{"id":8504,"date":"2023-01-01T11:09:52","date_gmt":"2023-01-01T11:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8504"},"modified":"2023-02-05T11:25:15","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T11:25:15","slug":"the-incomplete-wolverine-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8504","title":{"rendered":"The Incomplete Wolverine – 2008"},"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> | 2007<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

For once, the start of this year makes a nice break point for Wolverine. Last time we went up to the January 2008 issue of his solo book, which completes the Marc Guggenheim run. His new regular writer is going to stick with him for several years and several books.<\/p>\n

At this point, Wolverine is a regular character in\u00a0Wolverine<\/em>,\u00a0Wolverine: Origins<\/em>,\u00a0Uncanny X-Men<\/em>,\u00a0Astonishing X-Men<\/em> and\u00a0New Avengers<\/em>. So clearly something’s going to give… right?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>NEW AVENGERS vol 1 #38<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Breakup”<\/strong>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos & Jose Villarrubia<\/strong>
\nFebruary 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Danny Rand gives the New Avengers one of his apartments as a new base. Wolverine shows up for that bit, in what’s otherwise a Luke and Jessica story.<\/p>\n

NEW AVENGERS vol 1 #39<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Echo”<\/strong>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack & Jose Villarrubia<\/strong>
\nMarch 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is an Echo spotlight story, but Wolverine is in it prominently. She thinks the Skrull conspiracy theory is just a way for the New Avengers to justify to themselves the disastrous state of their lives, but Logan points out that this theory doesn’t explain why he’s there, as “my life’s about the same level of disaster it always was”. Later, he saves her from a Skrull who tries to replace her, proving the conspiracy theory right.\u00a0There’s a suggestion in here that Logan and Echo have slept together at some point, which is probably best forgotten about.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

X-MEN & SPIDER-MAN #4<\/strong><\/a>
\n“The Mutant Hunter”<\/strong>
\nby Christos Gage & Mario Alberti<\/strong>
\nMarch 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men and Spider-Man team up against\u00a0Xraven<\/strong>, a clone of Kraven the Hunter who was created by Mr Sinister to hunt down surviving mutants and collect their DNA.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>ASTONISHING X-MEN vol 3 #14-18<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Torn, parts 2-6”<\/strong>
\nby Joss Whedon, John Cassaday & Laura Martin<\/strong>
\nApril to November 2006<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bizarrely, we now jump back to Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men\u00a0<\/em>from two years previously. This is partly due to ludicrous delays, but also because of a lack of break points in the run, and a number of 2008 stories in other books that reference Whedon’s finale.<\/p>\n

The X-Men are seemingly attacked by a new Hellfire Club – a treacherous Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, Cassandra Nova, Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Perfection – whose psychic attack leaves Logan as a frightened child. The idea is meant to be that he’s reset to his little Victorian rich kid persona from Origin<\/em>.\u00a0Even in this state, Logan tries to help Kitty Pryde fight the bad guys, on the grounds that it would be wrong to hide behind a girl – but he’s not much use to her. It turns out that the Hellfire Club are all just illusions projected by Emma, who is acting under a psychic suggestion once placed in her by Cassandra Nova, and is trying to create a distraction so that Cassandra can escape. Supposedly Emma is confronting the X-Men with their worst fears, though Logan’s regression to childhood is a weird take on that idea. Anyway, before any of this can be fully tied up, Abigail Brand shows up and drags everyone off to the Breakworld.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>ASTONISHING X-MEN vol 3 #19-24<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Unstoppable”<\/strong>
\nby Joss Whedon, John Cassaday & Laura Martin<\/strong>
\nDecember 2006 to January 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is where the delays really set in – a\u00a0six-issue arc in a “monthly” comic that somehow took over a year.<\/p>\n

Brand and S.W.O.R.D. (including\u00a0Agent Deems<\/strong> and\u00a0Sydren<\/strong>) take the X-Men to the Breakworld, where Powerlord Kruun\u00a0<\/strong>plans to fire\u00a0a planet-destroying weapon at the Earth. The team get scattered around the Breakworld, and Logan winds up with Hisako – still being written as a schoolgirl rookie, but she takes the name\u00a0Armor<\/strong> during this arc. Whedon is obviously setting her up for a reprise of Logan’s relationships with Kitty Pryde and Jubilee, and some later writers try to follow through on that, but it kind of peters out.<\/p>\n

Despite taking the usual tough love stance with Armor, Wolverine is clearly impressed by her, and unilaterally declares her to be a new X-Man. Finally, the X-Men, Danger and rebel leader\u00a0Aghanne<\/strong> battle Kruun’s forces. The prophecy that one of the X-Men will destroy the Breakworld turns out to have been engineered by Aghanne, who is so dispirited by Breakworld’s brutality that she’s trying to engineer a conflict to destroy the place. Kitty phases into the planet-destroyer weapon as it launches, planning to disarm it, only to find that there’s nothing to disarm, because it’s just a giant bullet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>GIANT-SIZE ASTONISHING X-MEN #1<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Gone”<\/strong>
\nby Joss Whedon, John Cassady & Laura Martin<\/strong>
\nMay 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Again, yes, that really is the date.<\/p>\n

Ord defeats Aghanne and saves the Breakworld. When Kruun confirms that there’s no way of saving Kitty, Wolverine cuts off his arm. Colossus takes advantage of his reputation from the prophecy, and declares himself ruler of the planet. (As usual when X-Men make this sort of decision, he won’t stick around to actually do it.)<\/p>\n

For reasons that elude me, the bullet somehow crosses the interstellar distance to Earth in a remarkably short timescale. Kitty saves Earth by phasing the giant bullet through the planet, but remains stuck inside as the bullet flies off into space. Back at the Mansion, the X-Men lament her loss, but – continuing Whedon’s \u00a0attempt to position Armor as his next sidekick – Logan is snapped out of his funk when she challenges him to spar.<\/p>\n

And that was the Joss Whedon run. Very pretty, but really quite slow even when read in one sitting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>MESSIAH COMPLEX<\/a><\/strong>
\nX-Men: Messiah Complex<\/em> by Ed Brubaker, Marc Silvestri, Joe Weems & Frank D’Armata<\/strong>
\nUncanny X-Men<\/em> vol 1 #492-494 by Ed Brubaker, Billy Tan, Danny Miki & Frank D’Armata<\/strong>
\nX-Factor<\/em> vol 3 #25-27 by Peter David, Scot Eaton, John Dell & Frank D’Armata<\/strong>
\nNew X-Men<\/em> vol 2 #44-46 by Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Humberto Ramos, Carlos Cuevas & Edgar Delgado<\/strong>
\nX-Men<\/em> vol 2 #205-207 by Mike Carey, Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend & Brian Reber<\/strong>
\nOctober 2007 to January 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the first time since M-Day, Cerebro detects a powerful new mutant signal in Alaska – a newborn who will eventually be named\u00a0Hope Summers<\/strong>. By the time the X-Men arrive, Hope is gone, and the town has been wrecked by a battle between the Marauders and the Purifiers\u00a0<\/b>(both of whom also know about Hope). The X-Men conclude that the Marauders have abducted Hope and must have brought her Mr Sinister. They turn out to be wrong, but this is a 13-part crossover and busy work is needed, so Wolverine’s squad of X-Men spend several issues tracking down former Acolytes (including\u00a0Gargouille<\/strong> (Lavinia Lablance)) and confronting Sinister before discovering that Cable had the baby all along.<\/p>\n

Sentinel Squad O*N*E get turned into human-Sentinel hybrids by nanotech and destroy the X-Men Mansion. This later turns out to be part of Bishop’s scheme to kill Hope, but it’s the end of the Mansion for a few years, and the last we’ll hear of Sentinel Squad O*N*E, who never really did anything other than loom.<\/p>\n

Despite the devastation, Cyclops decides that recovering Hope is the top priority, and sends the new X-Force\u00a0<\/strong>to get her back: Wolverine,\u00a0Hepzibah, X-23, Warpath, Wolfsbane and Caliban. Wolverine is surprised that Cyclops is sending a bunch of killers after his own son, which is a bit odd since at this stage X-Force is just a bunch of characters with tracking skills. Wolverine is team leader from the outset, a role that he’s always avoided up to this point; maybe he’s \u00a0more willing to take the job when it doesn’t involve holding himself out as a hero. He doesn’t trust Warpath to fight his former team leader Cable, which is fair enough, but for some reason he thinks Wolfsbane is a good choice to keep an eye on Warpath for him.<\/p>\n

X-Force track down Cable but wind up fighting the Marauders again. During the fight, Wolverine warns Warpath and Wolfsbane – the two nicest members of the new X-Force – that they will die if they aren’t prepared to use lethal force against the Marauders. A distorted version of this fight also appears in\u00a0flashback in\u00a0Deadpool vs Gambit<\/em> #4<\/strong>, which conflates it with the Mutant Massacre; and another version the fight is in flashback in\u00a0X-Men Legacy<\/em> vol 1 #208<\/strong>. Complicating matters further, the New X-Men kids show up, on the run from a mutant-hunting Predator X<\/strong>\u00a0 creature. Since it has indestructible skin, Wolverine lets it eat him and then destroys it from the inside.<\/p>\n

Cyclops agrees that Cable should take Hope into the future and raise her there. Bishop, who believes that the baby is guaranteed to cause disaster, tries to shoot her, but winds up shooting Professor X instead; the Marauders spirit the Professor’s body away, as seen in\u00a0flashback in\u00a0X-Men Legacy\u00a0<\/em>#208.\u00a0<\/strong>The X-Men are shocked, and Cyclops announces that without the Professor, there are no X-Men. As we’ll see, this doesn’t last long.<\/p>\n

This juggernaut 13-part crossover is surprisingly coherent, though it does feature quite a bit of padding. It introduces the new X-Force, who’ll get their own series shortly. It’s also the turning point where things start looking up for the X-Men, at least in plot terms – in tone, Astonishing\u00a0<\/i>was already lighter. In fact, “Messiah Complex” is bleak and rainy in comparison, except in the\u00a0New X-Men\u00a0<\/em>issues, which are drawn by Humberto Ramos in a style wildly at odds with the rest of the arc.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE vol 3 #62-65<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Get Mystique!”<\/strong>
\nby Jason Aaron, Ron Garney & Jason Keith<\/strong>
\nFebruary to May 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Welcome to the Jason Aaron run, which will take us into the 2010s. There’s actually a lengthy interruption after this first arc, but the Aaron run basically starts here.<\/p>\n

Immediately after “Messiah Complex.” Cyclops sends Wolverine to kill Mystique, who has slipped away in the confusion. (A version of this scene also appears in\u00a0flashback in\u00a0Cable<\/em> vol 2 #6<\/strong>.) Wolverine chases her through Iran and Afghanistan, while she impersonates him in order to turn the locals against him in advance. Intercut with this are extended flashbacks to Logan and Mystique’s first meeting back in 1921. He finally catches up to her in a bar in the Baghdad Green Zone, where she claims to have no regrets and questions why Wolverine suddenly cares so much about her betraying the X-Men for the umpteenth time. Naturally, she escapes again.<\/p>\n

While Mystique kills off the visiting\u00a0Senator Miles Brickman\u00a0<\/strong>and takes his place, Logan hooks up with Mordad<\/strong>, a guerrilla fighter who helped him against the Russians in 1986. Logan blows himself up in a car bomb in order to get taken into the high security part of Baghdad, fights Mystique\u00a0again<\/em>, and winds up chasing her into the Syrian desert for a final battle. During that fight – where Mystique seems to be fighting naked for no terribly clear reason – Mystique argues that Logan resents her because she never settled down and “bec[a]me a reservation Indian, like you”. She argues that he sees the X-Men as his last shot of redemption, that he can’t deal with the fact that she walked away from that opportunity, and that in reality it’s in both of their natures to betray the X-Men. (That ties in with Logan betraying Mystique in the flashbacks.) They fight to a standstill, but Wolverine naturally recovers first. He insists that he’s nothing like her, and spends every waking hour atoning for his mistakes – then abandons her in the desert to bleed to death, in order to make a point that nobody will come for her. Thoughtfully, he does leave her a gun to shoot herself with.<\/p>\n

Obviously, as an interpretation of Mystique, this is highly questionable. Mystique’s relationships with Destiny and to Rogue are defining traits, albeit that both were severed at this point in time. And she’s spent much of her career working in teams. But that aside, it’s a strong start to the Aaron\/Garney run, harking back to the tongue-in-cheek machismo of Larry Hama’s stories.<\/p>\n

The rest of the 2008\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> issues are part of the “Old Man Logan” storyline by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven, which runs through to issue #72. That takes place in an alternate future timeline, and the “real” Wolverine doesn’t appear at all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>AMAZING SPIDER-MAN vol 1 #555<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Sometimes it Snows in April”<\/strong>
\nby Zeb Wells, Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend & Antonio Fabela<\/strong>
\nApril 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the DB (as the Daily Bugle is currently called) accuses Spider-Man of a string of killings, Logan tells him that it obviously isn’t true, since “You don’t have it in you.” When Spider-Man comments that Logan says that like it’s a bad thing, Logan kind of shrugs. He helps Spider-Man fight a bunch of mysterious ninja types and has to be talked out of killing one of them. There’s a clever bit when Logan points out how much damage he took in the fight, and Spider-Man basically accuses him of deliberately taking damage so that he’ll have an excuse to retaliate. Logan just smirks, then drops out of the plot.<\/p>\n

X-MEN: DIVIDED WE STAND #2<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Lights Out”<\/strong>
\nby Mike Carey, Scot Eaton, Andrew Hennessy & Frank D’Armata<\/strong>
\nMay 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

A cameo, giving the Beast a lift to the ruins of the Xavier Institute.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE: THE AMAZING IMMORTAL MAN AND OTHER BLOODY TALES (second story)<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Animal Man”<\/strong>
\nby David Lapham, Stefano Gaudiano & Matt Milla<\/strong>
\nMay 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan saves a Bronx bus driver from a stabbing, unknowingly inspiring the mentally unstable man to become a local vigilante – who gets himself killed on his first night.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE: THE AMAZING IMMORTAL MAN AND OTHER BLOODY TALES (third story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Coney Island Baby”<\/strong>
\nby David Lapham, Stefano Gaudiano & Matt Milla<\/strong>
\nMay 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan hunts down a vigilante who has been gunning down gangsters, as well as innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire. As tends to be the case in Lapham stories, there’s a horror twist on the seemingly familiar premise, as the gunman turns out to be a series of people all possessed by a tiny mutant child parasite. Even though he fears it’ll grow into a monster, Logan lets it go.<\/p>\n

FANTASTIC FOUR vol 1 #556-557<\/strong><\/a>
\n“World’s Greatest, parts 3-4”<\/strong>
\nby Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch<\/strong>
\nApril & May 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine is among the many superheroes who help the Fantastic Four battle the out-of-control robot\u00a0C.A.P.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>FANTASTIC FOUR vol 1 #562<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Requiem”<\/strong>
\nby Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch, Cam Smith, Andrew Currie & Paul Mounts<\/strong>
\nDecember 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine attends the funeral of\u00a0an alternate future Invisible Woman<\/strong>. Specifically, she’s from the timeline of Millar’s “Old Man Logan” arc.<\/p>\n

Mourners that Wolverine hasn’t met before include\u00a0Valeria Richards<\/strong>,\u00a0Gauntlet<\/strong> (Joseph Green) and the deceased’s team\u00a0the New Defenders<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Hulk Jr<\/strong> (Robert Banner), Natalie X, Alex Ultron, Lightwave, Psionics<\/b> and\u00a0the Hooded Man<\/strong>. The Hooded Man is the alternate Wolverine from the original “Old Man Logan” timeline, and Wolverine does realise who he is, but the Hooded Man simply replies “Don’t even ask.”<\/p>\n

Just to be clear, there are two “Old Man Logan” timelines. The first is Mark Millar’s original story, and his own later stories expressly picking up on the same characters. The other is the one seen in the\u00a0Old Man Logan<\/em> series of the mid 2010s. The events of the original “Old Man Logan” arc are basically canon to both. It’s all needlessly confusing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-FORCE vol 3 #1-6<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Angels and Demons”<\/strong>
\nby Craig Kyle, Chris Yost & Clayton Crain<\/strong>
\nFebruary to July 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just what Wolverine needs – another ongoing series!<\/p>\n

Cyclops asks Wolverine to reassemble X-Force and take down the Purifiers. Wolverine is willing to work with Wolfsbane and Warpath (who wants revenge on the Purifiers anyway, for killing Caliban during “Messiah Complex”). But he objects strongly to including X-23, arguing that she doesn’t have the ability to make her own decisions yet, and that he brought her to the X-Men in order to be deprogrammed and learn to be a real person. Unfortunately, Cyclops has already sent her on the Purifiers’ trail, so Wolverine doesn’t get a say.<\/p>\n

The Purifiers quickly capture Wolfsbane, and drug her with heroin because it’s that sort of book. The Purifiers are notionally led by\u00a0Matthew Risman<\/strong>, but they’re also getting conflicting orders from Stryker and Bastion. On top of that, they’re working with Rahne’s loathsome father Reverend Craig, despite the fact that he was previously just a small-time civilian bigot. Wolverine, Warpath and X-23 go after the Purifiers, despite Wolverine’s incessant warnings to them both to walk away before they kill anyone and cross a line. Neither of them takes the hint, and Warpath does indeed kill people (to protect X-23), which is basically his arc in this series. X-23, meanwhile, is blithely setting off\u00a0incendiary bombs without warning her teammates, on the grounds that they can take it.<\/p>\n

After Wolfsbane is rescued, Elixir is brought in to heal her, dragging another innocent into this supposed black ops group. Wolfsbane has been brainwashed to attack Angel on sight, and she cuts off his wings and takes them to the Purifiers. Again, it’s that sort of book. Cloned wings are grafted onto assorted \u00a0Purifiers, who become the Choir<\/strong>; meanwhile, Warren turns into Archangel. In a rather bizarre finale, X-Force discover that Bastion has used the techno-organic virus to resurrect assorted villains, including\u00a0Graydon Creed, Stephen Lang<\/strong> and\u00a0Bolivar Trask<\/strong>. And Wolfsbane kills Reverend Craig when he stands in front of a picture of some wings and accidentally triggers her hypnotic prompt by looking vaguely angelic.<\/p>\n

Oh, and somewhere in here, there’s a Purifer called\u00a0Eli Bard<\/strong>, who is secretly trying to trick all his teammates into sacrificing their souls to Death. Wolverine\u00a0does<\/em> meet him, but he probably doesn’t stand out from the crowd.<\/p>\n

There’s an awful lot going on in this arc, and some of it is quite good. The basic angle for Wolverine is that he’s always defined himself as the guy who protects the other X-Men from having to do this sort of thing, and now finds himself forced by circumstances into a role where he’s dragging them into it instead. That’s quite a strong idea. Some of the internal manoeuvring of the Purifiers works too. But the grimdark elements drag it down, and Clayton Crain’s murky art has never appealed to me.<\/p>\n

X-FORCE: AIN’T NO DOG (second story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Hunters & Killers”<\/strong>
\nby Jason Aaron, Werther Dell’edera, Antonio Fuso & Andrew Crossley<\/strong>
\nJune 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine talks to Warpath about the handful of opponents he’s killed thus far; Warpath is determined not to forget them, and Wolverine replies that “you won’t.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>LOGAN<\/a>
\n3-issue miniseries
\nby Brian K Vaughan, Eduardo Risso & Dean White
\nMarch to May 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following\u00a0House of M<\/em>, Logan has regained his memory of fighting Ethan Warren at the site of the Hiroshima bomb. Logan returns to Hiroshima to confront Ethan, who has been stuck haunting the area ever since. During the fight, Ethan tears out Wolverine’s heart and eats it, which somehow restores him to human form; Wolverine promptly beheads Warren to kill him for real. While he heals, he has a vision of Atsuko, the woman he met in Hiroshima first time around, offering to remove his traumatic memories again. Presumably he turns down the offer, but we’re not directly told.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE: DANGEROUS GAMES (second story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Purity”<\/strong>
\nby Rick Remender, Jerome Ope\u00f1a & Michelle Madsen<\/strong>
\nJune 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Logan spends some time in Bangkok, helping a monk called\u00a0Klahan to curb drug gangs and traffickers, without resorting to violence. Still, Logan thinks the crime syndicates are out of control and there’s a limit to what he can do without force. When an apparent victim, Dao, turns out to be the crimelord herself, and her thugs have Klahan killed, Logan rejects Klahan’s dying pleas for him to keep to the moral high ground, and kills Dao instead.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UNCANNY X-MEN vol 1 #495-499<\/a><\/strong>
\n“X-Men: Divided”<\/strong>
\nby Ed Brubaker, Mike Choi & Sonia Oback<\/strong>
\nFebruary to June 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

With Professor X gone, the X-Men have disbanded at least for the moment. Logan and Kurt join Peter on a trip home to Russia, where they fight the\u00a0Red Room<\/strong> and Omega Red in what amounts to a subplot. At the end, they get a call from Scott inviting them to join him in San Francisco for the X-Men’s new direction.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE: MANIFEST DESTINY<\/strong><\/a>
\n4-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Jason Aaron, Stephen Segovia & John Rauch<\/strong>
\nOctober 2008 to February 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men move in to their new home in San Francisco. Logan only has three boxes, and claims that by his standards, it’s quite a lot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Thanks to\u00a0House of M<\/em>, Logan now remembers the mess he created in Chinatown 50 years ago when he turned down the role of Black Dragon (again, covered in extensive flashbacks in this mini). In his absence, Lin has become the new\u00a0Black Dragon<\/strong> and still runs Chinatown as its top crimelord. As soon as he shows up, she sets the\u00a0Black Dragon Death Squad<\/strong> on him:\u00a0the Rock of the Buddha, the First of Fire, Storm Sword<\/strong> and\u00a0Soulstriker<\/strong>. Wolverine retreats into the sewers where\u00a0Master Po<\/strong> trains him in Chinese martial arts – Po claims that his healing factor has made him complacent and that his fighting has been getting worse.\u00a0Despite the X-Men’s working relationship with the San Francisco authorities, Logan wants to deal with Chinatown himself. Even though everyone there hates him for spurning his responsibilities, the Sons of the Tiger<\/strong> (Lin Sun, Abraham Brown<\/strong> and\u00a0Bob Diamond<\/strong>) lead the local tongs in an uprising while Logan defeats Li. Logan then belatedly takes up the role of Black Dragon after all.<\/p>\n

I’m not wild about this series; it probably requires you to have more affection for martial arts films, and it feels a string of Chinese clich\u00e9s to me. The Black Dragon thing is clearly intended as a regular set-up for Wolverine stories, but it hardly ever gets mentioned again, and winds up as Wolverine’s equivalent of Storm leading the Morlocks; Aaron will at least quietly tie it up before Wolverine leaves San Francisco.<\/p>\n

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY: X-MEN<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Pixies & Demons”<\/strong>
\nby Mike Carey, Greg Land, Jay Leisten & Justin Ponsor<\/strong>
\nApril 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pixie has returned home to Abergylid in Wales, which is lucky, because the N’Garai are stalking the town and only her magical abilities can detect them. The X-Men help her defeat them, and then bring her back to San Francisco with them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-FORCE: AIN’T NO DOG<\/a><\/strong>
\nOne-shot<\/strong>
\nby Charlie Huston, Jefte Palo & Lee Loughridge<\/strong>
\nJune 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the title, this is a Wolverine solo story. Wolverine tracks down and kills a man who has created a computer chip implant that is designed to trick Cerebro into thinking someone is a mutant. The title refers to the phrase “lying like a dog” – the idea is that Wolverine, for all his faults, is honest about the sort of man he is.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE: DANGEROUS GAMES<\/strong><\/a>
\nOne-shot<\/strong>
\nby Simon Spurrier, Ben Oliver & Nestor Pereyra<\/strong>
\nJune 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Logan fights mad fox hunter Sir Damien Spencer, who has relocated to New Orleans following the prohibition of fox hunting in England. Desperately unsubtle and not especially timely even when it came out – the hunting ban had been in force for four years by this point.<\/p>\n

WOLVERINE: KILLING MADE SIMPLE<\/strong><\/a>
\nOne-shot<\/strong>
\nby Christopher Yost, Koi Turnbull, Sal Regla & Beth Sotelo<\/strong>
\nAugust 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine rescues\u00a0Trance<\/strong> (Hope Abbott) from\u00a0Nanny<\/strong> (Eleanor Murch) and\u00a0the Orphan-Maker<\/strong>. The core of the story is Trance thinking that Wolverine is unkillable, and Wolverine giving her some examples of how he can die, which isn’t really enough of a premise to hang an issue on. Uniquely, Orphan-Maker removes his mask in this issue, but we’ll all pretend that didn’t happen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE: KILLING MADE SIMPLE (second story)<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Disturbing Consequences”<\/strong>
\nby Todd DeZago, Steve Kurth, Swerge LaPointe & Joel Seguin<\/strong>
\nAugust 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

An Antarctic research facility is wiped out by a virus, and Wolverine goes in to clear it up, since his healing factor can kill the virus before he returns home. That’s about it, really. Quite weak.<\/p>\n

YOUNG X-MEN #6<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Marc Guggenheim, Ben Oliver & Jose Villarrubia<\/strong>
\nSeptember 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine takes Donald Pierce away after his defeat at the hands of the\u00a0Young X-Men<\/strong>\u00a0– Rockslide, Blindfold, Dust,\u00a0Ink<\/strong> (Eric Gitter) and\u00a0Graymalkin<\/strong> (Jonas Graymalkin). Later, Wolverine also shows up for the meeting where Dani Moonstar and Roberto Da Costa are put in chargeof instructing the youngsters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE ANNUAL #2<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Roar”<\/strong>
\nby Duane Swierczynski, Mike Deodato Jr & Val Staples<\/strong>
\nSeptember 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine fights a massive coyote-like creature with a deafening scream, recently unearthed in New Mexico, and apparently animated by the spirit of a Navajo child who has been screaming since a colonist massacre. A rather odd story that feels more interested in the novelty of Wolverine being deaf than it is in the moral.<\/p>\n

For reasons best known to Marvel, this issue is listed on Unlimited as\u00a0Wolverine: Roar<\/em> #2. (Yes, #2.) Why it was singled out to be called an annual at a time when Marvel was spewing Wolverine one-shots is anyone’s guess.<\/p>\n

AVENGERS \/ INVADERS #2-12<\/strong><\/a>
\n12-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, Steve Sadowski & inLight Studios<\/strong>
\nJune 2008 to June 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

The demon\u00a0D’Spayre<\/strong> uses a Cosmic Cube to feed on humanity’s misery resulting from the death of Captain America. As a side effect, the Cube brings\u00a0the Invaders<\/strong> – Captain America, Bucky, Namor,\u00a0the Golden Age Human Torch<\/strong> (Jim Hammond) and\u00a0Toro<\/strong> (Thomas Raymond) – to the present from 1943, along with soldier\u00a0Paul Anselm<\/strong>. The two Avengers teams fight over what to do with the Invaders. The New Avengers defeat D’Spayre and recover the Cosmic Cube. Anselm grabs the Cube and tries to return to 1943 to defeat the Nazis with it, but gets shot almost immediately, leading the Cube to fall into Nazi hands. Avengers from both teams (including Wolverine) travel back in time to sort it out, impersonating local superheroes for cover – Wolverine is Captain Terror. They get to meet the\u00a01940s Black Panther<\/strong> (T’Chaka), and fight\u00a0the Red Skull<\/strong> (Johann Schmidt) and\u00a0Super-Axis<\/strong> –\u00a0U-Man<\/strong> (Meranno),\u00a0Baron Blood<\/strong> (John Falsworth), Thor,\u00a0Master Man<\/strong> (Wilhelm Lohmer),\u00a0Warrior Woman<\/strong> (Frieda Ratsel) and\u00a0Iron Cross<\/strong> (Helmut Gruler). The villains are defeated, the Cube is retrieved, and everything goes back to normal.<\/p>\n

Obviously there’s a lot more to it than that – it’s 12 issues long – but it’s barely relevant to Wolverine, who’s only here because\u00a0he was in the cast of\u00a0New Avengers<\/em> at the time. Issue #7 even does the schtick where D’Spayre goes through all the heroes telling them about their fears, and skips Wolverine entirely.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>ASTONISHING X-MEN vol 3 #25-30<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Ghost Box”<\/strong>
\nby Warren Ellis, Simone Bianchi & Simone Peruzzi<\/strong>
\nJuly 2008 to June 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the high point of Marvel being completely indifferent to scheduling, because genius takes time and all that, and\u00a0Astonishing X-Men\u00a0<\/em>under Warren Ellis is especially bad for it.<\/p>\n

The X-Men are now living in a San Francisco hotel while building their new base on the Californian mainland. (They won’t be there long.) At this stage the X-Men are being funded by\u00a0Mutantes Sans Fronti\u00e8res<\/em>, which in turn is funded by the Black Panther, and they’re “official consultants to the San Francisco Police Department”. That doesn’t fit at all with\u00a0New Avengers<\/em>, where the whole team are supposed to be outlaws, and nobody ever really tries to explain it. At a push, you can rationalise it on the basis that all of the X-Men are in fact registered superheroes, so that Logan is not in fact on the run in the same way as the other New Avengers are – but it doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Anyway. The X-Men discover two factions of mutants from alternate realities who are using something called a Ghost Box to travel from world to world, and who seem to be planning an invasion. An insane Forge is planning a pre-emptive strike, and when the X-Men are reluctant to help, he opens the portal to force their hands. A Sentinel starts to come through, but Abigail Brand annihilates everything with a particle beam. Painfully decompressed even when you read it in one sitting. Wolverine does get paired up with Armor, so Ellis at least follows through on that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UNCANNY X-MEN vol 1 #500<\/a><\/strong>
\n“SFX, part 1”<\/strong>
\nby Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Greg Land, Terry Dodson, Jay Leisten, Rachel Dodson & Justin Ponsor<\/strong>
\nJuly 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Artist\u00a0Guy DeMondue uses three decommissioned Sentinels in an art installation; San Francisco mayor Sadie Sinclair<\/strong> disapproves, but defends his freedom of speech. The X-Men show up at the opening night, only for Magneto to attack, using a battlesuit to simulate his lost powers. It’s actually a distraction, while the High Evolutionary and the Eternal Kingo Sunen<\/strong> carry out experiments on\u00a0the Dreaming Celestial<\/strong> – which has been standing in Golden Gate Park since Neil Gaiman’s\u00a0Eternals<\/em> series. Logan tracks down De Mondue, intending to find out where he got the Sentinels from, but finds him already dead. Meanwhile, the X-Men declare San Francisco to be a sanctuary for all remaining mutants.<\/p>\n

X-MEN: MANIFEST DESTINY #2 (third story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Flaw”<\/strong>
\nby Chris Yost, Paco Diaz & Matt Milla<\/strong>
\nOctober 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is an Emma Frost story. Wolverine gives her a pep talk about the need to forgive herself for her past crimes.<\/p>\n

X-MEN: MANIFEST DESTINY #5 (second story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Nick’s”<\/strong>
\nby Frank Tieri, Ben Oliver & Frank D’Armata<\/strong>
\nJanuary 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

Avalanche is now running a bar in San Francisco. The X-Men tell him that his recent good behaviour doesn’t excuse his past crimes, but since they’re so short of mutants, they’ll turn a blind eye to him as long as he stays out of trouble.<\/p>\n

X-NECROSHA: THE GATHERING (fourth story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Mortis”<\/strong>
\nby Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Kalman Andrasofszky, Cam Smith & J Roberts<\/strong>
\nDecember 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

This\u00a0story was published in late 2009 but expressly takes place “circa the mutant migration to San Francisco”. Wolverine appears in one panel, being interviewed alongside the other X-Men about the event.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #21-25<\/a><\/strong>
\n“The Deep End”<\/strong>
\nby Daniel Way, Steve Dillon & Matt Mila<\/strong>
\nJanuary to May 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Time for another lengthy block of Origins\u00a0<\/em>issues, since it’s another series that lacks natural break points.<\/p>\n

Deadpool captures Wolverine after an extended slapstick fight scene that drones on for three painful, abysmal, laughter-free issues. Apparently Deadpool is bitter about the thought that he might be just a failed attempt to re-create Wolverine, but also resents the fact that the X-Men accepted Wolverine’s attempts to redeem himself while rejecting him. Wolverine dismisses Deadpool’s whole schtick as an act.<\/p>\n

It turns out that Wolverine hired Deadpool to attack him in the hope that it would draw Daken out. Which makes no sense at all, because Wolverine gets into fights all the time without Daken showing up. But this time he does\u00a0<\/em>show up, and as per Wolverine’s plan,\u00a0Winter Soldier shoots Daken in the head with a carbonadium bullet, interfering with his healing factor and allowing Wolverine to capture him. Wolverine tells Deadpool that he won’t be getting paid, and that nobody should care who would have won the three issue fight. Well, don’t write it, then.<\/p>\n

This is\u00a0terrible<\/em>. It\u00a0serves mainly as a trailer for Way’s\u00a0Deadpool\u00a0<\/em>series. It’s also Steve Dillon’s final arc, and once again utterly fails to play to his strengths.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #26-27<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Son of X”<\/strong>
\nby Daniel Way, Stephen Segovia & Matt Milla<\/strong>
\nJune & July 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine takes Daken to a hidden base near Newell where he killed some Japanese internees in 1943. He tries to leave Daken there in suspended animation, but instead they come under attack from internees who have survived as cyborgs. Wolverine and Daken escape, but Daken is now amnesiac.<\/p>\n

ORIGINAL SIN<\/strong><\/a>
\nX-Men: Original Sin<\/em> by Daniel Way, Mike Carey, Mike Deodato, Scot Eaton, Andrew Hennessy, Rain Beredo & Jason Keith<\/strong>
\nWolverine: Origins<\/em> #28-30 by Daniel Way, Mike Deodato & Rain Beredo<\/strong>
\nX-Men: Legacy<\/em> #217-218 by Mike Carey, Scot Eaton, Andrew Hennessy & Jason Keith<\/strong>
\nSeptember to November 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daken remains homicidally violent when faced with any possible threat, but at least he’ll back down when ordered, which Wolverine takes \u00a0as a hopeful sign that he can be deprogrammed. He drops Daken off with his Tibetan monk friend\u00a0Tso Ren Wu<\/strong>, then approaches Professor X (who has just turned up alive and well after all). Logan argues that, based on his recovered memories, Professor X was responsible for creating his current personality – and asks him to do it again for Daken. After some persuasion, Professor X agrees to try.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Meanwhile, Daken has apparently been kidnapped by the Hellfire Club. Wolverine and Professor X fight the ultra-obscure new Inner Circle –\u00a0Castlemere, Leonine<\/strong> (Peter Scholl) and\u00a0Tithe<\/strong> (Sandra Morgan). But Daken turns out to be in the hands of the rival faction of Sebastian Shaw and Miss Sinister\u00a0<\/strong>(Claudine Renko), who are planning to recapture control of the Club.<\/p>\n

Professor X’s attempts to enter Daken’s mind simply result in his memories returning, and Daken attacks Wolverine yet again. Daken appears to have false memories of Wolverine killing his mother, and Wolverine seems willing to play along with that to give Daken the closure he needs. But Professor X spells out to Daken what actually happened to her. Daken turns on Shaw, then declares his intention to seek revenge on Romulus. Wolverine offers to team up so that they can kill Romulus together – he claims that while Professor X made him into a proper hero, both he and Daken are now reverting to their true personalities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>WOLVERINE: ORIGINS #31-32<\/a><\/strong>
\n“Family Business”<\/strong>
\nby Daniel Way, Yanick Paquette, Michel Lacombe & Nathan Fairbairn<\/strong>
\nDecember 2008 & January 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daken claims that the best way to find Romulus is to follow the trail of blood to the most pointlessly brutal conflict they can find. So they head to the wartorn African nation of Halwan, where a peace agreement has just broken down. Daken makes it abundantly clear that he sees this as purely an alliance of convenience.<\/p>\n

Cyber shows up with child soldiers in tow, claiming that he too wants revenge on Romulus. Wolverine and Daken team up against Cyber, but Daken switches sides. He’s meant to be faking, but he changes his mind. Instead, he kills Cyber, and decides to overthrow Romulus and seize control of his organisation, abandoning the whole idea of teaming with Wolverine.<\/p>\n

There’s an epilogue which comes much later. We’ll get back to that.<\/p>\n

HULK TEAM-UP #1\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>
\nOne-shot<\/strong>
\nby Marc Sumerak, Sanford Green, Victor Olazaba & Chris Garcia<\/strong>
\nSeptember 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another story expressly set a year or so before it was published. The X-Men investigate a powerful mutant who has shown up in San Francisco, and deal with an earthquake. Mainly an Iceman and Archangel story, so far as the X-Men’s contribution is concerned.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UNCANNY X-MEN vol 1 #501-503<\/a><\/strong>
\n“SFX, parts 2-4”<\/strong>
\nby Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker, Greg Land, Jay Leisten & Justin Ponsor<\/strong>
\nAugust to October 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

The X-Men fight\u00a0the Hellfire Cult<\/strong>, street level anti-mutant thugs. Wolverine is now playing the mentor role with Pixie, who is living with a bunch of art students in Oakland rather than staying with the other X-Men, and trying to live a normal life.<\/p>\n

The Cult’s leader turns out to be Empath, who is defeated with Pixie’s help. Wolverine’s role in the finale is marginal. The whole thing is heavy-handedly sex-positive and Greg Land’s art doesn’t help. Still, there’s a definite tone shift to sunny optimism, which is a welcome change after recent years.<\/p>\n

CABLE vol 2 #7 and #9-10<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Waiting for the End of the World”<\/strong>
\nby Duane Swierczynski & Ariel Olivetti<\/strong>
\nOctober 2008 to January 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine also appears in a\u00a0flashback in issue #6<\/strong> which leads in to this story. Bishop shows up in the present day again, and X-Force capture him. Naturally, he escapes.<\/p>\n

The MCP has a\u00a0flashback in\u00a0All-New Wolverine<\/em> #1<\/strong> around here. While on an X-Force mission, X-23 is knocked out when a drug runner shoots her with a bazooka. When she comes round, she apologises for not killing the guy when she had the chance. Wolverine tells her that for them, the hard bit is fighting the hate that was programmed into them, and resisting the urge to kill. He says he’s impressed that she’s still not as mean as he is, even after everything that has been done to her. He tells her that he’s sorry for all the character traits that she inherited from him, but she replies “I’m not.” It’s a nice little father-daughter scene.<\/p>\n

X-MEN: MANIFEST DESTINY #3 (Colossus story)<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Uncheerable”<\/strong>
\nby Chris Yost, Humberto Ramos, Carlos Cuevas & Edgar Delgado<\/strong>
\nNovember 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine and Nightcrawler try to cheer up Colossus, who can’t get over the loss of Kitty.<\/p>\n

X-FORCE ANNUAL vol 2 #1<\/strong><\/a>
\nby Robert Kirkman, Jason Pearson & Dave Stewart<\/strong>
\nDecember 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

X-Force abduct HYDRA general Tod Kaufman so that he can provide a sample to save the life of his mutant daughter. Kaufman lets Wolverine cut off his hand to provide the “sample”, and Wolverine is duly impressed. I’m not quite sure why the MCP has this here, but it certainly can’t go in publication order, since this version of X-Force had split by the time the story came out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>SECRET INVASION #1-2 and #4-8<\/a><\/strong>
\n8-issue miniseries<\/strong>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Yu,\u00a0<\/strong>
\nApril to November 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tipped off by “Spider-Woman”, both groups of Avengers investigate a Skrull ship which has crashed in the Savage Land. The inhabitants are purportedly real superheroes who have been abducted and replaced by Skrulls over the years. Wolverine is unable to tell which are real, and a massive fight breaks out. Most of the newcomers are in fact Skrull impostors, but have been brainwashed to believe that they are real.<\/p>\n

All this is just a distraction to sideline the Avengers while the Skrull army attacks New York. The Avengers make it back in time to join the big fight, which also includes\u00a0the new Captain America<\/strong> (Bucky Barnes),\u00a0Norman Osborn<\/strong> (in his role as leader of the Thunderbolts), the Secret Warriors<\/strong> – Nick Fury,\u00a0Slingshot<\/strong> (YoYo Rodriguez),\u00a0Quake<\/strong> (Daisy Johnson),\u00a0Phobos<\/strong> (Alexander Aaron),\u00a0Hellfire<\/strong> (JT James),\u00a0Stonewall<\/strong> (Jerry Sledge) and\u00a0Druid<\/strong> (Sebastian Druid) – and\u00a0Marvel Boy<\/strong> (Noh-Varr), as well as a rare in-costume appearance by Jessica Jones as Jewel<\/strong>.\u00a0“Spider-Woman” is finally exposed as a Skrull impostor and the leader of the Skrull forces.<\/p>\n

During the fight, Wasp is killed, and Norman Osborn gets the credit for killing the Skrull leader. That leads to him being put in charge of the Fifty State Initiative, which is the premise of “Dark Reign”. Everyone who was replaced by a Skrull is now rescued, including the real Spider-Woman, Invisible Woman, Dum Dum Dugan, Yellowjacket, Mockingbird, Elektra and Edwin Jarvis.<\/p>\n

As usual for an Avengers story, Wolverine contributes very little to any of this. There are alternate versions of some of these scenes, all of which are just cameos as far as Wolverine’s concerned, are as follows. The New Avengers’ theft of the Quinjet can be seen from street level in\u00a0Secret Invasion: Front Line<\/strong><\/em> #1.<\/strong> The fight in the Savage Land is shown in\u00a0the third story in\u00a0Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust?<\/em><\/strong> and in\u00a0New Avengers<\/strong><\/em> vol 1 #41<\/strong>. And the battle in New York is shown in\u00a0Secret Invasion: Front Line<\/strong><\/em> #4-5<\/strong>,\u00a0Avengers: The Initiative<\/strong><\/em> #19<\/strong>,\u00a0Thunderbolts<\/strong><\/em> vol 1 #125<\/strong> and\u00a0the “History of the Marvel Apes Universe” story in\u00a0Marvel Apes<\/em> #4<\/strong> (where the Marvel Apes Watcher has it on a video screen).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>NEW AVENGERS vol 1 #48<\/a><\/strong>
\nby Brian Michael Bendis, Billy Tan, Matt Banning & Justin Ponsor<\/strong>
\nDecember 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the aftermath of\u00a0Secret Invasion<\/em>, the New Avengers gather at the new Captain America’s safehouse; Wolverine is able to verify that it’s the Winter Soldier. Wolverine also invites the real Spider-Woman into the team. Baby Danielle Cage has been abducted by the Skrulls and the Avengers try to track her down without success, which leads to Luke Cage asking Norman Osborn for help.<\/p>\n

X-FORCE vol 3 #7-10<\/strong><\/a>
\n“Old Ghosts”<\/strong>
\nby Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Mike Choi & Sonia Oback<\/strong>
\nSeptember to December 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Wolfsbane and Archangel are still addled from the previous arc, and programmed to attack each other on sight. Wolverine wants to bring in Emma Frost to sort them out, but Cyclops won’t let her have anything to do with X-Force, so they settle for the Stepford Cuckoos instead.<\/p>\n

X-Force (now including Domino and Elixir) hunt down the Vanisher, who has stolen a sample of the Legacy Virus. He explains that the Virus has already been stolen back from him by Mr Sinister. Because this is a grimdark book, Elixir gives him a brain tumour in order to force him to help the team. X-23 gets the sample and tries to destroy it by heroically hurling herself into a vat of molten metal, but Elixir stops her, and they destroy it in a more sensible way instead.<\/p>\n

The new cast members and the change of art style do lighten the mood a lot.<\/p>\n

Next time, in 2009,\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> gets relaunched, and the Utopia era begins.<\/a><\/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,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wolverine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8504","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=8504"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8748,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8504\/revisions\/8748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}