Wolverine appeared in THREE TITLES last week (October 7, 2009), the first reviewed by our very own jrpbsp, ‘Astonishing X-Men’ #31…

And as usual, I share my curmudgeonly impressions for the rest of the Wolverine docket…

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #3 (preview)
Writer: Jeff Parker
Pencils: Carlo Pagulayan
Inker: Jason Paz

Nothing special in this Agents of Atlas-driven crossover.

I can’t seem to get excited about this supergroup from the 1950s and the X-Men characterizations by Jeff Parker seem to fall flat. And as usually happens in these crossovers, the X-Men are shown to be fighting like amateurs instead of the precision military team that I prefer from Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men run.

Not bad, all in all, but as I say, nothing special either…

X-Babies #1 (preview)
Writer: Greg Schigiel
Illustrator: Jacob Chabot

I am done, officially done, with Wolverine crap like this. I used to take pride in collecting every single Wolverine appearance known to mankind, no matter how peripheral, but this issue is the epitome of why I can’t keep doing it anymore. And, it seems, the story takes place in continuity.

Perhaps I need to seriously consider the extremes of my Wolverine fanaticism.

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

Another very light news week for Wolverine…

• CBR: Bendis Talks Dark Avengers and ‘Siege’ (details)

Probable and Possible (Dark) Wolverine Appearances in stores on 10/07/09…
–Astonishing X-Men #31 (preview): Phil Jimenez on pencils..
–X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #1 (preview): Wolverine takes on Atlas…
–X-Babies #1 (preview): Make it stop!

(Dark) Wolverine appeared in FOUR TITLES last week (September 30, 2009), plus we catch up on two appearances from the previous week.

So let’s get to the reviews by our very own jrpbsp…

• ‘Wolverine: Weapon X’ #4: Fear of Drowning…
• ‘X-Force’ #19: Finding the Trigger…
• ‘X-Men Forever’ #8 (sans Wolverine): Robot Rampage…
• ‘New Mutants’ #5 (also sans Wolverine): Aliens Landing…
• ‘Fantastic Force’ #4 (from last week): Healing Mother Earth…
• ‘Wolverine: Origins’ #40 (from last week): Ace’s Take!

And as usual, I share my curmudgeonly impressions for the rest of the Wolverine docket…

Hulk #15 (details | thread)
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Pencils: Ian Churchill
Inker: Mark Farmer

Another Jeph Loeb monstrosity and the cartoony pencils by Ian Churchill only add to the misery.

Why Mssr. Loeb is allowed to get away with such corny, out-of-character dialogue is beyond me.

The X-23/Punisher confrontation is especially laughable.

So in a nutshell, caveat emptor…

Marvel Zombies Return #5 (details)
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Penciler: Wellington Alves
Inker: Scott Hanna

I like Fred Van Lente’s writing a lot, but it is time to put Marvel Zombies to rest. Mixing morality and zombies is a recipe for disaster and not the good kind of disaster either.

As the late Warren Zevon once wrote in ‘Life’ll Kill Ya’, “Requiescat in pace. That’s all she wrote.”

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

Very light news week for Wolverine and even lighter set of previews coming from Marvel for the week…

• Marvel: Craig Kyle & Chris Yost on X-Force (details)
• CBR: Cup O’ Joe with X-Force Preview Art (details)

Probable and Possible (Dark) Wolverine Appearances in stores on 9/30/09…
–Hulk #15 (details): Wolverine vs. Red Hulk…
–Marvel Zombies Return #5 (preview): Details still secret…
–Wolverine: Weapon X #5 (preview): ‘The Adamantium Men’ finale…
–X-Force #19 (details): X-23 takes center stage…
–X-Men Forever #8 (details): More on Logan’s past…

(Dark) Wolverine appeared in TEN TITLES last week (September 23, 2009), plus we catch up on an appearance I missed from a few weeks past.

So let’s get to the reviews by our very own jrpbsp…

• ‘Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size #1’: More Than You Can Chew
• ‘Wolverine: First Class’ #19: Space Kitty!
• Uncanny X-Men #515: A New Kingdom Shall Be Born!
• ‘Dark Reign: The List – X-Men’: Something Fishy…
• ‘Fantastic Force’ #4: Jrpbsp’s review coming soon…
• ‘Wolverine: Origins’ #40: Ace’s review coming soon…

And as usual, I share my curmudgeonly impressions for the rest of the Wolverine docket…

The New Avengers #57 (preview)
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Stuart Immonen
Inks: Wade von Grawbadger

New Avengers is not quite as good as Dark Avengers, but Bendis continues to impress, even if Wolverine has gone walkies.

So why the mention here? Dark Wolverine cameos…

The Incredible Hulk #602 (preview)
Words: Greg Pak
Art: Ariel Olivetti

Wolverine cameos on the final page. The whole final page…

Dark X-Men: The Confession #1 (preview)
Words: Craig Kyle and Chris Yost
Pencils: Bing Cansino
Inks: Roland Paris

Recap issue extraordinaire features Wolverine in flashback cameos.

What a letdown…

Marvel Zombies Return #4 (details)
Cover: Arthur Suydam

Wolverine appears on the cover only…

Hulk Team-Up #1 (details)
Writer: Marc Sumerak
Penciller: Sanford Greene
Inker: Victor Olazaba

I have no idea how I missed this Wolverine cameo from two weeks ago, but miss it I did.

Nothing special, mind you, but it is a minor Wolverine appearance…

Shifting gears to animation, we had another new episode of ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ this past Friday, Aces & Eights, a well-done story focusing on Gambit. For full details, see the Marvel.com preview.

No new episode this Friday with only four to go in the season…

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

Marvel released their December solicitations today and we present the major Wolverine issues below…

WOLVERINE WEAPON X #8
Written by JASON AARON; Penciled by YANICK PAQUETTE
In the deepest darkest dungeons of the Dunwich Sanatorium, the true nature of this maddest of all madhouses is finally revealed, but will the answer come too late for Wolverine to salvage what’s left of his sanity? And just what is Dr. Rot building with all of those brains?

WOLVERINE ORIGINS #43
Written by DANIEL WAY; Pencils by DOUG BRAITHWAITE
“7 The Hard Way,” Part 3
With Bruce Banner and his fearsome son Skaar onboard, and with the enigmatic X-Man Cloak apparently on his side, Wolverine’s mysterious plan to finally defeat Romulus seems to be going well…but that was before coming face to face—and blade to blade—with Kenuichio Harada, the Silver Samurai! Is he part of the plan, or the one who will completely derail it?

WOLVERINE: UNDER THE BOARDWALK
Written by STUART MOORE; Pencils by TOMM COKER
Forty years ago, Logan spent one amazing night with a cocktail waitress — and witnessed a murder. Now an anonymous tip summons him to Atlantic City, promising answers to a gangland mystery spanning the decades. But as Logan slashes and claws his way toward the truth, he finds himself caught between an old flame and a fiery young woman — at least one of whom hides a deadly secret.

DARK WOLVERINE #81
Written by MARJORIE LIU & DANIEL WAY; Penciled by GUISSEPPE CAMMUNCOLI
“A CAUTIONARY TALE”
In this standalone story, everything you thought you knew about the enigmatic Dark Avenger Daken gets turned upside-down. Moonstone lets her curiosity—and her training as a doctor of psychology—get the better of her as she attempts to uncover what lies beneath Daken’s surface. But when she finally gets him alone, what she finds just might kill her. A perfect place to jump on board to find out why critics are calling this series 
“a must read”!

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

Probable and Possible (Dark) Wolverine Appearances in stores on 9/23/09…
–Dark Reign: The List – X-Men (preview): Fallout from ‘Exodus’…
–Dark X-Men: The Confession (preview): Secrets revealed…
–Fantastic Force #4 (preview): Series finale…
–Uncanny X-Men #515 (preview): ‘Nation X’ begins…
–Wolverine: First Class #19 (preview): Preview looks brilliant!
–Wolverine: Origins #40 (preview): ‘Romulus’ conclusion…
–Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size (preview): Mark Millar epic finally wraps up…

(Dark) Wolverine appeared in FIVE TITLES last week (September 16, 2009), plus we catch up on the review of ‘Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus’ from the week before. So without further ado, let’s get to the trio of reviews by our very own jrpbsp…

• Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus (from previous week): A Nation Rises
• X-Men Legacy Annual #1: Two Beginnings
• Uncanny X-Men: First Class #3: Irish Ghosts

And as usual, I share my curmudgeonly impressions for the rest of the Wolverine docket…

Marvel Zombies Return #3 (details)
Writer: Jonathan Maberry
Artist: Jason Shawn Alexander

Let me start by giving props to Jason Shawn Alexander and his terrific zombie art.

And while not a bad story, I find Jonathan Maberry mining the same old ground that ruined this franchise in the first place, that zombies are somehow redeemable.

Sorry, they are not.

That’s why killing zombies is morally approved by everyone, including the Pope.

From my perspective, either produce a fun, bloody series about Marvel superheroes turned zombie or create a genuinely scary book around the same concept.

But rehashing that some zombies can be “saved” brings along a ton of questions that makes me uneasy.

Does that mean we should forgive the irresistible zombie impulse of killing whole galaxies full of sentient beings? Are some heroes genuinely more heroic than others, able to stave off the uncontrollable zombie hunger? Does it follow, then, that some heroes are less heroic or perhaps, not really heroes at all?

As I have said in weeks past, Marvel Zombies should return to its roots or be allowed to stay dead.

Or undead.

Well, you know what I mean…

Dark Wolverine #78 (preview)
Writers: Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu
Art: Stephen Segovia

To my surprise, I found that I really enjoyed Dark Wolverine, giving credit to Marjorie Liu for a subtle touch that I found lacking in Daniel Way’s usual writing.

Well, the heavy handedness has returned with this issue as does an equally heavy dose of huge American breasts.

The machinations of Daken and Norman Osborn are absurd, risking career-ending exposure for minor gains, and invariably involving scantily-clad women wearing miniskirts.

To which some of you may ask, what’s the problem?

Dark Avengers #9 (preview)
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: Mike Deodato

Not much Dark Wolverine, but an astounding issue nonetheless.

This is quickly becoming the core Dark Reign title.

Kudos to the exquisite team of Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato who seem to feed off of each other quite effectively…

Shifting gears to animation, we had another new episode of ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ this past Friday, Rover, a well-done episode focusing on the future, Marrow and an injured Sentinel. For full details, see the Marvel.com preview…

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

Big DVD day for Wolverine with the release of the summer blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine, volume two of the NickToon’s animated series Wolverine and the X-Men, and volumes three and four of the classic 90s animated series X-Men. Newsarama has all the details in The Three (DVD) Faces of Wolverine…

In other Wolverine News…

• Marvel: ‘Wolverine vs. Thor’ Digital Comic Released (details)
• CBR: More Wolverine 2 Movie Details (details)
• CBR: Matt Fraction on ‘Utopia’ (details)
• CBR: Chris Claremont on ‘X-Men Forever’ (details)

Probable (and Possible) (Dark) Wolverine Appearances in stores on 9/16/09…
–Dark Avengers #9 (preview): Brian Bendis and Mike Deodato return…
–Dark Wolverine #78 (preview): Things start to fall apart for Daken…
–Marvel Zombies Return #3 (details): The return of Zombie Wolverine…
–Uncanny X-Men: First Class #3 (preview): More early New X-Men fun…
–X-Men Legacy Annual #1 (preview): Wolverine makes the cover at the very least…

Wolverine appeared in THREE TITLES this past week (September 10, 2009), but unfortunately our local store didn’t receive Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus, so that review will have to wait until we can track down a copy (for those of you keeping score, jrpbsp and I frequent the same comic book store).

What we do have is the X-Men Forever #7 review by jrpbsp…

Now before I get to my usual curmudgeonly impressions for the rest of the Wolverine docket, let me point out a minor change in Wolverine Week-in-Review. You will notice this week that I have added a number to the Week-in-Review. Why? Well, it differentiates each week more clearly, at least for me, and adds a little pizazz to an otherwise boring post title.

Fun, fun, I know.

Oh, and before I forget, I am reviewing two Wolverine appearances that I missed from last week, pointed out most kindly by Comusiv…

Marvel Super Hero Squad #1 (preview)
Script: Mark Hoffmeier
Story: Cort Land and Hoffmeier
Drawings: Christopher Jones

Juvenile kids comic in support of a juvenile kids cartoon debuting on Cartoon Network this Saturday, September 19.

Dark Reign: The List – Avengers #1 (preview)
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Djurdjevic
Inks: Mark Morales

No Wolverine, but Dark Wolverine does appear (and gets schooled) in this shockingly solid New Avengers story by Brian Bendis.

.

Strange Tales #1 (details)
Creators: Various

I missed this very offbeat, bizarre comedy book from last week.

Wolverine does appear on the cover and in a one pager by the Perry Bible Fellowship.

Really.

Deadpool #15 (preview)
Writer: Daniel Way
Penciler: Paco Medina
Inker: Juan Vlasco

Another appearance from last week, but this one is in a Deadpool hallucination, never a good thing.

Shifting gears to animation, we had another new episode of ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ this past Friday, Breakdown, lovingly detailing the early days of the X-Men as well as Logan’s relationship with Jean Grey. For full details, see the Marvel.com preview…

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

Wolverine appeared in only TWO TITLES this past week (Sep 2, 2009), and neither of those were from the primary 616 Marvel Universe…

But before we get to those, let’s get to two non-Wolverine (but X-Men-orientated) reviews from last week by our very own jrpbsp…

• X-Men Forever #6: Dangerous Games…
• New Mutants #4: A Real Head Job…

As for the two ‘Wolverine’ titles from this week, I will share my curmudgeonly impressions as usual…

House of M: Masters of Evil #2 (preview)
Writer: Christos N. Gage
Penciler: Manuel Garcia
Inkers: Jesse Delperdang and Nelson Pereira

Awesome cover.

Wolverine guest stars as the elite Red Guard leader before he retained “all of his memories,” and his battle with the Absorbing Man is intriguing to say the least.

But I, for one, am done with House of M.

I just wish Marvel would be, too…

Marvel Zombies Return #1 (details)
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Nick Dragotta

Longtime readers know that I really enjoyed Fred Van Lente’s run on ‘Wolverine: First Class’ and the first two Marvel Zombies series.

Unfortunately, the Marvel Zombies franchise has become so tainted since then that there isn’t much gas left in the tank.

So Van Lente decides to take the ‘Marvel Apes’ comedic route and that is not a good thing.

It’s over-the-top, gratuitous violence with campy, unfunny attempts at humor.

A shame, really, but it’s time to put this franchise out of its misery.

As for Wolverine, he cameos in flashback form, but will take center zombie stage, probably in the next issue…

Shifting gears to animation, we had another new episode of ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ this past Friday, Guardian Angel, detailing the origin of Archangel courtesy of Mister Sinister! For full details, see the Marvel.com preview…

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