Rounding off the week's X-books, Wolverine continues "Return of the Native."

As a rule, the Weapon X Project is an area of continuity best steered clear of.  It tends to result in all manner of incredible convolutions.  Greg Rucka's way of avoiding that problem is to write a story which doesn't really involve the Weapon X Project at all, so much as a character who's another victim of them.

The Native seems to be the sort of character that Wolverine might have turned out as if, after escaping the Project, he'd simply stayed in the forest living feral.  She's a Weapon X victim who's reverted to a prehistoric lifestyle, all of which plays nicely off the central theme of Rucka's run - Logan's discomfort with being seen as an animal.

Thematically, it's a nice idea.  On the other hand, the idea that the Native has been out there living as a neanderthal for something like ten years is a bit of a strain on credibility, and the issue doesn't really get over that one.  It also seems more than a little convenient to give her claws of her own - yes, she's a distaff Wolverine, we get it.

But the art and pacing generally manage to carry the story despite its credibility problems, and I'm intrigued to see where Rucka is heading with this.  Hopefully the answer isn't going to involve hugely complicated flashbacks about the Weapon X Project, mind you. 

Despite having all the right ideas about the character, Rucka still hasn't really delivered any killer stories on this book.  Instead, it's become bogged down in stories where Wolverine steamrollers through fairly low-rent opponents.  The plot is fairly thin in this one as well, but the subtleties of Rucka's take on the character come through well.

Rating: B+

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