‘Trials of X’ Vol. 3 review

Deadly confrontations darken the Trials of X! Wolverine’s quest brings his face-to-face with Arakkii pirate crime lord Sevyr Blackmore!

Ryan Sonneville

December 28, 2022

With the Trials of X collections, you end up with an odd assortment of issues from the X-line that were published in relative succession. At their best, you get some narrative threads that connect the disparate titles. At their worst, it feels like a deck clearing of issues. Volume 3 falls somewhere in the middle of this axis, with a handful of fine issues from just before the X-line had a relaunch that all showcase the imaginative talent at Marvel.

This trade collects Wolverine #15-16, Excalibur #22, X-Men #2, and Hellions #13-14. For those reading the current X-books, you know that half these issues are from runs that have been cancelled or rebranded (Excalibur and Hellions respectively), yet these issues have important narrative threads that connect to the current happenings in the X-universe, making them still worthy of revisiting. Best of all, we get some excellent art throughout this collection, thanks to Adam Kubert, Marcus To, Pepe Larraz, and Roge Antonio.

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Wolverine #15-16 does what this current iteration of the title does well, giving Wolverine a solo adventure, exquisitely drawn, digging into pirates of Madripoor and his old foes the Hand. The Wolverine title, written by Benjamin Percy, is the series I find myself enjoying most in these Trials of X collections, as it’s a great book that takes little chronological context to jump into and enjoy.

X-Men #2, Gerry Duggan’s flamboyant relaunch of the team as aspirational superheroes, is more table setting with Cordyceps Jones and his galactic casino. It’s an entertaining issue, elevated to greatness thanks to the gorgeous line work from Larraz. The battle scenes involving the X-Men are reason alone to pick up this trade and should entice any reader to find this book on their monthly pull list.

The Excalibur and Hellions issues are both midstream in their book’s respective conflicts and will be the hardest to digest for casual readers not keeping notes of the larger plot. As mentioned before, both titles look beautiful and can be enjoyed on that level even if the plot may seem incompressible to some. The Hellions issues, which focus on one of Mister Sinister’s clones returning to Krakoa, has profound relevance to events about to roll across the X-line; getting the opportunity to reexamine this plot is a worthwhile endeavor for those prepping themselves for the chaos that is to come.

While this collection may not have the coherence other editions in this line possess, the quality of the artistic talent collected in these pages justifies the price of admission. Additionally, the variant covers amassed at the end are all full-page reproductions, which is a welcome addition for collectors.