Review by Ian Keogh

In 2015 Marvel killed Wolverine. Not before ensuring plenty of substitutes were available, but killed him nonetheless. Now his grave is empty and clues point to several different venues around the world. Mystery in Madripoor concerns one of those options.

That three other graphic novels were released under the Hunt for Wolverine title should indicate that at best there’s a one in four chance that he’s actually going to be found in this story, and how much you buy into that idea goes a long way to determining what you’ll get from this. As with the three other connected stories, Mystery in Madripoor mixes the cast contemplating their relationship with Wolverine in the past while involving them in present day battles. Madripoor is an island in the China seas currently under the control of Magneto, and that’s where Kitty Pryde leads an all female team of X-Men along with Domino.

The stylised art of Thony Silas is an acquired taste. Some will see a thematic cohesion, a use of angles, straight lines and almost abstract shapes building a dynamism. Others won’t be able to get past the distortions of the human figure, the lack of proportions and page after page of scowling people.

Jim Zub uses the story to change Psylocke, making her in some ways a less complex character, and that’s good, and so is the scene when the X-Men work their way through Wolverine’s memorabilia collection. However, almost everything else is resolutely ordinary, filling pages to no great purpose. Will The Adamantium Agenda, The Claws of a Killer or Weapon Lost be any better? Should you really want them, they’re combined with this and a prologue in Hunt for Wolverine.