Marvel Comics 2018
Written by Greg Pak
Illustrated by Cory Smith
Colour Assist by Morry Hollowell
Back Up Assists by Marcus To & Morry Hollowell
Lettered by VC’s Joe Caramagna
The Weapon X Program has done it again! At the cost of their own destruction, they’ve completed their biggest and possibly most dangerous experiment yet… With the strength of the Hulk and the rage and claws of Wolverine comes WEAPON H! It’s been some time since Weapon H escaped and destroyed his creators. Now, our hero is on the run, as he tries to escape his mysterious past and seclude himself from the rest of society. But when a new kind of Wendigo threatens the lives of others, will Weapon H be able to shirk his responsibility? Does any of his humanity remain?
I love Weapon X and I really wasn’t a fan of the arc that brought Weapon H into being. To be honest I am not even sure what compelled me to even check this out, beyond mild curiosity. So beyond the concept of combining the Hulk and Wolverine into one person, with the right genetic make-up to grow claws and survive the injection of adamantium which according to all rules should be impossible let’s just go with it. Though seriously.
The concept here however is amazing and as Clay has to figure out his place in the world. He’s a soldier and now he’s something else and trying to reconcile all that while avoiding the military that created him by staying off the radar well that’s harder than it looks. The opening was great and disturbing at the same time and if this is how things in this book are going to be I might have to stick around a while.
I do like the way Greg has structured this book and how it has that ebb & flow to it which engages the reader nicely. There are situations and encounters throughout this issue that are used to serve multiple purposes and that Greg can handle that so beautifully to almost overlook the importance of what we’re seeing. Well maybe not all of it but some and the way it also brings about the natural characterisation that the reactions bring are extremely well done. Overall while I have always like Greg’s writing I am finding myself much more impressed with what he’s doing here and yes that includes getting me to read it and enjoy it.
Cory does some stellar work on the interiors here and i’m slightly surprised to see such work coming out of Marvel. Could they finally be done with making everything stylised and back to “mainstream” comics art? The attention to detail is amazing and that we see that in ways that you might not normally expect only heightens the experience. The way page layouts are utilised and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a great eye for storytelling. Okay so the design of Weapon H is stupid, yes I said stupid what the hell are those adamantium stud things coming out of his body they are so unnecessary and seem to serve no real purpose and it looks dumb. Balance that out is the fact we don’t see him much and that the backgrounds expand the story, the locale and everything about the book it should!
Dag nabbit I didn’t want to like this and I do. Yes there is some obligatory Marvel to it and on paper this man shouldn’t have survived the process also the combination of the two backgrounds, alone in the woods and the government along with Roxxon both hunting him you’ve got both Hulk and Wolverine brought into this in a way that doesn’t make sense unless he somehow absorbed their DNA problems as well.
End result is that if you let go of those things which make you cringe and just read the story for what it is it’s extremely enjoyable and the artwork blew me away. This could be a great book only time will tell.