Wolverine 41: Stuart Moore Writes the Pick of the Week!

After reading Wolverine: Origins #1, I was pretty down on Marvel's most popular mutant. I didn't know what to expect from Wolverine #41, other than it was a 1-issue tale by Stuart Moore that gives some breathing room to the new creative team. But this is a winner, and I think if there's any awards given for Best Single Issue Story, it would surely be nominated. The plot is very simple: in an African nation overrun by crime-lords, Logan is dispatched by the Black Panther to rescue the baby girl of the President. Wolverine straps the baby into a chest harness and runs for the border on foot, but it's many miles away. He's hunted by General Lago's army, who want to eliminate the possibility of the girl growing up to be a future leader. You have to accept one story element on faith--that someone like Iron Man or the Sentry didn't rescue the girl instantly by flying in and flying out. It's even questionable why the Black Panther didn't use one of his fantastic flying machines to quickly pickup Logan after he gets the girl. The excuse is that T'Challa's not going to start an international incident, and neither are the Avengers.

It's easy for me to accept it, because I like seeing Logan rise to the challenge of fighting and carrying the baby. It's a riff that Moore admits he cribbed from Lone Wolf and Cub. Logan can't go into berserker mode without damaging the kid. He tries to talk his way out of various situations, but it doesn't always work. The artwork in this story by C.P. Smith is just astounding. The heavy use of black ink and shadows reminds me very much of Frank Miller's take on Wolverine. There's a scene involving arrows that's very reminiscent of the Miller\Claremont mini. It looks like Smith did the pencils, inks, and colors--and the color really meshes beautifully with the story. I've never heard of C.P. Smith until this story, but I'm going to watch out for him now.

Congratulations to Stuart Moore and C.P. Smith. These guys are now major leaguers in my book. You guys have to get this, even if you are burned out or jaded on Wolverine. My only regret is that Stuart Moore won't be the regular Wolverine writer. Nuff said.

External Link:
CBR article on Stuart Moore's idea for this story.

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