Mary Louise Eklund

Category: Comic Comments

I share my thoughts on comics that have on my pull-list. I wait until an arc is complete before giving my commentary.

Comic Comments – Wolverine Goes To Hell

This starts Volume 4 of the Wolverine comic. I’m not sure why they started a new volume with new number just until they got to what would be the 300th issue then went back to Volume 1 numbering but kept Volume 4 designation. They didn’t consult or explain this to me. Any way, the arc takes the first five issues of the volume.

Here’s the credits for the arc: Writer: Jason Aaron, Pencils: Renato Guedes, Inks: Jose Wilson Magalhaes, Colors: Matt Wilson, Covers: Jae Lee with Jun Chung, Letters: VC’s Cory Petit, Asst. Editor: Jody Leheup, Editor: Jeanine Schaefer, Group Editor: Axel Alonso, Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada, Publisher: Dan Buckley, Exec. Producer: Alan Fine.

A bit of the legal disclaimer – All images are the property of their owners I reproduce them here under the Fair Use Doctrine of the copyright law for commentary and critique.

Let’s start with the art. The covers are pretty but honestly they don’t do it for me. There’s something about the faces I don’t like, covers 3 and 5 especially. Also the hair doesn’t do it for me either. Yet I appreciate the anatomy and colors of the pieces. Over all I can say they are great art. Yet I still have to say they aren’t to my liking either. I appreciate the talent but don’t enjoy the image as a fan.

As for the interior art. I like it. I’d rate it as some of the best. It’s not cracked into ‘OMG this is awesome’ but unlike the first issues of Wolverine and the X-Men I don’t cringe and force myself to read the comic either. I enjoyed this art, it did what comic book art does – support and tell the story. It did distract with unpleasant art or unique art techniques. It supported and made itself part of the story telling experience which is what I’m looking for when I pick up a comic.

I have to admit when I learned about the basic premise of this arc I wasn’t thrilled. I was left very cold. I don’t like aliens, magic, supernatural stuff in my X-Men. I love it in my Dresden Files, Fables, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. but I don’t like it in my X-Men. Often I reimagine it to a more mundane explanation – they aren’t aliens they are other mutants, it’s not magic it’s a mutation, etc. Nothing wrong with making a story to my liking. Given that take I went into this arc reluctantly.

The basic concept is an unknown group has spiritually kidnapped Logan’s soul sending it literally to Hell. Since his body is vacant it is taken over by demons from the pit. In the tradition of the Enemy of State arc. Yeah basicly the same plot premise rewarmed with demons and a shadowy group in control instead of HYDRA and The Hand, or Weapon X, or his beserker rage, or what ever mind/body control flavor of the month. Been there done that got so many t-shirts I don’t want one that says “Possessed Wolverine Attacked Friends.” I was so bored with this part of the story I found myself flipping forward to the scenes back in Hell. I’d seen this type of story too much to care about what happened.

While he’s in Hell Logan must face his past. Yes like so many arcs where we see inside his head while he’s healing from being almost dead. Except this time he’s not in his head he’s in Hell. Again I declined the t-shirt as we visited an overused plot device.

I have to say that after reading the arc I came out with mixed feelings. Thinking about it I told Aaron what I thought and he summed it up best “bad premise good execution.” Yeah, not something you see often really. However I’m reading the arc with the knowledge of how it plays out many issues later. This is a growth for the character of Logan, something he’s been needing for some time. He’s been treading water in regrets and pining for Mariko for years. It’s also been years that he’s had his memories. He need to put to rest his daddy issues of Thomas Logan, biological father, versus John Howlett, father figure that raised him. All these agonies were moving at first but like the friend that won’t get over being dumped eventually you want to shout at him “DEAL WITH IT ALREADY.” This arc provides the answers for Logan to those things very well. He literally faces and defeats his demons. A very heavy handed way of turning a metaphor literal. That’s another thing I don’t like about it. I like finesse in writing but I admit it’s done effectively.

Let’s face it Logan’s 130 years old. It’s about time he grew up and dealt. He’s in a stable relationship with a good woman. Melita fights for him in this arc. He’s got a good moral compass and he has more experience that any other mutant on his various teams. So it stands to reason this well trained warrior take on leadership despite being some what of a lone wolf in aspects of his personality. What endears him to me is that he is the romantic that despite this hard life he has he still aspires to love, to goodness, to right winning even if that doesn’t mean he gets those things. He’s willing to make the most noble sacrifices of all, self sacrifice. He’ll do anything for a friend and that is what’s used as a turning point in this story. Which is what sells it to me. That and the fact that to reach all of Logan you gotta beat the answer into him, and trust me the Devil is the one to do that. He’ll enjoy beating bitter lessons into a reluctant hero.

The final selling point for me was I knew going into reading this arc that what happened here and followed made major life changes for James Howlett. I hope we don’t ever have to endure another possession arc (Yeah I know Dr. Rott is out there and in the current arc) or another confronting demons in alternate reality (be it in his head or in Hell). That is what would make this arc more powerful. It ended all that and opened a new era for the character. Did it? Well only time will tell.

Now for the fun part – individual pages or panels from the issues with my comments. WARNING THESE ARE SPOILERY

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July 27, 2012
Watch This Space for Comic Comments Coming Soon

This is going to be a move of sorts for me. I’ve been into comics for years. I’ve purchased them on and off all my life. However, I got back into them when Aaron was young and wanted the Ultimate Spiderman issues regularly. I dropped them three or so years ago when we moved to Tampa for a year. Moving back to Kenosha I went to start up again at the local comic store only to learn it had burned. Sometime later I found midtowncomics.com who has a good pull-list service. I set up to get my two favorite comics Fables and Wolverine for sure and a few others that change as I see what interests me.

Once I again started getting comics regularly I posted my thoughts about them over at my Google+ account (+Mary Louise Eklund circle me there and say hi!) with scans of the covers and panels or pages I had specific comments about. Still this was frustrating because I couldn’t put the scan next to where I was commenting about the panel. In Google+ all scans go in a slide show for the post. After much debate within myself about ‘crossing the streams’ (Ghostbusters fans will get that) of my more thought-out blog here and my off the cuff stuff there – I decided to move my Comic Comments here where I can put the image with the comments.

If you aren’t into comics and are still reading, good for you! But you can skip these posts and wait for what interest you, rest assured my feelings won’t be hurt.

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July 26, 2012
Why Superman Isn’t My Hero

Giant Superman by J. Stephen Conn on Flickr. Image used under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Non-Commercial License.

I’ve never liked goody-goody heroes. I don’t find it interesting to see a perfect person do perfect things saving schmoes like me from the problems and troubles we find ourselves.

I prefer my heroes to be relatable. I want them to have dents, bangs and scratches from real life. I want them to be tempted to do what’s easy, to go for revenge, or to be self-serving. Sometimes I want a hero to act not necessarily from noble motivation but do what’s expedient. C’mon the rest of us do that would a hero at least be tempted? at least dismiss those thoughts?

I’m a fan of the reluctant hero. The one that rises to the occasion because there is no one else to do so. The one that doesn’t want to be there and if Superman or Captain America swooped in to take over my hero would gladly let them. Yet since the goody-goodies aren’t there and my hero is, they do the best they can to do the right thing even if they regret it the whole time. The old “why did I get involved” or in Die Hard John McClane’s “come to the west coast…” line.

I can relate to a hero like that. I can’t relate to a hero that doesn’t have a devil on their shoulder. One that isn’t always doing the right thing. I guess that’s why I loved Batman first. Yep my first word in this life was Batman. Tell me I wasn’t destined for the darker heroes and to read comics. I still like Bruce Wayne but I’ve fallen hard for James “Logan” Howlett aka Wolverine. Heck I like Josey Wales, ” I ain’t got nothin’ better to do.”

As a writer I know good characters aren’t one dimensional but multidimensional. I strive to make my villains be antagonists not purely evil but the one my lead character is struggling against. I want the reader to sympathize with both characters but their loyalties ultimately fall with my lead character, the hero, the protagonist. Now my lead won’t always do the right thing he’ll have flaws because those are challenges to his growth in the piece as is the confrontation with the antagonist. He has to deal with himself to deal with his opponent and that to me is not only interesting but more realistic. In the end neither my protagonist or antagonist are the same people they were at the beginning. If they were confronted with the same situation again they’d act differently because of the experiences in my story. To me those are good characters, they grow, they change. A story is getting a big change in their lives but if I read another story later down the timeline I can see they are changed from their experiences. That keeps me reading. Goody-goodies don’t change they just go about doing good for good sake.

Perfection bores me. I won’t read it very long. It’s predictable. It’s something I’ll never be. BUT I’d like to think if I was forced into the right situation despite my wishes to be rescued I’d do the right thing until someone more qualified or better at it came along. Then like John McClane I’d kiss their dalmatian for saving me. I can relate to having to rise to the circumstances, or doing what’s right despite the desire not to do it. I’m just human and that’s what I want my heroes to be at heart- human.

You are going to get tired of reading this but as always I’d love to chat with you. Tell me what you think and you are welcome to disagree (politely). You can comment here, it’ll show up when I get it. You can reach out to me on Google+, Flickr, or Twitter (@marylouiseklund). You can e-mail me at marylouiseelund @ (with two e’s unlike Twitter) gmail.com or yahoo.com.

Until next time!

January 27, 2012