At the X-Men panel at New York Comic Con, it was announced that we'll be seeing a weekly comic in 2015 continuing the Logan Legacy. WOLVERINES follows the events started in DEATH OF WOLVERINE and we'll see different characters with ties to Wolverine form a pretty bizarre alliance. The series will be written by Charles Soule and Ray Fawkes with art by Nick Bradshaw and others.
We spoke with Soule and Fawkes to find out what's going on with this series and how these characters will be able to work together.
COMIC VINE: The first issue comes out in January. So Wolverine is still dead, huh?
RAY FAWKES: Yep. Very dead. But his legacy lives on.
CHARLES SOULE: Ray said it.
CV: With this being a weekly series, will we see arcs focusing on certain characters or will see multiple story lines interwoven together?
RF: A little of both. There are certain story lines that are woven through the entire structure, tying the separate arcs together in the “big picture” - but there are smaller arcs that focus on certain events or certain characters.
CS: Yup. We’re going all-in on the plotting here. The book works like a big puzzle or machine, with gears meshing together to deliver one hell of an issue-by-issue experience that adds up to a huge punch as we get to the end.
CV: Are the different heroes and villains going to work together (without killing each other)?
RF: Well, they are going to work together. And they might kill each other. So long as the job gets done, some of these guys aren’t going to blink twice if a few of them die off… and we get into the heart of that right at the start of the story...
CV: Who is going to lead this crazy group of violent characters?
RF: That’s a battle in itself. When you’ve got characters like Mystique, Daken, Sabretooth, X-23, and Lady Deathstrike in a room, there’s going to be some jostling of egos, no? And some competing agendas too… you’ll see some characters trying to push to the front in obvious ways, and others seeing if they can manipulate their compatriots more quietly. And it won’t always be who you expect on either side...
CS: We’re not looking at this as a typical “team” book. It’s more like a bunch of ego-driven, angry, deadly characters who get thrown together for reasons to be revealed. I would suggest, however, that everyone check out the two series hitting just after the end ofDEATH OF WOLVERINE – THE LOGAN LEGACY. I write issues 1 (drawn by Oliver Nome) and 7 (drawn by Peter Nguyen), and the issues in between are created by a bunch of amazing writers/artists, including Ray and WEAPON X PROJECT (written by me and drawn by the great Salvador Larroca). Those books introduce some of the new characters who will be playing a big role in WOLVERINES, and they’re really cool books in their own right. While you don’t have to read those two series to jump into Wolverines, it certainly won’t hurt, either.
CV: What is their end goal? What will they do with the secrets they discover?
RF: Ah… I don’t think we can talk about this yet. Charles, do you want to hint at anything?
CS: Right – the idea is that the whole series works like a gigantic game of Mousetrap, with everything, big and small, leading to a huge ending that I think no one will see coming. So, there’s no way we’ll spoil the end, but I can say that there’s an overarching “plan” within the story that involves all of the characters, and someone in the story knows much more about that plan than the others do.
CV: Will there be any antagonists or will it be enough for them to get along with each other?
RF: Oh yeah, there are antagonists. With this crew and the enemies they’ve all accumulated in their time? There are antagonists just itching to get at them. Climbing over each other, I’d say.
CS: We introduce one of the series biggest antagonists at the end of Issue 1, but there are many people they’ll go up against, just as Ray suggests. The badder the better, honestly. The enemy for the first arc is a character who opens up some really bizarre doors – we get to do some seriously odd things just because he’s in the book, and I think that’s something Ray and I really welcomed. It gets strange fast, and never stops being weird.
CV: Will other X-characters be involved in the series?
RF: Yeah. We’re just plotting out a couple of issues that feature one of the other X-teams, and there are lots of cameos and assorted appearances throughout. Our heroes (?) are very much a part of the X-Men universe, and it makes sense that they’d cross paths with the others on a regular basis.
Plus, if I were the X-Men, I’d be pretty uncomfortable seeing this assembly of ne’er-do-wells running around together. Uncomfortable enough to intervene, probably…
CS: You know, I’ve never written any X-Men other than Wolverine and Kitty Pryde, both in DEATH OF WOLVERINE. I’m not going to pass up a chance to tell some stories involving those guys. Now, which X-Men, and how they fit into the whole churning adventure that is WOLVERINES… you’ll find out in January!
Guess we'll have to wait to find out more! Look for WOLVERINES in 2015.
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