Wolverine: Weapon X (Wolverine (Mass)) [Mass Market Paperback]

Marc Cerasini (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wolverine (Mass) | Publication Date: October 25, 2005

The Story of Weapon X. Before joining the X-Men, Wolverine was simply a directionless loner mutant named Logan. Weapon X isn't just another story about the Wolverine you know and love. It's the cruel story of Logan's transformation into Wolverine, as seen through the eyes of his tormentors. Spearheading the Weapon X program are Dr. Benjamin Cornelius and Carol Hines -- their goal is to create the ultimate weapon, an indestructible man -- and then enslave him. Their gift of invulnerability comes at a price to all those involved...especially their victim. Logan will lose his humanity, and many people will lose their lives. As Logan manages to free himself from his captors, a brutal wave of violence affects all those involved. From the bloody aftermath of Logan's transformation, all involved in the Weapon X program endure their own personal change...via guilt, ambition, and humanity. Can anyone survive the carnage of this bioengineering team's twisted dream? Chances are slim, as the lines between man, beast, and monster are blurred for all the players in this closed experiment. Best-selling author, Marc Cerasini has spent time on the New York Times and USA Today best-seller's lists. His writing spans from children's picture books and young adult novels to adult mystery and military nonfiction. Along the way, he's managed to ghostwrite for Tom Clancy.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star (October 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141652164X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416521648
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best X-Men novelization out there..., May 23, 2006

By 

Madelyn Pryor "Goblyn Queen" (Mesa, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wolverine: Weapon X (Wolverine (Mass)) (Mass Market Paperback)

Wolverine: Weapon X by Marc Cerasini is a delicious read, whether or not you've read the seminal Barry Windsor-Smith version (if you haven't and you're a Wolverine fan, shame on you, it's ISBN # 0785100334. Treat yourself, you'll be glad you did). If you haven't read the Weapon X graphic novel, then this is a rare opportunity for you, a chance to see how Logan was forced to have his Adamantium skeleton. If you have read the BWS version, then prepare to be delighted by tons of new detail.

Without giving away much of the plot, the story begins with Logan between government spy jobs, down on his luck, and hiding out. But what little luck he does have evaporates when he is captured by a secret Canadian organization. Soon he's undergoing hellish surgery and experiments, designed to completely change who he is inside and out.

The writing is very well executed, the plot fast, and the imagery intriguing. There is a sub story about Logan back from his spy days that is completely unique to this novel, so even if you think you know all there is to know about everyone's favorite Canadian mutant, check this one out anyway. It's got enough new things to keep regular X-Men readers happy, and is well told enough that a newcomer to X-Men and Wolverine would not be lost.

Not recommended for children as there is reference to sexual abuse and torture. But recommended to everyone else as a fine addition to your library.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Sci-fi Evil Doctor's Novel, December 27, 2005

By 

Willow Rosenburg "mestupchick_41" (Columbus Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wolverine: Weapon X (Wolverine (Mass)) (Mass Market Paperback)

I Thought that this was a really good book. It explained alot of what had happened to Logan, and what they did to him. The book really makes you think, and the science in the book really helped me remember things for my biology test by associating all the boring facts with a really interesting book.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WARNING: This is not your little brothr's X-men, April 12, 2006

By 

c.w.evans "neverenoughtime" (Boston via London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wolverine: Weapon X (Wolverine (Mass)) (Mass Market Paperback)

For reasons I won't get into, I was skeptical of this novel at first, but I quickly became a fan. Why? The typical prose novel based on a superhero is simplistically YA in its prose style, tame in its content, and formulaic in approach. This one is none of the above. It is a stunning and disturbing modern horror story. It's also dead brilliant, and it is not for children (or anyone who has absolutely no knowledge of Wolverine beyond the Hollywood movies).

From the surreal first page of Wolverine: Weapon X, even the first sentence, you know you're not in your little brother's world of formulaic superheroes. Cerasini starts by giving us Logan's intense, fractured point-of-view, as he drifts in and out of consciousness at the start of the story. What we are reading are splinters of Logan's present, past, and the fractured wanderings of his mind trying to make sense of what's happening to him at the start of the drama.

No sentence or idea in this first chapter is thrown away. The language and disturbing rantings have been carefully wrought, laced with meaning and metaphor based on Logan's long history.

(The Earth's water cycle, for instance, is clearly a reference to Logan's own eternal warrior back story, which, yes indeed, has been explored in previous Wolverine graphic novels published by Marvel.)

This book, which was also published by Marvel Press in hardcover, is based on Marvel's own Barry Windsor-Smith graphic novel of the same name (Wolverine: Weapon X). This story is just one chapter in the very long history of the mutant named Logan, whose transformation into Wolverine was a century-long process.

Wolverine: Weapon X is an "origin story" in the sense that it informs us how Logan came to gain his adamantium skeleton. As you'll see by the end of this book, what Logan goes through solidifies more than his skeleton. Like Windsor-Smith's original graphic novel, Cerasini taps into the deadly dark anti-hero tradition (begun in comics by the greats - Alan Mooore and Frank Miller).

The story opens when Logan (a down and out, ex-Canadian special forces solider) is kidnapped and taken to a remote Canadian laboratory where technicians begin their experiments on him under the direction of a disturbingly driven genius (the professor).

The original graphic novel never explains why the professor had this done, or who the technicians were that would choose to participate in Logan's excruciating transformation. Cerasini fills in these blanks, painting each minor character with disturbing clarity and realism, showing us their back story and what brought them to a point in their lives when they would agree to serve the professors ends in this way. We also find out why this enigmatic (and utterly creepy) professor chose to transform Logan (the reason does not disappoint).

The plotline faithfully follows Windsor-Smith's graphic novel while exploring it in ingenious ways (thus constantly surprising and intriguing this reader). This is dark, fierce material, and Cerasini rises to the occasion, conveying not just explosive prose but a multi-dimensional backdrop of the characters involved in what amounts to Wolverine's crucifixion.

Logan does rise again, transformed, at the other end of this dark tunnel, emerging from this harrowing drama as the mutant with the adamantium claws. And when you turn the last page, the words "tortured past," will have a very specific meaning when you hear them applied to this particular comic book anti-hero.

My recommendations are as follows:
- If you want a traditional good guy gets bad guy superhero story, or if you are literally a child of 14 years or younger, move along. This book is not for you.

- If you are someone who is only familiar with Wolverine from the X-Men movies, you might want to first read Windsor-Smith's original Marvel graphic novel. Be warned: what you saw on the Hollywood screen is only one aspect of Wolverine/Logan.

- If you are a fan, you might want to keep in mind that Marvel Press published and--DUH--therefore vetted and approved all aspects and details of Logan's history in this fine novel.

-If you want to read a fantastically written, brutally haunting modern horror novel, then you won't be disappointed with Wolverine: Weapon X by Marc Cerasini. It's a fierce, disturbing, beautifully violent tale ingeniously told. True fans of Marvel's Wolverine (as opposed to Hollywood's) should not miss it.