Wolverine: The Flower Cartel (Comics) | Review

One thing that writer Benjamin Percy (Green Arrow: Emerald Outlaw, Green Arrow: Island of Scars) understood that many previous Wolverine writers missed: the character works best when he's not just slashing through generic bad guys.

Joining him in this latest journey is artist Adam Kubert (Avengers Vs. X-Men, Captain America: Winter in America), whose previous experience with intense action sequences makes him perfectly suited for this brutal cartel thriller.

The Flower Cartel grounds Logan in a story that feels ripped from modern headlines while maintaining the savage edge that makes him compelling. This isn't another superhero adventure disguised as a Wolverine story.

The book reads like what would happen if you dropped Marvel's most dangerous mutant into a cartel war. Percy brings a novelist's sensibility to comic storytelling, creating atmosphere that builds naturally rather than relying on constant action. The result feels more like crime fiction that happens to feature a guy with adamantium claws.

The Flower Cartel throws Logan into the world of drug trafficking when a new synthetic drug called Flower starts claiming lives across the Marvel Universe. The substance doesn't just kill users— it transforms them into something monstrous.

When the trail leads back to a cartel operation with ties to living island Krakoa, Logan finds himself caught between his unwavering loyalty to mutantkind and his personal moral compass in increasingly difficult and dangerous situations.

Percy wisely keeps the focus on Logan's investigative skills rather than just his fighting ability. The story unfolds like a proper detective thriller, with Logan following leads and uncovering connections that reveal a larger conspiracy.

The pacing allows for meaningful character development between the violent confrontations, showing Logan's strategic thinking and tactical intelligence alongside his legendary berserker rage in balanced storytelling that respects both sides.

The cartel elements feel authentically researched rather than stereotypical. Percy presents the drug trade as a business with its own rules and hierarchies, making the antagonists feel like real threats rather than some cartoon villains.

The connection to Krakoan politics adds significant weight to Logan's moral choices without overwhelming the street-level storyline and thus, creating tension between his mutant identity and his personal sense of rough justice.

What elevates the narrative is how it handles Logan's moral complexity. He's not playing hero here— he's operating in a grey area where the right choice isn't always clear. The drug trade affects real people and Percy doesn't shy away from showing the human cost of the violence. Logan's methods create as many problems as they solve.

The supporting cast gets meaningful development, particularly the cartel members who aren't just faceless thugs waiting to be sliced up, with each character having clear motivations that make perfect sense within the story's logic.

Even the minor players feel like real people caught up in circumstances beyond their control, while Logan's tense interactions with Magneto, the deadly Omega Red and his fellow X-Men members add significant layers of complexity.

Adam Kubert delivers artwork that matches Percy's gritty tone perfectly, with his Logan looking appropriately weathered and dangerous like someone who's lived through decades of violence and carries that psychological weight in every panel.

The action sequences feel visceral without becoming gratuitously violent, emphasizing impact over gore. The page layouts create excellent pacing, knowing when to slow down for character moments and when to accelerate for action beats.

Kubert's backgrounds feel lived-in, particularly the cartel locations that avoid both cheap stereotypes and glamorization. His facial expressions convey emotion effectively, crucial for a story that relies heavily on Logan's internal conflicts.

Percy's writing brings literary sensibility to superhero comics without sacrificing the medium's inherent strengths. His dialogue sounds very natural, avoiding both overly casual banter and unnecessarily pretentious exposition throughout.

The narration provides insight into Logan's thinking without over-explaining his motivations. Most importantly, he understands that Wolverine stories work best when they explore consequences rather than just delivering violence.

The Flower Cartel succeeds by treating Wolverine as more than just a simple violence delivery system, with Percy creating a compelling story that uses Logan's abilities in service of character development rather than just action spectacle.

The crime thriller elements feel organic to the character while providing a fresh perspective on familiar mutant politics. This collection works both as an entry point for readers unfamiliar with current X-Men continuity and as a deeper exploration for longtime fans.

Percy proves that Wolverine stories can be intelligent without losing their edge, violent without being mindless. The result is a comic that respects both the character's history and the reader's intelligence, delivering exactly what a modern Wolverine series should be.

Wolverine: The Flower Cartel marks Logan's first solo adventure in Dawn of X-era and kicks off Benjamin Percy's ongoing run. This volume collects Wolverine (2020) #1–5, balancing two parallel storylines regarding mutant nation's black market links and vampire conspiracies.

You can read this arc through the Wolverine by Benjamin Percy Vol. 1 trade paperback, available both in print and digital via Amazon and other platforms. It's also accessible to read online with an active Marvel Unlimited subscription.