How Much Logan Is Too Much?: Reviewing ‘X Lives Of Wolverine’ #3

When it comes to certain characters, especially those that have been around for a very long time, there can be a certain flavor that comes with any stories that are centered around them. This isn’t either a bad or good thing, it’s just the reality of what happens to characters that have been heavily featured in stories for decades to the point of becoming iconic.

Logan/Wolverine is very much one of those characters. There are very particular things that one can likely expect from stories that feature him, and those things can generally be categorized into sections for blood, violence, sex, and generally something to do with the man’s long storied past. So far X Lives Of Logan is repeatedly checking all of those boxes off usually at the exact same time.

Overall, this is a fine series, as Ben Percy is a good writer and understands the character and what is expected of him by this point and is crafting a story that is interesting in many respects. There is still a lot left to be explained, as the whys and hows of Omega Red’s revenge quest through time are still being slowly dripped out (such as the question of why he can only seem to travel to points in time where Logan will be very nearby to stop the attack on Xavier).

That being said, this is a story that should very much be my jam with time travel and lots of SNIKT action but it’s leaving me cold for some reason. It feels like just too much Loganness being crammed into one place with all the elements that are not what I find myself caring about as much when it comes to the character. Logan’s deep past and struggle is interesting, but truly it was more interesting before all of it was poured out and picked apart a billion times in previous stories.

This is one of those stories that truly might read far better in one go collected, but oddly enough it’s the companion series X Deaths of Wolverine (which is heavily focused on what is next for Moira X) that I find far more intriguing which was not how I thought it would go down.

Joshua Cassara and Frank Martin are killing it as if the duo were meant to bring Wolverine stories to life. There is an inherent rough quality being telegraphed by the artwork that matches Logan yet it’s so dynamically smooth in operation. A ton of detail is showcased here as nothing is left out, as the various eras all feel real and deep and distinct from one another. Martin’s colors help with this as there are subtle changes to the toned-down color palette choice that help set the various old eras and even the present apart from each other.

Letters from Cory Petit are always going to be great and that’s the case in this book as well. Just like with the colors, there is a lot done to the letters and fonts to make sure there is continuity but also a different flavor for the eras and the various characters.

I cannot wait to read the entire story once it’s complete to come back and see if my feelings are still the same, or if even outside of solitary characters it just doesn’t fully hit for me. Overall it’s a solid story that seems to be bringing a lot of X-Force plotlines to a head, which should bode well for that book once it returns in a few months.

X Lives of Wolverine #3 is now on sale in print and digitally from Marvel Comics.