Death of Wolverine: Weapon X Program #4-5 (Comics Review)

Following on the heels of the landmark Death of Wolverine mini-series, Marvel Comics and writer Charles Soule dived straight into its major spin-off, The Weapon X Program, which takes a look at what happens with Abraham Cornelius’ various experiments at Paradise facility in the wake of Wolverine’s death. Released out in the wilds without any explanation or context, the five experimental survivors of Paradise have to discover their real identities and what was done to them. There’s also some internal dissension between all of them, and that’s what really kicks things up a notch here.

In The Weapon X Program #4 and #5 some really major things happen. First of all, we learn just who is talking to Sharp in his mind and it is a major surprise. At least, it was for me. And then, we learn more and more about what was done to these characters, and why exactly they are important to the people who funded Abraham Cornelius for his latest project, the objective of which was to create something much, much deadlier than Logan himself. With a really great story and some pretty decent art, I think this series definitely ends on a fine note.

John Carter: Warlord of Mars #3 (Comics Review)

Dynamite’s latest John Carter series, John Carter: Warlord of Mars got off to a great start last year in November. The first two issues have been full of non-stop action and suspense, in the same vein as the original source material, and even in the same vein as Arvid Nelson’s first adaptations on the Warlord of Mars title. That plus the fact that the artwork by Abhishek Malsuni and the others has been pretty stellar as well, lending itself well to the world created over a century ago by Edgar Rice Burroughs, with some great flourishes and visuals.

Last week’s John Carter: Warlord of Mars #3 proved to be a good follow-up to what was one of the best issues in comics last year for me, and the fact that most of the issue focuses on how badass and awesome Dejah Thoris can be really fills me a great sense of satisfaction. I was slightly concerned about where her character was headed when we saw in the first issue that she was a prisoner, held without her will and ill-treated, but it seems that Ron Marz intended that as a distraction, and now Dejah really comes into her. Ron’s script is superb again, and the art team matched him beat for beat.

IXth Generation #1 (Comics Review)

If you’ve been following Top Cow’s various books for about a couple years now, then you know that IXth Generation has been a long time coming and that it has been setup for an equally long time. Of course, the origins are humble, spread out across books like The Darkness and Witchblade and CyberForce and Aphrodite IX among others, but then that’s the fun thing about Top Cow’s books: they are all clearly about superhero-like character, but are also so much more than just that. They are vibrant unlike what you find at the Big 2, competing only with the sterling work that Valiant Comics is doing of late.

In last week’s IXth Generation, we see what has happened to the world in the 25 years since the end of the recent Aphrodite IX series. At the end of that, there was a sort of global genocide by the IXs and now they are the undisputed masters of everything before them. And they’ve since fallen into infighting. Nothing serious of course, but when you have access to unlimited cloned cyborg bodies, conflict takes on a new dimension. And this is the setting for a major crossover between the various different franchises of Top Cow, leading to the eventual Darkness Falls crossover I believe. And it is off to a grand start too!