X Lives Of Wolverine #1
Wolverine revisits the past to save Xavier in X Lives Of Wolverine #1, by writer Benjamin Percy, artist Joshua Cassara, colorist Frank Martin, and letterer Cory Petit. This issue is mostly action, but it’s a great start for an intriguing series.
Basically, this issue moves between three periods. In one, Wolverine is sent on a mission by Xavier and Jean. In another, Omega Red finds out about what X-Force did to him upon his resurrection and goes to Russia, where Mikhail Rasputin confronts him. The gist of the story takes place on the day of Xavier’s birth, with Omega Red taking over the bodies of people at the Xavier Mansion to kill the young Charles Xavier, with Wolverine, in his period-appropriate body, trying to save him. He succeeds and then is thrown forward in time to his Team X days.
The issue opens with Wolverine thinking about the passage of the time, which is pretty much the key to this entire story. Percy sets the story in three different time periods, and the whole thing feels very much like Pulp Fiction. One can assume the sections with Omega Red take place before the actual beginning of the issue. In X-Force, Percy has been building the threat to Krakoa from Russia, and this story is playing into that.
Using the tried and true “Days Of Future Past” telepathic time travel method, Wolverine is sent back to stop Omega Red’s attacks on Xavier. Red has new powers of his own to make his job easier, as well, and that looks like the central conceit of this book- a time travel romp with Wolverine trying to stop Omega Red from killing Xavier. It’s an exciting plotline, and while it’s not as high concept as what X-Men fans have come to expect from the Krakoa era, neither was X Of Swords, and a segment of the fanbase still cream their jeans over that story. It will be interesting to see where Percy takes this story in upcoming issues and what he’ll introduce.
Cassara’s art is pretty great throughout. Some pages are better than others, but there are some excellent splash pages throughout this book. Cassara has proven to be a great Wolverine artist in X-Force, and he keeps that up here. His Omega Red looks great as well, and the action in this issue is just what fans have come to expect from him. Martin colors his work differently than GURU-eFX did on X-Force, but it still looks great.
All in all, X Lives Of Wolverine #1 is an outstanding first issue to the newest chapter in the Krakoa saga. Percy and Cassara make a great team, and they knock this one out of the park. There’s not a ton of substance, but it gets right down in it, letting the events tell the story instead of getting too wordy. It’s an exciting, fast-paced comic.
