Marvel readies for the return of Adamantium RAGE.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Charles Soule
Art: David Marquez, Paulo Siquera, Walden Wong
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg, Ruth Redmond
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino
What They Say:
The RETURN OF WOLVERINE begins here, providing the first piece of a mystery that will leave no corner of the Marvel Universe untouched. Just as the X-Men have finally come to terms with Logan’s death, they learn a terrible secret. Old wounds will be re-opened, truths questioned, and an epic quest begun. The earliest clues to the mystery of Wolverine’s return are laid down here… who will solve it first?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
A long while back, Wolverine died. His body, encased in the very metal that made up his skeleton was secreted away by his teammates. As the book opens, a group of half mechanical beings called Reavers have discovered the location of Logan’s body, The group plans to steal Logan’s body and tomb, but a team of X-Men, consisting of Kitty Pryde, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Colossus finds them and engages in battle. We get a flashback to the Death of Wolverine story, where The X-Men mention they told a scant few people where they put the Adamantium tomb, one of whom was Mr. Fantastic, riddled with guilt that he couldn’t stop Wolverine’s death. The flashback also shows that the X-Men did something else with that statue that, back in present time, we soon learn- Wolverine’s body is NOT in the statue. Kitty Pryde and her powers are responsible for that, as a flashback shows, and The X-Men soon take care of their half mechanized foes. This leads to another problem however, when Kitty finds that Logan is not in the secret grave they buried him in either. This part of the story then shows us a person that appears to be the missing Logan.
The second part deals with setting up the search. First up: Tony Stark, who agrees to form a team of his own to search. Daredevil decides to gather a few people of his own to help out, and The X-Men themselves are headed to a place Logan went a lot: Madripoor. Yong Jean Grey gives us a big revelation at the end however: She feels that Logan is alive.
In Summary:
This issue isn’t actually bad, just kind of unnecessary. The only real thing that matter in the book is the part where Kitty Pryde sets up the 4 books this story splits into: Weapon Lost, Adamantuim Agenda, Claws of a Killer, and Mystery in Madripoor. The dialoge works well and wits the characters, and the art is well done, too. The point of this book seems to be to set up the 4 other series, but the revelation at the end falls very flat if you’ve been reading other books and seen the “Where is Wolverine” after panels. We know Logan is alive, the book didn’t really need to make such a mystery of that, but it still works alright since the characters involved are unaware of that. The big character this issue was definitely Kitty Pryde, as she makes all the big discoveries and decisions. She is the guiding force through the book, and her actions set up all the other books that spin out of this. If you are interested in seeing the story of the original 616’s Wolverine return, the second half of this story and the ensuing spin-offs definitely will interest you. They mystery is the biggest draw here, and the team did a decent job of setting that up.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: April 25, 2018
MSRP: $5.99
