The Hellbride wants revenge on Wolverine and Solem, and she’s picked the perfect moment for it in Wolverine #24, by writer Benjamin Percy, artist Federico Vicentini, colorist Frank D’Armata, and letterer Cory Petit. Percy pays off a plotline from X Of Swords, and it’s excellent.

As the Celestial prepares to judge the world, Wolverine realizes how much he deserves death. In Hell, the Hellbride tells her father, the Beast, that she’s leaving to take revenge. He tries to stop her, but she leaves anyway. In San Francisco, Solem is partying at the end of the world when Hellbride shows up. He gets out of there before she can find him, and she slaughters the party. Wolverine goes to the Summer House to retrieve the Muramasa blades and finds Solem there. The two battle it out after Solem asks Wolverine for help against the Hellbride. Wolverine gets both swords and gives Solem an ultimatum: help him kill the Celestial, and he’ll help Solem against Hellbride. They leave the Summer House, and Hellbride arrives after them, hot on their trail. In the Arctic, the Celestial sees both sides coming towards him and decides to create a surprise for both parties.

Much like in recent issues of X-Force, Percy is using Judgment Day as a backdrop to tell his own stories. Event crossovers can derail stories that creators want to tell in their books, but Percy is sidestepping that rather well. It also helps that this story is great right off the bat. Fans have been waiting for the Hand’s revenge since X Of Swords, and he sets it up very well in this issue.

Juxtaposing Wolverine and Solem’s view on the judgment of the Celestial is also exceptional writing. Wolverine is a man who has done terrible things and believes he deserves the pain. However, he doesn’t believe the rest of the world does, which is why he always fights. Solem, on the other hand, is a hedonist. He’s going to party until the end of the world and doesn’t care about anyone else. Percy shows this expertly, down to how each of them handles the situation. Solem wants to save his own skin from the Hellbride and earn one more day of life. Wolverine wants to kill the Celestial and save the world. It’s little things like this that make this book so terrific.

Vicentini and D’Armata supply some killer art for this book. From the opening pages where Wolverine’s ghosts are haunting him to him on the last page, this is a beautiful looking comic. The fight scene between Wolverine and Solem is the icing on the cake. It’s a kinetic battle, well laid out and choreographed. Vicentini also does an amazing job with the Celestial. He makes it look like there’s something wrong with it, something that other artists haven’t done yet. D’Armata has long been one of the best colorists around, and he does a brilliant job this issue.

Wolverine #24 is a great crossover issue. Percy manages to use Judgment Day to his advantage again while paying off a long-time plot line. Wolverine and Solem are excellent together, but that’s a given. Vicentini and D’Armata make an excellent team, and Petit’s letters are wonderful as always. A fantastic comic all around.

Grade: A