WOLVERINE #1
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
Pulls
PENCILS: RENATO GUEDES
INKS: ART & COMICS INT'L
COLORED BY: MATTHEW WILSON
COVER BY: JAE LEE
Size: 40 pages
Price: 3.99
The overuse of Wolverine is old news. Twenty or thirty year old news. These days, he seems to shine as a member of a team, be it Avengers, New Avengers, X-Men, X-Force, X-X, X-Vengers, New Vengeforce, or the JLA. On his own? He’s gotten really boring.
I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a full issue of a Wolverine comic since Daniel Way had him fighting Deadpool. His epic quest to kill all the other Claw People got stale really quickly for me. Aaron’s Weapon X? Intriguing ideas, but once he got into the asylum, I lost interest.
This issue started with characters doing the tired trope of talking about the different kinds of evil and hell and how hard life has been for Wolverine and…*yawn*…nothing new or exciting was offered. Apparently Wraith has been trying to live a good life, but *not a real spoiler at all alert* something is about to change!!!!
There’s no reason why this couldn’t have been Wolverine 80whatever, or Wolverine Weapon X 17. This isn’t a fresh take, or a reboot or a reimagining, it’s just another familiar story arc about Wolverine. And Guede’s art is about 3.5 level of adequately good. Nothing standout, but decent. 3/3
The backup story on the other hand is awesomely dumb fun. I don’t mean it’s funny or throw away, I mean it’s over the top samurai fun with hyperbolic writing (which I enjoyed) and fantastically stylized art. The back up gets 5/5
Art: 3 - Good
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@akamuu: While I am not terribly surprised by your review, I am disappointed to hear that it didn’t impress you. I was hoping for more, especially considering all the good buzz about Aaron’s Weapon X run. Do you think that other people’s mileage might vary if they haven’t read a lot of solo Wolverine or recent Weapon X?
@ctrosejr I’m suspecting it would make a difference. I’ve read a LOT of Wolverine stories, so old hat is not what I wanted to hear in this review. But there’s a lot of things that akamuu can’t stand that I absolutely love. So I’d give the first issue, at least, a flip through at the store.
The only solo Wolverine stuff I read was the Frank Miller/Claremont thing in the 80s and Wolverine Weapon X. I loved the Weapon X series but felt the final arc fell apart (at least in monthly format) towards the end.
I’m buying this because of Jason Aaron not Wolverine.
@Scorpion vadamowens & ctroseir:
Mileage always may vary. This wasn’t awful, it just wasn’t exciting for me. It turned me off immediately with the several pages of Wolverine and Wraith rapping philosophical about hell and being bad. If you’re into that sort of thing, you may enjoy this. And then when Wolverine possibly maybe it seems to be goes evil, I thought "this was handled better in Wolverine Enemy Of The State."
I’d definitely flip through it. I gave it 3s, which I usually use for comics that don’t do anything for me, but aren’t poorly written.
I give 2s to those kind of comics. If I don’t find them good, but they are done okay, they get an average rating.
I enjoyed this issue quite a bit. I feel like this book is being judged not on it’s content, but on people’s dislike for the number of titles Wolverine appears in every month. As far as I’m concerned, this was a very solid issue in both story and art.
@blulew I think that’s a hefty generalization and not really what’s going on here.
@bluew23: I’m glad you enjoyed it. I didn’t. While the over-Wolverinification certainly factors in, it doesn’t factor in as "I want less Wolverine titles, so I don’t like this" as much as it’s a case of "with all the Wolverine titles, you’ve got to write a really good one to hold my interest." This issue didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t awful, but it also didn’t strike me as very good. I’ve found Aaron’s work on Wolverine, apart from the first arc of Weapon X, to be pretty overwrought and predictable. You are welcome to feel differently, but please don’t assume I’m not reviewing this issue fairly.
For what it’s worth, as we talked about on this weeks episode 15.5 of Nerdy30s podcast, we found the discussion on the front steps of the church between Logan and Wraith to be one of the more enjoyable aspects of the book. It was well handled, world weary talk from two characters who have every reason to BE world weary, in a very symbolic setting.
Just wanted to throw that out there…
jeff.
@jeffromwv: Glad it worked for you and the other people on your podcast. I just looked it over again, and feel the same way I did when I wrote the review.