This is a five book arc taking Wolverine Volume 4 Issues 10-14. The story is powerful and actually is a catalyst for changes in James Howlett’s life. I have to say I greatly enjoyed it and STRONGLY hope Marvel doesn’t undo it.
The credits are as follows: Jason Aaron, Writer; Renato Guedes, Pencils; Jose Wilson Magalhaes, Inks; Matthew Wilson, Colors; Jae Lee and June Chung, Cover Art; VC’s Cory Petit, Letterer, Jared K Fletcher, Designer; Jody Leheup, Assistant Editor; Jeanine Schaefer Editor; Nick Lowe, Group Editor, Axel Alonso, Editor in Chief; Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer; Dan Buckley, Publisher; and Alan Fine, Executive Producer.
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. No more than three pages total from any one issue is reproduced.
Before we get into the story let’s talk art. The cover team is the same one that’s been doing the issues since the start of the run. It’s nice in that it gives the title a cohesiveness while this large arc is working itself out. Issue 10’s cover is the worst of the bunch. Usually my complaint is the depiction of the faces but on that issue it is Wolverine’s chicken legs. He’s got spindly looking legs to me. I don’t know if it’s the shading messing with my eye or what, but it’s bad. Also the guy on our left, hanging from Wolverines right there – why does he have on an ice skate? The guy on top forgot his dentures that day. It just doesn’t do a thing for me, nothing except make me think I don’t like it. If you love it fine and more power to ya, this one isn’t one I’d put on my decent cover list. But issue 14 is a different story. Despite the fact in the whole arc James NEVER wears his X-Men uniform I think 14 sums up the point of the story very well. It reflects the contents, the coloring is lovely, the anatomy is great, and the face isn’t pinched it’s in emotional agony a good representation of this arc. It would go on my list of great covers.
Now something I loved – the interior art. Really! I loved this stuff it’s good, it goes with the story very well and helped tell the story. I liked it. I can’t say enough good about it. I’ll gush more over some particular panels after the jump below. Beware though – they could be thought spoilery by some.
Onto the story, this follows the Mystique arc but to really get James’s motivation you’ll have to hearken all the way back to Wolverine Goes To Hell. Here his soul was sent to hell by a grassroots hate Wolverine group run by a Ross Perot look-a-like that calls itself The Red Right Hand with help from Mystique. While he was out of his body some demons from the pit of hell filled the void where James soul used to be. While controlling the body they killed and attacked people James cares about. If that wasn’t bad enough when he got back into his body he had to fight the demons out. All that pissed him off and he’s out to get revenge on the Red Right Hand for putting him through that. That’s our story.
He goes to their headquarters and takes his revenge. To get to the members he has to fight his way through the mutant team that takes orders from the group. That team calls themselves the Mauraders. Logan kills them all taking on the apparent leader of them, Gunhawk, last. When he finally gets to the group he learns that his quest for revenge was the ultimate weapon the Red Right Hand wielded against him. His revenge in the end wasn’t sweet but instead soul wrenching, his soul is the one most wrenched. He ignored Angelic Kurt’s advice to give up vengeance and pays a high price. I won’t spoil it here for you but it’s a kicker! One that changes James Howlett, hopefully, forever.
Inter cut between the battles with the various Mauraders we get the bios of the prominent members of the Red Right Hand. We learn that James killed Ross’s dad years ago. Ross’s dad wasn’t a good man and had killed an old woman among other things. But as is often the perspective Ross sees his dad as a good man and makes it his life’s purpose to kill James. He recruits others hurt by James to help him pull this off. We learn how Veil Lady, Trucker Hat, Japanese Woman, and the Boy all lost people they loved to Logan’s killing ability and how Ross recruited them.
I like this arc on many levels. One we get to see the inadvertent pain caused by superheroes. I’m sure most heroes in Marvel universe have a Trucker Hat type story out there that they might not know about. Where superhero and supervillian action harms bystanders. (Wasn’t that the catalyst for the whole Civil War/Mutant registration thing?) I’m sure ordinary people trying to help in the supers battles are harmed just like in the Boy’s story. I don’t think these are things Wolverine cornered the market on but I do think they are things that would effect that fortressed heart of his deeply.
Also I like all the growth potential here for James Howlett. He has reason to stop going on these murderous revenge marches. He has reasons for taking on responsibility for kids and seeing that they aren’t pawns of organizations like the Red Right Hand. He has reasons to grow as a character and not be stuck in the same old tired story lines rehashed and retold with slight variations like say set in San Francisco with no flashbacks. Only time will tell if Marvel finally grew up enough to move a story forward letting go of what sold well a decade or more ago.
Next are two issues that show how Logan deals with being the living one most harmed by his own revenge. How does a man who has dealt with pain by acting out his rage deal with the pain caused by that rage? What if because of his own mutation he can’t be destroyed by it, what then? Issues 15 and 16 answer that.
Now for the SPOILERY bits with page or panel scans and comments after the jump:
(more…)
Mary Louise Eklund 