X Lives of Wolverine #1 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X LIVES OF WOLVERINE #1
by Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara & Frank Martin
X LIVES OF WOLVERINE is one of two linked miniseries running over the next ten weeks, the other being X Deaths of Wolverine. It replaces most of the regular X-books during this period (but not all) and effectively serves as a season break before the next relaunch. This issue has been made available on Marvel Unlimited on its release date. I can’t imagine direct market retailers are going to be very happy about that, but that – and the reasons why Marvel might have done it – are a matter for another day. At any rate, if you have a Marvel Unlimited subscription, there is no need to buy this.
COVER / PAGE 1. Ten incarnations of Wolverine, all entwined in Omega Red’s tentacles. Specifically, the ten incarnations are:
- At the top, present-day Wolverine.
- Row 2, on the left, Wolverine as Weapon X.
- Row 2, on the right, Wolverine as he appeared in his debut in Incredible Hulk vol 2 #181.
- Between them, Wolverine as Patch, in the white dinner jacket from the early issues of his solo series.
- Row 4, on the left, a soldier Wolverine – I think this is Wolverine as shown in flashbacks to World War I.
- Row 4, on the right, Wolverine as a member of Team X.
- Between them, a Logan with no shirt and ragged trousers – probably Logan as a wilderness dweller after Origin.
- Row 6, on the left, what seems to be a cowboy Logan, presumably from his early post-Origin days.
- Row 6, on the right, Logan in the clothes from this issue, when he shows up at the Xavier Mansion.
- Right at the bottom, a Wolverine in a light grey version of his costume, probably from X-Force vol 3 (the Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost & Clayton Crain run).
PAGES 2-3. Wolverine philosophises about time.
This seems to be mainly intended to prime us for the story itself being told out of chronological sequence (both in historical terms and from the point of view of the characters). After all, once you’re doing a time travel story, why do it in sequence?
The point about time being disoriented because the Krakoan gates allow you to travel instantly between time zones is something that Wolverine also pointed out in his narration in Wolverine #19.
We’ll find out later (more or less) what Professor X wants Wolverine to do.
PAGE 4. Recap and credits. The larger Krakoan text reads “X LIVES”; the greyed-out text next to it says “X DEATHS”.
There are five linked sets of hexagons at the top of the page, two of which are greyed out entirely here; presumably they’re going to be highlighted in the equivalent pages of X Deaths. Of the other three set, the first shows Logan, Professor X and Jean Grey, wi th a fourth picture greyed out (and a name redacted from the accompanying list). The list has “X” after each name, and “Krakoa” as an apparent location. The second set has a picture of Logan and his name on a list, but everything else greyed out – though we can see the Roman numeral “VI” after each name. The third set has Logan’s name but all the names blanked out, along with all the pictures – including Logan’s. This list has “VII” by everyone’s names.
PAGES 5-8. Logan shows up to defend the birth of Charles Xavier.
The basic idea seems to be that Omega Red is possessing various people to attack Professor X at various points in his past, and Wolverine has been sent back in time by Professor X and Jean Grey to all these various points in history in order to stop it. We’ll presumably find out more about that as it goes on, but it’s spelt out relatively clearly in this week’s Life of Wolverine Infinity Comic #1, where Jean says “Sending Wolverine’s consciousness back through time requires me to act as his “mental anchor” in the here and now, keeping his mind safe no matter where this journey leads.” Presumably, then, this is meant to be Logan occupying the body of his past self, in the style of “Days of Future Past”. (If so, I’ll add all these appearances to the Incomplete Wolverine posts once the series is over.)
This is apparently meant to be the birth of Professor X, which we haven’t seen before. The closest we’ve had is a flashback in New X-Men vol 1 #121 (the silent issue), which shows Charles killing his evil twin sister Cassandra Nova Xavier in the womb, following by a single panel of Sharon falling down the stairs and landing at the feet of an alarmed-looking Brian.
The setting here doesn’t look much like the X-Men Mansion, but maybe the family haven’t yet inherited it from Professor X’s grandparents. The New X-Men #121 flashback seems to show a fairly normal suburban house, but it’s part of a wonky surrealist dream sequence, so you don’t have to take it literally.
More of an issue is that the art seems to have some very odd ideas about what decade it is. It’s 2022 now, so even if Xavier was 70, this scene would have to take place in the 1950s. Wolverine mentions later that he’s “twice as old as the Professor” – if we take that literally, Logan was apparently born in around the 1890s, and that would also fit with a timeframe in the mid-20th century. The art feels a good 30 or 40 years out to me.
Xavier’s parents are Brian and Sharon Xavier, both of whom died long before X-Men vol 1 #1. Sharon first appeared in X-Men vol 1 #12, which contains a lengthy flashback to the back story of Professor X and the Juggernaut. Brian is mentioned in that flashback, but doesn’t actually appear on panel until a flashback in X-Men vol 2 #12.
PAGES 9-10. Omega Red breaks into the Hatchery computers.
The unnamed guy he beats up is Egg. The significance of the information Omega Red accesses is explained on the following data page.
PAGE 11. Data page: an exchange of memos by which X-Force (specifically, the Beast) insists on Omega Red being resurrected with a version of his carbonadium synthesiser that can be used to track him without his knowledge. This is basically recapping X-Force #15 for newcomers. For present purposes all you really need to know is that Omega Red is generally compelled to kill people and absorb their life essence; the C-synth is a device that gives him more control over all that; and Beast secretly replaced it with a version provided by Forge that included a tracking device, so that he could track Omega Red and investigate his dealings with Dracula and the Vampire Nation.
The Five have increasingly been shown resisting directions to do things they have moral objections to, but that came along after the point where they resurrected Omega Red.
PAGES 12-19. Cassandra is stillborn, and Omega Red tries to kill Sharon.
As already noted, Cassandra was killed in the womb by Charles, all as shown in flashback in New X-Men vol 1 #121. She eventually returns as a psychic villain, and we’re due to see more of her in the next season.
Wolverine’s period body only has bone claws, because we’re way before the Weapon X Project.
PAGES 20-22. Present day: Wolverine is connected to Cerebro and sent back in time.
This sequence is expanded upon in Life of Wolverine Infinity Comic, where it serves as a framing device to recap Wolverine’s history. In this version we just get a double page spread with fractured images from Wolverine’s life. Starting from bottom left and working roughly clockwise, the images are:
- Wolverine fighting the Silver Samurai, in what could be any of several stories.
- Young Logan (James Howlett) discovering his powers for the first time.
- Logan as a crying newborn. This is technically an original appearance, and counts as his chronologically earliest appearance, unless you count the photograph of him as a baby which appears in Wolverine: The End #4.
- Wolverine fighting Lady Deathstrike in Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #205.
- Logan as Weapon X.
- Logan healing from hideous facial injuries; this could be all sorts of things.
- Logan accompanying Professor X in his wheelchair; this is generic.
- Wolverine fighting the Hulk in Incredible Hulk vol 2 #181.
- The (abortive) wedding of Logan and Mariko from Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #172.
- Logan kneeling in fire with a sword next to him; this might be something to do with him visiting Hell to get the Muramasa Blade in “X of Swords”.
- Wolverine fighting Sabretooth, who’s awfully marginal in all this for a character who used to be presented as Wolverine’s arch-enemy..
- Wolverine fighting Omega Red.
- Wolverine looking regretful over his blood-covered claws.
- Wolverine on an X-shaped cross, from Uncanny X-Men vol 1 #251.
- A generic shot of Logan extending his claws.
PAGES 23-25. Logan fights Omega Red while Charles Xavier is born.
All pretty straightforward. The point being set up here is that Logan is at a disadvantage because he doesn’t want to hurt Omega Red’s host body.
PAGES 26-28. Omega Red arrives in Russia.
The Russians have been generally hostile to Krakoa throughout the current era.
The man approaching Omega Red is Mikhail Rasputin, one of the main villains from X-Force. He’s a high end reality warper, and I suppose the art is meant to show him taking Omega Red to some sort of pocket location so they can talk – though it’s not really very clear.
PAGE 29. Data page. Apparently Mikhail is working on a “new constitution” to give him equal power to Vladimir Putin. We’re only told that it’s been drafted, not that it’s been adopted. Mikhail was using Chronicler’s mind-control powers to influence the Russian government in X-Force #23, so this is presumably something to do with that.
The Cerebro Sword is an artefact made by Magneto from the Cerebro helmet that was destroyed by a sniper bullet in X-Force #1. It was stolen by Mikhail Rasputin in X-Force #12. As of X-Force #23, he was still trying to access and decrypt its data.
The reference to “twins in the womb” obviously echoes Charles and Cassandra; the reference to “nesting dolls”, aside from a rather obvious Russian stereotype, relates to the artificial “nesting doll” soldiers seen in various issues of X-Force.
PAGES 30-33. Baby Charles is saved.
It’s not entirely clear whether Omega Red’s host body falls to her death (she’s still murmuring at the end), or whether it’s simply that the serious injury makes him move on. Maybe we’ll find out in due course. Needless to say, plots of this sort invite all sort of story-breaking questions – why not just come back two weeks earlier and kill Sharon? – but perhaps the ground rules will be clearer as we go on.
PAGES 34-35. Logan arrives in his next jump.
This is Team X, the black ops squad that Logan was a member of. Sabretooth and Maverick are teammates at this point, and Sabretooth is dutifully saving him from an explosion while he’s disoriented. That’s in character for Sabretooth at this point in history.
Basically, it’s Quantum Leap, isn’t it?
PAGE 36. Trailers. The Krakoan reads OMEGA.
This was very, very dumb. It remains to be seen if it will be good, fun dumb, or bad, dreary dumb.
The art is great except for the unclear bits.
Wolverine cutting Charles Xavier’s umbilical cord is very symbolic of Logan’s status in the X-Men mythos and/or marketplace.
Agreed, very very dumb. It seems to me that they’re trying to do Cosmic Ghost Rider but serious. Including the grand guignol. Apparently Wolverine severs several major arteries in his hands whenever he extends his claws? But it seems we’re going to see Wolverine being instrumental in all the important moments in X-Men history?
Also, the polyamorous Jean Grey situation seems to have completely retconned the relationship. Wolverine has had an irregular crush on Jean for decades, and sometimes it was mutual, but since when has she been his constant touchstone who knows him better than any other person?
I am interested in why it was released on Unlimited early. I assumed somebody simply messed up again, like they did a week or two ago. That was fun and confusing.
I wondered whether it was a mistake putting it on Unlimited, but apparently not. Quite why is an interesting question. My best guess is that the orders were disappointing but they genuinely believe in the book and think that getting more eyes on it will help – but who knows?
Paul> For present purposes all you really need to know is that the C-synth is a device that Omega Red is generally compelled to kill people and absorb their life essence; the C-synth is a device that gives him more control over all that;
Bolded section appears to be there by mistake.
Thanks – fixed.
I’m hoping for good fun dumb. At least it looks like the Russia storyline is finally moving forward.
Well, this certainly was a start to something. Yup.
@Si: How and when Jean became this close to Wolverine is anyone’s guess – or maybe call is the proper word.
Claremont went out of his way to retcon hints of romance between the two in the Classic X-Men continuity inserts. Not a good idea if you ask me – but Claremont did not ask me.
Then there was that kiss during Inferno, when the two meet for the first time since Uncanny #101 or so. Grant Morrison wrote the two of them as very close as well. So did the writer of X-Men Red.
So yeah, it was retconned out of the blue. Several times.
Re Omega Reds break-in – Seriously, with how important the resurrection process is, you would think they would have better security at the Hatchery, and especially since Mystique was able to impersonate Xavier and have the Five ressurrect Destiny…and on that is no-one tracking who gets resurrected?
The Five went ahead and ressurrected Gabby and Wanda themselves, and surely they are working through a long list with important characters queue jumping constantly… There seems like quite a lot of oversight! What’s the process dammit!
Anyway, Egg/Goldballs is really good in a fight! He took out a major Spider-Man villain once, after said villain beat up Spider-Man. He’s got that Squirrel-Girl silly power/badass thing going. It’s a shame to see him taken down so easily by a bad guy who’s B-list at best.
I’m okay with seeing Jean and Xavier as the people who know Logan best in light of Wolverine 75, where they had to keep him alive. That’s probably the least grating thing about this issue for me.
Hopefully there’s some reasoning for why everyone Omega Red possesses gets his powers.
I’m just sticking to reading Paul’s comments for these.
I can’t even summon up the surly teenage pleasure of hate reading a Percy book.
Seems like the fun kind of dumb to me.
Jean and Logan also had that kiss during X-Tinction Agenda.
Seeing as Omega says it himself in dialogue, it looks like this series wants to elevate him to major Wolverine villain status. I’m OK with that, and think he needs the push. Maybe it’ll go some way to justifying his resurrection/s (as he was brought back before Krakoa after dying in Wolverine Origins).
As far as I’m aware, no writer has succeeded in making Omega Red anything more than a kewl Jim Lee name and design. The more I look back on the ’90s without nostalgia, the more I hate the products of that era that have survived to today.
(Except for Generation X. I’m not ready to accept how bad it might’ve been.)
I liked this issue quite a bit.
I’ve always felt that Percy has interesting ideas which are severely hampered by the absolutely glacial pacing that he employs in his issues of X-Force and Wolverine.
That wasn’t the case here – things moved briskly, which made a huge improvement. Joshua Cassara’s art is stellar, I hope he returns to X-Force in Destiny of X once he wraps up XLoW. I also loved Frank Martin’s colours, especially the ‘yellowing paper’ effect he uses for the past segments.
Dave> Seeing as Omega says it himself in dialogue, it looks like this series wants to elevate him to major Wolverine villain status. I’m OK with that, and think he needs the push.
I believe Percy said in some interview some time ago that he is taking advantage of Sabretooth’s current imprisonment to push Omega Red as Logan’s arch nemesis. Which I personally don’t mind, the Logan-Creed dynamic has gotten stale.
Paul> It’s 2022 now, so even if Xavier was 70, this scene would have to take place in the 1950s.
According to Hickman’s timeline in House of X 2, Moira X was 52 when Krakoa was founded (in 2019 / 2020). Moira and Charles attended university together so they must be around the same age range, which means Charles was born in the late 1960s. For now at least, before the Marvel timeline shifts forward again.
Paul> There are five linked sets of hexagons at the top of the page, two of which are greyed out entirely here; presumably they’re going to be highlighted in the equivalent pages of X Deaths. Of the other three set, the first shows Logan, Professor X and Jean Grey, with a fourth picture greyed out (and a name redacted from the accompanying list). The list has “X” after each name, and “Krakoa” as an apparent location. The second set has a picture of Logan and his name on a list, but everything else greyed out – though we can see the Roman numeral “VI” after each name. The third set has Logan’s name but all the names blanked out, along with all the pictures – including Logan’s. This list has “VII” by everyone’s names.
I thought that this was a very interesting approach to a cast list. My speculation as to how it works is that the ‘X Lives’ in the title refers to the 10 different periods in Logan’s life as shown on the cover. Logan’s current life in Krakoa is the tenth era of his long life. In the cast list, the Roman numeral denotes which era the cast is from.
So in this issue we have:
Logan VI (? era) – Wolverine, Sharon Xavier, Brian Xavier, Cassandra Nova Xavier, Charles Xavier
Logan VII (Team X era) – Wolverine, Sabretooth, Maverick, Charles Xavier
Logan X (Krakoa era) – Wolverine, Professor X, Jean Grey, (redacted)
We also have two more greyed out eras in this cast list which will presumably be revealed in further issues of X Lives as Logan time-travels to them.
That makes five eras in X Lives of Wolverine. So the other five eras must be in X Deaths of Wolverine.
Paul> Logan arrives in his next jump. This is Team X, the black ops squad that Logan was a member of.
Something occurred to me when I read this segment. Throughout his Wolverine run, Percy has been hammering the plot thread that Logan has gaps in his memory, despite the fact that this was supposed to have been restored some time ago. I wonder if this series is supposed to be the pay-off for this thread Percy has been laying out.
Logan has blank-spot periods in his mind because in (at least some of) these blank-spot periods he was possessed by himself from the future. Take this Colombia Team X mission – present day Logan doesn’t remember this mission because he never actually experienced it the first time around, that was future Logan occupying his past body. Present day Logan is about to become this future Logan that experiences this mission for the first time.
If this is actually what Percy is going for, then I see two implications to this:
1. This is a Prisoner of Azkaban-style stable time loop. Everything that is about to happen has already happened in Logan’s (and Charles’s) past, Logan simply has to time-travel to make sure that it turns out this way. This is important because it means there won’t be any timeline splitting as a result of this time-travel. After all, you’re not altering past events if they had always occurred this way.
2. In terms of Logan’s personal character arc that Percy is building, by the end of this event Logan will have actually experienced (some of) the missing periods in his life, and emerge as a man more at peace with his past as he goes into the Destiny of X era of titles.
A Quantum Leap style Wolverine is either perfect for Paul or his worst nightmare. Maybe both.
“This issue has been made available on Marvel Unlimited on its release date.”
^Looks to me like Marvel is testing the waters to get a sense of how well they might fare without retailers.
I have no problem with Percy trying to push Omega Red as a major Wolverine enemy. He’s basically a murdery blank slate. Other than Sabretooth and Lady Deathstrike, most Wolverine enemies don’t stick.
I liked this issue fine, mostly because it was drawn by Josh Cassara. I don’t expect much from a Wolverine comic so I’m on board unless the quality drops precipitously.
I stopped reading X-Men from the mid-nineties until Schism and at no point in that period did I think ‘Oh no, I’m probably missing out on some great Omega Red stories!’
Why is it DC and, now apparently Marvel, seem to do this thing in January and February, of cancelling regular titles and doing specials like ‘Convergence’, the thing that was going to be 5G but wasn’t and now this?
It is perhaps a sign of a problem with a comic when the most intriguing thing about it appears to be how it is being released.
@Loz: my best guess is that their marketing strategies expect current readers to typically commit to a book for around a year, and therefore they encourage perception of each new year as a good jumping on point for some exciting new event that will need such a year of reading to be well understood.
IIRC, Omega Red was perceived as a significant Wolverine foe in the second half of the 1990s.
Then again, I can hardly claim to understand the appeal of Wolverine or its villains. Sabretooth? Lady Deathstryke?
@Voord 99: to be fair, the challenges of distribution and sales numbers are no trivial matter in the current market.
This specific series and its companion are very much not targeted at me, but fair is fair.
I think the look of the flashback is to make you think of Origin, it has a very similar feel even though even when X-men one was published Charles would have been born in the early 1920, not the 1820’s we are shown.
I found the tie in a bit pointless, its a retread of Origin that at least it is over with quickly but, if Marvel want refresh readers on Wolverines long history they should just link to Paul’s articles.
I hope it does stay day and date as it would be a bit odd to wait 3 months for the next issue, especially if the tie in becomes more then a retread covers any real plot points.
Luis-I don’t remember Omega Red becoming a major Wolverine foe during the late-1990s.
I’m not sure if he ever even showed up in Wolverine’s solo title during the 1990s, at all.
He was introduced in the early-1990s with the intent of becoming a major X-Men villain and was set up particularly as a Wolverine antagonist.
Then, he was mostly forgotten about by the late-1990s.
I don’t really remember him appearing much after that serial killer arc in Generation X.
He did eventually reappear after the ‘90s ended.
The most high-profile storyline I remember him appearing in after the early-1990s was when a whole family of Omega Reds was introduced. That was in Uncanny X-Force (well after the ‘90s) and the original Omega Red was supposed to be dead at that point.
Maybe the fact that his name was a play on a vitamin hurt his appeal to comic writers after Jim Lee left Marvel.
“IIRC, Omega Red was perceived as a significant Wolverine foe in the second half of the 1990s.”
By whom, exactly?
Omega Red’s mum?
A friend of mine, actually.
Anedoctal evidence, sure. Don’t make too much of a deal of it. It was just a personal impression.
When I am in charge of Russia, I’m going to build a damn vault around that Krakoa gate, with mutant detectors and power dampeners and more traps than Murderworld.
Chris V said: [Omega Red] was introduced in the early-1990s with the intent of becoming a major X-Men villain and was set up particularly as a Wolverine antagonist.
Then, he was mostly forgotten about by the late-1990s.
Hey now, Omega Red did turn up in the late 90 [checks notes] for a single issue of a “rogue Russian general” plotline in Joe Kelly’s Daredevil run, where he was quickly sidelined in favor of [checks notes again] Ursa Major, Vanguard, and Darkstar.
And he was in John Ostrander’s Quicksilver series. I mean, not on any of the covers r anything, but he was in the story alongside a bunch of brand-new mostly forgotten Acolytes.
You’re telling me that’s not evidence of serious star power?
Even by early 90s standards I remember thinking Omega Red looked pretty stupid when I first laid eyes on him. Maverick too (thought he looked more like a pest control guy from the future than a merc).
Loved Jim Lee’s artwork back in the day, but I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of his design sense.
Omega Red was introduced in an early-90s arc focused on Wolverine, but he certainly wasn’t a regular Wolverine villain in the 90s. He doesn’t appear in a Wolverine solo book until the second arc of Wolverine: Origins in 2006.
FWIW, Omega Red did appear in X-Men TAS and in the X-Men: Children of the Atom / Marvel vs Capcom series, which means he’s got some popularity and notoriety with gamers. (Those games are also why non-comic readers recognized Thanos immediately.)
From his usage in the animated series, there was certainly a perception among non-comic readers at the time that he was a huge deal and one of Wolverine’s major enemies, even though that wasn’t really a thing in the actual published stories.
The animated series was on while I was in primary school and was hugely popular. In popular memory among my classmates, Omega Red was talked about in the same breathe as Apocalypse, the Sentinels and Mr Sinister.
Andrew: that’s my recollection too. The Animated Series was my introduction to the X-Men and Omega Red definitely felt like a big deal (and actually pretty frightening) there
I remember Omega Red from the animated series as well, but I think the timeline here is consonant with he character’s profile in comics, to wit:
* He appears in a 1993 episode, is played up as a serious threat, and battles a handful of X-Men – including Wolverine — before being frozen in ice by Darkstar
* He returns in a 1995 episode that plays up his rivalry with Wolverine, and ends the story trapped on a sunken, disabled nuclear submarine
* Aside from a brief cameo as a Danger Room hologram, he is never used again on the series.
More generally, I remember the Nasty Boys being a much bigger deal than they really were because of that cartoon, since the cartoon used them in place of the Marauders as Mister Sinister’s prime henchmen.
That series is very much a snapshot of an early 1990s “this is the new hotness in the X-books,” and it’s striking in retrospect how some of the show’s choices — making the Silver Samurai, Cannonball, and Iceman into one-off characters; playing up villains who in retrospect faded fast from prominence in the comics; spending a two-part episode on Arkon’s crush on Storm — are either idiosyncratic or very tied to a specific time period in X-fandom.
Omega Red’s reputation is definitely inflated by the 90s cartoon. The Japanese opening credits takes it a step further where he and Wolverine have a one on one duel, which suggests a level of importance that is nowhere in the comics. Or even the cartoon, really.
But the video games, especially the Capcom fighting games starting with Children of the Atom, are also big boosters. It’s not just that Omega Red’s in them, it’s that he’s one of the starting six villains in CotA. This is implicitly saying that these are the six most important X-Men villains, and the list is Magneto, Sentinel, Juggernaut (sure), Spiral (?), Omega Red (??), and Silver Samurai (???). Not Apocalypse, not Mystique, but Omega Red made it in. Marvel Comics writers and editorial didn’t care much about Red, but the licensing department latched onto him fast.
Percy seems to be roughly the age where he would’ve grown up with all of this which is why I suspect we’ve seen Red and Maverick crop up in his series. The upside is that telling the best-ever Omega Red story really, really isn’t a high bar to clear.
Your theory makes a lot of sense, but I was wondering if perhaps the Roman numerals next to the Wolverines on the title page corresponded to the relevant lives of Moira!
I realised when reading a bit about Omega’s publication history that I have almost no memory of the Omega family in Uncanny X-Force. Weird.
Jim Lee certainly meant for Omega Red to be a major addition to Wolverine’s rogues’ gallery. But he was such a bad writer that even in Omega Red’s first story arc, he has to compete for attention with an even blander new Jim Lee mystery man, Maverick, as well as co-villains Sabertooth, Matuo and the Hand, Fenris, and Dr. Cornelius. Omega Red is meant to be badass enough that he can take down the whole team, and really hurt Wolves, in X-Men 4-5, but then in 6-7 he’s just part of a crowd.
His next appearance in Fabian Niecieza’s first post-X-Cutioner’s Song story arc further damaged his credibility by making him a mind-controlled stooge of a one-off villain, and by showing that Colossus could beat him pretty easily. (Maybe I’m misremembering that, but OR certainly didn’t come off as impressive in this arc.)
Then there’s a rapid descent as Omega Red becomes a nominally cool but actually crap villain that you add here, there, and everyone to boost sales, with probably little effect. He shows up in Nicieza’s Cable for a couple of issues where he’s meant to be a major threat but gets dealt with pretty easily (by third-tier Acolyte Katu Kath, no less!). And then it’s on to a guest appearance in Iron Man–where he fights MODAM, if memory serves–and a couple of issues of Generation X.
It really undermined his credibility that he kept having to share his appearances with other villains, most of whom either made him superfluous (who needs OR when you have Sabertooth?) or associated him with complete losers (the Mind Skinner, the Acolytes, MODAM). It’s a perfect example of how not to build up a foe.
Not only does Omega Red get defeated by Katu Kath, but it’s part of a little subplot about how Omega Red maimed Katu in the past, as if we’re now asking readers to be invested in both Omega Red and in this very minor member of the Acolytes.
And it’s a grudge between two ludicrously complicated character concepts: a mutant whose power is to be a “human satellite dish” but who also has cyborg limbs for completely unrelated reasons taking on a mutant with a “death factor” that’s some kind of aerosol virus but can also be channeled through metallic tentacles and is a former serial killer turned super-soldier experiment forever on the hunt for a technobabble McGuffin who’s tangled up with Wolverine’s already tangled past.
I think it would be hard to find a better example of what was going wrong in the post-Claremont, post-Image guys era of X-books than that. Everyone has to have a secret, shared history with someone else, and even the most minor villains couldn’t just have a simple, memorable quirk, power, or motivation.
Omega Red is a good avatar for this, given the bizarre mashup of concepts and the serous difficulty in imagining an “elevator pitch” take on the character that would have much appeal. Russian Wolverine knockoff who’s themed around death and tentacles, not healing and claws? Evil mutant cyborg death-squid? Quasi-vampiric living bioweapon? What’s the hook here?
I actually had to look Katu Kath up because I couldn’t remember him. Talk about forgettable and obscure.
I love how in Excalibur 71, Kurt jokes about the Acolytes being interchangable and forgettable, prompting Amelia to introduce them all over again, while Scott jokes about Katu never actually using his powers (the writers found them too complicated to show on screen!)
“A human satellite dish”? Why, he’s the obvious enemy of Cable.
Now, they must introduce a mutant who is a “human streaming service” to replace both Katu and Cable.
When will Katu Kath be resurrected on Krakoa? His powers would come in handy on Krakoa.
“I can’t make out MTV (mutant television, of course)! Someone tell Katu to move to the left.”
“No. It’s raining. Katu’s powers will be spotty at best until the weather improves.”
Krakoa enters the 1980s.
“Now, they must introduce a mutant who is a “human streaming service”
Claremont sorta introduced a character like that in his Genoshan Excalibur series (speaking of really obscure characters)…
http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix6/broadband.html
Ugh, Broadband and Book? Was Claremont just naming Excalibur characters after things he could see from his desk? Seriously.
@Thom H
Yep, Claremont is Brick Tamland.
Editor: “Chris, about this script… are you just looking at things in the office and naming characters after them?”
Claremont: “I love Book.”
>> What’s the hook here?
I think the hook for Omega Red would just be: “A supersoldier experiment was performed on a criminal using a poisonous adamantium knock-off, resulting in a creature too dangerous to walk freely” combined with “Said creature is blackmailed into compliance by withholding his medical device.”
And really, I think Beast deciding to blackmail Red in the same way his handlers did with the Carbonadium Electric Organ or whatever wouldn’t be the worst way to show him becoming “as bad as the other Black Ops groups” (and a little akin to X-Force keeping Vanisher hostage with a brain tumor.) But of course Percy complicated it with “triple agent vampire Russian tracking device blah blah blah.”
I hate how overcomplicated the character is because there is a gem of a good idea under the cruft — but there’s too much cruft. Maybe if he didn’t have the vampiric powers and was treated as a more direct Wolverine analog, it could work.
If you were creating the character from scratch you’d maybe have carbonadium being able to damage adamantium somehow, even though it’s a weaker form of it. Or, you’d have the death spores not able to kill Wolverine directly, but able to tax his healing to the point that he’s only healing at regular human level.
If you look closely at Omega Red, you can see what the working of the character might have been. Wolverine’s power is he heals himself, so the exact opposite would be a guy who sickens others. You need him to have metal weapons that pop out of his hands. Why tentacles, well maybe they’re just fun to draw, maybe they’re a callback to Spider-Man’s perfect nemesis, Doc Ock.
I do wonder if Omega Red would have been bigger if the Soviet Union didn’t go and collapse a matter of weeks before his debut. Maybe not, he’s not that great.