This is a 4 issue limited series. It takes the characters of the Wolverine stories and casts them in a hardboiled private eye Noir story set in in 1937 Bowery NY. All the characters appear as versions of themselves Logan, Dog, Mariko, Yuriko, Smitty, Thomas Logan, Victor Creed, and Rose. They all put in an appearances in the tale. None of them are mutants, just regular people. It is well done and I enjoyed this take on them.
The series is written by Stuart Moore; C. P. Smith, Artist; Rain Beredo; Colorist, Jeff Eckleberry, Letterer; Daniel Ketchum, Editor; Axel Alonso, Executive Editor; Joe Quesada, Editor In Chief; San Buckley, Publisher; Alan Fine, Executive Producer; C. P. Smith and Dennis Calero, Covers.
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.
As I said when I placed this on my pull-list I love Noir fiction. I’m not sure what my passion for dark tales with no one is clearly a hero but there are clear villains says about me personally but I do enjoy a good dark tale. This certainly falls in that category and pulls all the tropes of Noir into play.
Wolverine is cast as Jim Logan a private eye with his “brother” Dog Logan they run a seedy detective agency in the Bowery called Logan and Logan. Dog is a simple muscle head with Jim being the brains of the outfit. The story starts with the high class dame walking in off the street and hiring them. Classic! This is Mariko’s role. She’s a rich Japanese woman here on business for her father. She needs them to find out who has been following her and why. Clues lead to a local flophouse. Dog pleads to investigate that on his own and Jim lets him go. That’s when Dog goes missing and Jim sets out to find him. Along the way we meet Amiko and Victor Creed. In flashbacks we get the story of how Jim and Dog wound up in the Bowery and in doing so meet this story’s versions of Smitty, Thomas Logan, and Rose. In true fashion the story ends with Jim not being totally innocent over all but being a victim all the same. The twist at the end is who is behind making him the victim. Like all good Noir tales it’s a shocker but makes sense. I’ll not divulge it well worth the read.
I love the seedier versions of the familiar characters. Some actually wind up better in this tale they they are in the main continuity. Thomas is a preacher. Victor is rich and gets the best of Jim at every turn. Some are worse, Jim doesn’t get all the noble qualities of our Logan but has enough to make him recognizable. Amiko comes out equal but Mariko get short changed of true love in this tale. Rose is totally different but still is the ‘Little Redhaired Girl’ of Jim’s heart. I thoroughly enjoyed the story but I don’t want to see it continued. Sometimes a good tale is enough – don’t mess with it.
The art suits the style of the story. I like it here very much. It’s dark gritty and never quite gives you a clear image of what is really going on. Which matches what a true Noir tale is completely. However I’d find this annoying in a regular comic. I think it is important to match art style with the script and this is a perfect marriage. The perfect match gave more punch to the story overall and made this a success in my book (and I’ve read A LOT of Noir books). Cudos.
This covers all the completed recent arcs in my in-box until my next shipment. When that shipment arrives several titles will be completing arcs. Until then I’ll hit some older issues I like of various titles.
Next – panel and pages comments:
Mary Louise Eklund 