Review by Frank Plowright

Frank Tieri was responsible for a well liked run on Wolverine in 2001 and 2002, and his work also laid the foundations of his later Weapon X series. He’s significantly more engaging, though, on the four three-chapter stories where there’s time to shine the spotlight around.

It’s presumed any regular reader of Wolverine’s exploits will be familiar with the Weapon X project, fundamental to his current state via abducting him, wiping his memory and equipping him with an adamantium skeleton. This may have been long in the past, but the resentment remains. Tieri, though, sets up the new version of Weapon X efficiently, reveals why the Director hates Wolverine, and shows others modified by Weapon X being more at peace with their new identities.

While each of the longer stories has its own theme, Tieri’s capable of taking an unexpected turn within them, and once he introduces a character it’s a fair bet they’ll be seen again at some point. He mixes his own villainous creations with well known faces, and drops in a fair number of guest stars along the way, most prominently the Beast and Alpha Flight.

Of immense help is Sean Chen on art. He’s proficient from the start, but the quality is gradually raised the deeper into the collection we go. He seems to become more confident using space, and the layouts always give characters room to breathe. Dan Fraga illustrates the three chapters of Wolverine’s participation in a savage series of staged fights. Fraga likes Wolverine’s hair, but is more stylised, and on the final chapter the eccentric placement of panels on the page are an indication of slipping standards. Mark Texeira is good on a single chapter, but greatly favours shadow, while the detail supplied by Matthew Marsilia is impressive in one respect, but also interferes with clarity. The art of Jorge Santamaría opens the collection and the crowded panels, strange figures and lack of imagination make his the weakest art on show. If you’re a fan of Barry Windsor-Smith’s work you should know he draws a four page flashback sequence.

This is a crowd-pleasing collection, largely well written and drawn, and featuring the people you want to see Wolverine battling, including (but not limited to) Lady Deathstrike, Lady Viper, Omega Red, Sabretooth and Wendigo. In each case Tieri has something interesting to say about them. He steers clear of Mystique, mind.

If you’re keen on Tieri’s work generally, his Wolverine run hits a peak, but this isn’t the best way to appreciate it. 2013’s Return of Weapon X lacks the Epic Collection trade dressing, but is the better buy for featuring all Tieri’s work on the regular Wolverine series, with the material absent here being the best of the run.