Wolverine Wednesday #69

Wolverine #40

Writer: Benjamin Percy | Artist: Ibrahim Moustafa | Clourist: Frank D’Armata | Letters: Cory Petit

Wolverine and Spider-Man crossovers just work. Fact! I think because they are such polar opposites in terms of age and personality the chemistry just comes naturally, especially when the writer is at the top of their game, like Percy so clearly is. In a way it is Marvel’s answer to Batman and Robin, what really makes it work is that despite it being a hit every time, there aren’t that many instances of them teaming up. Well, we can now add this issue to the playlist. This very much had the feel of a throwback Marvel Team-Up issue. Two popular heroes, smashing through iconic villains in the form of Sentinels without having much continuity fat to chew through. One thing that stood out for me and made it even more enjoyable was that despite our heroes jetting into space at one point during the story it had a very New York vibe to it. The story opens with Wolverine swiping a hot dog from Spider-Man, you can’t get more New York than that! It all adds to the feel like I said of an old MTU issue and the original desire of Stan Lee’s world outside the window. This issue did feel like it had some connectivity with that last, rather than feeling like a stand-alone. Also, the last page cliffhanger gave it a larger connection to X-Force and ‘Fall of X’ as a whole, as well as leading right into the very next arc. Moustafa comes on for art duties and brings a unique style very different from what we have seen in Wolverine over the last few years. If Spider-Man and Wolverine are on opposite ends of the scale, then so are Moustafa and Ryp. His New York skylines add to everything I have already said about this feeling like part of the culture. Right down to the helpless people on the street in the final confrontation, smartphones at the ready! I would describe his artwork as fluid, as the style seems to adapt from page to page or setting to setting. In the opening for instance there is a lot of talking to make the characters pop they have a thick black outline, lifting them from the sketchy less detailed background as it isn’t important. When they get to space it is a cleaner, bolder line. Putting emphasis on the higher technology than the previous street-level intro. Some of these cleaner panels are actually more similar to Kubert than you would first think upon seeing the first page. He demonstrates a good mixture of page and panel layouts. Again this is best played out in the outer space sequences. A lot of widescreen panels at jaunty angles convey the sense of speed and movement in space. You get a sense of the speed and the weight of the ships and Sentinels as they battle. This issue was a largely satisfactory read, standing up well to the other issues in the arc. Percy showed a good handle on the modern-day Peter Parker and seamlessly had him dance with his lead. But in all honesty, I am glad this arc is over. While it was fun seeing Percy have Wolverine interact with the wider Marvel Universe there were no real consequences. Which really stood out in this final issue as there were no major changes to Wolverine with regard to his battle with Orchis and the events of ‘Fall of X’ From a personal point of view perhaps the solicitation of the next story arc weighed heavy on this rather flat ending. Percy has done a lot right in his time on Wolverine I am not going to leave much sleep other a slightly weaker arc. The question now is can ‘Sabretooth War’ deliver?

Predator Vs Wolverine #4

Writer: Benjamin Percy | Artists: Ken Lashley, Kei Zama & Gavin Guidry | Colourists: Juan Fernandez, Alex Guimaraes & Matthew Wilson | Letters: Cory Petit

So this is it! The final round! Our two franchise behemoths go toe-to-toe one last time. ‘Vs’ comics are always hard to nail the landing. A lot of the time they are two heroes fighting before coming to a resolution. This is a bit of a strange one as Predator gets first billing, but Wolverine is portrayed as the protagonist. But then again while being the villain is the lead of his respective franchise so there will be people reading this routing for him. This series has been top-notch storytelling from all involved from page one. I know I said I wish there was more but in reality, four issues was a good number to bow out on. This was backed up by times in this issue where the facade of brilliance did slip a little. But ultimately not enough to derail from a great ending to an exciting story. My biggest complaint is that the two flashback tales didn’t hit the landing for me personally. Maybe it was because they were distracting from the final showdown or simply because they weren’t as fleshed out as some of the others. There is a case to be made this final issue could have been entirely set in the present down for one big fight. Maybe the extra page count couldn’t justify less story over the beautiful art of Wolverine and Preds fighting it out. The first flashback picks up where the last issue ended with Predator facing down Wolverine and Muramasa. There is a somewhat dark comedic tone as Muramasa declares it is not his fight and just watches. There is no major character development and I wasn’t expecting any in a story like this and it all ends rather abruptly. The art for this flashback suits it rather well, we get to see more of Zama from the previous issue and I really enjoy the sketchy quality of it. There is a real sense of movement, especially in the drawing of blades and claws. While his depiction of Predator may not be on brand or big, it certainly has a unique type of intimidation to it. The second flashback takes place within the Xavier Mansion and I had a little more trouble with it. Everything I am about to say is all down to personal taste by the way. For me, it didn’t flow or seem as natural as the other flashbacks throughout the series. I know I shouldn’t have got pinned down in continuity reading it, but I did! The other flashbacks seemed so well meticulous in their weaving into Wolverine history. Here we get a random assortment of X-Men in a random assortment of costumes that it makes it harder to pinpoint exactly when this takes place. I know it shouldn’t matter, but like I said the other stuff was so well planned out when you read it you believed it happened in continuity. This needed more planning. Perhaps it was a case of wanting the final battle, if this flashback had been in a previous issue I wouldn’t have dwelt on it so much. The art here carries an animated style which on any other day suits a certain era of X-Men to a tee. I would happily read a light-hearted Wolverine action, adventure series in this style. It is big and bold, with great cartooning on the action. There are touches of Aja thrown into the mix that make it more enjoyable. But for the tone of this series, I felt it was a miss. Like I said about Greg Land in the first issue, the art is going to rise and fall on the strength of the Predator depiction. Talking of rising and falling this issue was always about the final round. While people will argue about the price of modern comics till they are blue in the face I won’t go as far as to say this was worth the cover price. But I will say Percy and Lashley certainly earned their paychecks! The pair deliver a high-octane, all-out slugfest. All with only making one reference to the OG Arnold movie! By the final page it is clear to everyone who has been a long for the ride that not only have Wolverine and Predator left nothing on the table. Neither have Percy and Lashley. We have characters colliding, claws slashing, masks tearing, explosions, blood and guts everything and the kitchen sink. And left standing at the end, a naked hero! I would read Percy and Lashley pit Predator against anyone in the Marvel Universe!

50th Birthday Plans

Over the holiday period, I came up with my final plans about how best to celebrate 50 years of Wolverine right here in Wolverine Wednesday. What I came up with was 4 special blog posts(I may throw in some extras along the way) highlighting why we love the short, hairy Canuck. They are as follows;

• Wolverine Firsts (Mar): A look at Wolverine’s first appearance as well as some notable #1 to see how the characters lore was shaped.
• Multi Media Wolverine (June): This will include a countdown of my Top 5 Wolverine movie moments, as well as animated, gaming and toy talk.
• Anatomy of Wolverine (Sept): Body part by body part, artist by artist. At the end the definitive style guide to the best there is.
• Top 50 Wolverine Stories (Dec): Pretty self explanatory.

One thing I really need to do before the Krakoan Age is over is catch up on X-Force trades!