X-Men: Codename Wolverine (Paperback)

by Christopher Golden (Author) "Long shadows stretched across the arid landscape of the Arizona desert and merged with the shimmering heat to create mirages..." (more)
Key Phrases: Silver Fox, Black Widow, East Berlin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Wolverine. Sabretooth. Silver Fox. Wraith. Maverick. Together, they were Team X, the best covert-ops team NATO had to offer. But a mission to retrieve a disk from a pair of Soviet agents proved to be more trouble than they bargained for. A Soviet agent codenamed the Black Widow, a mutant Interpol agent named Sean Cassidy, and shape-changing freelance spy Mystique were all after the disk as well. Years later, Wolverine is a valued member of the uncanny X-Men. The Black Widow is now a respected American super hero. Cassidy is mentor to the next generation of young mutants. Mystique and Sabretooth are reluctant members of

X-Factor, the government strike force. Wraith is still a covert-ops agent. Silver Fox is dead, and Maverick is dying of the Legacy Virus. Each of them is kidnapped, one by one--starting with Sabretooth, by far the deadliest member of the former Team X. Wolverine must uncover the terrible secret from that old mission--a secret that has remained hidden for years, and could spell death for all of them! --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425171116
• ISBN-13: 978-0425171110
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #795,937 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars About as good as it gets...., August 31, 2000

By	Branden Poole (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

I will admitt--I'm a huge comic book fan. Even now, as I enter into adulthood, I've yet to shake my addiction to them. Since I'm such a fan, I've read a few of these novels that Marvel churns out. Some range from absolute trash (The Fantastic Four: Countdown to Chaos comes to mind) to average (Duane's Spider-Man books), but Codename: Wolverine is perhaps one of the best of the whole bunch.

Kudos to Christopher Golden for writing an entertaining novel that manages to come across well without being silly (let's be honest: It's a little hard to write a "serious" novel when your characters are called "Wolverine" and "Sabretooth"). The book is broken into two sections, "Now" and "Then", and Golden switches back and forth between the two perspectives.

The "Then" section serves to explain the events occurring in the "Now" section. Personally, I found the early story about Wolverine and Team X to be the better of the two. Golden manages to create a pretty interesting narrative about Team X as they fight behind the Iron Curtain to retrieve a computer disk filled with spy info from the KGB's best operative, the beautiful but deadly Black Widow. Throw in on-the-edge Interpol agent Sean Cassidy (aka Banshee), who bears a supreme grudge against the Widow, and the mysterious shapeshifter Mystique, and the action intensifies. Golden does some pretty good work with this story, weaving in lots of espionage, backstabbing, inter-team conflict, and some pretty entertaining fight scenes. He seems to have a good grasp of each character's personality, and I liked the development he did with certain characters such as the Widow (for example, by the end of the "then" portion, she begins to question her role as a KGB spy, which foreshadows her eventual defection). There is a surplus of characters in this book as well, but overall I think Golden did each of them justice. One thing that I was surprised with was the level of violence in the book. It's not overly graphic--no one will be confusing this book with a Tarantino film--but it is a realistic look at the harsh work of a black ops unit. After dealing for so long with the soft-shoe approach of the comics (where every character is seemingly immortal), I found it refreshing that Golden would actually show the lethal consequences of the character's actions.

Unfortunately, I was not so impressed with the "now" section of this book. It started off promising, with Sabretooth being kidnapped by a government agency for some nefarious purpose. It seems as if the government is systematically using their new, elite black ops unit, "Team Alpha", to kidnap and imprison all the old members of Team X as well as those individuals who took part in the op in the "then" section (basically: Banshee, Widow, and Mystique). Mystique escapes capture herself, and is able to warn Wolverine, but the two are too late to save the others. The author promises a payoff, explaining exactly why these superheroes and villains are being captured, but when the true motive for the crime is revealed, it's terribly anti-climactic. The whole thing was some sort of silly revenge scheme to placate a senator who's vote is more important than the lives of Team X? A disappointing ending, indeed. More thought could have been put into this part of the book.

Overall, though, I think this book is worth owning. If you a fan of the comic, and Wolverine especially, you'll enjoy the novel. In my opinion, the "then" section is worth the price of the book alone.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of all the marvel adult novels-OUTSTANDING!!, June 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: X-Men: Codename Wolverine (Marvel Comics) (Hardcover)

This was without a doubt the best of the marvel books.Non-stop action. Codename: Wolverine had all of the classic spy behind enemy lines, edge of your seat, nail biting, what is going to happen next type story. You can not lose with this one!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is great!!, September 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: X-Men: Codename Wolverine (Marvel Comics) (Hardcover)

This book has good characterization and the transitions from then to now make sense and are easy to follow. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes both the X-Men and spy novels.