Wolverine Wednesday #80

Wolverine #2

Writer: Saladin Ahmed | Artist: Martin Coccolo | Colourist: Bryan Valenza | Letters:Cory Petit

I think it is best to describe my review of Wolverine #1 as lukewarm, although I had plenty of positives to talk about. Admittedly I was expecting more of the same going into the second instalment, but I was impressed to see Ahmed go off in a completely different direction. It really caught my attention and drew me more into the story. The biggest standout for me is that after the chopping and changing of the narration in the first issue, this issue is 90% Wolverine narration. Ahmed shows confidence in his hold on Wolverine’s voice in doing this. There were some expectations I had regarding the tone of the story going into the first issue that was delivered much better here. Wolverine is very much the lone wolf in the wilderness in this second outing, even letting the reader know he has been in the wilderness with a wolf pack for months. As is the way with comics nowadays there is always external influences on the character from other forms of media. Fresh off the back of X-Men ’97 and Deadpool/Wolverine it feels very much like Ahmed is conducting a balancing to act to cater to old and new fans alike. Even on the comics side of things, this is a complete polar opposite to the recent years of the ‘Krakoan Era’ stuff. That mention of him being in the wilderness for months is a big move to distance this story from that era. Another is having Wolverine back in the yellow and blues, again appealing to perhaps new readers coming to this from being fans of what they have seen on the big and small screen. Having Department H show up as a clandestine military group was a big nod for older fans along with some snippets of narration that eluded to Wolverine’s complicated past. Perhaps the biggest area where Ahmed is keeping old ideas fresh is with the rogues gallery. Last time out we had Cyber making a long-awaited return, this time we have a new spin on Wendigo (no spoilers). Again it is a case of the new spin appealing to new readers and the greater connection to Wendigo being there for the older ones. This new take on Wendigo adds a new layer to the story that was presented in #1. Moving onto the art, Coccolo is very good at delivering the atmospherics for a story set in the Canadian wilderness. A little attention to detail is how we get a steady decent of snowfall once the action picks up. Like when noir movies have rain or horror movies have lightning! The story kicks off with a beautiful vista of Canada and Coccolo is also able to demonstrate his skills at an unmasked Wolverine, where he doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel and keeps to a classic look. Once in costume, I would put Coccolo’s Wolverine somewhere between Kubert and Romita Jr. He has a very clean line style that also lends itself to fans of the animated version. Together with colourist Valenza they know when Wolverine needs to be bold and pop on a page. Then they are equally adept at muting him and blending him more with his surroundings when the story calls for it. Having talked up presenting a good atmosphere, there are two good examples in this issue where for the background to some action they drop in a solid colour with some speed lines, in a sort of anime style. Throughout the story the panel layouts are pretty standard I think this can very much be a positive. As it shows a control of not having to be flashy for the sake of it. Diagonal panels when Wolverine is in action seem to be a staple of the character now and we get one page of that. After reading this issue I was much happier with the new direction of things. While I enjoyed this detour from the previous outing I wouldn’t like the story to meander away too much from what groundwork was laid in #1. I look forward to seeing how this story pans out and how Ahmed continues to utilise the rogues gallery in this arc.

Wolverine Revenge #3

Writer: Jonathan Hickman | Artist: Greg Capullo | Inker: Tim Townsend | Colourist: FCO Plascencia | Letters:Cory Petit

Wow! Is this really the same Hickman writing this? Reading this issue was a complete joy. It felt like there was no wasted space. Every beat moved the story along. There are small beats that continue to build this alternate world. Large beats that develop the characters within it. Funny beats, like Wolverine references the title of the mini-series! And of course violent beats. I really, really hope Hickman can stick the landing with this series. He burnt through plot points in this issue that usually you would expect him to take his time with. In the first issue Wolverine set out his list of targets. By the end of this issue he is done with all of them! What is possibly left to happen? The economy of movement to get Wolverine from where he was last issue, to tussling with Omega Red, to having this strange moment of pathos with Deadpool to the issue ending in a showdown with Colossus was outstanding. With it again feeling like the story is benefiting from Hickman writing less, Capullo is doing a lot of the heavy lifting and delivering on the entertainment factor. Having become aware of Capullo through his work on Batman I would have expected his style to be darker, perhaps more realistic. Maybe then it was a conscious decision to make this so different by making it big and bold. The art and colour is so vibrant it almost goes completely against the tone of the story. Essentially the best way to sum it up visually is by calling it ‘popcorn cinema’ on the four-colour page. The Wolverine vs Omega Red fight in my opinion is the highlight of the art being the star of the series. Whereas the moment with Wolverine and Deadpool baring their souls to each other as they sit atop a nuclear reactor that is slowly eating away their skin is the perfect marriage of art and story. Again this comes with a red band trade dress. But I don’t think it is that violent. To me, it is more in your face rather than being more brutal and bloody. Does that make sense? The moments of violence feel more like big moments of emphasis rather than gut-wrenching moments. Hickman and Capullo have certainly struck gold with this story coming so soon after the release of Deadpool/Wolverine. There is definitely a crossover of audiences for the sensibilities of both stories. Honestly, I think I am going to go and reread this issue immediately! I can’t believe we only have two more left…

Wolverine: Deep Cut #4

Writer: Chris Claremont | Artist: Edgar Salazar | Colourist: Carlos Lopez | Letters: Travis Lanham

This issue took a slight nosedive after the excitement of the previous three. Claremont was back to being Claremont as the word count was ramped up. The story opens with a diatribe from Sabretooth that stops the story in its tracks, killing the pacing from the previous issue. This dialogue goes in tandem with Wolverine’s narration which clunkily explains how he wants to kill, but X-Men don’t kill, but he really wants to! Then Sinister comes on the scene and we get even more needless exposition. As I was reading this issue I wasn’t entirely sure it was the last of the series. I can’t blame that on Claremont, but once I got to a certain point in the story I then had a sense everything felt rushed. There is a plot point touched upon in this issue which would have made for a much better story. I would have liked to have had more of the story focus on the threesome of Wolverine, Sabretooth and Sinister. Especially if we got to see a brief team-up between the two arch-enemies. With the story wrapped rather quickly, Claremont has one more page to stroke his ego. I get that this story happens between Uncanny X-Men #246 and #251 this is not my first exposure to stories of this nature. But with the last page, Claremont really hits home the point by having it lead directly into #251. This could however be viewed as a genius move as #251 is the famous Wolverine crucified on the X, which made its way into Deadpool/Wolverine. Perhaps he is looking for a cross-over audience, but I feel it’s a stretch. While I saluted the use of clones in the previous three issues as a clever way to shape a retcon story without affecting the characters in the real continuity, by the fourth issue it felt overplayed. The fact Wolverine goes easy on the real version of the Marauders after everything they put the X-Men through in the Mutant Massacre feels well off character. Salazar on art is the star of this issue, as the story falls flat his art continues to impress. One small complaint from me is that he didn’t get to squeeze in his little flashback trick in this issue. It would have worked really well as the whole last page in my opinion. I have to applaud the consistency of his battle-damaged Wolverine throughout the issue. For continuity buffs it is a small matter but greatly appreciated. On the other hand, it is a bit of a cop-out that the Marauders are all wearing all white. We don’t get to see Salazar and Lopez go to down with all the different colourful characters one last time. Salazar’s Sinister is tremendous, he really leaps off the page when introduced. I did find his face too emotive if that is a valid complaint. Personally, I feel a character like Sinister should be deadpan, even when having his ass handed to him. There is a brilliant splash towards the end which would have been well at home in the red band Wolverine Revenge. Going into retcon stories like this you always feel it is going to be a mixed bag. However, with this one starting so strong and feeling a cut above previous attempts it was a shame the ending was so anti-climactic. With the popularity of Wolverine appearing to be as big as ever, I wait with baited breath to see which sacrilegious ground they retcon next!