Review by Karl Verhoven

Beginning with Sabretooth, Wolverine’s popularity has meant the introduction of others with similar abilities, be they his son, Daken, his young female clone, X-23, or Lady Deathstrike, who had herself cybernetically modified. All are told of a group of assassins programmed to respond to four trigger words, one of which can kill them if anyone utters it in their presence. The four now find themselves captured, together, and revealed as those assassins.

There then follow five solo chapters by assorted creators before Charles Soule returns for the wrap-up ending some of the mystery. Besides the links to Wolverine, what connects all stories is most writers and artists being relatively inexperienced at the time, or new to Marvel and given a tryout, with the sample page from Oliver Nome’s opener. The artists able to tell a story aren’t the most technically gifted, and those who do have interesting elements of style or composition lack the ability to tell a story, which proves a major handicap rarely overcome and constantly distracting. The best art is from Andy Clarke who hits all the right buttons on a story written by James Tynion IV, who’s subsequently gone on to be the most successful writer, and his is the only story to actually feature Wolverine.

Marguerite Bennett’s also done well since 2014, and her Lady Deathstrike appearance is the best on offer, as she takes on the Yakuza to recover one of Wolverine’s effects. The melodrama could be toned down – “You will know me as… Lady Deathstrike” – but the concept reflects Wolverine’s ties with Japan, and while artist Juan Doe is too stylised, there’s also an occasional eye-catching panel.

Soule’s opening mystery of the four words has promise, but doesn’t connect to the remainder and in the end turns out just to be a tease leading into Soule’s Wolverines series. So with largely poor art and few worthwhile stories, leave this well alone.

This is also available as part of Death of Wolverine: The Complete Collection and Death of Wolverine Omnibus.