Daken’s actual final stand

Disclaimer before I start.  I usually avoid large amounts of pages in succession from the issues I choose mainly because I don’t understand copyright and fair use laws.  But today, I’m picking about fifteen pages or so that are basically two groups of seven or eight in a row.  If Marvel or Rick Remender or anyone associated aren’t okay with this, I’ll take it down.  But truthfully, this story needs to be shared.  It’s so good, so beautiful, and so important for the characterization of Daken and Wolverine. And now, you the reader, will promise to go and buy tons of Remender’s Marvel comics.  Maybe all of his Uncanny X-Force run?  Amazon.com always has discounts, y’know.

If you read the last article, Daken barely escaped the explosion he set off in Times Square.  Even though he was badly wounded and only weeks to live, he got better.  I don’t know how, but I’m sure his supervillain connections include some evil braniacs as well.  Because in Uncanny X-Force #33-34 (the exciting conclusion of the ten-part Final Execution arc), written by Remender and drawn by Phil Noto, Daken and Wolverine’s six-year antagonism ends.  For real this time.

As you read today, remember that even when Daken first premiered in Wolverine: Origins #5, written by Daniel Way and drawn by Steve Dillon, his motivations have never changed:

I know self-loathing has become a recurring theme lately, but flaws make characters interesting.

We pick up with Wolverine awakening from a dream and strapped to a chair in some sort of interrogation room after being captured by the reformed Brotherhood of Evil.  Like most of us do.

Y’see, this may be the first time in comics where Daken and Wolverine can have an actual conversation about their relationship without mid-fighting interruptions, ulterior motives, or last minute saves.  Just one emotionally damaged supervillain son talking to his emotionally damaged superhero father.

Daken and Wolverine both sort of argue the same point.  Daken believes by staying true to his Wolverine-y genetics, he’s acting appropriately to his own nature.  Why change his own predestined course?  But Wolverine also sort of believes the same thing, just with using their powers and attitude for the greater good.  Like a bullet, the damage comes with who it’s being fired at, not the kind of gun being fired.

I love this scene.  Both Daken and Wolverine genuinely apologize at how Daken’s life turned out, but Daken accepted his twisted path long ago.  And now, after a dozen battles or so, the game has to come a close.  One winner, one loser — with Daken planning to emerge victorious.

You can read the book for how Wolverine escapes and everything that leads up to the next issue. Finally the two settle their differences claw-to-claw, but you knew that’s how this has to go.

See what’s going on?  Wolverine would gain a clear advantage by going into his “berserker” state, where he loses control and flails way more dangerously and frighteningly than his normal mood. Daken definitely tapped into his berserker mode as soon as the fight began.

Now we get Wolverine’s clear humanity versus Daken’s primal animalism — the struggle that has haunted Wolverine in comics for decades.

It’s heartbreaking.  The reality of their horrific fighting gets mixed with the what-if idealism of a happy, meaningful life.  While not exactly Wolverine’s fault that Daken ended up the way he did, if he had just known, if he had just searched harder, if he had just reached out, and so on, then maybe Daken’s life could have been the normal, joyful life that children deserve.  Or not.  But it doesn’t matter now.

No better analogy for their struggle than for Daken to drown in a small puddle.  Daken hasn’t shown up in comics since; he’s really dead.  Wipe those tears away.

Before I end, there’s one final thing I want to show you.  Five issues before this in Uncanny X-Force #29, the team has been transported to an alternative post-apocalyptic future.  There, as they say goodbye, Wolverine receives parting words from his future self.

When the series ends in Uncanny X-Force #35, the whisper gets revealed to the reader:

This means that the entire series of pages I showed you above, Wolverine knew he had to kill Daken. If he didn’t, all the innocent students at his school would die.  No other choice.  Go back and read their conversation and you’ll notice the sad resignation in Wolverine’s choice of words.  Wipe away those tears once more.

Every time Wolverine’s grumpy and drunk, know that at least he has a good reason.

Daken’s final stand

While we’re on the topic of Daken Akihiro from Friday’s article, we should cover his spectacular self-implosion as his solo series came to an end.  While never exactly a superhero, he was never exactly evil either.  Everything Daken accomplished (or tried to accomplish) was only for one reason: to benefit himself.  Look, Daken’s a merciless killer, sure, but not in the same way as like Bullseye.  Think sociopath instead of psychopath.

After becoming the crimelord of Madripoor, he decided to take on a bigger challenge: Los Angeles. Luckily for him, the city only had two superheroes (Moon Knight and Echo, who are schizophrenic and deaf respectively).  Unfortunately, once he discovered a new drug called Heat, it screwed up everything.  I mean everything.  Not only did he fail to take over Los Angeles (but still an awesome series of arcs), the drug disabled his healing factor.  Bad news.

Today, we’re covering Daken: Dark Wolverine #21-23, written by Rob Williams and drawn by Matteo Buffagni, Andrea Mutti, Riley Rossmo, & Paco Diaz.  He’s returned to New York for his final plan.

By the way, did you know Daken’s actually friends with Johnny Storm and the Fantastic Four? Like friends friends.  It takes a lot of range to be a bonafide supervillain and buddies with Marvel’s number one super-family.  Go read Dark Wolverine #75-77 for the initial friendship, but here’s a page from Daken: Dark Wolverine #4, written by Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu and drawn by Giuseppe Camuncoli.

Before we jump into our main story, understand Daken’s introduction into comics provided a great step forward for diversity in comics.  He’s half-Japanese (mother’s side) and openly bisexual, hence the flirt above with the Thing.  If you check out the very first article I ever wrote, you’ll see him shack up with a supporting character from his time in LA.

We begin today with the fallout from his Heat addiction:

Grim diagnosis.  See why you don’t do drugs, kids?  Normal people would use their final weeks for redemption and reflection, but Daken’s not normal.  Also, he hits on Mr. Fantastic.

Now, what is Heat you ask?  It’s a euphoria-inducing drug that makes the art look all cool like this:

Daken never really got over his obsession with his absent-father Wolverine.  Lots of fighting and torture every time they appear together.  But this time, Daken expands the game beyond just the two of them.

Insane reasoning, but probably the most honest answer ever to an evil plan.

By setting off a few bombs and declaring a few more hidden bombs, the entire superhero community of New York (the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, etc.) sets out to take him down.  Daken gets the final stand he wants.  Oh, and also to make sure Wolverine gets set on fire:

Since Daken’s an emotional mess, he’s resigned himself to his more villainous side.  Plus, I bet you never expected a Daken and Mr. Fantastic fight.

What’s the simplest way to describe today’s protagonist?  Let him do it himself:

With this, the final act of his story begins.  Daken versus everybody.

You have to read the issue for all the fights, including a really cool moment with the Thing (that’ll be included in the next Random Panels article).  But as the brawling devolves into mindless structural danger, Daken’s Heat-influenced mind discovers an epiphany.

No doubt that Daken’s almost certainly Wolverine’s greatest failing.  The kids Wolverine that mentored (Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, Armor) turned out to be productive and respected members of the superhero community.  And even though Wolverine had no idea Daken existed, Daken’s emotional absence (filled instead by Wolverine’s enemies) created the ruined and frustrated monster that now stands before New York’s superheroes.

By the way, notice the wildly uncomfortable expression on Wolverine’s face on the second picture? So, does Wolverine make it back in time?  Does his school and students blow up into tiny mutant pieces?

Look, you can’t really hurt Wolverine physically.  He’ll recover quickly from that — but he has no healing factor for his emotions.  And with Daken’s death, that claw in Wolverine’s heart will pierce him every single day for the rest of his life.  Mission accomplished.

Okay, so I kind of lied to you.  What you just read is the first act of Daken and Wolverine’s final story. Daken returns one more time in Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force for the amazing, beautiful, and incredibly satisfying conclusion.  We’ll cover it next time.  Then go spend your hard earned money and pick up both these volumes.  Because you’re worth it.

Daken & X-23 hang out, claw stuff

If you read comics, it’s hard to get away from Wolverine.  In the late 2000s, he had two or three solo series, two or three team series, and that doesn’t even include all the X-Men stuff.  So either cashing on his popularity or hoping to cash in before it became overwhelming, Marvel gave his son Daken Akihiro (Dark Wolverine) and his clone Laura Kinney (X-23) their own series as well.  Luckily for us, both X-23 and Daken: Dark Wolverine were both really, really good.

Today, in X-23 #8-9, written by Marjorie Liu and drawn by Ryan Stegman & Matteo Buffagni as well as Daken: Dark Wolverine #8-9, written by Daniel Way & Liu and drawn by Marco Checchetto, the two meet up for the first time.  And trust me, being in the Wolverine family comes with some major emotional and mental issues.

Before we begin, let me explain for those who don’t know.  X-23 may be one of the most successful superhero teenagers to come out of comics in a long time.  She even received a full origin and back story in the miniseries X-23: Innocence Lost.  To sum up, she’s a clone of Wolverine trained from birth to be a heartless and tremendously effective killer.  Of course, that whole thing backfired and she escaped, now trying to do good and all that jazz.

And Daken?  He’s quite possibly Wolverine’s best supervillain in the past fifteen years..  Logan’s biological son from his deceased wife Itsu, Daken gets raised by the psychopath Romulus after tragedy and murder and you get it.  The guy turned out full-on sociopath and evil, premiering in the fabulous Wolverine: Origins series.  Go read it.

Enough words, let’s get on with our story.

Welcome to the fictional country/city of Madripoor.  Think of it as a wicked version of Singapore. Here, corruption and lawlessness run the city, making Madripoor an ideal destination for the more swarthy characters.

You know how team ups go.  First they fight, then they cooperate.  So, here’s some of the fight:

The arc makes use of super awesome double spread battle scenes.  Here’s the first one.  Click for a much larger size.

Their battle serves two purposes.  First, who didn’t want to see the two Wolverines brawl?  Also, Daken’s a baddie, so if they’re going to work together, they have to scrap first.  Second, the readers now know their skills and abilities are equal.  Or close to it.  No one’s going to be dragging along the other one.

X-23 and Gambit stop by Daken’s turf after hearing rumors about a Weapon X facility in Madripoor.  If you aren’t familiar with that hellhole, a group of evil scientists did all sorts of awful experiments on brainwashed and unsuspecting victims.  Wolverine received his adamantium claws/skeleton through Weapon X.  To prevent more victims like herself, X-23 visits the seediest city in the world.  Things go badly almost immediately.  Oh, notice the cool differences in art as the next issue begins.

Daken’s motivations, though, aren’t exactly far off from hers.  He doesn’t really care that much about evil experiments, as long as those evil experiments are for him.

X-23’s also not a big fan of Malcolm Colcord making soldiers for his own games.

While this is going on, Daken and Gambit fight.  You have to cover all bases when you have series crossover.  Here’s the awesome double spread from that:

Eventually, X-23 gets captured.

As the second half begins, X-23 finds herself in a tight spot.  Though probably better to bind her up than drug her.  Healing factor plus that tendency to flail her claws.

You see what Daken did?  Someone has ulterior motives that doesn’t include Laura getting ripped open with a chainsaw.

And our final double spread.  It’s just as awesome as the previous two.

Don’t worry, Daken and X-23 totally claw and stab their way through the monster facility.  But since both of them remain badly damaged and with therapists not terribly pleased to see their patients soaked in blood, life questions have to figured out in between massacring scientists/guards/creatures.

Eventually, the two meet up with Malcolm once more.  This time under very different circumstances.

I present one of the coolest pages I’ve ever seen in comics.  You’ll know which one I’m talking about:

The main difference between Daken and X-23?  Wolverine’s son wields his strength to better himself while Wolverine’s clone wields her strength to protect everyone else.  Which, I guess, is the most basic defined difference between a supervillain and a superhero.  At least one of them got some closure out of this whole thing.

Emma Frost vs. Avengers Academy

Did you enjoy Avengers vs. X-Men?  Irrelevant, because I can’t hear you.  I loved it, if just because I have a soft spot for superheroes punching other superheroes.  In summary, the Phoenix god-like force returned to Earth and impregnated/enveloped five X-Men, one of them being Emma Frost.  Now with practically unlimited power at her command, she sets off to “right” some wrongs.  We’ll get back to her later.  First up, the introduction of Avengers Academy #32-33, written by Christos Gage and drawn by Timothy Green II.

The requirement for Avengers Academy isn’t as stringent as some of the other super-schools.  Juston has zero powers and zero athleticism, but his best friend is a giant robot so that apparently fast tracks his admission.  Sentinels, the henchmen of the government, get programmed to hunt down and kill mutants using lasers and a thirty-foot height advantage.

Mutants tend to have a problem with sentinels.

Meet X-23, female mutant clone of Wolverine.  Two claws on each hand, one on each foot, and much less hairy.  Normally, the destruction of a sentinel doesn’t really shed any tears, but this one’s special.  BFF special.

Now X-23 may be a relentless killer, but she also doesn’t really want to crush the dreams and shatter the love of a fellow teenager.  Unfortunately for Juston, there’s someone out there who has no problem crushing dreams and shattering love.

Let me make something crystal clear: the Avengers Academy does not stand a chance against Phoenix Emma Frost.  With all their powers, all their strategies, and the entire academy emptied out to join the battle, they do not stand a chance.  Robots feel differently.

Hank Pym, the headmaster at the school and one of the top five smartest people on the planet, understands the situation completely.  His teenage students on the other hand, tend not to realize that a fight against a catastrophic god-like force won’t end well.  And in a serious moment of growth for our clawed friend, Emma Frost triggers X-23’s sensitive side.

You know how raising trained killers from birth go.  Let them love a puppy, then take it away and kill it. Standard psychopathic fare.  But for X-23?  No more.

Can’t you forgive Hank Pym now?  Unlike other celebrity domestic abusers, he’s spent 30 years redeeming and making up for his mistake.  And how could you not love him after the above page?

I’m skipping a bunch of the fight, but you’ve read enough to know how it goes.  As I show the next few pages un-commentated, please appreciate both the emotional outburst and cinematic feel of the next few pages.  Actually, go to YouTube and play the saddest song you know before continuing.

Wonder why the X-Men turned out to be the villains during this event?  Scenes like this, for one. Luckily, as you mop up your tear-soaked cheeks, this story has a happy ending.  Thank god, right?

Quicksilver also serves as faculty, and even Phoenix powers can’t detect his crazy speed.  While the arc ends on dreadful foreshadowing, a boy and his sentinel reunited isn’t a bad way to go out on.