Weapon X #1

By Greg Pak, Greg Land, Jay Leisten and Frank D’Armata

ResurreXion is in full swing and several of the new books have hit the shelves. No doubt the book that has the most violent and unpredictable cast is Weapon X. Greg Pak has been tapped to write, and he has a pretty good reputation with X-Men fans thanks to his strong work on Phoenix Endsong and Phoenix Warsong. The real task for this series will be separating it from every other violent X-book that has come before it. If there is any writer that can do justice to a book like this and bring in fresh ideas, it’s Greg Pak.

The main focus this issue is on Old Man Logan, which fans should have expected from the announcement of the book. Pak uses Old Man Logan’s internal monologue quite well in this debut installment. It’s nice to see him not so angry anymore, as he actually smiles at the thought of young people allowed to be themselves. As things start to turn south for Logan, the rest of the plot starts to form. Weapon X is back and they are trying to capture former patients. Pak injects a little humor into the script as Logan argues with an elderly man in the library. These are the scenes that we haven’t seen with this character that make him likable. One gripe some might have is that Pak is taking his time to introduce the rest of the team. There’s nothing wrong with a slow build, but it would have been nice to see Warpath or Domino for a panel or two. As the issue wraps up, things start to get interesting as Logan has his back against the wall. Pak has delivered a decent first issue that he can build off of and get fans excited about.

The pencils this issue are handled by Greg Land with inks by Jay Leisten and colors by Frank D’Armata. Land’s art has been criticized more than almost any other artist. His work in this issue is fine for the most part, there are a few panels that look like we’ve seen them before, but Land turns in a good issue. The action sequences look great as Logan is attacked by new Weapon X robots, the blood flies and the violence is high. One small problem with Land’s work here is that Sabretooth doesn’t look like the Sabretooth from the books, but the character played by Tyler Mane in the first X-Men film. The inks by Jay Leisten are excellent as usual, his inks really bring out Land’s works. The colors by Frank D’Armata are integral too. This seems to be an issue where lighter colors are used a lot. There is a really well colored panel where Logan is silhouetted in a cave with light shining through at the end of the page. While the art is not perfect, it’s still very good and will hopefully get even more refined as the series goes on.

Weapon X didn’t get as much promotion as X-Men Gold or X-Men Blue, but this is a good start to the series. Greg Pak pulls us in with a few planted seeds that will grow as the series progresses. The art doesn’t disappoint as Land, Leisten and D’Armata all turn in solid work. Weapon X is a series that doesn’t show all of its cards in the first issue, and there is nothing wrong with that.