Wolverine recently decided that he didn’t want to be part of the X-Men with a definitive “The Wolverine is dead.” Now he’s working for Sabertooth, his arch-nemesis, even though he is without either of his powers. Marvel promised that this debut would be as big as that of Superior Spider-Man. Is that true? Is it good?
Wolverine #1 (Marvel Comics)
He’s leaving the X-Men but turning his costume into an X. What?
I’m really having trouble with this concept. It just seems…forced. It’s like Marvel needed to do something with the character and death wasn’t an option. So instead of doing anything interesting they just made the character a completely different one. It just isn’t credible, at all. Jason Aaron has taken so many issues to show us that Wolverine was turning over a new leaf by starting to be headmaster at the JGS and now we’re supposed to believe that he has turned into a killing machine for his arch-enemy? Marvel, please.
This issue was unmistakably an opening issue, and that was not for the best. All we really learned in this issue was where Logan was in life, something that could have been told interspersed over many issues and not have taken so much real estate that would have been better suited for action. It was talkative and melodramatic with no real purpose other than to get us up to speed. Sure, the scene with Black Widow was kind of fun, and sure, Logan confronting Storm needed to happen; but really, I just don’t want to read through that. I just didn’t enjoy reading Wolverine #1, and that’s a problem.
Although I’ve never had problems with Marvel’s editorial staff, it really seems like they were the ones behind Wolverine #1’s failure. They are steering this book in the wrong direction and the only real contribution from the author, or so it seems, is the dialogue, which is the best part of the book. The plot is weak and the concept unbelievable, but the dialogue seems fresh and witty. This leads you to believe that Paul Cornell only has so much control over his own book and dialogue is what he contributes to the title. It’s sad, because while I know Cornell is capable of telling a great story, this just seems too sales driven.
I also didn’t find Logan that likable a character. He was brash without any charm, aggressive without any morality and just kind of arrogant for no good reason. His new teammates don’t read any better; they just seem like a bunch of punks with really smug attitudes. This doesn’t even feel like a solo book…it seems like just another team book with a heavy focus on Wolverine. If you want me to go out of my way to read about Wolverine every month, at least give me some internal struggles or something about Wolverine himself.
At least Ryan Stegman’s art is somewhat redeeming and really fun. I love his technique of putting all these little lines on the borders of faces, giving them a realistic shading and keeping things comical. Logan’s costume is genuinely cool and all of the action effects are bright and flashy.
Is It Good?
Meh, take it or leave it. This seems like an uninspired spin on the character with not much more than a lot of backstory to kick the concept off.
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