X-Lapsed, Episode 145 – Wolverine #8 (2021)
X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred Forty-Five
Wolverine (vol.7) #8 (February, 2021) [LGY#350]
“The Past Ain’t Dead”
Writer – Benjamin Percy
Art – Adam Kubert & Viktor Bogdanovic
Colors – Antonio Fabela & Matthew Wilson
Letters – VC’s Cory Petit
Design – Tom Muller
Head of X – Hickman
Edits – Amaro, Basso, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $4.99
On-Sale: December 30, 2020
It’s a Mutant Milestone!
Today we indulge in some good ol’ Marvel “voodoo math” in order to get our titular hairy hero up to his 350th issue! Here, believe it or not… Wolverine has to deal with someone from his past! Also, a very interesting concept in the Legacy House Auctions…
All that and our always great mailbag!
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Did I just read a pretty good issue of Wolverine? It can't be. This is meant to be the worst X-book. I was considering getting a tattoo with the X-Lapsed catchphrase "except Wolverine". You really can't rely on anything these days. In fairness they did try to make me feel at home with an interminable text page but a surprise nonetheless.
The first surprise was to see Viktor Bogdanovic back. There was a bit of online controversy during X of Tens when Bogdanovic publicly stated that the Wolverine on hell 2 parter was badly written. I was convinced he would have been fired for that. Maybe they had to accept that he was right and they can't fire people for honesty.
I would probably have been surprised by another extra-sized issue if I'd not already heard you go through the best sellers. They will be looking for any reason they can to make money out of their second best selling X-book.
Like you I was surprised to see Dolores presented as a sinister character. There is no way this can work with her Marauders appearance. She not only met Storm but she did it in a way that was facilitated by Emma Frost and the Stepford Cuckoos. There is no way that she could have hidden sinister motivations from that many powerful telepaths. If she is the bad guy maybe she has been replaced somehow. We seem to be getting hints that there are multiple versions of some characters. We know Sinister has clones and is giving Jamie a new Betsy, this issue implies 2 Omega Reds and possibly multiple versions of Maverick, Sabretooth and Wolverine. We could be approaching a Secret Invasion type story.
The other possibility is that she is watching Wolverine's beer pal (I forget his name) because he is secretly a bad guy. Alternatively it's an error.
The idea of the Legacy House auction is really fun. It makes sense that superhero artefacts would have value. Particularly in a World where DNA technology is as accessible as it is in the Marvel Universe. A pair of Dazzler's old disco ball earrings would give you the means to engineer the best soundproofing technology.
I'm hoping we get to see loads of villains at the auction. I'll be very upset if they all put in telephone bids.
The resurrection of the Patch disguise is great fun. I wonder if they'll incorporate the idea from back in the 90s that everyone knows he is Wolverine but pretends not to notice because they don't want to antagonize the guy with the claws.
I thought the change of colourist really lifted Adam Kubert's work here. The overly rendered colouring he received earlier removed a lot of the life from his art. He suits the flatter, less saturated colour here.
I'm actually looking forward to the next part of a Wolverine story. I don't think that's happened since Weapon X by Barry Windsor-Smith.
Anyway until Benjamin Percy admits he has a problem with text pages, Make Mine X-Lapsed!