Marvel Comics is going full steam ahead on their summer event, Armageddon, and it all starts in Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1, out this week. It may seem early to launch a “road to…” prelude four months before an event, but given last year’s One World Under Doom took place over nine months, maybe this is now par for the course at Marvel Comics. Either way, Nuke, Wolverine, and Weapon X are heavy contenders in this event, which means Wolverine’s past plays a heavy part.
The Weapon Plus program has a fairly deep bench, and after reading Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1, that bench is about to get a bit longer. The thing is, of all the Weapon Plus characters to be turned into super soldiers, only a handful have stuck, and really, none have become direct enemies of Wolverine save for Romulus. Given the rather tepid responses to Romulus, one could argue that this new miniseries is aiming to build up a new Wolverine composite.
Chip Zdarsky writes a fairly mundane opening issue here, mostly set on establishing key characters intertwined with Weapon Plus connections. Think of this issue as an X-Files episode, but without the monster of the week and more of the mysterious melodrama of secret organizations.
Could Zdrasky be setting up a Wolverine foil?
Credit: Marvel
The issue opens in a bar some time in the past, where a mutant tracker named Teri confronts Wolverine. It establishes Teri, then jumps ahead to the present, where a nude man is running through a snow-covered forest with wolves by his side. We might assume it’s Wolverine, but it’s actually a blonde white man with tears in his eyes. It appears the Weapon Plus program has struck again.
Much of this issue is devoted to Wolverine and Teri investigating kidnapped mutants, very likely being used in a Weapon Plus program, or one like it. This involves them infiltrating a location that was attacked and following a trail to help the latest mutant turned weapon. The issue bounces around a bit, checking in on Nuke for instance, and clashing back to Wolverine as Weapon X. Slower in pace and excitement, there is a buildup to Wolverine suiting up, but this is a more methodical start. Don’t expect action just yet, though there’s promise for some by the end.
Luca Maresca does a good job on art, keeping your interest even with so many scenes of characters sitting and talking, standing and talking, and generally just talking. There is one odd blip when a scene with Nuke cuts to Wolverine as Weapon X without any captions to explain the time jump, but a turn to the third page of this scene confirms it’s a memory. A two-page scene of Wolverine running towards bullets and the mysterious new Weapon X character is exciting to look at. It’s just that Maresca doesn’t have much in the way of action to draw here.
Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon #1 delivers a measured, mystery-driven start that leans heavily on Weapon Plus lore and Logan’s haunted past rather than high-octane action. Chip Zdarsky focuses on groundwork and intrigue, while Luca Maresca keeps the pages visually engaging despite limited combat. The issue succeeds as a careful setup for Armageddon, but it will need sharper momentum next time to fully justify the long runway to Marvel’s summer event.
You must be logged in to post a comment.