The Marvel Age of Comics is a series of concise, affordable, beautifully designed books that explore the history of over 85 years of Marvel Comics. Barry Windsor-Smith‘s Weapon X storyline and the legacy of Windsor-Smith is explored in Wolverine: Weapon X by Jim Rugg.

When Weapon X hit shelves in 1991 it was a product of a new era. More mature readers meant more mature content. Antiheroes and super hero characters with more ambiguous moral codes began to rise in popularity.

In Weapon X, Windsor-Smith pulled off the ultimate inversion of the male super hero fantasy. Helplessness.

He’s credited as the writer, penciller, inker, colorist, and co-letter of the storyline. Unhampered by continuity, he handled storytelling very differently than the standard Marvel house style approach, and Rugg pays close attention to his storytelling choices as well as his artwork, linework, and unusual drawing technique, which at times relied on color shapers without using ink lines.

Thirty-five years after its first publication, Windsor-Smith’s Weapon X is still celebrated. In 1991, it was ahead of tis time. Today its is timeless.

Jim Rugg’s Wolverine: Weapon X is out now.