Review by Frank Plowright
The Return of Weapon X collects Frank Tieri’s entire run on the Wolverine title over 2001 and 2002, including four chapters not included in the Epic Collection of the same name, making this better value if you like the work.
With the best will in the world, though, it begins poorly, with Wolverine taking on feral aliens the Brood having none of the excitement you’d want and Jorge Santamaria’s art leaving a lot to be desired. The solid art of Sean Chen on much of the remaining material makes a major difference. Tieri warms up slowly, introducing a serial killer version of Bruce Wayne, a tiresome braggart on whom too much time is spent. It does, though, introduce more interesting subplots that come to the fore, most immediately a lot of men being murdered and a Senator fearing for his life. Here Tieri introduces an intriguing new villain, makes good use of Wolverine’s abilities other than slashing, and closes with a three-part classic stramash in prison with great art from Chen. There’s even a brief flashback section drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith.
Eventually we learn the Weapon X project that experimented on Wolverine and several others in the past has been reactivated under new management. The context provided here gives greater depth to the subsequent Weapon X series by Tieri, beginning with The Draft, and is combined with that material in the Omnibus format Weapon X: The Return.
After that there’s Dan Fraga on the art for the three chapters. The layouts catch the eye, but Fraga’s more stylised, very fiddly, especially on Wolverine’s hair, and objectifies women to a disturbing degree. ‘Bloodsport’ introduces the idea of an annual anything goes contest for villains held in Madripoor, so Wolverine restores his Patch alias. It returns someone from earlier in the book, now more effective, and comes with a good twist to the concluding chapter.
Reading a whole bunch of issues in one bulky book underlines how good Tieri is at creating foes for Wolverine, then not just discarding them prematurely, and his skill in dipping in and out of plots. An example is ancient French vampire Mauvais, good in his first appearance, but better over the longer story in which he returns. It concerns a TV game show where people have to survive in the Arctic, and Tieri manages to supply Alpha Flight for the finale.
After that we have ‘The Logan Files’ where all sorts of elements from Wolverine’s past converge just as his mutant powers fade. If that seems narratively convenient, Tieri bolsters the justification well, drops some neat revelations about Wolverine’s past and supplies an excellent epilogue. These four chapters are the book’s highlight, and they’re the ones absent from the Epic Collection.
Tieri’s at his best with more space at his disposal, as his three and four chapter material is well paced all the way, whereas his single episode outings, even on the longer page count of what were originally annuals, don’t resonate as emphatically. This is a strong Wolverine selection, largely well drawn, and worth your time, and leads into a new Weapon X series.
