Wolverine #73 Review: Two For One!
Hi, folks… your friendly neighborhood Brian Knippenberg back again! Today we have on deck a double-feature review of ‘Wolverine’ #73! Waitaminnit! What happened to #72? No worries, the penultimate issue of “Old Man Logan” will still be hitting stores in two short weeks! So, without further ado…
Wolverine #73
(mini-preview | thread)
“A Mile in my Moccasins, Part 1”
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Adam Kubert & Mark Farmer
“One Percenter, Part 1”
Writer: Daniel Way
Art: Tommy Lee Edwards
We’ll be breaking this review down into a recap and then sum up with my thoughts. If you wish to avoid spoilers, then proceed to ‘Thoughts From A Human’s Point of View’.
SPOILERS BELOW…
In our first story, “A Mile in my Moccasins”, we are treated to a large montage sequence as we go through the days of the week, each week, to witness the crazy and intense world of Wolverine. Everything from a lone fight against the Juggernaut, his various battles alongside the Avengers, X-Men and X-Force, the random team-ups with characters such as Spider-Man, Punisher, Ghost Rider and Deadpool, his search for Romulus, and the various shootings, stabbings, explosions, and beatings he endures. We even catch glimpses of the quieter moments when Logan can settle down in watering holes across the globe and even for some solemn contemplation in a serenity garden.
After a fierce battle in Japan, Yukio suggests to Logan to get some “bed-rest” with her. Soon afterwards he’s up and dressed, ready to go. Yukio expresses her concerns to Logan about how he seems to be stretching himself thin lately and asks him why he does so, to no reply. She shares her theory that he may be experiencing a nervous breakdown, but Logan’s not there to listen as he’s already taken off on his motorcycle. To be continued next issue…
Our second story, “One-Percenter” opens with Logan getting pulled over by the police on his motorcycle. Before the patrol officer can write a citation, he’s interrupted by the arrival of a motorcycle gang whose leader reminds the cop that they police their own and Logan is one of them. The cop, who knows this leader nicknamed “Horrorshow”, complies. Later on, at a dive-bar, the two old friends play catch-up. Horrorshow remarks to Logan how it seems as if he hadn’t aged a day in the last 20-30 years. He also shares the ups and downs of his life… how his oldest son died at sixteen, how he was able to kick his drugs & booze habit but his ex-wife and other son had not. His ex and her boyfriend had killed themselves, and Horrorshow reached out to his other son to come back, but only if he gave up the destructive lifestyle, which he would not.
Just then, Ram, a fellow member of Horrorshow’s Burnin’ Sons, bursts in claiming that a rival gang, the New Saints, killed two of their own and demands retribution. Despite having approval from one of the “Three Lords”, Horrorshow (another one of the Lords) decides to wait until he can talk to the girlfriend of one of the dead, who was a witness, once she calms down. Ram balks at this, claiming that Horrorshow’s hesitation is due to his remaining son being a member of the rival gang and was probably behind it, only to receive a fist to the chin. Horrorshow’s decision stands.
Later in the evening, Horrorshow confides to Logan that he has little doubt that his son could be behind the deaths. He admits that the reason that his son is so bad is because he’s been addicted to drugs since birth and it’s led him down a dark path and that it’s not the boy’s fault, but only his own. Logan cannot help but to see the parallels in this situation and offers to go talk to the girl to perhaps do for Horrorshow’s son what he couldn’t be done for his own.
Logan finds the girlfriend of one of the slain Burnin’ Sons hiding out at her mother’s and she asks if Ram had sent him. When he tells her that he had not, she refuses to talk leaving Logan to wonder aloud if she would had he told her that Ram did send him. Before she can speak, the girl is shot in the head by a killer who takes off by motorcycle. Logan goes after him and places a call to Horrorshow, asking where he can find “Junior”. To be continued next issue…
THOUGHTS FROM A HUMAN’S POINT OF VIEW: ‘Wolverine’ #73 gives us the first parts of two stories that are not merely throwaways to bide time before the premiere of Dark Wolverine, but are relevant to what’s going on in Wolverine’s life. Along with the energetic, sharp, artistic hand of Adam Kubert, Jason Aaron embraces all aspects as he tries to weave the elements that has a typical reader wondering how Wolverine could be involved in so many titles and adventures into a justified cause… or what could be a serious downfall for our hero. A really entertaining (and in some ways funny) look at what makes Wolvie tick, leaving us with a mystery to be solved next issue as to what truly drives him.
Daniel Way’s first half of “One-Percenter” was a strong opening as Logan is drawn into a troubled milieu which has strong parallels to his own life and problems involving his son. Tommy Lee Edwards art is also fantastic. I could practically smell the sweat and booze in the bar scene and taste the dust in the air from open roads torn up byspeeding motorcyles, as I was reading.
A great issue with two highly entertaining stories, leaving me counting the days to their conclusions!
Feel free to let me know how this review strikes you. Share your opinion or your own review…
Kubert’s art is what really brings Aaron’s story alive! I don’t know if it would have translated as well under any other artist.
I loved it so much. It was a lot of fun to see Adam Kubert on Wolverine again! I missed his art so much.
From the moment I read “Daniel Way” as writer, I had this feeling that the story would be about Daken, even if the character wasn’t there.
I think he is just doing this one story. Which is great because this is a story about why Logan stretches himself so thin.
Wow!
“A Mile in my Moccasins” was *amazing*. I don’t think I’ve read such a great beginning to a Wolverine story in a *very* long time.
Is Adam Kubert here to stay, or is he just around for the one-shot?