<\/strong>. But Amir is killed, and Scimitar agent Shogun kills Wolverine. When he heads to his regular fight with Lazaer, he loses – meaning that his body heals but he remains comatose.<\/p>\n

Dr Strange sets out to retrieve Wolverine’s soul from Purgatory. He shows Wolverine how he’s been fighting Lazaer every time he dies, and theorises that Wolverine lost this time because he was so upset about, er, the death of Amir. If you say so. Strange then takes Logan on a tour through his history, and Logan finally figures out that he’s been struggling in his battles with Lazaer ever since being resurrected by the Hand during\u00a0“Enemy of the State”.<\/p>\n

Somehow or other, this realisation allows Logan to return to his body. He then hunts down Phaedra, the woman who resurrected him for the Hand. After fighting a resurrected Shingen Yashida (and re-killing him), Wolverine learns that Phaedra and Lazaer are taking revenge on him for escaping death so many times. If that’s their objection, then one might have thought that a good plan would be not to resurrect him during “Enemy of the State” in the first place. But instead, their more ornate plan was to resurrect him with only part of his soul; the other part of his soul is now Shogun. Wolverine kills Shogun, then offers to kill Phaedra in exchange for Lazaer fully restoring him (since Lazaer doesn’t like any resurrectionists running around). Lazaer agrees, on condition that Wolverine will never be able to return from the dead again. Phaedra tries to buy him off by offering to resurrect Mariko, but Wolverine refuses to have her sullied. He then kills Phaedra and all the Scimitar members, and leaves contentedly.<\/p>\n

Presumably, this whole arc was supposed to provide an explanation for Wolverine’s more extreme healing stunts, and then rein in his powers to put a stop to that sort of thing. It didn’t stick in the slightest, but the idea had some merit. This arc also features Howard Chaykin drawing Wolverine in a chainmail T-shirt and combat trousers, for absolutely no reason other than that’s what Chaykin thinks he wears.<\/p>\n

NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL vol 1 #2<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, Carlo Pagulayan, Jeff Huet & Justin Ponsor<\/strong>
\nJanuary 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Hood and his army of supervillains attack the New Avengers; they get driven off, but Dr Strange declares that he needs to leave the team and rebuild his strength.<\/p>\n

Among the random villains, Wolverine ticks off\u00a0the Living Laser<\/strong> (Arthur Parks),\u00a0one of the Blood Brothers<\/strong>,\u00a0Centurius<\/strong> (Noah Black),\u00a0the Corruptor<\/strong> (Jackson Day),\u00a0the Answer<\/strong> (Aaron Nicholson),\u00a0Cutthroat<\/strong> (Daniel Leightoon),\u00a0one of the Brothers Grimm<\/strong>,\u00a0the Purple Man<\/strong> (Zebediah Killgrave),\u00a0Dr Demonicus<\/strong> (Douglas Birely),\u00a0the Griffin<\/strong> (Johnny Horton),\u00a0Crossfire<\/strong> (William Cross),\u00a0Jigsaw<\/strong> (Billy Russo),\u00a0the Slug<\/strong> (Ulysses Lugman) and\u00a0Shockwave<\/strong> (Lancaster Sneed). Oh, and\u00a0Night Nurse<\/strong> (Linda Carter) is at the Sanctum too.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE: FIREBREAK<\/a><\/strong>
\nOne-shot<\/strong>
\nby Mike Carey, Scott Kolins & Moose Baumann<\/strong>
\nDecember 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

When a HYDRA chemical warfare test goes wrong and starts a forest fire, a blinded Wolverine helps a squabbling family to escape. It’s a gimmick story but it’s done well.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE: FIREBREAK (second story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Little White Lies”<\/strong>
\nby Macon Blair, Vasilis Lolos & Nestor Pereyra<\/strong>
\nDecember 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

Psychotic criminal\u00a0Carmelo SS<\/strong> (Carmelo de lo Santo Silva) abducts Samuel Lacey.<\/strong>\u00a0Samuel is the estranged son of White House drug czar\u00a0William Lacey<\/strong>, who asks Wolverine to sort it out discreetly. Unfortunately, by the time Wolverine reaches Samuel, he’s been infected with a slow-acting fatal poison, to which there is no antidote. Satisfied that the boy’s condition really is terminal, Wolverine puts him out of his misery (at his own request). He falsely tells the father that the boy died instantly and painlessly, but Lacey is most hurt by the truthful news that his son died bravely. This is quite good, aside from a baffling diversion to fight some circus performers.<\/p>\n

Next time, Jason Aaron writes his first arc in a lengthy stint as Wolverine’s regular writer; and the X-Men head to San Francisco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 1: Origin to Origin II | Part 2: 1907 to 1914 Part 3: 1914 to 1939 | Part 4: World War II Part 5: The postwar era | Part 6: Team X Part 7: Post Team X | Part 8: Weapon X Part 9: Department H | Part 10: The Silver Age 1974-1975\u00a0|\u00a01976 | […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wolverine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8418"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8537,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8418\/revisions\/8537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}