Wolverine #2
Marvel
Was there any doubt that Wolverine would end up in Hell? I reckon only Frank Castle has sent more criminals to their early, well deserved graves.
At the end of the last issue, we have learned that Wolverine’s soul has been removed and delivered to Satan himself to toy with. This month we learn how much Satan likes to toy. Logan’s powers are not all there and his bones adamantium-free and the guy goes up against wave after wave of bad guys. But not just any bad guys.
His adversaries are the souls of every person he’s ever murdered. Hydra agents. Hellfire Club soldiers, members of the Hand, Omega Red, and a number of other villains and grunts from our hero’s weathered, bloody past. But this is Wolverine’s soul in hell. His soulless body is still up on Earth and has been doing some really bad things to his loved ones.
I have to say, I normally have a like/hate relationship with this character. I am never swayed to buy a book that has Wolverine on the cover. But indisputably, there is a lot of good to be done with the character, I find though that he is sometimes so overused that writers don’t do much interesting with him.
Last issue opened with Logan and John Wraith discussing their sinful pasts; this issue has some strong inner-monologues where we see that the character is more introspective than his gruff persona would ever indicate. “My sins, at last… have all caught up with me,” he ruminates as his enemies swarm him.
Aaron keeps the pacing strong as we catch up with Mystique, used ably here, who is on the run with Melita to locate help in rescuing Logan’s soul. This leads to the introduction of a few fan-favorite guest stars who know a thing or two about lost souls.
Aaron has taken what would seem a ridiculous story, much like “The Curse of the Mutants” storyline in X-Men, and made it captivating. He presents the title character as the legendary bad-ass he is, but then demonstrates how that can all be turned on its head in an unthinkable conclusion. Aaron has a strong understanding of the Wolverine and his inner strengths and weaknesses.
Renato Guedes is on pencils and is suited perfectly to draw the mayhem that takes place in this issue. There are some very dramatic splash pages in this issue, the first being a waterfall of Hand soldiers falling upon a Wolverine covered in blood with arrows and other weapons clinging to him. It’s gruesome fun.
I’m hopeful that Aaron’s run on Wolverine remains as strong as these first two issues. This is not your run of the mill Wolverine story and based on the events of this issue, Logan may walk away with some scars that don’t heal.
Marvel
Oh boy. This was not very good. It actually wasn’t good at all.
Chaos War is an end of the universe tale, written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente, reminiscent of the more meaningless cross over events of the 80’s and 90’s (Atlantis Attacks anyone?) and exists for reasons beyond my understanding.
The dialogue is flat and the humor (and there are a lot of attempts at it) falls even flatter. Everything about this feels dated and phoned in. The Thing flying through the sky with an apron on. A bystander is offended that Hercules refers to himself as a god and she says “I’m tweeting about this right now.” Each joke lands harder than the one previous.
I don’t recall Hercules being such a joke of a character, but everyone in the book refers to him as such. But he is never presented as described, so it wasn’t clear to me if he is misunderstood or Pak and Lente don’t know how to demonstrate the character’s supposed lack of heroics.
Khoi Pham does a fine job with the artwork and draws an incredible Herc, but is ultimately wasted on this title. Chaos War is small crossover event (14 tie-ins) in every sense.
Marvel
Finally! A new Thor book!
Either Thor has recently become a mutant or he has a movie coming out next year, because there are a lot of new Thor books on the shelves of my local comic shop. While it would be difficult to top Roger Langridge’s work in Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Ultimate Thor by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Carlos Pacheco is certainly good.
The Ultimate Universe’s Thor has been thought to be a loon and Hickman continues that here. He is under observation by Captain Britain and his father in Brussels as the story opens. We then move back in time as a World War II Baron Zemo is preparing an attack on Asgard while Thor and his (eventually evil) half-brother Loki demonstrate brotherly machismo as they do battle with snow monsters.
I haven’t been crazy about Pacheco’s work in Avengers Academy, but it looks sleeker here which is assuredly due to strong inks by Dexter Vines. There is nothing to complain about with this book. It feels like an epic and the characters are all being established before the real action kicks in. In fact, I thought this was a much stronger opening than Matt Fraction’s first issue on the non-Ultimate Thor a few weeks ago.
DC
I enjoy a good Elseworlds tale and this was a good one. Elseworlds books have been what I would call a rich man’s What If?, Marvel’s look at alternate conclusions to famous stories.
In The Last Family of Krypton, Jor-El and Lara escaped their doomed planet with Kal-El and have been welcomed by most of Earth over the course of the story. There have been a lot of familiar nods to the Superman mythos (especially Superman: The Movie) but the story has grown organically by asking… ummmm, what if?
In this issue, Superman and his father are barely on speaking terms and his younger twin-siblings have not embraced their super-powered heritage. Lara and Jor-El grow further apart as he becomes consumed with keeping Earth safe through science (and we learn the El’s have done more than just prevent the origins of Batman and Green Lantern).
I thought the first chapter of this title (there are six) was a bit weak, but have grown more and more impressed as the story unfolded into its own universe. Cary Bates is a solid storyteller and he has created a new and believable Superman universe and presented interesting takes on Jor-El and Lara.
Renato Arlem’s work on the art on this book has been a pleasure. The expressions on his characters have a photo-realism reminiscent of Kevin Maguire. My biggest qualm of this book has been the lame puns on each issue’s cover. This month: “War is El!”
DC
Co-Writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray remind me a bit of Geoff Johns when he got started; Johns seemed to have a great affection for the B-list characters. DC’s writing team has gone C-list with their take on one of the least-beloved teams in the DCU: The Freedom Fighters.
However, this book is well written and the action is strong as the Freedom Fighters take on the demons unearthed at the conclusion of last month’s issue. The story opens with an introduction of the demons and quickly establishes their forced-to-be-reckoned-withness.
Palmiotti and Gray recognize that the Freedom Fighters are not as well-known as the Justice Leaguers, so there is proper exposition to illustrate what they can do. There is an interesting B-story here as the Vice President is being beat to a pulp by a member of the Arcadians, a shadow society that may have been guiding history for its own means for hundreds of years.
My biggest problem with this team has been Uncle Sam. Gone are the top hat and coat with tails, but the red and white striped pants are still there. Palmiotti and Gray may have come up with a viable solution for handling the character in this issue though.
Travis Moore’s artwork is sensational. C’mon, the guy made Uncle Sam look threatening—no small feat. Seriously though, Moore draws great action and this issue is wall to wall combating.
DC
The story here is that artist, and Swamp Thing co-creator, Bernie Wrightson, came up with this Batman tale 13 years ago and it has finally seen the light of day. Wrightson pencils here and each page packs one unconventional wallop after another. The story is told through single splash pages; all of the text is placed in the margin of the page.
This works to great effect. It feels like a Batman short-story that is narrated by an unknown third party. Marz is an adept storyteller and his words compliment Wrightson’s artwork impeccably. And the artwork is really something. One page has Batman looking over a corpse that is truly stunning and particularly eerie.
Marz’s narration is really wonderful as Batman tracks down Solomon Grundy who looks to be (the man?) responsible for a slate of murders that have taken place on the Dark Knight’s turf. True to any good Batman story, there is a good twist that made me smile and think “Batman’s one smart detective.”
Again, there is much to love about Wrightson’s artwork on each succeeding page. As well, Alex Sinclair’s colors are pitch perfect. Everything is muted in shades of gray and green as the action moves from the sewers to the swamp. Batman: Hidden Treasures is one of the most aptly titled books in recent memory.
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