This arc is a three issue arc taking Wolverine volume 4 issues 6-8. It follows up on the Wolverine Goes To Hell story picking up where issue 5 ended.
Here’s the credits for this arc: Writer: Jason Aaron, Artist: Daniel Acuña, Cover Art: Jae Lee with June Chung, Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit, Designer: Jared K. Fletcher, Asst. Editor: Jody Leheup, Editor Jeanine Schaefer, Group Editor: Nick Lowe, Editor in Chief: Axel Alonso, Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada, Publisher: Dan Buckley, Executive Producer: Alan Fine.
All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique. No more than three pages total from any one issue is reproduced.
Logan’s soul comes back to his body after the spiritual abduction but the demons possessing the flesh haven’t left. The problem is there are too many occupants in his head. They are battling for control inside and out.
Again we have a two aspect story. The battle for Logan’s soul inside him and the battle to keep his physical being from doing harm. Just like when the Hand controlled him back in the Enemy of the State he’s battling his own X-Men. Yes, a worn-out plot line that I hope to never see again but gee – lookie at the Avengers Vs X-Men line going on now, or schism, or well the list get longer every year.
For this arc I was again bored with what was going on in the outside world. Sure Scott has a Danger Room program to help the team practice killing Wolverine. They all fret with the ‘oh noes’ but we’ll do what we have to do.
The new spin on the old tattered plot of what goes on in Wolvie’s head is this time he’s battling demons literally. He calls up all aspects of himself to do battle. We see Patch, Weapon X, Department H, Death, and many other personas he has taken over his long life. The lead Logan starts out nude (again) and dons Samurai’s armor to lead the battle. The team do what Logan claims his the best at doing, fight the enemy.
The X-Women decide they have to give him a chance by going in there to help in the fight. Emma leads the brain invasion and Melita insists on going along to help her man.
Once in Logan’s head we are treated to touch moments and silly ones. At one point there are guideposts labeled The One That Got Away, What To Do About Daken, Things I Should Te.., Beer Garden, Memories of Mariko, and Things That Bug Me About Scott. There are labeled doors as the women investigate his mind and the doors are entitled Reasons To Hate Myself (that one has Dr. Rot’s graffiti tag, if you’ve not read that arc GET IT. It is awesome story and interor art! Insane In The Brain arc in Wolverine Weapon X TBP), Secrets of Weapon X, X-Men I’ve Had Sex With, How I Cheat At Cards, Hopes and Dreams, Sexual Fantasies, Football, Faith, and Self-Loathing. We don’t always see what’s behind the doors but the woman’s reaction to looking into some of the room often tells us what’s there. I’ll leave it to you to read the story to see what is there, as the contents don’t effect the story.
Eventually as the fortress that’s Logan’s heart begins to fall to the demon horde he throws the women from his mind. They are back to the boring reality of ‘oh noes do we kill him?’ But in his mind he still has two allies, one is Kurt who suggests he’s not an aspect of Logan’s mind but something more. The other is Jean as the Phoenix (need I point out this is another WAY over used plot device?).
I don’t think I’ll spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t read it to say in the end Logan is victorious over the demons. I mean it’s not a possessed Logan that’s running the school and once again battling the X-Men today. So you know he makes it through. How he does addresses the torch he’s carried for Jean for so long. Also his given good advice by Kurt but does he take it?
How do you know when Logan is no longer possessed? He wakes up and asks for a drink and hugs his woman. Ahhh, sweet. Good thing Scott waffles so much giving Logan time to wake up. Once again it’s close but they scuffle as class 4 mutants do and as they did yet again Schism.
I do not like the interior art. It has many of the issues discussed in DarXide’s article Photoshop of Horrors article. I found it distracting. Remember the coloring books where the outline of each part was a heavy line? Yeah that’s what this looked like, like characters were cut out and stuck on the felt board background. I don’t like it but I’ve seen much worse.
The cover art again suffers from pinched faces. Everyone looks down their nose at Logan in the first cover. In the second cover Wolvie has a dowager’s hump and has lost a lot of weight. The third one has Scott straining way too much. But all of them do have great anatomy and beautiful coloring. So it’s a give and take situation.
The story is a single issue entitled Get Mystique The Final Repose. It sets us up for the five book arc of Wolverine’s Revenge. Stay tuned after the cut for spoilery scans with my comments. If not until next friends!
Mary Louise Eklund 