Moiraās chase continues as Omega Wolverine enters the story proper in X Deaths of Wolverine #2 by Benjamin Percy, Federico Vincentini, Dijjo Lima, and Cory Petit.
Cassie Tongue: Wolverine has finally shown up in the series bearing his name ā or has he? Thatās one of the questions weāre facing in X Deaths of Wolverine #2, which continues, as you and Liz pointed out with Issue #1, Chris, to be a Moira X book in disguise. Itās a welcome counter to X Lives, which sure does focus on the hairy warrior.
Chris Eddleman: Iām starting to wonder if the Wolverine described in the title is not our favorite Logan but in fact, the Omega Wolverine that gets a bit more of a center stage role in this issue. He does an awful lot of killing (X Deaths anyone?) and honestly not a lot of anything else. But regardless, Iām thrilled to have a Moira book, so letās dive headfirst.
Cancer. Krakoa Rising.
Cassie: The stakes are even higher in this issue than they were in the first, and #1 had already established a cracking pace. This is a book that really knows how to move, and its propulsive nature is really effectively rendered by Percyās plot, Vicentiniās kinetic approach to panels, and the explosive, expansive approach to SFX and lettering (by VCās Cory Petit). It means that when Moira is on a call with Jane Foster (using a burner phone she picks up while robbing a gas station), and we learn as she does that her cancer is floronic – a little twisted āgiftā from the No-Place biome – itās like everything begins to accelerate. Itās such a killer pace, thereās almost no time to sit with that fact, so: letās make some time for it now.
Chris: So the more I thought about this, the more I thought that this seems a little bit like a set-up. āFloronicsā is definitely a buzzword that weāve been seeing throughout the current run on X-Force, namely as something that is used by both our Krakoan pals in the form of their cool sentient island, but also something that we see villains taking advantage of. Now, while Iām completely confident that Magneto/Xavier/Mystique would do something like give Moira cancer as a revenge mechanism, the timing seems a little too perfect. But, all weāve gotten is that Moira is convinced the mutants are giving her cancer, so thatās what we have to work with. How did this new twist hit you, Cassie?
Cassie: Honestly, in this era, I donāt trust anything that appears straightforward, so I suspect that youāre right. I also think that the weaponisation of Krakoa is often complicated – or even mitigated – by Krakoa and the Krakoans who are at the core of the nation, like Doug. There are a lot of competing ethical stances here, and a lot of questions about timing, motive, and purpose. Whatās more interesting to me, as a reader, is Moiraās (entirely justifiable) paranoia. Of course she thinks this is what happened. When youāre already embroiled in conspiracy, isnāt any new threat easily incorporated by way of confirmation bias? At any rate, sheās not going to let anyone catch up to her if she can help it, and thatās a hell of a story hook: it leads so easily to extremes.
Chris: Yeah, as I noted in our look into the last issue, this story is definitely X-Men by way of super-spy stories, and this issue and this reveal specifically add to that feeling. Itās an interesting contrast between House of X #2, the introduction to Moiraās story, which read a bit more like a far-flung temporal science fiction tale, with Moira in a zoo a thousand years later. Now sheās robbing gas stations and hiding out in motels. Weāre certainly getting some versatility in our X-Men these days. Our break-neck pace takes a bit of a backseat for a tiny bit of this issue though, as Moira figures out, or at least thinks she has figured out, how the Krakoans are tracking her.
A Farewell to Arms
Cassie: Firstly, if I may: holy MOLY.
Okay, okay. But Moira methodically preparing to deal with the issue of being tracked while Mystique is hot on her heels? Breathtaking.
Sheās got a cheap hotel room with a bathtub. Sheās got an iron. Sheās got iodine. Sheās got a knife and a lighter and whiskey for pain relief (truly the most Wolverine, and the most metal, part of the book). That artificial arm is coming off. Not since Yellowjackets Episode 2 has a wound been more shockingly, yet casually removed and cauterised.
Moira has been long been one of my favourite X-personalities. I loved her when she was casually giving Cable shit and mother-hen-ing around all matter of mutants, pausing only to take Xavier to task for being an idiot or do some impressive science. I loved her when she changed the entire mutant game with that dream that wasnāt a dream if it was real (she reminds us in this issue it was her dream, too). And I love her as a complex action-thriller antihero. I loved this part. No thoughts. Just vibes.
Chris: This bit was absolutely gnarly. As I was reading it at home, my 6-year-old ran over and I quickly hid it, which of course made him want to know what it was even more. Holy heck Moira. Iām going to take this moment to make a very brief complaint- specifically being, how did we go from the Moira of Inferno, who seemed to have very little agency, to this motorcycle driving, limb-hacking super-spy badass? I mean, the answer is probably āwho is writing this, what does this story demandā but itās honestly slightly jarring for me. Iām not complaining about the direction per se, I think having Moira be capable prey is frankly a very cool hook but, itās just a little bit strange juxtaposed to the non-entity of mere months passed.
We get her thoughts here, specifically that Krakoa was her dream too. After Inferno, Iām not certain if Krakoa was meant to be a setup to get every mutant in one place, ripe for the curing, or if the mutant cure was Moiraās kind of ābackup planā in case the great state of the deathless ended up tanking. After seeing her as a monster not that long ago, itās interesting being in the position to feel sorry for her, or at least see things from her perspective. Do you think itās effective, Cassie?
Cassie: I do think itās effective. I think that, especially in the grand tradition of X-villains, it makes sense that we are being asked to interrogate the question of perspective or to side with a villain as they face up to another villain. So often the formative mutant stories are about gradations of good and evil, of potential and redemption, of perspective and endings that turn into beginnings.
Do I think you could argue that Moira has always had the capacity to operate at this level, given the right motivation and a chance to regroup? Sure. Do I think giving characters who carry a book – especially women who have been stripped of it, whether justifiably or not – more agency to do so is a good idea? I absolutely do. Do I think that both of those things donāt forgive someone for their wrongs? Definitely. I think itās important that there are still questions about that cure and its role in Moiraās plan. I love that itās still murky. Frankly, I love that Iām rooting for people on all sides of this debacle.
Just not this Omega Wolverine.
Is This Just Terminator?
Chris: So as we saw in our last issue, there is a newcomer to the island of Krakoa, who came through a strange kind of pod or tumor that popped right out of the ground. This is Omega Wolverine, who is absolutely not our pal. So, we get some tantalizing hints about this enigmatic figure in our issue today but, thereās a lot thatās shrouded in mystery. It seems pretty evident though, that heās here to hunt Moira, and heās covered in Phalanxy stuff. In fact, thereās a data page that attempted to ātranslateā his speech, and it ended up proclaiming our Omega Wolverine as a Phalanx.
As our subject line asks, is this Terminator? Well, we do have a killer robot sent to kill someone. However, Forge analyzes the pod that Omega Wolverine emerged from only to find that while itās Krakoan, itās at least one thousand years older than Krakoa. That either means that in fact, Omega Wolverine has been hanging out in a pod for thousands of years, pre-dating Krakoa (seems unlikely), OR that this is from a Krakoa that has existed for one thousand years more than our current plucky island, which would put Omega Wolverine at one thousand years in the future. Now this is all dumb speculation on my part but, Iām kind of excited about the mystery deepening, even if Omega Wolverine feels a little boring to me as an individual. I guess heās a plot device made manifest, if you will?
Cassie: Moira muses in her caption boxes that she never thought the future would get here so fast, which lines up with this theory about our phalanx-y Wolverine (And wherever heās from, theyāve really simplified their Phalanx look. Hardly any yellow circuits! Itās more like a suggestion of a Phalanx presence. If that has later implications for his behaviour – if it indicates an evolved specimen or whatever – thatāll be interesting. But if not, why not go big and go hard with circuits? Yes, Iām here to talk about the important things: hot women who arenāt afraid of pain, and Phalanx fashion).
Largely, Omega Wolverine does what Wolverines allegedly do best: he shows up being Death himself (per Destiny), killing anyone who stands in the way of his murderous goal. Of course, he doesnāt get Moira right now – sheās managed to stay one step ahead – but it doesnāt look like this guy can be easily avoided. That means that hopefully soon weāll know a little more about his origins, and what, exactly, kind of threat he represents. Want to make any wild guesses, Chris?
Chris: I think thereās some timeline shenanigans, and while weāve seen the Omega Sentinel timeline where mutants team up with humans to annihilate the interstellar machine gods that live in black holes (comics kick ass), I think this Wolverine is from some āmachine ascendantā timeline and they donāt want Moira interfering with their plans. Do they know that sheās currently human? Is this going to convince her that she should help her mutant pals instead of being a big olā traitor? I donāt know! But honestly, Iām pretty in on the X Deaths train even as I find X Lives to be kind of by-the-books X-Men treading some well-worn territory. And you know, 50% is a fine rate for a comic book, to be honest.
X-Traneous Thoughts
- Jane Foster is just a real pal here, huh?
- Itās good to have Destiny back. Her enduring, loving relationship with Mystique – the precog and the mutant ācertain enough in herself to see the future as negotiableā – is a winner, and it carries over to this title with depth and dimension.
Chris Eddleman is a biologist and co-host of Chrises On Infinite Earths.
