This issue of Wolverine presents a perspective that we know is quintessential to Logan’s personality: The desire to be alone.
Despite the good that Krakoa is giving him, Logan wonders when he will experience his next betrayal. He reflects on his many failed relationships. He doesn’t think Krakoa can be perfect, because even the most of beautiful of cities have their skeletons. Logan assumes that this paradise will not last, because nothing good lasts for him.
Benjamin Percy poses this perspective a little differently: Is Logan truly unhappy because the world is that bad, or does he want to believe that so he can keep falling back on his toxic patterns and behavior?
The majority of this issue takes place in a bar in the middle of nowhere. It’s one of those bars that is inside a warehouse, full of redneck stereotypes from 90% of the X-Men films. It’s a place that Logan frequents, because the world is just so bad to him that he needs to hide and drink whiskey to deal with his emotions. Benjamin Percy is making it clear that Logan continues to avoid his trauma. How long can he do this until he accepts help to find some inner peace?
There is the X-Men spin on this story where a group of people had joined some kind of online message board or group that is planning on trapping and exacting their revenge on mutants. They believe that mutants are evil and the cause of their problems. What they are looking for is a bigoted reason to beat up on a marginalized class. It’s essentially the Friends of Humanity without structure, utilizing the internet to organize and condone their hate crimes. Leave it to the X-Men to keep up with the evolution of technology with modern day politics.
Omega Red also plays a part in this issue, but it is unfortunately not as interesting as the rest of the material in the comic. Seeing Logan fight Omega Red is a tale as old as time, and similar to Logan fighting Sabretooth, it’s boring and overdone. If Rogue and Captain Marvel (Or Storm and Callisto) can eventually resolve their issues and learn how to build a new friendship, why can’t these male characters evolve? Fortunately, I do think that is Benjamin Percy’s plan in the long run for Logan.
The art by Viktor Bogdanovic and Matthew Wilson is incredibly fitting for Wolverine. It feels like Jim Lee with a ragged and darker vibe. It reminds me of both the ‘80s and 2000s era of X-Men, which was my favorite art of the series.
Benjamin Percy is doing a fantastic job with taking on the Wolverine title. I am hoping that the further we get to dig into Logan’s emotions, maybe we can actually see Wolverine start to heal instead of playing out the same old story.
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