With jrpbsp back from his honeymoon, we return to our usual custom of full reviews for major Wolverine appearances and mini-reviews by yours truly for secondary Wolverine appearances.

And, as I noted last week, I will no longer be covering non-chronological appearances such as those in ‘X-Babies’ or ‘Marvel Super Hero Squad’.

So on with the jrpbsp reviews!

• ‘X-Force’ #21 (review): Population Explosion
• ‘Uncanny X-Men: First Class’ #5 (review): The Knights Strike

As for the secondary Wolverine stories…

Deadpool #17 (preview)
Writer: Daniel Way
Penciler: Paco Medina
Inker: Juan Vlasco

Wolverine makes a substantial appearance here as a straight man, but as with the previous issue, this story doesn’t work for me.

Comedy, especially in an established, serious environment, is quite hard. And aside from one very funny page near the end of the book, the humor simply falls flat for me.

Deadpool is, without a doubt, a very funny character. I just fear that his countless monthly appearances and titles will bring his resurgent popularity to a quick end.

Now that the Wolverine fan has had his say, what do you Deadpool fans out there think?

It’s been rather quiet on the website recently, so please do leave a note in the comments if you find these ‘Wolverine News & Previews’ helpful.

As for the Wolverine news, Marvel revealed several teaser images for the upcoming ‘Siege’ miniseries, the alleged finale of Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign.

But the one of most interest to us is the unmasking of Daken in a struggle with Wolverine, courtesy of Billy Tan…

In other Wolverine-related news, Marvel has released a sneak peek of the ‘X-Force’ Annual #1, due in stores on December 2…

As for probable (and possible) Wolverine appearances this week (11/11/09), we have previews of…

–Uncanny X-Men: First Class #5 (preview): Things aboard Starcore One come to a head…
–X-Babies #2 (preview): X-Babies fight Planet Terry. Ugh!
–X-Force #21 (preview): Necrosha continues!
–X-Men Forever #11 (preview): Wolverine may be dead, but his spirit continues…

While jrpbsp enjoys his honeymoon, this bitter divorcee will pick up the slack on the Wolverine appearances of the week…

We start first with Astonishing X-Men #32, a not-quite epic issue by Warren Ellis and Phil Jimenez.

Astonishing X-Men #32 (preview)
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Phil Jimenez

While the return of the Brood and the next generation of Sentinels make for a refreshing story, Jimenez’s art doesn’t give the book the astonishing feel that John Cassaday and Simone Bianchi gave before him.

And the reveal of the issue seems to be exploring the same ground that ‘X-Force’ has been plowing since its inception.

That said, the Wolverine vs. Brood sequence is a nice homage to Wolverine’s first encounter with this species back in 1982.

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #2 (preview)
Writer: Jeff Parker
Pencils: Carlo Pagulayan, Gabriel Hardman, Chris Samnee & Carlos Rodriguez
Inks: Jason Paz, Gabriel Hardman, Chris Samnee & Terry Pallot

I can’t say that I’m really a fan of Agents of Atlas, and this crossover is rather standard team-up fare. Two teams get into a battle over a misunderstanding and compiling assumptions, only to have said misunderstanding resolved by the end of the crossover. So from my perspective, its another meaningless story that adds nothing to the week in comics.

Other than that, big thumbs up!

Psylocke #1 (preview)
Writer: Chris Yost
Penciler: Harvey Tolibao
Inker: Paul Neary

A nice attempt to clean up the continuity and array of bodies that Psylocke has been using of late. Wolverine is along for the ride… quite literally.

Black Widow: Deadly  Origin #1 (preview)
Writer: Paul Cornell
Penciler: Tom Raney
Inker: Scott Hanna

I really enjoyed this romp through Black Widow’s past, though as has been par for Marvel continuity of late, these Logan flashbacks are at odds with the history as revealed within ‘Wolverine: Origins’.

Is it just me or does Daniel Way’s look into Wolverine’s past get very little respect within other Marvel titles?

Shifting gears, I’ve been taking a hard look at my Wolverine collection recently and have come to the conclusion that for me to enjoy Wolverine like I used to, I need to separate the wheat from the chaff. And the first part of my collection to make it to chaff-dom is alternate realities.  So of course, two titles came out this week indulging on that very premise: ‘House of M: Masters of Evil’ #4 and ‘Marvel Zombies: Evil Evolution’.

The former wraps up the miniseries so hopefully no more needs to be said about that. The latter is a painful amalgam of Marvel Zombies who have jumped the shark and Marvel Apes that began their existence, to continue the ‘Happy Days’ analogy, as ‘Joanie Loves Chachi’.

To quote Stan Lee, “‘Nuff said.”

Daniel Way reveals in an interview with ComicBookResources.com that ‘Wolverine: Origins’ will probably be ending with issue #50 and not issue #60 as originally planned (details) due to Daken spinning off in his own series.

What is equally surprising for me is the frank admission of the abject lack of coordination and awareness that Wolverine/Bruce Banner/Skaar/Daken appeared in two different books (‘Wolverine: Origins’ #41 and ‘Incredible Hulk’ #603) that came out in the same week!

Probable and Possible (Dark) Wolverine Appearances in stores on 11/04/09…
–Astonishing X-Men #32 (preview): Wolverine and the X-Men take on Sentinels…
–Black Widow: Deadly Origin #1 (preview): Logan appears in this Black Widow origin…
–X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #2 (preview): X-Men crossover concludes…

Another heavy week of Wolverine appearances, but first the news…

Marvel Comics have begun leaking out news of future major storylines. ComicBookResources.com has coverage of ‘X-Men: Second Coming’ (details), the final chapter of the Messiah trilogy and ‘Siege’ (details), the end of Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign…

In other news, the ‘Weapon X 100 Project’ has now hit 35 covers (details). And finally, Marvel has released a sneak preview of Dark Wolverine #80 (details), in stores November 25…

Probable and Possible (Dark) Wolverine Appearances in stores on 10/28/09…
–Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine (preview): Jason Aaron does Fantomax & Weapon Plus…
–Hulk #16 (preview): Jeph Loeb presents Red She-Hulk…
–New Avengers #58 (preview): Is Wolverine ever returning to the New Avengers?
–New Mutants #6 (preview): Necrosha continues…
–Wolverine Art Appreciation: Reprinting Wolverine variant covers from earlier in the year…
–Wolverine: First Class #20 (preview): Wolverine Team-Up starring Captain Marvel!
–Wolverine: Weapon X #6 (preview): Wolverine loses his memories in ‘Insane in the Brain’…
–X-Force/New Mutants: Necrosha (preview): Necrosha begins…
–X-Force #20 (preview): Necrosha Prologue…
–X-Men Forever #10 (preview): The funeral of Wolverine…

I’ve grown bored with the ‘Wolverine Week-in-Review’ format, so instead of merely listing the week’s (or in this case, the previous week’s) Wolverine appearances with snarky and curmudgeonly comments, I am going to try to speak more broadly to the Wolverine appearances of the week as they relate to the tapestry of the Marvel universe as it stands today.

Pretentious? Probably.

But at least I won’t be bored.

One of the problems I have with Marvel Comics today and comics in general, is that there are too many monthly titles and too many appearances for continuity to work effectively anymore. No one cares about older issues because of the deluge of current ones. When I started reading comics lo these many years ago (or to quote grandparents around the world, “When I was a kid…”), we were able to read most of the titles on the market in any given month and scour comic book stores for older issues to catch up with continuity. But those were the days of one X-Men title, one Hulk, one Fantastic Four and two Spider-Man titles a month. Continuity worked in that environment. It doesn’t now when one can find 12 Wolverine appearances in a single week. Continuity is a thing of the past, in my opinion, which means that readers no longer feel the same level of connectedness with the universe.

Why the rant? Well, it speaks to the two core Wolverine appearances of the week, Wolverine: Origins #41 (preview) and The Incredible Hulk #603 (preview). Both issues star Wolverine, Bruce Banner, Skaar (the Hulk’s son) and in spirit, Daken. But the two issues are separate stories, and seemingly separate continuities. Sure we can explain away the incongruities as we always do as comic book fans, but how can editors let these books go out in the same month? This was a perfect example of two books that should have been proactively crossing over instead of running confusingly parallel stories.

As for the issues themselves, I continue to be amazed at Daniel Way’s plotting in ‘Wolverine: Origins’. Wolverine defeated Romulus last issue but wouldn’t kill him for some feeble reasoning. So when this issue starts with Wolverine explaining that he just got his ass kicked by Romulus, I’m not sure how to react. And for someone who has befuddled Wolverine for a century, I find Romulus a rather disappointing nemesis. ‘Incredible Hulk’, on the other hand, is an intriguing tale from the mind of writer Greg Pak, with a wonderful series of twists, doublecrosses and out-of-left-field-perspectives. And the tag-team artwork by Ariel Olivetti and Giuseppe Camunculi is surprisingly well done.

‘Dark Avengers’ #10 (preview) continues to be ‘the’ book that defines ‘Dark Reign’. Mike Deodato’s artwork and perspectives makes this one of the most vibrant books coming out today, and Brian Michael Bendis is at the top of his game. While Daken plays a minor role this month, it’s still an outstanding read.

The ‘Dark Wolverine’ series started with such promise. Unfortunately, ‘Dark Wolverine’ #79 is a muddled mess, with once master-fighter Daken getting his ass handed to him by a group of D-list villains. The rest of the issue is spent on those same D-list villains trying to cut a deal with Norman Osborn, with a pinch of melodramatic and cliched sexual deviancy thrown in. I don’t know where Daken’s destiny in the Marvel Universe lies, but one hopes its not the petulant path this series is currently taking.

And finally, I missed Deadpool #900 last week, a mixed bag of  short Deadpool tales by Jason Aaron, Fred Van Lente, Mike Benson, Joe Kelly, Duane Swierczynski and others. Wolverine cameos in a single panel in what I like to call a Wolverine non-appearance appearance.

Let me know what you think of the new format in the comments below OR or simply join in on the fun at the Wolverine Files Forums…

Marvel released their January solicitations yesterday and we present the major Wolverine appearances below…

WOLVERINE WEAPON X #9
Written by JASON AARON; Penciled by YANICK PAQUETTE
In the crazed conclusion to “Insane In the Brain,” Logan’s stay in the whacked-out Dunwich Sanatorium finally comes to an end as his pals Psylocke and Nightcrawler show up to rescue him from the maniac clutches of Dr. Rot. But even if they can save his life, is it possible to recover what he’s lost of his sanity?

WOLVERINE ORIGINS #44
Written by DANIEL WAY; Pencils by DOUG BRAITHWAITE
“7 THE HARD WAY,” Part 4 (of 5): Wolverine’s plans have hit a snag. With Romulus breathing down his neck, Wolverine struggles to get his last piece on the board. And the fact that she’s in prison doesn’t exactly make it any easier…

UNCANNY X-MEN #520
Written by MATT FRACTION; Pencils by GREG LAND
“NATION X”: There’s a rogue Predator X stalking mutants beneath New York City and it’s down to Wolverine and Fantomex to hunt it down. There’s an island in the San Francisco Bay that the mutants call home and it’s slowly sinking — and only King Namor can save the day. And meanwhile, in San Francisco, a supermob is making life hard in Chinatown…somebody call the X-Men! Part 6 (of 8)

X-FORCE #23
Written by CHRISTOPHER YOST & CRAIG KYLE; Pencils by CLAYTON CRAIN
X-FORCE has a new mission: KILL SELENE. As Utopia burns, Wolverine and the team heads to take down the Black Queen and rescue one of their own, but they have no idea what they’re in for when they arrive on the shores of Necrosha. The biggest X-Force story yet continues as Selene’s Inner Circle begins to tear itself apart, and the truth about Wolfsbane is finally revealed. PART FOUR (of SIX)

WOLVERINE: WENDIGO!
Written by FRANK TIERI; Penciled by PAUL GULACY & PACO DIAZ
A camera crew torn limb from limb attempting to shoot footage of a mythical beast in the deepest forests of Canada. Two survivors spouting wildly diverging stories about a ferocious, white-furred monster and the mysterious stranger that came to their rescue. How are the police to make heads or tails of all of this? Let’s go to the videotape! Also featuring: “Wolverine Vs. Thor”: Want to see what happens when a jerky-chewing kanuckle-head steps up to the Asgardian God of Thunder? Let’s just say that it doesn’t involve tea and biscuits. Featuring Wolverine and Logan in their first encounter, which first debuted on MARVEL DIGITAL COMICS.

DARK WOLVERINE #82
Written by MARJORIE LIU & DANIEL WAY; Penciled by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI
The end has come. While he is counted among the greatest gathering of villains the Marvel Universe has ever seen, one question remains: whose side is Daken really on? As part of the SIEGE on Asgard, what, or who, will he encounter in the land of the gods that will change him forever?

For the full list of comics, see ComicBookResources.com (details)…

Probable and Possible (Dark) Wolverine Appearances in stores on 10/21/09…
–Dark Avengers #10 (preview): Norman Osborn tries to keep it together…
–Dark Wolverine #79 (preview): Down goes Daken…
–Incredible Hulk #603 (preview): Skaar vs. Wolverine vs. Daken…
–Wolverine: Origins #41 (preview): ‘Seven the Hard Way’ begins…
–X-Men Legacy #228 (preview): Wolverine apppearance questionable…

Wolverine appeared in only THREE TITLES last week (October 14, 2009), though we do play catch up on an appearance I missed from the previous week.

So first up, the full-blown recap and reviews by our very own jrpbsp…

• ‘Uncanny X-Men’ #516: The Dogs of War…
• ‘X-Men Forever’ #9: Family Ties (with Wolverine flashback cameo)…
• ‘Uncanny X-Men: First Class’ #4: Girls Night Out…

As usual, I share my curmudgeonly impressions for the rest of the Wolverine docket, in this case the lone appearance I missed from last week…

Deadpool #16 (preview)
Writer: Daniel Way
Pencils: Paco Medina
Inker: Juan Vlasco

Wolverine appears as more than a mere cameo, but less than a genuine guest-starring role.

I must admit that I haven’t read ‘Deadpool’ previous to this issue, but I did thoroughly enjoy Daniel Way’s Deadpool run in ‘Wolverine: Origins’.

That said, it seems the humor is no where near as funny here, reminiscent of an achingly unfunny episode of ‘Saturday Night Live.’

I will let others weigh in on the merits of this series since Deadpool has been gaining a lot of fans, but as for this issue, while mildly amusing, it had little of the inane fun that I was hoping for…

As always, share your opinion in the comments below OR or simply join in on the fun at the Wolverine Files Forums…

I first noticed Jerry Lando through the Penciljack Forums while trying to recruit artists for a webcomic project I’ve been trying to launch (dpk431.com).

But it was a series of Wolverine pages he was posting on the forums that really made me sit up and take notice.

At first I thought them pages for an upcoming Wolverine one shot, but soon discovered that, like me, Jerry was hoping to break into comics.

Unlike me, Jerry is an artist and unbelievably talented.

I quickly offered to highlight some of his artwork on the Wolverine Files so I could claim a brush with greatness once the whole world sees how good he is.

Of course, that was several weeks ago before I got bogged down with work and a weekly commute from Maryland to New York City.

So to avoid any more lengthy delays, let me present a page of Jerry Lando’s terrific work.

As for Jerry, he is a Kubert School grad, and has now completed five pages of the ‘Wolverine: Black Rain‘ script. And you can see all of those pages in order on the Penciljack Forums and Photobucket.

So please make Jerry feel welcomed.

Now if only I can get Jerry to work on my Wolverine script and webcomic!

DiG…

UPDATE: Additional discussion of Jerry Lando’s art style and excellence can be found at the Wolverine Files Forum.

News from the Baltimore Comic-con and a sneak preview…

• CBR: Mondo Marvel Panel with Aaron, Claremont, Bendis, Fraction (details)
• CBR: ‘X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas’ #2 Sneak Preview (details)

Probable and Possible (Dark) Wolverine Appearances in stores on 10/14/09…
–Uncanny X-Men #516 (preview): Magneto Return!!!
–Uncanny X-Men: First Class #4 (preview): Storm takes center stage…
–X-Men Forever #9 (preview): Secret History of the Sentinels…