Wolverine: April 2006 Archives

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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Despite Wolverine's massive over-exposure, I was tantalized by the hype for the new Wolverine: Origins series. Wolverine exploring his past, drawn by superstar artist Steve Dillon? How could that go wrong? A writer working on that series could explore all kinds of subjects. Logan in World War 2. Logan as a cold war op. Logan in post-war Japan. Logan before and after the Weapon-X storyline by Barry Smith. All kinds of shit. Wolverine: Origins #1 is nothing like that.

Call me crazy, but the first issue of a new series needs to set the tone for the later issues. Marvel doesn't really follow my way of thinking-they launched Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man in the middle of The Other crossover. If you haven't been reading House of M, New Avengers, and Wolverine's main series, you will be completely lost picking up this first issue. There's no recap covering Wolverine's known origin to date, which I find puzzling as hell, given the series title. Marvel just assumes all the fanboys out there already know it, but what about the kid who picks this up because they dig Wolverine from the X-Men movie? I think they should have stated the major moments of Logan's past (World War 2, Weapon X, Alpha Flight, maybe some moments from Origin) and then explained what he's seeking now. I'm even a bit baffled and I've read all this crap.

Daniel Way's lost me on many titles. I didn't think the Squadron Supreme Nighthawk mini was all the great, and Punisher vs Bullseye seems like a Road Runner cartoon with bullets. I listened to an interview with Way on a Word Balloon podcast and he's got tons of ideas for Wolverine, but I think his execution is a bit off. One thing I did like was hooking up Logan's missing past with Bucky's. However, this whole thing about Wolverine using the Muramasa samurai blade to enact vengeance just makes me think that Way misses the whole point about Wolverine. Logan is supercool because he takes on much bigger enemies with just his claws; he takes an incredible amount of damage in the process, but survives due to his healing factor. A prime example is Uncanny X-Men 173 when Wolverine fought Silver Samurai. Logan got sliced and stabbed but he took apart Samurai's armor like it was made out of tin foil. Wolverine needs a sword? It just seems dumb to me. What the fuck do I know, this debut issue has probably sold enough copies for both Way and Dillon to buy new houses. Nuff said.

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