Weapon X Retrospective- Prologue.

by Dave Scrimgeour and Kevin McCluskey

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Writer- Barry Windsor-Smith
Artist- Barry Windsor-Smith
Letterers- Jim Novak & Barry Windor-Smith
Editor- Terry Kavanagh
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SYNOPSIS

Where we see how Logan came to be a part of the Weapon program.

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Dave
So, ‘Weapon X’ was 1991 then.


Kev
Yeh, '91.  Is this our first foray into the ‘90s?


Dave
It is.  I think we have moved out of our ‘80's time warp, for a change.


Kev
We'll be moving into the current millenium in no time.


Dave
The cover to the first issue certainly denotes a disturbing theme to the story.


Kev
Yeh, the word “iconic” is thrown around fairly liberally these days, but that cover is pretty iconic, isn’t it?


Dave
It is a strong cover, certainly.  The skull in the cover kind-of reminds me of ‘The Terminator.’


Kev
That's a good point.  There's definitely a bit of man/killing machine, body horror stuff going on here.


Dave
And the burning inferno in the background adds to the mood.


Kev
Definitely.


Dave
Barry Windsor Smith certainly conveys a dark, moody tone from the get-go.


Kev
Yeh, this is an unsettling tale, for sure.


Dave
The narrative also sets the tone, with phrases like, "storms coming."  It's a bit Terminator-esque as well.


Kev
Right enough.  Already there’s a density to this.  Just like Logan’s physical form after this process.  That's excellent use of the glasses to focus “Experiment X” into “X Men.”  That's very clever.

X-

Men.

Dave
The panel of the lightning striking the tree is good as well.

Lightning strikes.....

Kev
Definitely.  I'm a big fan of Barry Windsor-Smith's panel layout.


Dave
The panel layout is not your straight forward read, sometimes it is a bit more difficult to follow the narrative with the layout.


Kev
It's certainly a bit more unconventional in parts, yeh, I agree.  “Hard hidin’ it sometimes.”  With alcohol apparently.  Here we have the character trait of Logan liking a drink.  Maybe a bit too much.  Lots of double meanings here.  Logan’s allusion to two mothers is interesting when you consider the context of his natural birth, and his rebirth as Wolverine through this Weapon X program.


Dave
Part 1 of this is very internal, from Logan’s perspective.
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Kev
Yeh, there's a lot of use of internal monologue here.



Dave
Logan know's he's being watched by the suits.  The panel on the 2nd page, of him sitting in the bar, with the guy watching him, is another great image.  It’s such a basic panel, but the expressions on both of the men’s faces say so much, even without words.

Ah, fond memories of being in any pub in Dundee.

Kev
Yeh, Logan's looking over his shoulder, alright.  I never really think of Logan as a firing range kind of guy, but it makes sense, what with him having served in the military and all.


Dave
Windsor-Smith's artwork is very detailed, and his narrative is also quite wordy, but he has a nice blend of smaller and bigger panels, which is a good mixture of storytelling.  He also seems to have a good technical knowledge relating to medicine and the human body.  I find his attention to details in each of these panels to be excellent.  And that panel of Logan firing the gun is a cracker.  It reminds me of Riggs in ‘Lethal Weapon.’


Kev
Yeh, I’ve often thought that Mel Gibson would've made an excellent Logan in the late 80s/ early 90s.  Barry Windsor-Smith's storytelling is superb and his use of internal monologue is spot on.  Following on from our reviews of 'The Wolverine,' this feels like exactly the same character's voice.  Almost as if he was following directly on from Claremont.


Dave
He has got the lingo and jargon that Logan talks in down to a tee.


Kev
Definitely.  “Prophecy,” “apocalypse, ”fallen Christians.”  He's also employing a lot of religious language here.


Dave
It is one of these stories where the first few pages have so much going on in terms of images, that it requires more than just a quick glance at it.  It’s very layered.  The colouring is bright, but also has a grittiness to it as well.


Kev
I completely agree.  There's certainly a grit to proceedings here.


Dave
That panel of Logan walking in the street, with the sign saying "Prophecy," has a hint of the Chris Claremont/Frank Miller feel that they used for Japan.  It’s not too dissimilar at all.


Kev
It really does, yeh.  And I love the panel layout on this page, and how it indicates Logan’s flashforward to being submerged in the tank.


Dave
That panel has so much of a manga/anime look to it.

Insert the name of your fizzy drink of choice here.

Kev
Ah, that's a really good point.  The anime feel to this hadn't really occurred to me, but you're right.  It does a bit actually, yeh.  It looks like the body horror elements of 'Akira,' doesn't it?  Now that we’re discussing it; is it just me, or just this have the feel of being a spiritual sequel, or rather, chronologically, a prequel to the Claremont/Miller mini series?


Dave
Yeah.  The brawling in the street panel also features a nice, mean left hook by Logan.


Kev
This scuffle outside the car looks like it was an inspiration for that scene early on in the 'Logan' movie.  And let’s just say that The Prophecy doesn’t exactly look like a 5 star establishment, shall we?


Dave
No.  It certainly does not.  Throughout the first few pages we, the reader, are just getting told what’s happening from Logan’s perspective, and are left to try and piece together what is happening in this story.  The more I’m reading through this, the more I am becoming massively impressed with Windsor-Smith's artwork.  It’s amazing how he can put so much in each panel.


Kev
The artwork is top drawer, for sure, and the writing is definitely making the reader work a little, yeh.  The non-linear nature of the narrative is giving this story a bit of a fractured, almost dream-like quality.


Dave
Yeah, the storytelling is very dis-jointed, but clearly done for that purpose.


Kev
Oh, it's definitely on purpose.  It's supposed to represent Logan's fractured memories, I suppose.


Dave
It has the feel of a sci-fi /dystopian/horror story really.  Just a blend of all these elements, but constantly changing tone from panel to panel.


Kev
It all fits though.  It's actually surprisingly coherent considering.


Dave
Yes.  And it is not too cluttered.  It does make sense, what's going on, and the pace of the story is just taking its time.


Kev
Yeh.  I'm loving the way it's unfolding from panel to panel and page to page.


Dave
And we still don't really know who the other players are in this story.  We’re still just getting the thoughts of Logan, at this point.


Kev
There's definitely a sense of mystery and intrigue within this story.


Dave
I love the panel on the 2nd last page of chapter 1, with Logan sitting by the window in his room in The Prophecy.  The muted colours inside the room work really well with the bright colours of the sign.

That radiator looks like it might need bleeding, Logan.

Kev
That panel's amazing, isn't it?  His room at The Prophecy is almost as bad as Matt Murdock's room in that fleabag hotel in 'Born Again.'


Dave
These pages have so much going on in them, no wonder the individual parts were very short.


Kev
Definitely, with Barry Windsor-Smith writing, drawing and apparently having a lot of input on the colours and stuff as well, it's no surprise that he could only produce the 8 pages every month.


Dave
To have that level of detail in the storytelling would have taken so long to do that for a full size issue.


Kev
Absolutely.  Sticking to a monthly schedule with that style would have been nigh-on impossible.  Either that, or your lead time would have to be significant.  To say the least.  


Dave
The last page of the first chapter is excellent; the colours, the narrative, mixed with the flashbacks are so compelling to look at.


Kev
Yeh, there's a blood and gore, splatter feel to that last page, and I agree, even just visually, this is a series that benefits from rereads.


Dave
And the lightning always striking something adds to the foreboding doom which is about to come.


Kev
Yep.  And Logan referring to an "apocalypse."  Which of course adds another layer of meaning in the wider X-Men world.


Dave
Logan has always been a tortured soul, but we are about to witness the physical, as well as the emotional torture.


Kev
For sure.  We're definitely about to lean into those body horror/torture porn elements more heavily with the next chapter.


Dave
The final words of the first chapter, "...hell is comin'" is such a strong choice of narrative.  Barry Windsor-Smith is pulling no punches here.

.....twice.

​Kev
Definitely not.  Logan just knows that he is about to enter a world of pain.


Dave
Who is that in the corner box on the front cover of the first part?


Kev
It's Red Wolf, I believe.  I'll admit, I had to look him up.  He is not a character I think I've ever really read anything with him in.


Dave
How would you sum up the first part of this story?


Kev
I'm really enjoying it.  It's intriguing, the way it's slowly opening up and revealing itself.  What about yourself?


Dave
At first glance it looked very cluttered, and I wasn't sure what to make of it.  But reading it through, it is a nice piece on self-reflection, and it’s cleverly written to focus purely on Logan’s internal dialogue, which is very disjointed.  Plus, it still manages to keep the mystery element to the story, as no other characters have had any actual dialogue yet.


Kev
I hear what you're saying about it being so detailed that it looks cluttered at first glance, but once you actually sit down to read it, it all starts to fall perfectly into place.


​Dave
Yeah, it does.

​(D) & (K)

Next: Chapter 1.