Wolverine Week-16-in-Review: Rampaging Wolverine Noir
Wolverine appeared in three titles this past week (April 15, 2009) and two more appearances that I missed from last week.
I also posted the awesomely detailed review of Uncanny X-Men #508 by Brian Knippenberg yesterday, so make sure to check it out and let Brian know what you think.
As for the rest of the titles …
Rampaging Wolverine #1
(preview | thread)
Evocative of the classic black and white Rampaging Hulk magazine from 1977 (I loved the Bloodstone backup stories), Rampaging Wolverine features four stories (one as an illustrated text piece) by four different creative teams.
Two of the stories are top-notch, the others two not so much.
“Sense Memory”
Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkow
Art: Paco Diaz Luque
Here is my recap: Logan finds happiness. Happiness is violently torn from Logan. Many years later, Logan returns for his revenge.
Nothing wrong with it per se, but we’ve all read it a hundred times before.
“Unconfirmed Kill”
Writer: Chris Yost
Art: Mateus Santolouca
Terrific, terrific story. Chris Yost really knows how to spin a fun yarn.
“Kiss, Kiss”
Writer: Robin Furth
Illustrations: Nelson
I hate text pieces in comic books.
Ever since Alan Moore wrote those wonderful backup pieces in Watchmen, everyone thinks they can write a text piece for a comic book. The problem is, we buy comics to read comics, not text pieces. While reading a comic book, we are not wired to read a long hunk of text.
Put the same text in a regular book or magazine, and we will eat it up. Put it in a comic and we roll our eyes at the additional effort required of us.
Or was that too long of an explanation?
“Modern Primitive”
Writer/Artist: Ted McKeever
If you like Ted McKeever’s warped sense of humor like I do, you will get a kick out of this one.
So all in all, a good first issue, if you can get past the first story and the allergic reaction to extended hunks of text in a comic book…
Wolverine Noir #1
(preview | thread)
Writer: Stuart Moore
Artist: C.P. Smith
If the other online reviews are any indication, this hard-boiled version of Wolverine’s origin should have been slipped a mickey before it even hit the stands.
That said, the art by C.P. Smith is a treat, even if the characters look nothing like their 616 counterparts.
And two brief appearances from last week that I missed: a dead cameo in Exiles #1 and a monkey cameo (and a surprise final page) in Marvel Apes: the Amazing Spider-Monkey…
What do you think? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below OR join in on the fun in the Wolverine Files Forums…
Oh! You did get Rampaging Wolverine!
Congrats my friend. ^_^
I’m glad you liked the story. Whenever my store runs out of comics, I have to wait two weeks to get my copy.
I was sorta looking forward to Wolverine:Noir, and would hope that it gets better. I like the feel and look of it.