Weapon X

With all of the "geek rage" over Ben Affleck's casting as Batman, it's sometimes tough to keep in mind that comics are an art...and literature.

I'm not immediately certain that I got that with my impulse buy of Weapon X, but that is not to say that I'm disappointed.
This trade paperback, collected from a series of stories that appeared in Marvel Comics Presents, is ostensibly an "origin" of sorts for Wolverine.   Most interesting, however, is the fact that the text never once refers to him as such nor do we even get a mention of the X-Men or anyone else from the Marvel Universe.

In this story, the principle character is simply called Logan and we follow his unwilling admission to Department K, a secret section of the Canadian government charged with weapons development.  It is here that we see the utter horror visited upon Logan.  We see the adamantium grafted to his skeleton and there is no question or sugarcoating of just how much pain he is in during the process.  By contrast, those perpetrating the act, the scientists, are utterly indifferent to the man's plight and pay no attention to his cries.  This alone should give pause for anyone to think about those that experiment upon (and torture) live subjects of any kind.

My problem is that the story devolves into a stereotypical "slasher."  "Oh noes, we're trapped in this isolated place and there's an absolute killing machine on the loose in our bunker."  Granted, I want to see those heartless bastards responsible get theirs, but I would have appreciated a more creative approach than just slashing.  Don't ask me what that would be, because frankly I don't know.  One of the reasons we read Wolverine...and let's be honest here...is to watch the claws in action.  So maybe I'm just expecting too much.

As comics go, Weapon X is a good read.  We see additional reasons for why the character of Logan is such a tortured soul.  These reasons are haunting indeed and will remain with me whenever I read the character in the future.  One might even argue that the silver, bulbous helmet (pictured above) is almost as iconic as Wolverine's blue and yellow or brown and tan costumes.


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