Death of Wolverine #4 (Marvel)

writer: Charles Soule
artist: Steve McNiven

via Flickering Myth

They nailed it.

I'm not saying that because the writer is Charles Soule, who has become a favorite of mine and who soon will only be able to be found in a Marvel comic and I still need find peace with that.

Or because the artist is Steve McNiven, who also illustrated the seminal "Old Man Logan" arc.

This is the rare death (or "death") event that's absolutely relevant to the character, what's been done with him, his origin, even.  That never happens.  Never!

Except this time.

It's part of the whole narrative of Wolverine's life now, regardless of whatever Marvel does next, after that awkward period where everyone pretends it'll last forever.  

It's back to the Weapon X program.  Since Wolverine originally debuted as a character without history, there's been a lot of lucrative ground to cover in recent years, and I think that's been some of the best stuff Marvel has done, taking a unique situation and handling it brilliantly.  We found out just how old Wolverine/Logan/James Howlett really is, how long it took to reach Weapon X.  

And now we have an idea of how crazy Weapon X really was.  This is the "supersoldier serum" concept done right.  Same basic idea, but a much better explanation.  And now there's someone other than William Stryker awkwardly grafted onto it to blame for the whole mess, although like Victor Frankenstein he's almost instantly beside the point, the bogeyman behind the monster as it were.  (Ever since Universal started making monster movies, everyone thought the monster's name was Frankenstein, right?)  

That's reason enough to read this, to get a better sense of the tragic portrait of Wolverine's life, the one pivotal moment that has come to define it.  His creator doesn't even acknowledge that Wolverine was ever an X-Man, and the flourish Soule and McNiven concoct, of the memories the fans have of the character other than the history that unfolded of his origins, that's a great reminder of everything that might otherwise have been missing from the story.

You can't dismiss this one.  I have no idea how they can undo it, but if and when that happens, it can't be cheapened.  That's what's so great about it.