Marvel Comics Presents #78

Synopsis: Dr Abraham Cornelius and The Professor are discussing the surgery upon Logan. The Professor is displeased as Weapon X only has a three-mile radius: his design called for ten. Cornelius merely states that a puppet needs strings. Meanwhile Logan is connected to all sorts of Frankenstein-esque machines. His shaven hair has re-grown and there are partings in his knuckles for his claws to extend. The Professor demands that Weapon X has a ten-mile radius, no matter how heavy the batteries are. Cornelius reluctantly complies. Logan is beginning to heal and awaken whilst the surgeons work. The Professor becomes nervous but Cornelius tells that this was all expected. Logan has been partially conscious the whole time anyway. He’s in a lot of pain.

Weapon X is now ready for testing. He is naked, attached to cables that can be removed later, his sutures are mainly healed and his range is a little over nine miles. He is weighed down by heavy equipment and his helmet will be needed for a long-range test yet they are ready for now. A staff member demonstrates how easy it is to control the subject using the claw articulation. The Professor is irked by the Staff’s jokes and begins to control Weapon X himself. Weapon X stands on command before toppling over. The surgeons all laugh before the professor lambastes them. They are dismissed. The professor is concerned for his safety. Logan tried to choke him before, could he do it again? Cornelius says that with the power on Weapon X is under full control and with it off he’s dead meat. He tells the professor to go test it himself before turning in. The Professor pours a mug of hot coffee over Weapon X’s face. There is no reaction yet the Professor still seems uncertain.

Review: Excellent! I missed the first chapter of Weapon X yet I really wish I hadn’t. According to Wolverine’s Revenge this happened in 1968 so it occurred in the AOA as well. The story reveals a lot of what happened to Logan in eight pages. You real can empathise with his torment. The script is fantastic and the art is very gritty and dark and this really suits the mood of the story. How will Weapon X handle in testing?

Marvel Comics Presents #79

Synopsis: Synopsis: Weapon X is being tested. Carol Hines comments that he is close to the target. Cornelius heralds this as his fastest run yet, even with the extra weight. Cameras follow Weapon X’s movements. He extrudes his right claws with bleeding evident. Cornelius says a parting for the flesh is needed. The target now comes towards Weapon X. The adrenalin flows as Weapon X is confronted with a grizzly bear. Weapon X beheads the bear and Hines says the whole run took 4 minutes 21 seconds. The Professor says the weapon is perfect yet Cornelius says the helmet cuts the vision 30% both sides and that the battery packs – 10 pounds apiece – are too clunky. The Professor says it is necessary for control. Cornelius suggests more tests as Weapon X is bought in. The Professor explodes and states that Weapon X is ready and as such should be tested against the most deadly game of all – man. He leaves Cornelius in shock.

The Wranglers follow the Professors orders and keep Weapon X powered up. Cornelius is uncertain of the whole project. He says he was never told the whole story at once and he wonders what he still doesn’t know. What is Weapon X for – protection against communists, an assassin? He isn’t ready for murder, not like the Professor. Meanwhile below Weapon X attacks the Wranglers while Hines offers her support to the doctor.

The alarm sounds. Weapon X has begun to tear through security in Lab 2. He escapes the lab. Cornelius accuses the Professor, who himself is shocked; he is no longer in control!

Review: Another fantastic chapter that leaves you breathless. A little over the top on the gore factor at the beginning but handled well. I think that will stay throughout.

So now we begin to see how sinister the Professor actually is. Could he be controlling Logan even now as part of his ‘test’? I find myself wondering as well; what is Weapon X for? And if Logan has now regained control, is he after payback? Either way the next chapter should be truly enlightening and entertaining.

Marvel Comics Presents #80

Synopsis: There is chaos inside the facility. Weapon X is tearing through security. Two soldiers ask for permission before opening fire. Cornelius and the Professor argue in a panic. Their safety controls are not working. They can longer simply shut down Weapon X. it turns out that the tranquillisers they are using against him are completely ineffective. Cornelius demands to know who is in control and this piques the Professor’s curiosity. They find that they cannot seal Weapon X in and he continues to move on, into Zone Three now.

The Professor’s voice comes out over the intercom. He is speaking very matter-of-factly over a radio link to a mysterious employer. Cornelius is stunned and security desperately calls for the use of artillery. He tries to get the professor’s clearance yet he is to busy calmly relaying the situation. Hines says the call is to and exterior unit and the professor forgot to turn off his intercom. The professor asks if his employer has a hand in these events. Hines meanwhile, tells Cornelius that Weapon X has made a direct path to the Professor and is within a hundred yards of him. Cornelius states that his tracking abilities have only been seen to be that good in controlled situations. She suggests that this could be.

The Professor begins to babble about ‘biting the hand that feeds’ and a ‘clean sweep’. He is amused yet there is no telling as to what is being said. Then he asks if he should leave now or stay whilst ‘as you put it, Weapon X “clears the dead wood”.’ Cornelius Okays the artillery at this, just as Weapon X comes through the Professor’s floor. The newly armed security moves in as the Professor’s screams ring out over the intercom. Cornelius is shocked yet Hines begins to cry out of pure fear.

Security storms both of the Professors doors and they find the Professor shaken but alive. A guard hands him his glasses and he gazes up to see his severed wrist. Blood drips on his face as he gives the order to destroy Weapon X.

Review: the art on this story is fantastic. From the first page panel of Logan facing off with two guards in a hall, standing over a clawed body to the professor’s face stained with his own blood! The gore content is quite high due to Logan thrashing bodies around on his claws.

As for the story! Just who is this mysterious employer and is he behind this? The Professor is such a coward, ready to let them all die while he flees. With what Logan did to him I think it is safe to say that this is no longer a test! Still I hope that if this does drag out that it stays this entertaining. However with only eight pages per story it shouldn’t have time to get boring.

Marvel Comics Presents #81

Synopsis: Weapon X stands atop a pile of dead and dying soldiers yet they are still attacking him. Their bullets are having no more effect than their tranqs from last issue. A trooper takes the Professor to Hines and Cornelius. He pushes away the medic and asks the others to help him escape. Hines applies a tourniquet and they head to the adamantium reactor hold. The Professor leads the reluctant twosome, as he believes it is the only safe place from Weapon X. Meanwhile Weapon X, covered in blood, heads over to the last soldier. He is wounded fatally yet he is killed anyway.

The three enter the reactor and they take a dead guard’s sub-Machine gun. The Professor gives it to Cornelius to shoot away Weapon X’s power harnesses for the system is still active, in the control of another. Cornelius is outraged when the Professor states that it is not his place to know whom. Hines discovers that they are still being hunted. The Professor again tries to contact his superior whilst Cornelius and Hines watch. The Professor is in denial concerning his death yet the others are resigned to their fate. Cornelius tries to calm, the Professor by agreeing to use the gun when Weapon X turns off the power from within the walls.

Hines tells Cornelius that the adamantium coolant will be reduced to charged compound with no power. If the core is not purged the compound will explode. The Professor muses to himself on this before a drop of blood lands on his head. He looks up to see Weapon X come through the wall at him…

Review: the best part of this saga so far sees Logan doing what he does best! The plot begins to thicken at the same time as the action level going through the roof! Fantastic!

The amount of blood in this story is large but seeing the damage done to the soldiers it looks by no means over the top. The suspense as to who is behind this is killing me. Will all be revealed in the next chapter? I doubt it but we will see.

Marvel Comics Presents #82

Synopsis: The Professor is in a blind panic, urging Cornelius to kill Weapon X, who is standing motionless. Cornelius argues that he’s had it, he’s lost a lot of blood. The Professor reminds the doctor that the blood is what remains of the security force and that Weapon X is being externally controlled to kill them all. In a desperate attempt he thumps Cornelius, causing him to fire the semi-automatic at Weapon X. He collapses, yet his power packs are still mainly intact. He stands and then proceeds to punch his claws straight through Cornelius. As they flee Hines begs the Professor to aid the doctor but the Professor shouts her down: ‘He’s dead, you stupid woman! I couldn’t help him even if I wanted to!’

He says that he needs her help. She assumes he means with purging the core to preserve the data records. He answers nonchalantly. What could more important than the memory of Experiment X. Meanwhile Logan looks bemused at Cornelius’s body. He says he remembers him from a dream, a dream of dying. He runs off after the others.

The core is already beginning to leak. Hines tells the Professor to release the fission-gate. He says to himself that he must lure Logan into the exhaust pit first. He talks to Hines, thanking her for her work on the project and her help to Cornelius, asking if she too would lay down her life for the project. He throws her into the pit just as she realises his meaning. He shouts for her not to break her neck for he needs her to scream! She awakens from a temporary daze and screams. The Professor begins the purge sequence and orders manual control of the fission-gate, just as Logan enters the pit…

Review: why, why, o why did Cornelius have to die!!! He was the only one of the three scientists that I actually liked! Even so his death was pivotal to the story. Dynamic yet brutal. (Yes, I loved it!) The Professor was so cold-hearted to Hines at the end there. He will let her burn when he opens the gate just because Logan might die as well? Crazy.

Although the best part of the story must have been when Logan ceased to be the Weapon. His power packs have begun to show damage and as a result his true mind is returning. And if Logan is now getting his payback with a full fruit basket the Professor really is in trouble!

Marvel Comics Presents #83

Synopsis: Logan strides into the pit. The Professor is at first anxious, then cruel when Hines starts pleading for Logan to kill her quickly. Logan understands, but cannot bring himself to do it. She doesn’t matter to him. Only the Professor matters.

Just then the ceiling explodes as the Professor purges the core. Hines tries to run but both her and Logan are engulfed in flames. The professor opens a line to his superior hailing the destruction of Weapon X, just as the purge sequence begins to reverse. Logan climbs the ladder to the Professor, the metal rungs melting beneath his feet. The sequence cancels and the Professor realises that, somehow, Logan is still being controlled.

The ‘walking dead man’ comes at the Professor, asking what he has had done to him. Has he been turned into such a thing? The Professor sneers that Logan is an animal to which he explodes and yells his name, claiming to be a man. The Professor tries to call for help, but his cries go unheeded. The corpses that fill the corridors cannot answer. Logan removes his other hand and asks if they are even if Logan sheathes his claws. The Professor doesn’t answer and receives one claw at a time into his head.

“Now… we’re… square. Got that… chump?”

Review: Wow! That has to be my favourite chapter of the saga! Logan fried to a crisp, his revenge, and some incredible gore effects – of note the ending where Logan’s face is splattered bit by bit with blood and the following panel shows the blood drenched Professor impaled by his forehead! One thing I still don’t get. Who was in control through all of this? It seems to be Logan and so that is how I have referred to the character, yet the Professor seems to suggest Weapon X. Take it as you will I suppose.

The final chapter next and it will take up the whole book rather than just eight pages. Good Stuff! (NB: MCP was an anthology title and ran other stories along with Weapon X. They both ended this issue and so the whole of issue 84 is the conclusion.)

Marvel Comics Presents #84

Synopsis: Logan carries the Professor’s body to the broken window and hurls it into the pit. The flames engulf the body and Logan passes out, presumably for his healing factor to repair the damage sustained last issue after the adrenalin wore off.

Logan awakens fully recovered, hearing, and responding to, things the others have said as excess memories in his sub-conscious. Logan is confused, naked, and disorientated. He leans over the console to steady himself and notices the Professor’s severed hand. With this he realises this is no joke. The voices are ‘random playback’ and so he ignores them. His smells the air and suspects that this is a military compound. He has ‘issues’ with the army and so leaves.

Wandering the corridors he says this can’t be the military – “these computers are Buck Rogers”. He comes across Cornelius. Unaware of his own claws again he can only think that it was a knife attack. He recognises him from a ‘dream of dying’. He wonders who did the killing that he smells, and then notices the blood on himself. Having no wounds he wonders if it was him. Feeling his hands however he notices metal coverings before his claws cut through and extrude. He begins to run.

On a dream landscape Logan runs on, with something hot on his tail. More claws and spikes erupt from his body. He can’t get away as his follower is everywhere. Logan is weighed down by his spikes and collapses.

The Professor, somehow alive, is heard speaking to Cornelius and Hines. The Professor comments upon Logan’s fear of himself, how extraordinary it is. Cornelius remarks that he is pulling through despite it. Hines shows Logan outside on camera, he cuts through the fence to be confronted by a Siberian tiger. Cornelius says the tiger shouldn’t have just been there for him but the Professor says it will suffice due to Logan’s simpleminded-ness. Logan launches right in, ‘he’s just as wild as before!’ The Professor disagrees as Logan is in control of himself now. He now has an ego. Logan now is aware of the Surgery and his skeleton whereas before it was unnecessary for him to know.

The tiger puts up more of a fight than the grizzly did. Cornelius bets the Professor a hundred dollars on Logan. The professor realises that Logan is preparing to strike. Logan feints an attack before striking through the neck and the heart. Cornelius asks for readings by instinct so Hines reminds him that this is an offline exercise. The Professor says Logan is as good as he was and Cornelius says he underestimated his prize before. The view returns to the control room and we see they are alive and unharmed.

Cornelius explains. The psycho-dramatic test they performed offered a chance of escape yet he killed them all brutally. Then they made him fear his own mutantcy by he remained unfazed. The Professor is doubtful due to the act of mercy on Hines. Cornelius wins the Professor round into calling Logan a flawed, yet successful, experiment. The Wranglers go to pick up Logan while Cornelius comments on the touch the Professor made by ‘pretending’ that he had a higher authority, a clever sympathy play. The Professor remains silent.

Meanwhile Logan has killed the Wranglers and is making his way back into the compound. The alarms sound and Hines reports that Logan’s transponder is being over-ridden by an outside source. Logan comes through their door and the calls from the Security staff go unheeded by the stunned scientists.

Interlude and Escape: throughout this scene Logan is seen moving over the mountains while Hines and Cornelius talk. The Professor’s bloodstained glasses lie upon the title card. Whether the conversation is part of Logan’s mental playback or the two alive and talking at that time is unknown.

Hines says that she keeps on wondering about what they are doing. She asks if Logan volunteered. She is told no; he was abducted. Cornelius is not proud of it. The Professor apparently seems to say/have said that this is Logan’s destiny and that he is not being forced. She says that all she sees is the sadistic Professor causing Logan suffering. She cries. Cornelius says he is mutant, according to the Professor he isn’t even human. She says that she can see in his eyes that he is. A man being turned into a monster. Cornelius doesn’t know what to say. He goes by what the professor has said. She calls the Professor a liar and wishes she had not got involved with the Project. He tells her not to worry, as it’ll be over soon. Finally a picture of a bloodied hand surrounded by broken glass can be seen.

Review: Where do I begin? The art is fantastic, as is the script. The gore content wasn’t that bad. We still don’t know who is behind all this or what happened at the end!!!

According to Wolverine’s Revenge on PS2, XBox and Gamecube, Logan discovers here about the Shiva Virus in his body and lets them live. As that game’s Weapon X section is based upon this story that is highly possible, especially as the Professor shows up in a few years to be killed by a former experiment. I also recommend that game most highly.

It seems Cornelius got his way by having another test performed. Very clever, yet who is the face behind the curtain as it were? Being a few years behind the American continuity I don’t know if this has been resolved. I’m sure Charley can correct me if I’m wrong.

Anyway this is a fantastic story and I hope you will all look into the upcoming Organizational Psychology class where I will look at Team X and the Weapon X project.