X Lives Of Wolverine #3
Wolverine continues his cross-time quest in X Lives Of Wolverine #3, by writer Benjamin Percy, artist Joshua Cassara, colorist Frank Martin, and letterer Cory Petit. Percy and company keep it up with yet another great issue that works to subtly change the book's formula so far.
Wolverine struggles through three lives in battle against Omega Red. In 1900, Bernard Xavier fights off Omega Red as he jumps from crew member to crew member. As Wolverine arrives, Omega Red takes over a white whale, and the two men fight it off together. In the '60s, Wolverine runs through the jungle and is waylaid by Sabretooth but uses his environment to his advantage to take his foe down. When he gets to Xavier, he and Jean's psi-form search for Omega Red. In Japan, Wolverine Omega Red Itsu fight before Romulus attacks, Wolverine asks for Jean's help, but Omega Red leaves Itsu after Wolverine fights off Romulus. Meanwhile, in Russia in the recent past, Mikhail Rasputin is able to talk Omega Red into helping him take out Xavier using the Cerebro Sword as their link.
As usual, Percy does an amazing job of capturing Wolverine's voice throughout this issue. There's that sense of world-weary warrior that is always there, as well as his never-ending urge to fight. There are a lot of great set pieces and set ups in this issue, as well. Percy is playing this one wonderfully. The scene with the white whale is an amazing choice that is completely unexpected and that much better for it and raises the stakes of that time period a lot. Seeing Xavier's ancestor fight alongside Wolverine and do it so well is also a lot of fun.
Percy seems to know that this book could get a little stale if it was all-time jumping fights, so he introduces a new element to the whole thing. Omega Red and Mikhail learn from each confrontation and use what has happened in prior times to tailor their next attacks. On top of that, an info page lets on that Xavier's connection to the Cerebro Sword is going in and out, and then Jean reveals that something is happening to Wolverine and the last page drops a bombshell on readers.
Cassara is killing it with the art in this issue. There's a double-page spread of scenes from Wolverine's life superimposed over his Cerebro helmeted face. It looks incredible, and this issue is full of great scenes like that. The Omega Red whale breaking through the ice looks stupendous, and the scenes in the jungle are just as good. Martin's colors are the perfect accoutrement for each scene, especially the jungle one.
X Lives Of Wolverine #3 raises the stakes wonderfully. Percy continues to be the best Wolverine writer in a long time, and Cassara and Martin are bringing his script to life perfectly. The developments in this issue bode well for the rest of the series and change things up wonderfully.
