SABRETOOTH’S IN CHARGE: With Logan temporarily out of commission, Sabretooth gets the chance he’s always wanted…to lead Weapon X! But if their first mission is going up against Omega Red, will Sabretooth’s first outing as leader be his last?
WEAPON X #17
Authors: Greg Pak & Fred Lan Lente
Artists: Yildiray Cinar
Colors: Frank D’Armata
Letters: Joe Caramagna
Publisher: Marvel Comics
What You Need to Know:
For Logan’s birthday, Sabretooth gave him his regular prize. Sabretooth tried to kill him. He nearly succeeded and Logan was left with a problem: Sabretooth may be “inverted”, but he was clearly still in need of a kill. He needed to satisfy his murderous tendencies. So Logan and Warpath agreed to try and find him bad guys to go after.
What You’ll Find Out:
With Logan recovering, he has decided to hand the leadership of Weapon X in the field over to Sabretooth. Warpath and Domino aren’t too crazy about the idea and Sabretooth immediately gets drunk with power. Logan has the team’s next assignment already: Omega Red. The Russian mutant was captured by SICKLE (Russian equivalent of SHIELD) and placed in a superhuman gulag, but he escaped captivity and turned on the other prisoners. Weapon X is going in to put him down.
Sabretooth, Warpath, Lady Deathstrike, and Domino drop into the prison, searching for any signs of Omega Red. Red can’t be found…in fact, none of the inhabitants can be found. Sabretooth splits the team up, taking Deathstrike for himself. Domino and Warpath get sidetracked with a little tonsil hockey.
The make-out session is interrupted by a sudden wave of illness that sweeps over both Warpath and Domino. They start searching for the cause when they find a large room with a score of mutants strung upside down, near death. Omega Red attacks and overpowers both Warpath and Domino but then Sabretooth leaps in, having used the two as bait.
Still, despite having the edge of surprise, Sabretooth is overwhelmed by Omega Red who then drags him through a hole in the wall into the dark forest. Sabretooth keeps calling for “his X-Men” to rescue him, but they’re too busy dealing with the other freed prisoners.
What Just Happened?
Pak writes possibly the best version of Sabretooth I’ve read in a long time. He’s just fun to read. He’s a smartass. He’s a little bit evil, but also wants to try to do good.
But he’s also a power hungry maniac.
Seriously, the scene between him and Warpath just after he gets appointed as leader had me laughing, especially the look on Warpath’s face.
Sabretooth also seems to have a lot to learn when it comes to leadership. He expects his troops to fight and die for him and to do everything that’s required at his say so.
But ultimately, that’s not what a leader does. Of course, most of us know that. A good leader inspires his troops…he doesn’t expect them to follow him because he says to. But this is a lesson Sabretooth apparently never learned. So his first outing as a leader ends up with him needing help from the very heroes he berated and used without any thought to their own well being.
The art is back to what we’ve expected with Weapon X. Cinar delivers good visuals. Nothing earth-shattering, but enjoyable enough.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Omega Red…but maybe this arc will change my mind.
Rating: 7.5/10.
Final Thoughts: Maybe not perfect, but pretty darn good. Good art, good characterization, and fantastic interactions between Sabretooth and the rest of Weapon X. It’s an overall fun issue!
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