LADY DEATHSTRIKE versus WOLVERINE

Wounded Wolf (Marvel)
Where: Uncanny X-Men #205 When: May 1986
Why: Chris Claremont How: Barry Windsor-Smith

The Story So Far...
When Yuriko Oyama killed her father, she inherited more than the ample estate of his industrial fortune. The legacy of Lord Dark Wind passed to her as well, and although she hated her father, she was honor bound to defend the family name. This is how a burdened daughter became Lady Deathstrike!

Travelling to America to collect on her father's debts, she inadvertently discovered the mutant Wolverine. Her father's process had been used to fuse unbreakable adamantium metal to his mutant bones, but this was not done honorably. The unique method was stolen by Weapon X by Oyama!

So Lady Deathstrike fought the Wolverine, intent on cutting the ill gotten metal from his body. Even with an army and highly advanced katana, she could not defeat the skilled X-Man. So she went away to remake herself an augmented warrior like him. Now Deathstrike is deadlier than ever before - and her revenge will be a dish best served in the New York winter!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Lady Deathstrike 4 (Enhanced)
Intelligence: Wolverine 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Lady Deathstrike 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Wolverine 6 (Generator)
Agility: Lady Deathstrike 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Reavers 4 (Arsenal)


At last we weave the strands of a tangled history! Wolverine has defeated each of today's opponents before, but the legacy of his brutal victories is their unlikely union -- and the extremes they'll undertake to have their revenge!

Lady Deathstrike used to be Yuriko Oyama: daughter of a fanatical Japanese industrialist who discovered a method for bonding adamantium to human bone. She hated her father, Lord Dark Wind, but after killing him, accepted the burden of his tainted honor, and personal army.

Honor should have led Deathstrike to a bloodfeud with her father's assassin Bullseye. Instead, attempts to track the stolen metal of his bones led to the mutant Wolverine. In Alpha Flight #34, Deathstrike recognized the X-Man's skeleton as a product of stolen knowledge. She attempted to reclaim Weapon X's handiwork, and her father's honor, by cutting it from Wolverine's living body! Heather Hudson helped ensure Deathstrike and her samurai army left unsatisfied, but the defeat only intensified Oyama's obsession.

Her father's hi-tech katana and samurai clan had failed, so Lady Deathstrike submitted herself to Spiral and The Body Shop. There, she was stripped of her humanity to be rebuilt with cyber-organic enhancements. Her fingers became long bladed talons as she was remade into a living weapon!

To go with her new metallic body, Deathstrike was connected with a new army of mercenaries who themselves are cyborgs. The Reavers are: Murray Reese, Wade Cole & Angelo Macon.

The trio were almost killed as Hellfire Club Guardsmen fighting Wolverine in X-Men #133. Their life threatening injuries made them perfect recipients for cybernetic enhancement supplied by Donald Pierce. They remained closely affiliated with The Inner Circle for a time, before joining other Reavers in Australia, under the command of Pierce and Lady Deathstrike.

History favors Wolverine in combat against these four foes, but this is the first time he's faced Lady Deathstrike as a cyborg! Will her transformation into a killing machine finally bring her revenge? Let's see what happened...

History: Wolverine (2-0-0)
The Tape: Wolverine Ranking: Wolverine (#4)

What Went Down...
Winter in Manhattan's Lower East Side becomes a blanket of snow as the street succumbs to a sudden blizzard. Lost in the downpour and gusting winds, a baby sitter could be forgiven for mistaking the zip of ammunition for the stinging cold.

The city is no place for a lost little girl - but Katie Power is no ordinary child! She staggers through the snow searching for her sitter, Miss Randolph, but comes upon another familiar face instead: "Mr. Logan" -- The Wolverine!

Already suffering wounds from an earlier beginning to the attack; Wolverine is reduced to a bleeding, shirtless savage. Words fail when concerned police arrive on the scene. He can only clutch the child and growl, unable to warn them of the danger stalking through the snow. He runs.

Frightened and confused by her adult friend's state, Katie uses the powers of Energizer to stop them in their tracks! Her energy ball blasts Wolverine onto his back, and  frees her from his grip. She takes the time to recharge her powers and figure out her next move. Afraid to lose him, she hoists Wolverine over her tiny shoulders, and searches for a phone to contact Power Pack or the X-Men.

A taxicab with an accommodating driver offers relief for the child's burden. A story about her uncle and some thugs falls short when a hail of high-powered gunfire rips through the cab!

The Reavers mean to bring death upon them all, but Wolverine has the wherewithal to hurl the driver and child clear before the car explodes! He keeps running, scooping the terrified little girl in his arms as fire engulfs the street!

Gunshots chase them as Wolverine vaults over a wooden fence. They fall wildly into a sunken, snow covered work yard. Katie feels blood at her nose and lashes out with angry words. She takes them back and is rewarded with Logan's first coherent speech of the siege. He recognizes the girl better than he does himself. She cannot understand his Japanese dialect, but his brain is almost healed.

The super-powered girl switches from uniform to warm clothes, offering Logan her choir robe. Broken English signals his returning faculties. They huddle together, but a shining light warns of the arrival of The Reavers!

The heroes run for cover. Wolverine orders his temporary ward to trust that he's healed enough to handle the fight. He dissuades her from a lethal path and orders her exit. Then he uses the terrain to his advantage and lies in wait.

Wade Cole closes in on Wolverine's proximity - unaware his target is lurking right beneath him! Obscured by the cover of slats, Wolverine thrusts his clawed arm into the unsuspecting torso of the cyborg above!

Lady Deathstrike orders the last mercenary standing to find Katie Power and take her hostage. Murray Reese has been at it long enough to know it's never that easy. Wolverine is on him in an instant, so he whips around an unloads his hi-tech weapon at point blank. Against the healing mutant - it's no good.

If radio silence didn't tell Lady Deathstrike of Reese's fate, Wolverine emerges to confirm it. In her soul, she knew it would end this way. A crossing of inhuman swords in one final bloody showdown. It begins.

The newly made cyborg slashes her claws across Wolverine's face! He questions the honor of continuing her father's legacy. She will accept no alternative.

They swing and stretch limbs like dancers. A lunge pushes Deathstrike's bundled claws across the outer edge of Wolverine's exposed torso. A swing of her other hand swats back across his waiting face. He jerks forward once again as claws bury in his gut. She takes full advantage - driving the other set into his back!

She boldly proclaims the end of Wolverine's life -- but he rejects it! He knocks her away, summoning the energy of his own choice to live or die!

This time adamantium claws cut through Deathstrike's gut. They slash at her chest and slice at thighs. Cutting and hacking at a complex network of wires and microchips, Wolverine unmakes what was recently made.

The warrior's façade broken and tattered, Lady Deathstrike's soul is laid bare -- and even Wolverine is shocked by what he sees!

Adamantium bones, claws and a mutant healing factor were all thrust upon the man called Wolverine, but the inhuman monster before him was a creation of choice. In her obsession, Yuriko Oyama has truly succeeded Lord Dark Wind.

Defeated, Deathstrike asks her nemesis to complete her failure with death. Though tortured by her role in reducing him back to a savage state he thought he'd left behind -- Wolverine refuses. Neither man nor animal could justify such a kill. She begs for mercy. He tells her to earn it. The fight is over.

The Hammer...
I like to think Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has something to offer as an information resource, but the fact of the matter is, you're only getting a window into the complete reading experience. I'll always encourage an interested reader to pursue and seek out the complete story themselves.

That may never be more true than with Uncanny X-Men #205 -- an issue that mere panels & text cannot do justice!

The images featured in today's entry may hint at the basic blows in isolation, but it's the complete composition of page layouts by Barry Windsor-Smith that make this issue a bona fide X-Men Classic!

With the turn of every page comes the temptation to squint. Such is the effective way in which snow whips across the page in every panel!

Winter is only part of the story. It's not the cold that draws me in when I read this issue. It's the danger! The hazy silhouettes stalking on the periphery. The light flare of their gun barrels. The darkly determined forms marching through a veil of snow.

There's actually no real mystery to who these shadowy hunters are. We're given a full glimpse of Lady Deathstrike and her minions in the opening pages. It's the emergence of a freshly built cyborg. The human villain of Alpha Flight #34, driven by obsession to remake herself in Spiral's Body Shop.

Deathstrike seeks assurances that the procedure can be reversed, but Spiral knows it's a lie. This will become the definitive vision for Lady Deathstrike moving forward. A woman who discarded her humanity in order to become one of Wolverine's deadliest enemies.

The other cyborg mercenaries were well known to readers at the time, but it's the first time they teamed with Deathstrike. Collectively they'll come to be known as Reavers. That's a name you might recognize if you're seeing Logan in theatres - in wide release March 3rd.

Sadly, Lady Deathstrike doesn't seem to be among the cadre of cyborg villains (led by Donald Pierce) in the highly anticipated cinematic finale. A dash of arch-nemesis that might've been welcomed in the dusty ode to Old Man Logan.

We've already lamented the disappointment of Bryan Singer's vision for the character in X-Men 2. If your only frame of reference for the character is the pristine beauty of Kelly Hu as silent henchwoman - you're missing out.

In many ways, the film version was the antithesis of the villain: stripped of her passion, conflict, and the choice of self-inflicted bodyhorror it led her to. Lady Deathstrike is ultimately a very Japanese high-concept, channeled through an American aesthetic. More Tetsuo than Iron Man, but also more Christmas lights & plastic chips than the slick, cyberpunk futurism of manga's best in the '80s.

It strikes me that it's a little bit punk that the fight is already under way when it begins. If you were wondering where Angelo Macon was in the recap, he's already a casualty when we catch up to the action. That's also why Wolvie's in such rough shape when we first bump into him.

Our entry point -- Energizer (Katie Power) -- is one of the members of Power Pack: a rainbow swirl of super-powered tykes right out of the most bubblegum '80s Saturday mornings! Don't worry, though. Wolverine made her promise to cover her ears and eyes while he gutted the nasty cyborgs! (That's a little bit punk and a little bit manga!)

That's just about all we have time for this week, but it's worth noting that we're folding in the off-page action into a continuum. If you scroll to the bottom of the page you'll find rankings updates for Macon and the assist for Energizer.

I have to imagine we'll find our way back to Power Pack some time in the future. I certainly hope we'll be back to talk more Lady Deathstrike. In the mean time, if you want to discover more from those characters, or many other topics, be sure to follow links littered throughout this post!

You can also dive into the full Secret Archive to browse ever featured fight by publisher, series and issue number! If you're looking for a little spontaneity, be sure to follow on Facebook or Twitter to get daily links inspired by the day's topics! An easy-breezy like and share will help support the site!

If you want to go the extra mile, or are just looking to get a first-hand look at the issue featured today, take advantage of the Amazon purchase link provided [right]! Doing so helps keep the Wars Infinite at no extra charge! Mmm! That's good schpiel!

Winner: Wolverine (w/ Energizer)
#4 (--) Wolverine
#515 (new) Energizer [+1 assist]
#834 (-510) Murray Reese
#835 (-513) Wade Cole
#836 (-513) Angelo Macon
#859 (-23) Lady Deathstrike

QUICK FIX: WOLVERINE vs THE PROFESSOR
Weapon-X: Chapter Eleven (Marvel)
Where: Marvel Comics Presents #83 When: 1991
Why: Barry Windsor-Smith How: Barry Windsor-Smith

THE TAPE...
Strength: Wolverine 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Professor 5 (Professor)
Speed: Wolverine 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Wolverine 6 (Generator)
Agility: Wolverine 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Draw 1 (None)

Math: Wolverine
Ranking: Wolverine (#6)

THE FIX...
Whoa! Keep your hat on, true believer! Not that Professor!
Following on from our previous entry [X-Men (2000)] we're bouncing off of the cinematic release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine to induct the best there is at what he does into Season 2009 on the Infinite Wars! That means delving deeper into the mysterious past of one of comics' most popular and enduring heroes!

Previews of the Wolverine solo movie left me pretty cold, but all the X-citement at least spurred me to go back to issues of the early nineties Chris Claremont/Jim Lee comics, and the cartoon that they inspired, to relive some of the character's defining adventures. On reflection I could really appreciate just how much the Wolverine character has changed over the past decade. He's a little taller, a little prettier, and a lot more personable (at least to his friends).

Change in superheroes is a peculiar and lumbering beast.

Corporate dedication to characters who've endured decades of publishing has forced a shift in the perception of originality in this medium. Reactionary to even subtle and nuanced shifts of perspective; superheroes have found longevity and excitement in spite of their many cycles of variation and repetition.
Sometimes, as with Watchmen, this momentum comes from the manipulation of familiar ideas that prescribe to originality as an application of concept and method, rather than the invention of wholely unfamiliar material. When added to characters designed to occupy a shared fictional universe, this derivative practise can create a greater understanding of the versimilitude of storytelling, and contribute vast contexts to any and all small additions.

Wolverine entered the Marvel Universe as a fairly typical costumed character, albeit, as an opponent for the Hulk in late 1974. Once recruited by creator Len Wein for his 1975 "all-new" X-Men special, the character began a path toward a mythology that would redefine him as one of comics' great superheroes, but this was far from instantaneous success. The diminutive Canadian was selected for the revamped on-going series (written by Claremont), but was initially an effective supporting character to the many extravagant mutants featured.
It wasn't until John Byrne replaced Dave Cockrum and championed his cause as a Canadian (and creator of Alpha Flight), that the complexity of Wolverine's backstory and rebellious nature as an anti-hero, really began to shine.

During the eighties; Wolverine developed extensively as a character through Claremont's collaborations with Byrne as well as writer/artist, Frank Miller. By going back into the loveable loner's private past, new layers were built upon a gruff exterior that drew heavy inspiration from the honor-bound traditions of samurai. Though Wolverine became a creature of increasing complexity, he remained a fleshed out character with a history that was not completely his own.

The coming of the nineties would bring a new proliferation of anti-heroes born of the success of the grim 'n' gritty movement of the eighties. Wolverine was ready to be a headlining feature in a growing series of titles, including Marvel's mixed bag anthology, Marvel Comics Presents.
As the main feature to short stories and serials starring second-stringers and unlikely lead protagonists; the long awaited exploration of Wolvie's origins answered as many questions as it posed, building upon his original connections with shady government operations to create comics legend: Weapon X!

By now, the Weapon X project has become a household name through the mass media consumption of the concept through television and cinema.
Weapon X featured prominently in segments from the seminal X-Men cartoon series (produced by Saban Entertainment), and has since become a key piece of the film mythology, providing a throughline of mystery from Wolverine's first appearance in X-Men, to the adaptation of the story in X-Men Origins.

The cultivation of the Weapon X mythology spanned much of the 1990s, culminating in the 2000 reveal that the "X" was indicative of it's role as tenth incarnation of the Weapon Plus projects. As if the the vast conceptual adaptation of the idea hadn't already contributed enough, the convoluted secret government experimentation was granted one final connection, folding modern incarnations into an Ultimate-esque relation back to Weapon 1, Captain America. A reveal quite expertly crafted by Grant Morrison, who managed to avoid bogging himself down in the decades of confusion that had come before, opting instead to drop a single atomic bombshell in the course of his New X-Men run, which changed the way the last sixty years of Marvel Comics could be observed, if you were so inclined. Otherwise, it was just another chapter in the saga of mutants as guinea pigs and the war mongering contradictory madness of humanity.

For Wolverine; the legacy of Weapon X was one of violent context.
The details of his transformation from "Logan" to "Wolverine" were always known to have been shady, but the brutality of the project that bonded unbreakable adamantium to his skeleton and tampered with his mental state went far deeper than mere Canadian government superheroics. A precedent of understanding was retroactively achieved for a character whose very nature seems vicious and animalistic, but is in part forever reflective of the torture he endured.

Few scenes remind us that Wolverine isn't the fun loving Hugh Jackman we've all come to know than those in Marvel Comics Presents #83. Naked and bloody with tubes and machines sticking out of his body, Wolverine stands beneath the burning lights of a creator who intends to destroy him. The Professor, as he was then simply known, watches over the monster he created with utter contempt, intent on destroying it for all it's triumphs and discretions as something far greater than he had ever intended. Alongside his Weapon X, one of the staff whose misfortune will come as an incidental accompaniment to Wolverine's.

Wolverine - Weapon X - escapes a nuclear deconstruction beneath the Professor's purging fission-gate, resisting what seemed to be inevitable. While his own demented body heals the smouldering of his flesh and burning of his hair, Weapon X presses on through sheer force of purpose. A veritable human torch, he climbs from the pit that was to be his deathplace, and looms over his creator who describes him as a walking dead man. A fitting irony of symmetry.

Weapon X lunges through the glass of The Professor's observation chamber with the claws of his right hand already unsheathed. He pins the feeble Professor to the ground and struggles to break through the physical and psychological torture that has robbed him of his identity. Is he alive or dead? Man or animal? The Professor, with utter disregard for the man who is now "Weapon X," claims the latter, and deservedly seals his fate.

Logan plunges his claws into the Professor's gut furiously and tosses him across the control panel of his machines. Even as death stares him in the face, the Professor's disregard for the potential of Wolverine eludes him. He reaches desperately for a button to summon help, security, but they are already dead. As is he. With a wave of his claws, Weapon X brings an end to the futility, severing the hand that damned him and now desperately seeks salvation [pictured above].

Weapon X, becoming more human by the minute, returns his claws to their hiding place within his forearm and elaborates on his actions, "Now we both... got our paddles... bollixed. D'ythink... that makes... us... even?"

Unsatisfied, Weapon X gives in to the very human temptation of revenge, but he takes no discernable pleasure in the moment. In it's way, the act is as much a gesture of kindness, self-preservation, and condemnation, as it is vengeance.

Naked and alone, Weapon X looks forward to a future of pain and uncertainty as Wolverine. The time that follows leads Wolverine to discover, and rediscover, old and new enemies. Some come from within, others the symptom of an act of inhumanity that continued to create new creatures designed to be part of an inglorious whole assembled high above the Earth. That, however, is a story for another time, in a place of greater certainty than this version of a dark past.

To those who've embarked on the journey to cinemas (and put up with the lateness of this slightly rushed entry), I strongly recommend delving deeper into the character with some of these classic tales. The Miller/Claremont series, Weapon X, and maybe even Origin, all develop the character in ways the film mimicks but fails to live up to. Of particular disappointment, in my eyes, is the completely lack of style the Jackman vehicle shows, failing to differentiate itself from the core X-film franchise in any distinct way.

Personally, I had hoped for something steeped in the Japanese mythology that once stood at the core of the character, with a stylized visual simplicity to compliment it.

The Fight: 4 The Story: 4.5
Winner: Wolverine

Don't know who you are? Suffering from false memories implanted by evil government scientists? The Infinite Wars Secret Archives contain a host of stories to help catch you up on the past, with conviently located purchase points for collected editions of most stories, much like those embedded above. For a wider selection, the Gift Shoppe offers a wide catalogue of titles, including "Weapon X" and other Wolverine stories. By using purchase links, you help sponsor future entries on the Infinite Wars, and also claim back a shred of your humanity.
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