On the Rack: Weapon X Program 1
Warning: this review contains some spoilers for Death of Wolverine
*rant on* In case there could ever be any doubt, I am a huge Wolverine fan. I have been a devoted comic reader and have been fangirling over the ol’ Canucklehead for 24 years so when Marvel announced that they were killing him off, I was devastated. Never one to let my fandom down, I dutifully followed every miserable step of Wolverine’s 3 Months to Die story line and loyally read every heart-breaking moment of the Death of Wolverine four part event. I will even concede that Charles Soule gave Wolverine a fitting death; it was true to character and what Logan would have wanted. Now that we are clear on the lengths of my devotion, I would like say one final word on the matter of Logan’s death: leave Wolverine alone! I get it, I am part of the problem, my loyalty and blind devotion does not let me ignore any spin-off title. If it says Wolverine, if his face is on the cover, it’s coming home. But let’s be honest Marvel, enough is enough, and this week’s Death of Wolverine: Weapon X Program crossed the line.
Picking up where Death of Wolverine left off, Weapon X Program follows Dr. Cornelius’ remaining test subjects as they escape the Paradise facility. Yes, this is the same facility that where Wolverine hunted down Dr. Cornelius, these are the same people Wolverine fought valiantly to save in his final moments. I can concede that it’s a cool concept, I can admit that I was curious and wanted to know what became of them, but this story takes everything that made Death of Wolverine a fitting tribute and ending, and creates a farce. The series is written by Charles Soule, who is the architect of all things Death of Wolverine and is illustrated by Salvador Larroca. I won’t deny that the story is fun; it is fast paced and filled with action, but the characters are without personality, defined only by the strange new powers they have developed. On top of that, the powers do not make sense. Dr. Cornelius tells Logan in Death of Wolverine #4 that he wants his healing factor to create the perfect weapon. His intention is to bond a new subject with adamantium and condition them, but he needs the healing factor to ensure that they survive the procedure. Are we to believe that powers like super speed and acid spit developed from these experiments? Because I, for one, find that highly unbelievable.
I also struggled with the book’s ending. Without giving away the conclusion, I found the foreshadowing of the big reveal to be heavy handed and it damaged the integrity of the story that came before it. I had hope that the book would focus on these new characters, and develop their stories and in doing so draw parallels to Wolverine, that the struggles he endured after surviving the Weapon X program would be mirrored in their own. But Soule has created a connection to Wolverine that I don’t think needs to be there. If Marvel’s plan is really to continue on Wolverine-free for the foreseeable future, as they claim, they need to move past him. Logan Legacy will pass the torch to a character that already had a bond with him; any other connections or manifestations of his character are redundant. Speaking as a fan, I would ask Marvel to find a new angle to sell books. It’s bad enough that fans face an indefinite amount of time without Wolverine, there is no need to remind us of his absence at every turn with plots that are clearly marketing ploys. *rant off*
