Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy

Consider how far, wide and deep Logan had featured in ‘616’ The Marvelverse it was to be expected that his death was not going to be something turning up as a ‘And Which Hero Dies?’ single issue, nor someone who is then packed away for a couple years with only a few mentions here and there until their traditional return.Oh no, Logan’s death has to be worth entire story arcs rippling out magnificently in all directions.Onto this volume.Normally if I come across an arc where several formidable characters have been captured with seeming ease by a bunch of smirking unknowns then it is not a volume I will be buying as the word ‘Contrived’ leaps out at me.However…The majesty of this volume is in the manner of its telling. Whereas it starts off with Sabretooth, X-23, Mystique, Darken and Lady Deathstrike captured the narrative moves so that each are given a separate space which revolves around the effect Logan or his death has had on their lives. This is much magic and depth in the telling. I will try and give a brief outline in the out this conveys the worth; while not giving too much of the individual plots away.X-23: Starts off with her angry at Logan for dying, for not being invulnerable and then working through her issues through taking on a grade C-bunch. Nice cameo by Kitty Pryde remembering her early days.Sabretooth: Magnificent ghostly artwork, a panorama of his work with Wolverine in 1990s Mogadishu infused with images of other times. Just the sort of confusion you’d imagine inhabits Sabretooth’s mind.Lady Deathstrike: This is told in a style of homage to another warrior. Set in Japan Deathstrike venting her fury on gangsters who are daring to auction and haggle over items they have stolen from Logan’s Japanese vault. Heavy on the sense of honour and for once will have you cheering on Deathstrike (bet you’d never thought that would happen)Darken: Set in Madripoor; Something similar to the Deathstrike tale, only in this case it as sale of remains of Logan, interspersed with Japanese ceremonies revolving around death, and Darken’s past. Something of parts being drawn together into a montage. I found it captivating. Needs very careful re-reading I reckon.Mystique: Basically rampaging through a S.H.I.E.D location for some secrets on Logan? But interspersed with memories of an earlier episode with Logan, when the lines were more blurred. And one long tear down her face. I would have preferred seeing her more subtle, but some would say ‘this is Mystique-deal with it’, so there you go….Very thoughtful even amongst the mayhem.Then it’s back to the business of them all being captive. This is not my favourite bit (Spolier……) There are echoes of Weapon-X and experiments on the run, and we have another secret society. It seemed a bit rushed; something to fit onto all the good work. Still to be fair it is the start of another arc The Wolverines, so let’s give it a chance to develop.Worth it for the individual episodes alone.

It was worth the money I paid for it, but it felt too short. It ends with a clear set up for 'Wolverines' which I will inevitably get as well, just so I can read more and find out what happens. The main draw of this story was seeing characters reacting to the Death of Wolverine, of which I have loved.

A+++

I read a library copy of the paperback.For the moment Wolverine is dead, although everyone knows this, it may have been useful to have a synopsis of the circumstances of that death open this book as it is the central hook.Bookending this collection is the abduction of the Wolverine-linked associates and a mysterious task being set up for them – that will be dealt with in a further series...The rest of these issues are each Wolverine-linked character getting their own chapter showing how they have dealt with news of Logan’s demise and what it means to them.Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, X-23, and Daken share healing factors and unique bonds with Wolverine that are examined in various details but rarely adding anything that has not been said about these Logan-lites before.To my mind the only fresh storyline was that involving Mystique, who appears to be being set up as the leader/linchpin for this grouping as it moves into its next volume.The writers of each chapter vary from Charles Soule’s framing issues and the art changes repeatedly – indeed I did wonder if these or some of these may have been inventory issues that had been picked up and repurposed for this book.With so little being revealed about the true purpose of this series it may only serve as a taster for the main story proper still to come and from that point of view there is interest and anticipation there, but there is a lot of unnecessary, dull stuff padding out this book while we wait to get there