As always, this post contains spoilers, and the page numbers go by the digital edition.

WOLVERINE vol 7 #29
“The Beast Agenda: The Mind Garden”
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Juan José Ryp
Colourist: Frank D’Armata
Letterer: Cory Petit
Design: Tom Muller with Jay Bowen
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER / PAGE 1. Wolverine surrounded by angry-looking people from his past – Omega Red, Mystique, Storm, Phoenix, Sabretooth, Jubilee and Silver Fox. Well, arguably Phoenix isn’t that angry. They’re linked to his mind by Krakoan tendrils.

PAGE 2. Wolverine hallucinates about his first encounter with the Hudsons.

Obviously, these opening pages are Wolverine hallucinating about key moments in his life, under the influence of the Pit. When we left off, the Beast had tried to more or less lobotomise Wolverine, but he’d escaped, and Krakoa had pulled him down into the Pit. Since his time in the Pit seems to contribute to his personality resetting, that might explain why he starts off at one of the most savage points in his life. (The period immediately after Origin would have worked too, but it isn’t so iconic in his history.)

This sequence is a warped version of honeymooners Heather and James Hudson stumbling upon a feral Logan wandering the Canadian wilderness in the aftermath of “Weapon X”, as originally referenced in X-Men vol 1 #140 (and shown on panel in Alpha Flight vol 1 #33). In the established history, Heather does indeed shoot him in self-defence.

PAGE 3. Wolverine hallucinates about Weapon X.

The sequence of events here is backwards, but it’s a hallucination. The suggestion that James Hudson was somehow linked to Weapon X is not new – Alpha Flight #34 strongly implies that at the very least he knew about Weapon X and was deliberately setting out to find Logan. Which at least explains his remarkable choice of honeymoon destination. Other stories, in particular Wolverine: Origins, have strongly implied that the whole Hudson family was under Romulus’s influence in some form, implying that even though Wolverine escaped Weapon X, he really just wound up serving as a government super-soldier anyway.

PAGES 4-6. Wolverine tries to escape the Pit.

The Pit isn’t supposed to function like this. As explained back in House of X #6, it’s meant to be more about nothingness and paralysis than active torture (though it sounds pretty unpleasant anyway). We’ll find out later on what it is that seems to have changed.

At any rate, Wolverine is (as per usual) focussed on the pain he’s caused in the past; the idea seems to be that by forcing him to think about this stuff, Krakoa is prompting him back towards his normal persona.

PAGE 7. Recap and credits.

PAGE 8. Jeff Bannister’s daughter arrives on Krakoa.

This is the daughter of regular supporting character, CIA agent Jeff Bannister. She still hasn’t been given a first name, which is starting to look downright suspicious.

Wolverine gave her Deadpool’s severed finger in issue #26 on the basis that it would let her get through the Krakoan gates (such as the one in the Bannisters’ back garden). Deadpool isn’t actually a mutant but presumably he has special dispensation as a member of X-Force. She calls him “Deadfool” here – in issue #26, Logan actually just told her that the finger belonged to “a guy named Wade Wilson”. Maybe Jeff Bannister explained who it was.

Also, she says here that it was “A key to get on the island if I ever needed help.” Logan didn’t pitch it anywhere near that high in issue #26 – what he said was “That’s your key to Krakoa. It’ll get you through the gates. I know you made some pals there.” Logan had previously allowed both of the Bannisters to visit Krakoa at the end of issue #18.

Issues #26-27 continue with Jeff Bannister joining Wolverine as they break into a Legacy House event; both get captured, which is where Beast kills Wolverine. In issue #27, the Beast beat up the Legacy House guys and then turned his attention to Jeff, but we didn’t see what happened next.

It’s worth remembering that issues #27-28 indicate that quite a bit of time has passed since those events; has Miss Bannister been sitting at home for weeks waiting for Jeff to come home?

PAGE 9. Carlos Pacheco tribute page.

PAGES 10-12. More flashbacks in the Pit.

Most of these are generic fights. Page 10 shows Lady Deathstrike. In page 11, that’s Romulus at the top of the page, with Sabretooth and Omega Red on the next tier down. The bottom left image is probably meant to be Solem, though I’m not sure why Wolverine’s wearing a backpack. The bottom right image is Magneto tearing out Wolverine’s adamantium in X-Men vol 2 #25.

Page 12 builds to Wolverine remembering what Beast has done to him over the last couple of issues, none of which is new.

PAGES 13-14. Krakoa itself fights Wolverine.

Again, we’ll see later on why the Pit is behaving this way, but there’s still a lurking question as to how far this is Krakoa itself, and how much it’s a separate personality with Krakoa’s appearance.

The idea that Krakoa wanted to feed on Wolverine’s energy was set up last issue.

PAGE 15. A montage of Wolverine killing people.

All people who are important to him, one way or another. On the left is Wolverine killing Mariko Yashida in Wolverine vol 2 #57, to spare her a slower death from poison. Next is Logan killing Jean Grey in New X-Men vol 2 #148, again to spare her a slower death – it winds up rebooting her into Phoenix. Next is Wolverine killing his son Daken in Uncanny X-Force #34. Finally, Wolverine decapitates Sabretooth in Wolverine vol 3 #55, part of the notoriously incoherent “Evolution” arc; this later gets retconned into a clone.

PAGE 16. The Pit manifests as Sabretooth.

For the reasons covered on the next page…

PAGE 17. Data page: Sage explains that Sabretooth has “imprinted” himself on the Pit. This refers to the recent Sabretooth miniseries, which does indeed show that a permanently tainted “throne of Hell” is left behind in the Pit after Sabretooth and the other inmates escape. Consistent with that miniseries, Sage doesn’t know that Creed has actually escaped.

The bit about Beast taking an interest in prisons refers to his secret prison experiments in X-Force #34-35.

PAGE 18. Jeff Bannister’s daughter is brought to Sage.

These are the same kids she was playing with in issue #18.

PAGES 19-22. Wolverine fights “Sabretooth”.

Again, this seems to crystallise Wolverine, though he claims that it’s because he defines himself as someone who fights against Sabretooth.

PAGE 23. Data page – the Beast talks about Janus words. The opening line isn’t quite right – a Janus word is a word with two opposite meanings. But that’s clear enough from the rest of the passage. (Janus is the Roman god of doorways and transitions, with two faces looking in opposite directions.)

PAGE 24. Wolverine makes it to the surface.

Predictably, the girl wants Wolverine to save her father from “the blue man”, i.e. almost certainly the Beast. What we don’t know is how she knows that Beast has anything to do with it.

PAGE 25. Trailers.