Amazing Spider-Man #89 (February 16): This issue is a totally serviceable origin story for Queen Goblin. It walks us through her "Goblin Gaze" ability, which allows her to twist her victim's most deep-seated fear(s) into their dominant thoughts. Black Cat almost commits suicide under Queen Goblin's influence, but Peter saves her at the last minute. It turns out Ben sent Janine to talk to Peter at the hospital and Janine freed Peter from his bed after Felicia webbed him to it so that he wouldn't take on Queen Goblin while still wounded. (Confusing, I know.) It's pretty clear that Peter isn't really healthy enough to take on Queen Goblin, but that's never stopped him before.
X Lives of Wolverine #3 (February 16): Percy does a solid job of keeping the three time periods in which Wolverine is active distinct here, but it still isn't the easiest of issues to follow.
It is clear, though, that Marvel Girl, Professor X, and Wolverine are losing the battle. Mikhail's control over the Cerebro Sword is improving, now allowing him to send Omega Red against Xavier's ancestor in Canada while at the same time sending him against Wolverine in Japan. When Omega Red manages to take over Wolverine in Colombia, the situation goes from bad to worse.
The best part of this series so far is that we get to see Wolverine as a person with actual feelings. Watching him fight to save Daken's life before it begins was moving, and Logan is clear with Jean that he's struggling under his memories' emotional weight. Logan is often portrayed as simply a killing machine, and Percy is doing a great job of putting that impression to rest.
X-Men #8 (February 16): Oof, this issue is a lot. It turns out Synch was the one to mindwipe Ben Ulrich only to discover that he thought that the X-Men were miracles, not threats. The guilt over that discovery and the trauma of losing his Laura are too much for him. After a dangerous and hilarious battle with M.O.D.O.K. on a cruise ship, Everett tells Cyke that he's thinking of leaving the X-Men. Cyclops being Cyclops (or, well, Captain Krakoa), Scott tells Synch that he's done being an X-Men when Scott says that he is. It sounds like an asshole move, but Scott is pretty great here, comforting Everett by telling him that he (Cyclops) has done far worse than Everett did for significantly less benefit to mutantkind. We're eight issues into this series, and I'm still loving everything that Duggan is doing here.
Amazing Spider-Man #90 (February 23): This issue is solid, as Gleason deftly moves us to the endgame's start.
Peter fights off Queen Goblin's Goblin Gaze before she convinces him to drown in the East River and then takes her off the board. Before he does so, he snags her crown, which allows him, Black Cat, and MJ to overhear Maxine (through the crown's audio) sending crews to Beyond's Staten Island facility. In a flashback, Janine informs Ben that Maxine is creating her super-villains at said facility, so Ben heads there after he drops off Janine at the hospital where Peter is (as we saw last issue).
Given that Maxine threatened to send Janine back to prison, Ben pretty clearly sees himself as having nothing to lose here. Janine and Peter are increasingly worried about him as he struggles to remember Peter's name when they meet. I'm not sure Ben's getting a happy ending, guys.
X Deaths of Wolverine #3 (February 23): I originally thought that Phalanx Logan (or Omega Logan, as Moira calls him) returned from the future to kill her as part of the machine's war against humanity and/or mutantkind. But, Moira has a different take: mutantkind wants her dead.
Moira tips off the CIA so that they're on hand to protect Arnab Chakladar, the Epiphany CEO, when Omega Logan attacks him at his event. She then follows Chakladar home and reveals to him that whatever collaboration evolves from this moment works because the mutants returned to prevent it. (It made more sense when she said it.) Meanwhile, the Wolverines confront Omega Logan only for him to inform them that Krakoa's Resurrection Protocols at some point fail.
At his lab, Chakladar agrees to help Moira. He builds a device that allows "for a mental upload, guaranteeing [Moira's] 11th life." I'm surprised by how clever this development is, that Moira's 11th life has nothing to do with her mutant power. If I'm reading my review of "Powers of X" #6 correctly, it appears that the future where she killed Logan in that issue goes differently, as she seems to delight in murdering Logan here (which she didn't in "Powers of X" #6).
In the present, Omega Logan tells the Wolverines that his death at Moira's hands was the end of one story but the beginning of another one.
I have to admit that I'm still not really sure where we're going with "X Lives and Deaths of Wolverine." "X Deaths of Wolverine" seems to tie up some loose ends related to the future story that Hickman told in "Powers of X" (my least favorite one, to be honest), and it seems unlikely that "X Lives of Wolverine" will end with Omega Red successfully killing Professor X. But, I definitely still don't see how they tie together, though I guess we have time for that to become clear.
Also Read: Ben Reilly: Spider-Man #2 (February 23); Dark Ages #5 (February 23)
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