• • Comic Book Reviews
• March 16, 2022

X Lives of Wolverine #5 Review

Written by: Benjamin Percy

Art by: Joshua Cassara

Coloring by: Frank Martin

Lettering by: VC’s Cory Petit

X Lives of Wolverine #5, the final part of the “Lives” half of this event is the best of the five issues. Wolverine is a lot like Batman in that he’s overexposed, with more stories than he needs. Sometimes it feels like Marvel has told every Wolverine story ever told, at least with Logan in the mantle. Then you have an issue like this, that takes an honest, almost down-to-earth look at a man who’s lived so long and remembers so little of it all. It allows Logan to be honest about what is, and what being him is like. It’s no tear-jerking, but he is baring his soul to us, and that counts for a lot.

It wraps up this long arc with Omega Red pretty well but ultimately didn’t need to be an event. This should have been an issue of the Wolverine solo, not X Lives of Wolverine #5. X Lives of Wolverine walks, talks, and looks like its an issue of the current Wolverine solo and when I think of it like that, I enjoy it more.

This is a universe-saving story that feels small in a good way. Sometimes it was too insular on Wolverine, mentioning his relationships with other characters (Xavier, Mariko, Jean) without showing them. Sometimes, this series had stakes that felt too big for how low energy it’s been. But overall it’s pretty good, far from bad, not great.

Cassara has truly mastered capturing Wolverine. After seeing Wolverine stab people for years, he always makes the claws feel special. This mini/event/arc is some of his best work, especially as the story jumps through time. At first, I wasn’t a huge fan of his style, but he’s turned me around after so many issues.