Wolverine Wednesday #29
Dead Man Logan #11
Writer: Ed Brisson | Artist: Mike Henderson | Colourist: Nolan Woodard | Letters: Cory Petit
This may be the penultimate issue but it continues to deliver in exactly the same way as the previous ten. It is an issue packed with action, drama and humour, just as the story has been throughout. Brisson continues to pay tribute the original Old Man Logan story with nods and winks, as well as adding his own personal touches. All this si done without every detracting from the point or flow of the story. I like how after all this time. Suriving the Wastelands once before, coming to the Marvel 616 and returning to the Wastelands for one final showdown. Everything is connected to Weapon X. Its like Logan’s life coming full circle. After spending a good amount of time in previous issue giving Sabertooth a future make over it is really fun to see Brisson and Henderson’s take on a Old Man Logan timeline Mr. Sinister. Oh its brilliant and fun. Has to be seen to be believed. We do get some fleshing out of the origins to the ‘night the heroes fell’ and it all ties in with the plot in the earlier half of Dead Man Logan. There isn’t a lot of new plot laid out in this issue. But like I said that is offset by plenty of action and drama. The issue ends with a complete WTF! cliffhanger which is a real jaw dropper when you factor in there is only one issue left. No spoilers from me but it is amazing.
But also it is a shame it won’t really have much time to play out.You feel that if Logan like dies as the title of the series suggests there isn’t really any need to visit this timeline again any time soon. I could be wrong. Marvel are known to flog a dead horse!
The art continues to be a great match for the story. Henderson has really hit on something special across this series and I hope to see more of him at Marvel in the future. So much about the choice of panel lay outs to convey the action is to be admired. He isn’t afraid to mix things up between conventional and unconventional layouts. There are a lot of horizontal 4-5 panel pages. These add to the cinematic, spaghetti western like vibe of the story. There is a brilliant two page sequence showing how Logan and Dani break into a Weapon X facility. I’ve already mentioned his take on Mr. Sinister. The facial expressions on Bruce Jr are just pure joy! Henderson drawing a silent Bruce Jr series would be reason enough to revisit this timeline in my opinion! What I really appreciate about Henderson’s art is that there is one splash page featuring Sabretooth, Sinister and some henchmen. Each respective henchman is rendered completely different from another. They don’t have any dialogue but from simply from an artist giving them all individual looks you get a sense of each different personality in their ranks. Another class act of an issue in a very strong series. One issue left to go. Join me in a month where there could be tears!
Wolverine Annual
Writer: Jody Houser | Artist: Geraldo Borges | Colorists: Marcio Menyz & Miroslav Mrva | Letters: Cory Petit
I saw this annual solicited months back but I wasn’t really fussed about it one way or the other. As it turned out my LCS had reserved me a copy anyway so I took it. I also didn’t know all the annuals released at the same time as this shared a theme. The theme being ‘Acts of Evil.’ Our favourite heroes fighting villains they don’t normally have any time with. God it feels so 90’s comics when you say it out loud. Despite my reluctance and lack of knowledge surrounding this issue it is a half decent read. It starts very strong but unfortunately falls a little flat towards the end. This story pits Wolverine against Morgan La Fay. I must confess I without the solicits I wouldn’t have known from the cover that’s who she was. Also I feel like I have seen Wolverine in that exact pose a million times. A million and one now! Catching up with Wolverine as he finishes a team up with Spider-Man. I love Borges’ take on Wolverine in this section. He is very short and stocky. Like a Miller Dark Night Returns Batman. Even the wings of his hood are shortened like Miller shortened the ears on the bat cowl. Houser uses Wolverines many years of existence and his, shall we say, “over-exuberant love life” to lay the bedrock of the story. What I really like is that we finally get a new take on Wolverines romantic love life working in conjunction with his long existence.
Without spoiling too much after his team up with Spider-Man he visits and woman in an old folks home who happens to be 100 years old. The story then takes on the format of a flashback. The flashback pages of Wolverine and this woman in 1938 Hollywood are off white/yellow, which is a nice touch. The flashback element is very reminiscent of a Iron Fist annual from the mids 2000’s that followed the Orson Randall version of the character in Hollywood during a similar time. Just a coincidence I’m sure. I would put that annual over this one for entertainment though! Like I said it starts strong and has very good ground work laid out early on. However everything falls flat once Morgan La Fay is revealed to be playing tricks. Her motivations were very unclear to me, which leads to the remainder of the issue feeling very messy and ultimately not very entertaining as a finish. I would like to say the art is the saviour but in truth it fluctuates throughout the issue. Like the story the art starts strong then goes haywire. The are pages where the art and colour is very crisp and clean. Almost too clean for a Wolverine comic. Then there are cartoony pages and then pages which are more sketchy and rough around the edges. It does actually feel like three different artists. My opinion on annuals is that for the extra price and the extra page count the story should be as strong if not stronger than that months regular issue featuring the same character. If you want to punish yourself for being a Wolverine completist then by all means get this annual. I would recommend saving your money, perhaps trying a new regular issue instead of saving the money for a better one shot I’m sure is on the horizon.
