Wolverine #8
The past comes back to haunt Wolverine in Wolverine #8, by writer Benjamin Percy, artists Viktor Bogdanovic and Adam Kubert, colorists Matthew Wilson and Antonio Fabela, and letterer Cory Petit. Percy digs into Wolverine's past for this one, as Wolverine hunts down an old compatriot.
Wolverine meets up with CIA Agent Bannister to get information about the CIA, and the two end up telling war stories- Bannister about a time he and his team killed US diplomats to keep a war going and Wolverine about a time he and Team X destroyed an entire oil rig to get at a target, killing everyone aboard. Bannister tells Wolverine about the CIA's X desk… but they're watching them as well. In Utah, a group of mercenaries attacks a black site, killing everyone, but all they take is some of Wolverine's Team X mementos. On Krakoa, Scout, Daken, and Wolverine confront Omega Red, who denies everything about working with the vampires while fighting back against the three. Beast calls Wolverine away and tells him about the attack on the black site and how the US government has asked Krakoa for help since one of the attackers is a mutant. They believe it's Maverick, Wolverine's former Team X associate, and send him to attack the mercenaries on their next mission. Wolverine questions one of them before he's killed. Beast and Sage find out who the mercenaries are working for- an auction house in Madripoor called Legacy House- and send Wolverine to investigate as Patch.
Percy starts the book with a very cool prologue. It serves several purposes- one, to get readers thinking about Team X, Wolverine's old CIA team with Sabretooth and Maverick, two, to teach Wolverine a lesson about letting go of the past, and three, to set a new X Desk subplot. It serves these purposes rather well- for one thing, Team X hasn't been in the X-Men books since the '90s and was introduced in the first Omega Red story, which gives it double the thematic resonance. Two, it's just a good sentiment and serves to show where Wolverine's head is at- even though his life is better than it's been in years, he can't get over his past. This is Wolverine in a nutshell and yet another example of just how well Percy understands the character.
From there, Percy launches into the main part of the story, and it isn't as cool as the prologue. It's not bad; in fact, it's quite entertaining, but the prologue is hard to compete with. Seeing Omega Red throw around Scout and Daken serves to show just how tough Omega Red is; even at three to one odds, Red holds more than his own. Percy is very coy about the mercenaries and their field leader. While all of the evidence points to Maverick, there's no real reveal, leaving a mystery for the readers. Beast and Sage believe it's Maverick under mind control but is that the case? Percy doesn't reveal anything, and that works rather well.
Bogdanovic and Kubert both handle the art on this issue. Bogdanovic does the prologue, and it looks very good but what really makes it work is Matthew Wilson's colors. The parts with Wolverine and Bannister are done in cool, shadowy blues, capturing the melancholy of the moments, while both flashbacks use fierce, hot yellows- these are memories that burn in the two men's minds. Kubert's art in the rest is up to his usual standard, which is pretty great, but there's nothing that really stands out as it's all very good.
Wolverine #8 starts on a huge high but kind of goes down from there. That said, it's not a bad book, far from it. Percy can't write a bad Wolverine book, and this one is still pretty good, even if the prologue overshadows everything else. The story it sets up seems pretty interesting, and it will be nice to see what comes next. The art team does a fantastic job, with Wilson's coloring being a standout. As usual, Percy and company knock it out of the park.
Grade: B+
