The fallout begins.
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Viktor Ibanez
What They Say:
Wolverine has been many things to Storm over the years: teammate, friend, confidant, mentor and, most recently, lover. But upon his death, Storm finds her world thrown into chaos. Will finishing a piece of his unfinished business alongside their mutual ally Yukio help her find her way once more?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
One of the things that made me leery about jumping into this series is the fact that it is an X-book and that means a lot of continuity and connections to the various other books. It’s not that I wouldn’t like those other books, but my days of being that deeply invested are long gone. So I’ve enjoyed the series in its first three issues in that it was mostly on its own, with some nice nods here and there, but nothing that demanded you go and read elsewhere. With this issue being a Death of Wolverine book under that banner, I was definitely a bit wary about what it would entail, especially since the first issue of the series had them being pretty close, all things considered.
Not surprising, considering their very long association, Ororo has not taken his death well since this time it really seems well and truly final. With the way her powers reflect her emotions, his death is something that she has to process carefully, which has Hank taking her up into orbit so she can completely cut loose with her abilities. It’s only a couple of pages that this really deals with it in a very emotional way, but the result of it is beautiful as it creates a worldwide aurora that the majority of the population gets to see, all without knowing why. The depths of her sadness are well expressed in this, but also in the other scenes that reflect on their past adventures together, as a team and simply as people, and also some time with her simply existing within his office at the school and just soaking up who he was and what he meant to her. It’s definitely done well and is the kind of thing that can make a character far more accessible.
What gets her moving is a bit of a surprise though as a call on his phone from Yukio gets her to go visit her in Las Vegas. Yukio and Ororo’s first meeting dates back to my early days of being an X-Men fan and I like that the two of them seemingly haven’t been involved much over the years, though they both have the bond. Yukio’s disbelief over Logan’s death is well done as she rattles off all he’s survived, and the experience helps to bring the two of them a bit closer. But for Yukio, that may end badly. She needed Logan there for something secretive deep belowground that he had helped organize, which Yukio runs.
Set up as a kind of full on killzone with rules between the participants of various groups, there are various clans that try and settle business verbally first and then go to challenges in the arena with their respective champions. It’s bloody and brutal – and deadly – but as Yukio points out, it also cuts down on certain types of crimes and murders aboveground as it gets settled out there. With the idea that some people just need to kill, this gives them the outlet to do it while also settling things. It’s certainly something that Logan would understand, and it’s why it worked with Yukio as a partner, but it’s also something that Ororo can’t tolerate and that’s where things start to spiral out of control. More so for Yukio, though….
In Summary:
Storm moves along well here in dealing a bit with Logan’s death and it shifts Ororo into an interesting position of, in a sense, preparing herself to dismantle or alter one of the things he created. The two have had a relationship of opposing views over the years, so this fits well into it and provides a way for him to impact her even after his death. I liked the first half of the book with its exploration of her feelings and his meaning for her with how she expressed it and I think it could have been the book as a whole. Yukio’s portion, which carries into the next issue, isn’t bad per se, but it distracts from her processing things and dealing with it. Which is likely part of the point. It’s an interesting setup and it shows us more of Logan and also allows us to examine the ways Ororo is different from him. It’s not great, it’s not bad, it’s just a plot point overall unfortunately.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: October 15th, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
