Wolverine 7, Wolverine and the X-Men 33, Ultimate X-Men 29

Wolverine 7
Cornell (w) and Pierfederici and Kesel (a) and Mossa (c)

Wolverine enters new life without a healing factor for what seems like the first time but isn't. Wolverine's been around for thirty years, he's lost his healing factor before, like you do, and then he eventually gets it back. No guarantees here (though kind of there is) but get ready for that. Cynicism aside, though, Wolverine finds himself surrounded by people that care about him, from Beast to Nick Fury to Thor to Storm, as he tries to cope with it all. Cornell again does what he does when the book's at its most interesting, which is taking us through stuff that we might not have considered about the little things Wolverine uses his powers for. In the early issues, he needed to rinse his palette with whatever liquid he could find so he could use his smell-powers better. Things like that have popped up now and again throughout the series and have been interesting, though quickly forgotten because the rest of the issue has gotten so bogged down with soft-science and over-explanation that the issue drags like crazy. Here, though, those things stand out because Wolverine has lost some of it. He cuts himself shaving, which apparently he does frequently because he shaves too fast, knowing he'll heal. He pops his claws and injures his knuckles in the process, though it's, in a nice touch, the least highlighted thing since it's what we've all already seen and what we all were expecting to see. He jumps out of the way of errant taxis. He gets pretty drunk on a lower number of beers than he's used to drinking. He's thinking about settling down because he doesn't have all the time in the world now. Those kinds of things. Add to it that the virus is still out there somewhere and it's now actively hunting down superheroes/villains with the ability to control viruses and we have another big showdown coming up.

This was definitely the best issue of the series so far. It moved a lot smoother and really gave a chance for Cornell to explore who Wolverine is. There's a lot more sulking then you'd expect but, at the same time, it's hard to say that's not the way Wolverine would be. His life has just fundamentally changed for the worse (he's not taking this in a sort of Deadpool way of "I'm sick of my healing factor! Take it away" before Deadpool decided he wasn't sick of it at all) and he's reacting in kind. In fact, he's taking it better than most people in this Universe would, but he's so often the tough guy that it's a little more startling out of him. The little touches, like I said, are always a welcome addition to the book and the decision to drag in several people from all walks of Wolverine's many lives helps to capture a little of what Wolverine's feeling. The dialogue runs mostly smoothly and the issue moves faster and with a lot less start-and-stop than the series at large has. Hopefully next issue follows on the same lines as this one.

Wolverine and the X-Men 33
Aaron (w) and Bradshaw and Wong (a) and L. Martin (c)

Quentin Quire and Toad are trying to fight their way out of the Hellfire Academy while Idie tries not to lose herself in it. At the same time, Wolverine is fighting Lord Deathstrike to try to find the Hellfire Academy while his team works out their own leads. It all comes to a head in dramatic fashion when Kade Kilgore takes something of a liking to Idie and offers her the position of Black Queen of the Hellfire Academy. With everyone at war with each other and themselves, who will come out the other side intact?

It finally feels like everything this arc has been building towards is coming to fruition, making this issue a little more action-packed than we've maybe seen lately. The issues full of nudges and winks at us about how silly this evil school is are through and there's real danger lurking. To add to it, it's hard to figure out who's been wrapped up in it and who's trying to keep separate. The noose seems to be tightening around some of our characters and it's a big ending to the issue as we see what we're in for to start next time. However, as with most action issues (and especially ones where I'm trying not to give away the ending), there's not too much to really sink our teeth into analysis-wise. The parts have fallen into place relatively neatly, if a little suddenly so that the tumult of the school can match what's happening with the people searching for it. Better issue than we've seen in a bit though as it sacrifices a lot of the overdrawn jokes to give us a real addition to the story.

Ultimate X-Men 29
Wood (w) and A. Martinez and J. Lucas (a) and Sotomayor (c)

The army has backed off from Utopia and the Supreme Court has verified that President Cap's deal with the mutants is binding and also that they own everything they create, none of it is to be owned by the US government. In recompense, the US has granted more land for mutants surrounding Utopia, meaning that most of the inhabitants have moved into the suburbs while only a few have remained with the sentient seed. However, things start to turn drastically south as Tian launches an attack on Utopia, convinced that the world cannot see the mutants divided among two colonies. Instead, they should provide a unified front. Since Kitty told Jean that they had no intention of teaming up, Jean thinks her only recourse is to destroy Utopia until people are forced to Tian. The new war starts with a biological attack on the sentient seed and a strike team sent to Utopia. Will Kitty have to lead through another war or will she surrender to spare the people?

Readers of this blog will know that I'm all in favor of this book. I think it's done a lot of really interesting things over the last year and it's raised a lot of great questions about the way mutants are treated and the best ways to proceed as a mutant in the Ultimate Universe. One of the nice things about the X-Men has always been the philosophical debate behind them which is not unique to mutants and can really be applied to many minorities harmed by stereotyping and radicals. Here those questions certainly persist and Wood has added several new questions to the docket, including ones about the government and ownership and about war and peace. On top of that, it's a well-written and structured book that reads well and always looks great. I think this is far and away the best book in the Ultimate Universe right now and is in the upper echelon of books regularly put out at Marvel. It would probably rank higher for me if marvel wasn't putting out so many wonderful books but hey, that's not a problem I'm really complaining about. Solid issue and an impressive and threatening start to what is sure to be a solid new arc.