Wolverine #118

Wolverine #118
Writing: Larry Hama
Art: Lenil Francis Yu

What Went Down:  Mustang, the newest Prime Sentinel, starts off the issue just staring down the X-Men.  Because of his history as the victim of horrifying scientific experiments, Wolverine wants to try to talk to the Sentinel because he knows that Mustang is a really good guy.  Of course if it worked on the first try, there’d be nothing left to do with the rest of the issue, so Mustang attacks Wolverine. 

The other X-Men rescue all the other civilians.  Jubilee runs back to help Logan, while the rest of the X-Men discover an army of Prime Sentinels flying towards them.  Wolverine tries to reach Mustang again by telling him some of his own history, insisting that he doesn’t want to kill him.  Jubilee shows up and lets off her fireworks, blinding him again.  Being re-blinded causes Mustang’s personality to regain control. 

Outside, the X-Men realize that the Prime Sentinels aren’t attacking.  They’re being chased by an army of SHIELD agents.  The X-Men briefly celebrate, but one of the Sentinels is ordered to attack Cyclops.  Cyclops fires a warning blast to try and scare it away, but the Sentinel shoots him with an energy beam.  After the other X-Men stop the Sentinel, G.W. Bridge shows up to make sure his men don’t arrest the X-Men.  Bridge makes it clear that he’s not actually on the mutants’ side, but on the side of the American public.  At the same time, some medics discover that Cyclops has been implanted with something.  Wolverine suggests they steal one of SHIELD’s planes.  Before leaving, he says goodbye to Mustang and suggests he stick with SHIELD.  On the plane, Cyclops announces that he thinks that he’s been implanted with a bomb.

How It Was:  Remember how disappointing the end of X-Men #69 was?  Well now we can relive that disappointment all over again with Wolverine #118.  Bastion has completely disappeared from this title by this point, leaving no one for the X-Men to overcome in the climax of their own story, except for Mustang the Hunter Killer.  The fight is predictable, but I do like how Hama ties Mustang to the themes of Wolverine’s origins: namely that they’re both casualties in science’s search for better weapons.  Yes, it’s a little hokey that being blinded again turns back Mustang’s mind (especially since it didn’t work on the Sentinel last issue), but it’s good enough, I guess.

As for the rest, I feel like Hama sets up the readers’ expectations for a huge Sentinel battle, but then can’t deliver because of the restrictions of this crossover’s ending.  It seems strange to me that SHIELD can take down the newest and deadliest Sentinels when they’ve given the X-Men so much trouble.  Also it’s just a weak ending; the least they could’ve done was have the X-Men fighting for their lives before SHIELD shows up to save them.

In spite of the uber-disappointing end to OZT, I do like Cyclops taking a bomb in the chest.  This is due mostly to the fact that it leads to one of my favorite X-Men runs ever, but even more it’s something to care about other than interchangeble handicapped bystanders in a desert.  Jean’s reaction of tearing apart the Sentinel who did it is surprising, in a good way.

 I agonized over what I really thought of this issue.  On the one hand, it has the lame ending of SHIELD showing up to fight the X-Men’s battle for them, but I don’t know if I can really blame Hama and this book for that, since it was universal to all the X-titles.  On the other hand, everything is competently delivered, and even though we don’t get anything close to a solid resolution, we do get a decent cliffhanger that sets up an awesome following issue.  All in all, I still can’t get over the lameness of OZT’s ending; it’s just too dumbfounding to have an outside organization finish the X-Men’s battle for them.  The X-Men are supposed to be a force for maintaining the balance between humanity and mutants, and this issue removes their role from them and gives it to generic background soldiers.  Still, you should read this one, if only to know the set up for the completely amazing X-Men #70.

C-

Wolverine #117

Wolverine # 117
Writing: Larry Hama
Art: Lenil Francis Yu

What Went Down:  The Inhabitants of the New Mexico research colony uncover the X-Men from their hiding spot to ask them about being turned into mindless cyborgs.  Once in contact with the mutants, three of the people transform into Prime Sentinels and attack.  After two of the Sentinels are taken out, the third one grabs a hostage.  Although the dialogue the Sentinel uses says that he is temporarily paralyzing the civilians, the artist is clearly under the impression that the hostages are being killed. 

After the fight, all the people realize that what Mustang was saying is true.  Some wonder if it’s not worth the price to be better, but Mustang ends the debate by saying it’s not worth it.  Next we see Bastion talking about Sabra escaping from Israel.  He then contacts Dr. Prospero, the man behind the Prime Sentinel program, who is actually Bastion’s assistant Harper, a tertiary character that appeared in Uncanny #337.  Harper is told to activate all the Sentinels because SHIELD is on the verge of being activated against them.

Out in the desert, Jubilee has escaped from Zero Tolerance (in Gen X #31, which I’ve never read).  She is thinking about Wolverine when someone surprises her.  Outside the clinic, Cyclops explains the plan off attack, but Wolverine catches Jubilee’s scent and runs off without telling anyone why.

The attacker who snuck up on Jubilee turns out to just be a cactus.  Unfortunately, by attacking the cactus, Jubilee leads a Prime Sentinel to her location.  She manages to shoot her fireworks down the Sentinel’s mouth, but it continues to function.  The girl is about to be killed when Wolverine appears and saves the day.

Later, we see the patients’ bus crashed through the clinic.  Wolverine carries Jubilee to the other X-Men, and they’re all excited to see each other.  It turns out the clinic was empty when they arrived, and the patients destroyed whatever was left after crashing their bus through the door.  After learning the clinic has been breached, Bastion tells his men to activate the special experimental Hunter Killer Sentinel.  Of course this Sentinel just happens to be the X-Men’s new friend, Mustang!

How It Was:  This issue is a fair mix of action and plot, although this story is starting to show signs of disorganization and stalling for time.  We get a little more on the Prime Sentinel manufacturing before the X-Men go to shut it down.  But surprise! It’s already evacuated.  So we don’t get any real closure on the Sentinel clinic…this is the Operation Zero Tolerance that I remember. 

I do like Jubilee in this issue.  It’s nice to see that even though she’s escaped, she still has quite a few obstacles ahead of her.  And attacking a cactus is a nice way to show the effects of the physical and mental anguish she’s gone through.  More than anyone, Jubilee has embodied the suffering of mutants that was supposed to be universal throughout this storyline.  So it’s pretty fulfilling when Wolverine rescues her, and it’s probably the closest we get to satisfaction as far as the heroes vanquishing the villains. 

I think everyone reading this saw Mustang turning Sentinel from a mile away, but Hama needs something to base the climax around.  After all, we know at this point that Hama isn’t going to kill any X-Men, but he could force the X-Men to kill him.  The art is still really great; the fight at the beginning is pretty brutal.  So brutal in fact that the art doesn’t match up too well with the story; even though the Sentinels say they are stunning people, it looks a lot like they’re blowing the skin from their bones.  Other than this odd misstep, Yu is on all cylinders.  Even with such a huge cast, this is completely a Wolverine story, with the eponymous character getting all the coolest moments.  Still, it would’ve been nice if there had been some bigger or more exciting events at the clinic, as opposed to a boring, empty building with no revelations or payoff for the X-Men.  Wolverine and Jubilee really carry this one, along with the opening action.

C