Review by Frank Plowright

Bruce Jones and Jorge Lucas take a leisurely approach leading us into X-Isle, although the central premise is discussed early on a museum tour Logan’s taking with his foster daughter Amiko. The museum not to his liking, they head to the carnival instead. It doesn’t go well, and he wakes up on the beach of a deserted island with a message written in the sand challenging him to get out of this one.

Subsequent events play out inexplicably. Wolverine had already seemed to have lost some of his natural skills at the carnival, and on the island it seems as if he can’t rely on his senses either. Jones concocts a captivating sequence of strange occurrences, but the sharper reader is going to see through what he’s doing and how that relates to Logan. It’s not an original idea, and the nature of it requires repetition, which means it’s dragged out. The leisurely approach of the opening chapter extends all the way through.

Lucas, however, provides some fine distraction. Monsters, great scenery, an attractive woman and the carnival are all beautifully drawn with no skimping on detail. It’s not greatly removed from Barry Windsor-Smith, although not quite as delicate. That’s no great problem, especially in scenes of Wolverine slashing away at a giant beast whose claws are equally savage.

Unfortunately, as good as everything looks, Jones has no rabbit to pull out of the hat, no big surprise proving the good writer is more than a step ahead of the sharp reader. It leaves X-Isle as a hundred pages of exemplary art raising the overall rating, but nothing you’ll ever want to read again.