Pick of the Week
What did the
iFanboy
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Pulls
Art by Daniel Acuna
Letters by Cory Petit
Cover by Jae Lee & June Chung
Size: pages
Price: 3.99
“Wow!”
That’s exactly what I said as I finished reading Wolverine #9 today. It was really all I could come up with from an initial reaction. “Wow.” Three little letters that put together can mean much more than just a simple exclamation. In this case, “Wow” represents all the praise I can give to a single comic book, both from an artistic and writing endeavor.
Anyone who asks me these days about what comics I’d recommend, I’ve been leading with my sales pitch for the X-Men books at Marvel. If you ask me, we really are entering what has the makings of a great age of comics for the X-Men characters. Kieron Gillen is off to solid start on Uncanny X-Men and Rick Remender wows with every issue of Uncanny X-Force. But the lone single character title, Wolverine, may be the crown jewel of them all.
We’ve been raving about Jason Aaron’s work on Wolverine since way back when he was doing Wolverine: Weapon X. Now that he’s got the reins on the one true Wolverine book, it’s been issue after issue of solid story-telling and moments that just make your head explode. It should come as no surprise that the one character that Aaron seems to have been writing the longest while at Marvel is the one that appears as if he has the best grasp of. So much so that the high level of quality of his stories and dialogue in the pages of Wolverine can be deceiving, because they’re just that good.
Wolverine #9 is a single, one and done format issue, coming off the heels of the previous story arc about Wolverine climbing out of hell and being possessed. This issue goes back to the previous Wolverine/Mystique storyline that Jason Aaron previously wrote a couple of years ago, which established and built upon a relationship between Wolverine and shape changing Mystique for more years than we’ve known. A mysterious organization known as the Red Right Hand were responsible for sending Wolverine to hell and the person they tapped to lead Wolverine there was, none other than, Mystique. Now that Wolverine has survived this hellish ordeal, he’s aiming for revenge and starts his journey with Mystique, naturally.
Now that all may sound confusing, but the thing is, you don’t need to know any of that to enjoy this comic book. Sure, if you’re a long time reader of Wolverine and you know about his past with Mystique, it’s going to push your buttons there. If you just started with Wolverine #1 and have been along for this ride to hell and back, you’ll enjoy this as it inches that larger storyline some more. But if you’re just looking for a fun, action filled comic book, then this issue totally serves that purpose as well.
What amazes me about Jason Aaron and what he’s done on Wolverine has been the inventiveness and creativity he’s shown with characters and actions within the stories. In Wolverine #9, we’re introduced to a new, mysterious character, Lord Deathstrike. An assassin who’s hired to take out Mystique, he becomes the random third party chaos element to Wolverine and Mystique’s conflict. The manner of which Aaron introduces us to Lord Deathstrike was not only amusing and triggered a laugh, but in the span of two pages, gave us an example of how much of a bad ass this Lord Deathstrike actually is. It’s been a long time since I’ve been instantly curious and excited by a new character and the introduction of Lord Deathstrike completely won me over — I want more!
On top of that, Aaron pitted Wolverine versus Mystique in an epic car chase through San Francisco, with Mystique on a motorcycle and Wolverine behind the wheel of a 1967 Shelby Mustang. That may be a less than obvious nod to the legendary Steve McQueen movie Bullitt, but that doesn’t matter because it fits and works within the story elegantly. This may be one of the best car chases I’ve ever read in a comic book (which if you ever talk to creators, a car chase in a comic book is not an easy feat).
And via the car chase, we get to one of the other reasons why I enjoyed this comic book so much… Daniel Acuña’s artwork. Now I’ve been pretty outspoken on the show about how I haven’t been a fan of Acuña’s work. But as he’s worked on Wolverine, I’ve been slowly coming around to him and Wolverine #9 may be his best issue yet. Acuña not only showed fantastic storytelling in this issue, but I was most impressed by the pacing of that storytelling. This was a fast issue. Events moved fast, the characters moved fast, and the car chase was the fastest part of it. The action flowed flawlessly from panel to panel keeping the pace in 5th gear. When I finished the issue, my exclamation of “Wow” was not only for the quality of the work, but also a bit of an exhale as I was actually out of breath reading the book, that’s how fast it moved.
In addition to the pacing, Acuña nailed the character designs for Lord Deathstrike, as well as illustrating Jason Aaron’s masterful use of Mystique and her shape shifting abilities. Throw on top of all that a lot of guns and explosions and violence, and ultimately, Wolverine #9 was as perfect as it gets when I think about what I want out of a monthly comic book. Insane action combined with a story that can be enjoyed with just one reading as well as working into the larger tapestry of the bigger story that Aaron has been developing for years.
Make no mistake, Wolverine is one of the best comics Marvel is publishing these days and if you want a taste of why, Wolverine #9 gives you everything you’d need from a Wolverine comic.
Ron Richards
I cringed when the Shelby crashed
ron@ifanboy.com
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Yes! Yes! And a thousand times “Yes!”
I just started my stack, I go by alphabetical order and this has me wanting to tear through my pile to get down to the Ws. Glad to hear it is good!
No no no a billion times no! Detective though yes!!
Ah, if only this series wasn’t being drawn by Daniel Acuna, I might still be reading it. Also, if it wasn’t $4 an issue. I have no doubt that Jason Aaron’s script rules, though.
Why did I drop this title at #3!?!
really thought that astonishing spidey and wolvie but I’ll pick it unless anyone can recommend it for trade
I will be the only ifanboy member to say this but while I love what jason is doing on the wolverine book I always have and will prefer what daniel way has done on the character and so for that I would have picked daken dark wolverine .1 with ron garney on art and new writer rob williems it was just great
Hmmm…maybe I’ll pick this up. I got tired of Wolverine stories being ridiculous and off-character, but maybe there is something here. Wolverine used to be my #1 monthly back in the day.
It seems most good writers have one character that they just flat out nail. With Aaron, that character no doubt is Wolverine.
As for the art in this issue. Regardless if Acuna’s style is your thing, I don’t see how one could deny the work he did here. I appreciated it all the more the 2nd time I flipped through the book. Go back after reading this extremely fast-paced issue and take it in without reading any text. Acuna’s art tells just about everything you need to know. With maybe the lone exception being the backroom conversations taking place behind the secret organization. But with everything between Wolverine, Mystique, and Lord Deathstrike, it almost could have been a silent issue. That is how good the action displayed was.
@Ilash Me too with the Acuna part.
Oh come on, not Detective Comics?!!??! :p
I’m wondering if there was any mention of Nightcrawler in this issue. As of yet, I don’t think we have seen Mystique’s reaction to finding out her son has died.
That wasn’t a Shelby Mustang, it may be a GT, and it was well drawn and pretty accurate but not a Shelby.
we better get Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand as the intro music on Sunday’s podcast.
This was a great week for comics all around! So much good stuff!
Wow, I’m surprised. It’s not even on my pull list. I tried to hop on board but the inconsistent art was too much of a turn-off to keep me interested. Maybe I’ll give this one a grab tomorrow.
@k5blazer as the son of a guy who owned/owns mutliple Shelby Mustangs, trust me that was a Shelby – my father would disown me if I go this one wrong – but it to your note, those were G.T. 500s – so maybe we’re both right
Here’s some photographic proof:
http://www.shelby-mustangs.com/1967-shelby-mustang-001-1.jpg
http://www.remarkablecars.com/main/shelby/shelby-mustang-017-1.jpg
I never would have thought I would love a Wolverine issue this much. And I swear I did not read your post before posting on my blog.
I’m gonna have to start picking this series up.
I think Aaron’s Wolvie stories have been hit and miss overall, but it’s so rare to find a good Wolverine story post-1995, that it’s worth keeping track of what Aaron’s up to with the character.
I particularly have liked the storylines in which Aaron’s used Mystique, so this seems like a good issue to pick up. Hopefully Mystique kills Wolverine’s gf sooner rather than later. Because the gf character is decent but doesn’t seem like a good fit for Wolverine imo.
Does Mystiques role in this conflict with what she was doing in Dakken dark wolverine?
There were so many great books this week. Between Detective, Venom, Xombi, Wolverine, FF and Witch Doctor #0 I really don’t know which I though was best.
@Ron-I looked at the photos, great car by the way, and they show that the car in the book is not a Shelby. The hood, hood pins, and side scoops are all missing, and while the Shelby was a GT500, Ford also had the Mustang GT line where that car had a 390 engine in it. Where the Shelby had the 428. Classic Muscle Car discussion on a comic book site! This is so cool!
And the review was right on the money!
@Ron. Wow. I believe you mentioned (poss. hyperbole) that a past Aaron-penned issue of Weapon X was the best Wolverine story you ever read.
Aaron is on fire. He was like Brubaker was 3-5 years ago.
@k5blazer Based on convos I’ve had with Jason, I’m pretty sure he intended it to be a Shelby, but I bet Acuna just didn’t get the exact details in there. I did notice the hood and side scoops – but hey, it’s comics – I’m going to stick with it being a Shelby 🙂
Glad you liked the review and the car talk
Picked this title up and found it to be simply ok. In my posted review I mentioned that it’s best feature is it’s 1970’s action picture look and feel. Some of the panels even look like you’re looking through a filmmaker’s camera. I liked that.
But this was pretty typical Wolverine material with a few fairly entertaining twists. It certainly wasn’t a bad issue but I found little that “wow’d” me. Plus I’m still not a fan of Acuna’s art. Not crazy about the dull tone of his work the overall lack of detail.
None of that’s meant to say this is a bad book. It’s certainly not. But I didn’t find it particularly special. But I can see where fan’s would find it better than I did.
Thought this was some good ‘ole Wolverine stuff, impressive to be able to do that even now, to do Wolvie right like that.
Acuna’s style is just so unique, nothing else looks like that, and he doesn’t make Wolvie’s claws too long.