Wolverine 145
When I was in high school back in the early 1980s, Wolverine was my favourite X-Man. Hell, he was probably one of my favourite characters period. I loved the way John Byrne drew him, and I was fascinated with his mysterious past and the constant threat that his "berserker rage," would let go and he'd just kill someone.
In fact, during a mission at the Hellfire Club in New York City, he did just that--offed some of the generic guards standing between him and rescuing the rest of the X-Men. That happened during one of the best superhero comics runs ever, the Dark Phoenix saga in Uncanny X-Men. It was shocking, unexpected, and later denied by the editorial offices, which decided that the guards "got better."
Uh-huh.
For me, the character of Wolverine began to unravel as early as his first mini-series, by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. As much as I had enjoyed Claremont's writing before the four issue series, and as much as I had loved Frank Miller's writing AND artwork, the whole thing fell flat for me. Maybe it was just a case of too much information about what had previously been a mysterious character, Wolverine.
In the two decades since, of course, we've gotten nothing BUT too much information about the man called Logan. Much of that information has conflicted and undermined what went before, usually to the detriment of the character. I've picked up the occasional issue of his ongoing solo series, but I never enjoyed it very much. The magic of the Claremont/Byrne era just wasn't there.
I picked up a few issues of the recent run of Uncanny X-Men drawn by Chris Bachalo. I liked his style, and it seemed like the writer was finally finding a direction for a team that had been without one for the better part of twenty years. So, of course, they fired both of them. Part of the Marvel philosophy that says good work will come from firing top talents. We've seen it in recent years with the firings from various titles of Peter David, Jose Ladronn, Joe Casey, Mark Waid, Ron Garney, and a number of others.
So, I am ambivalent about the X-Titles as a whole. It's clear they have no overall direction in which to move, they're treading water, and doing so with some very, very bad writers and artists in many cases.
But, I heard good things about Wolverine 145. I was curious.
The plot, basically, goes like this:
The X-Men were rendered unconscious some weeks back by the Skrulls, and Logan was replaced with a Skrull. The alien shapeshifters are working with Apocalypse (a character I have historically had zero interest in) for unknown reasons. Pocky organizes a battle between Sabretooth (another character that puts me to sleep) and Wolvie to see who becomes Death, one of Apocalypse's Four Horsemen.
This was a good comic book.
I say that despite, not because of, many of the factors that might attract other readers. The book is written by Erik Larsen, whose work I do not enjoy at all, and drawn by Leinil Francis Yu, whose work, while competent and professional, has not seemed as great to me as it has to other readers. It's always left me a little cold, seeming a bit stiff and awkward.
So, why did I enjoy this particular issue?
I have to hand it to Erik Larsen. It was well written, giving insights into Logan's character while setting up a new status quo for Wolverine as Apocalypse's servant.
The story serves mainly, I guess, to give Wolverine his adamantium back. The unbreakable metal was part of the appeal of the character for me twenty years ago. I never understood why they let the "bone claws" version go on as long as they did--I know it seemed like a good idea to rip out the adamantium, but once they exhausted the possibilities stemming from that plotline, they should have returned to the status quo. The adamantium is as much a part of Wolverine as the claws themselves.
The revelation that he has his adamantium back (well, it's actually NOT his, but read it and see what I mean) is made during a savage battle with the Hulk, who for some reason seems to be everybody's favourite punching bag these days. (Especially John Byrne, who frankly gave old Jade Jaws a beating from which he may NEVER recover).
The battle between Logan and the Hulk ended up being probably the best part of the book. It is interspersed with scenes from the battle with Sabretooth, and both fights seem to be both a comment on and refocusing of Wolverine's ongoing battles with both these monsters.
When the Hulk realizes who his opponent is, realizes how many times they've danced this dance before, it enrages and infuriates him even more. For the first time in years, I really felt like I was watching a child-like savage with unimaginable power caught up in a monstrous rage. And I could believe this rage could result in tragedy.
Logan comes close, very close, to finally finishing the Hulk once and for all. But at the last, we see why he wanted so badly to be Apocalypse's Death. Because, when it comes down to it, he retains his humanity and spares the Hulk's life. He knows that Sabretooth would have had no mercy in the battle, and the Hulk, after all blameless here, would have been killed.
It's an intriguing conceit; Wolverine frequently unleashes his inner rage and lives are put at risk. Now, he becomes Death, in the hopes of perhaps sparing lives.
The art by Yu is excellent. He handles the quiet scenes of Logan being brought to Apocalypse in a style reminiscent of Mike Mignola, whose influence I hadn't noticed in his work before, but which is most welcome. The battle scenes are handled well, too, and it's clear Yu has had a look at Garney's Hulk a time or two. Nothing wrong with that, either--Garney drew Byrne's Hulk stores well, it's just that the stories were irrelevant garbage.
Oddly, neither Larsen or Yu is continuing with the title. I have no idea what direction Logan will go in from here, but this issue was well worth the three-dollar cover price. I avoided the 4 dollar variant with foil cover enhancements because, well, damn. I already used the term irrelevant garbage once in this review, didn't I?