Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… Starting the books that actually came out this week now. First up is ‘X-Force’.  Hope you enjoy it.

X-Force #21 (preview)
Writer: Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
Art: Clayton Crain

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP: The issue opens with the Vanisher, in Portugal, feeling very badly despite being in bed with three women. Realizing he really has a brain tumor, he teleports to Utopia for a cure from Elixir. Unfortunately he lands in the middle of the fight between the X-Men and the Hellions. Scott orders him to take Emma to safety but Vanisher is more concerned about Josh’s safety.

We get quick views of more X-Men fighting a bunch of newly resurrected mutants including former allies Feral, Stonewall, Super Sabre, Tower, Darkstar and Rusty Collins. Warren, Warpath and Prince Hrimhari are fighting Pyro and a couple of Morlocks. They survive the initial attack from Pyro, and Warren notes that they still feel dead, before the Techno-Organic zombies attack again.

On Genosha, Eli Bard informs Selene that he has lost contact with Doug Ramsey. The Black Queen has plans for him and orders the Hellions to find Cypher. We see Jetstream still blasting Wolverine into the air. With the recall, he drops Logan from a massive height and returns to the island. The rest of Emma’s old students break away from combat. Before Scott can have someone follow them, Banshee arrives and attacks.

Sean breaks off after a brief moment of lucidity and Scott orders the Cuckoos to find Selene. Proudstar gets knocked into Blindfold’s room and she tells him that James’ brother is waiting for him. Before he can question her, Risque shows up. She tries to restrain herself and tells Proudstar that Bard is the one who raised them. But she is forced to attack in the end.

Archangel is left alone and slices his two attackers open with his wings only to find out that the Techno-Organic mutants can repair themselves. The other Morlock is chasing Hrimhari and Rahne who is still badly suffering. They are saved by Nemesis and Laura and quickly joined by Vanisher. The injured are looking for Josh but he is still incapacitated.

In the holding facility, Leland and Shinobi Shaw are trying to kill Sebastian Shaw and Empath. Danger arrives and stops the attack but her strikes fail to kill the attackers due to their nature. Back on Genosha, Bard starts to raise all the dead mutants. His activity is detected by Bastion and the Cuckoos. The resurrections are soon in the millions.

MY TAKE: This is an action-filled issue that really manages to make you feel like the X-Men are the underdogs. It has been awhile since it seemed like they had a real and true threat to their lives. There are so many members with such a wide array of power and experience that is takes an army of villains to defeat them. That is what we get here.

There is not much time for characterizations, but Vanisher still managed to steal several scenes. I am still not sure he was the best choice for the team but he injected a lot of good humor here. Though if he did not believe there really was a tumor in his head not sure why he went along with the group for as long as he did. Still I am glad to see him back with the group.

The plot is simplistic but effective. Selene is keeping the X-Men busy, and hopefully killing a few, while engineering her Resurrection Event. Still it works well with some interesting matches and a general feeling of being overwhemed. There are also some nice tie-ins for other parts of the plot and story lines that make everything feel connected and happening at the same time.

Unfortunately the frantic pace is also the biggest weakness. The resurrections come so fast and close together that is is hard to feel any impact from them, even the ones that were not spoiled ahead of time. I have always liked the character of Rusty Collins and wanted him to come back, but by the time it came up, the scene garnered a shrug rather then a gasp.

The art was also a bit of a problem. I do like the dark and painted look most of the time, it fits very well with the over all tone of the series. But it works best when you have a small cast of characters. In this case, with so many figures, it became hard to identify them. It took me several panels, for example, to understand who was in the scene with Wolverine and Jetstream.

In the end, this was a strong and action-packed issue that really upped the ante for the Necrosha storyline. I am definitely excited about what is coming up for this story and do hope some of these characters get to stay around after the end. I do hope they slow the pace of the resurrections and it becomes a bit clearer what is going on. But so far the story is very good and the next issue looks to be excellent.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.

Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… This is the second and final review that I missed. So here is ‘Astonishing X-Men’.  Hope you enjoy it.

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

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP: The issue opens with Emma facing off against the organic Sentinel. She initially believes it will not hurt her but still manages to go to diamond form before it hits her. Scott blasts one of its hands and Wolverine attacks as well but is quickly blasted away. Beast and Agent Brand go to their ship as the Sentinel fires out Brood missiles from its fingers.

Storm quickly blasts one of the Sleazoids and attacks the others. Beast fires the grapple from the X-Jet through the Sentinel’s head and begins to drag it out to sea. The others are fighting the remaining Brood. Armor manages to smash one of their heads and Wolverine slices up another one.

Beast and Brand get in trouble when the Sentinel fights back and starts to overload the ship’s engines. Beast applies a bit of science with some rockets and is able to destroy the Sentinel’s head. He has some of Warren’s people, Mutants Sans Frontieres, haul the body back to the X-Men’s headquarters to study it.

Taking their ease in the Med-Lab, Scott refuses pain killers for a wound he took during the fight. Instead the X-Men press Agent Brand about the Sentinel and what she is hiding. Eventually she divulges that there are still a lot of people looking to finish the mutant population and that both the Sentinel and the Brood missiles were based on Henry McCoy’s own theoretical work.

MY TAKE: This was another oddly mixed issue with science fiction and action scenes mixed in with the super hero elements. While it works for the most part, there are definite problems with the focus. The issue reads well enough and is still entertaining but it is just not quite sure exactly what type of story it wants to be.

The plot is not bad and pretty well done. While we have seen a lot of plots recently about destroying all of the remaining mutants, having them use Beast’s ideas is a nice touch. The alien element, while a bit out of place, does serve to incorporate Agent Brand. The timing of bringing back old mutants from the dead, is unfortunate due to the sheer number of resurrections that are occurring as part of Necrosha.

The tone shifts from humorous moments to intensity and back and it does not always work. Some of the dialogue sounds corny and the reactions are a bit overdone. Especially with Hank and Brand’s relationship. Still most of the characterizations are done well and the X-Men, outside of Beast, feel more natural then they have in other arcs. Although I have not been a big fan of Armor and Wolverine’s relationship, I actually enjoyed their interactions here.

The weakest point is some of the absurd and unexplained plot points. The biggest example is Beast telling Brand that there are no weapons on board the jet and then a few panels later firing what appear to be missiles at the Sentinel. They never seem to explain exactly what happens to that bio-robot either. Perhaps it was mentioned last issue but I do not remember and would have liked an explanation on what exactly destroyed it. The Brood missiles confused me at first also. Although they are mentioned later, it just seemed very out of place.

In the end this was a good issue and a fun read but there were too many questions and tonal issues for it to qualify as great. I am glad to see the Brood back and even the new Sentinel makes an interesting villain but so far the story has not used them very well. Still the potential is definitely there and if plot can be shored up and made to be more even and logical, I think the rest of the arc could be very good.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.

Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… Starting to play catch up now that I am back. Starting with ‘New Mutants’.  Hope you enjoy it.

New Mutants #6 (preview)
Writer: Zeb Wells
Penciler: Diogenes Neves

NOTE: Wolverine does not appear in this issue.

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP: The issue opens with Professor Xavier talking to Danger. He wants to take a hand in helping out his son, David Haller, but Danger forbids it until Legion’s treatment is finished. The Professor is feeling depressed but perks up when the New Mutants come to visit. He embraces his not so young students as we see Doug watching from the window.

Ramsey reads the nice scene a bit differently with his ability to read languages now working on body language. On the surface, however, it is a touching reunion between the one time students and their teacher. While Doug is watching he is contacted by Warlock, which disturbs the techno-organic mutant, but he resolves to finish his mission and kill Amara.

The New Mutants return to their quarters and Magma goes to her room to change out of her uniform. Ramsey appears and distracts her long enough to beat Amara down with a club. He hauls the severely wounded woman out to the common area to confront the rest of his former teammates.

Although they are surprised at his return to life, the group wastes no time in attacking. Unfortunately, his ability to read their body languages allows Doug the advantage and he manages to avoid all the attacks and take down Magik. Another round of attacks proves to be useless until Karma possesses her friends and makes them unpredictable.

Their strikes begin to land and Sam is able to knock Doug out of the window. Roberto goes to help Amara but is unable to call for medical assistance. Warlock appears cradling Ramsey and demands answers. Warlock tries to access and correct Doug’s code but is infected himself. In the end Ramsey tears off Warlock’s head and shows it to the rest of them.

MY TAKE: While I am not completely sold on the Necrosha crossover, or the New Mutants role in it, I did still enjoy the issue. There was some very good character interaction, especially towards the beginning, and it was nice to finally see Xavier and the New Mutants getting together again. Xavier did form the team and it has been a long time since we have seen them interacting. The almost parental tone was a nice touch as well. The Professor was definitely like a father to the young mutants.

Doug was the glue for the issue, however. He was never a character that I really cared for during the initial run but this new take has a great deal of potential. Increasing his ability in combat helps, especially since it is a nice logical extension of his powers. But more then that, his ability to see beyond the surface adds a whole new layer to the character interactions and has some great story possibilities. The conversation between Xavier and his students was enough to illustrate that.

Most of the rest of the characters had a moment or two but did not get as much time to shine. I did like they way they used Karma’s power to foil Doug, that was both smart and original. Warlock’s return was done well and, aside from the unlikely timing, it felt pretty organic. Having him as a foil to the Techno-Organic virus should provide a believable way to save mutants from Selene’s control and it is definitely nice to have him back in the group. I am more excited about his return then Ramsey’s.

The plot is pretty simple and comes straight from the Necrosha one shot that came out at the same time. While you do not have to read Necrosha to understand what is happening here, it definitely does not make as much sense without that issue. I never like having to have knowledge of one issue to follow another especially when they are not part of the same series. This is even worse when they come out in the same week.

In the end this was another strong issue with amazing writing but is not without some flaws. It seems to be a bit confined by the requirement to fit inside a larger story. It also suffered from having Doug be both the antagonist and the narrator. While his return does merit some extra attention, seeing parts the story through his eyes limits the rest of the team’s involvement. Even with the limitations, it is well written and effective with some great character moments and true drama. I would prefer that this title stay on its own rather then try and cross over but this is still an excellent start to a new story arc.

Thanks for reading my review for Wolverine Files. I will be keeping to this format for the most part but please keep the comments coming and I will see everyone again next time.

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…

Hey, everyone, jrpbsp here… Due to a vacation, wedding and plenty of comics without much time, I am going to be doing shorter reviews for Wolverine’s appearances this week with no recaps. Next week, I will be out of the country but as soon as I get back, I will do full reviews of ‘Astonishing X-Men’ and ‘New Mutants’.

X-Force #20 (preview)
Writers: Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
Art: Mike Choi & Sonia Oback

SPOILERS BELOW…

JRPBSP’S TAKE: This was a concluding issue for Laura’s plot about her capture and escape from the Facility and it does a decent job at that. We see Laura finally getting to cut lose a bit thanks to a smart idea of lacing the water in the sprinklers with trigger scent. She is very tough here, almost beyond belief, even before her own personal berserker rage. The scene with her pulling out her admantium claws and burning her severed arm demonstrated that well.

The best scenes, however, are given to Wolverine in the beginning. We can finally see how he really feels about X-23 and their situation. It is only a page but we get a better feel for their relationship in a few panels then we have been shown before.

I was disappointed to see that Laura never really lets her guard down much in the arc. I was hoping to see a bit more of her human side, but instead she shows how tough she is. We get a few glimpses at the end when she discusses friendship and going home, but I did want to see more of that. I would have liked a more permanent end to the Facility and Kimura too.

Still, in the end it was well-written and a fitting end to the story. Laura finally got her chance in the spotlight and she was able to carry the story well. Agent Morales was a nice addition, a very human foil to give us a real understanding on how horrible the whole situation is. I hope we see her again in a later story.

X-Necrosha (preview)
Writers: Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost; Zeb Wells; Mike Carey
Artists: Clayton Crain; Ibraim Roberson; Laurence Campbell

SPOILERS BELOW…

JRPBSP’S TAKE: This is an interesting set up for the Necrosha event where we get the beginnings of three separate stories to tie into the arcs for ‘X-Force’, ‘New Mutants’ and ‘X-Men: Legacy’. Each tale is done by the writers for those books which is smart but does lead to some confusion and disjunction in the issue.

The first story, which leads into Necrosha proper, does a very nice job of giving Selene’s history and goals while setting up a full-scale assault on the X-Men. The resurrections are fast and furious although few are unexpected. It does set things up for a massive event though with the X-Men being besieged by a hoard of former friends and enemies.

Of course, this is all a delay tactic meant to keep the mutant heroes away from the true threat. I was glad to see Selene finally arrive on Genosha island to begin her preparations for her ascension. Though I am not sure why she is spending so much time trying to take down the people that wronged her before becoming a god. I would have thought she would wait to become all powerful to indulge in petty vengeance.

The biggest problem with the story is that you have to have read the ‘X-Force’ issue that came out the same week in order to be able to follow everything. I do like making things tie together but since this is supposed to introduce the new story to people that might not have been reading ‘X-Force’, it would have been better to separate the plot a little. As it is, this could easily be titled ‘X-Force’ # 20.5.

The ‘New Mutants’ arc, “Binary”, was focused on Doug Ramsey who is instructed to take down his former friend Amara for Selene. It was nice to see Doug again although I am not sure why he is shown to be so inhuman when the rest of the Hellions seem to be pretty normal. I know we do not see their thoughts, but they do not read as robotic.

Once again, however, this story leads directly into the ‘New Mutants’ story that is released this week. Since this is a precursor to that issue, neither has to be read in order to make sense of the other. Still it felt rather extraneous to give a short introduction to a story you can read at the same time. It would have been smarter to have the first ‘New Mutants’ issue of Necrosha be next month.

It is nice to see the Hellions and Doug back in any form. They are good characters and I hope they get to stick around. There is not much to this story, but Doug’s power upgrade is impressive. He can now read and translate any sort of language including non spoken ones. It will make him much more effective if he sticks around after this story is over.

The final story, “The Foretelling”, is about Destiny working for Selene but trying to pass a message on to the X-Men via Blindfold. It is a simple tale but has potential as a setup to ‘X-Men Legacy’. Blindfold has been missing for a while and I am glad she will seemingly be the focus for the arc. I would have liked an explanation of when she got back however just as a tie in.

However, I am not certain about what the true purpose of this story is going to be. It reads like a backup plot, and since the ‘X-Men Legacy’ story does not start for a couple more months, I am afraid that there will be a lot of confusion. I would have rather seen the story set up a more in depth plot so it feels more relevant to over all story.

In the end this is an interesting start to Necrosha which does look to be an entertaining crossover. I am eagerly awaiting all of the stories, especially the main plot in ‘X-Force’. Hopefully it will pay off and have some real impact by keeping some of the revived mutants around in the future.

However, the different writers and time lines made things kind of muddled. While you can easily put “Binary” before the Necrosha story, it takes place later in the actual comic. “The Foretelling” is supposed to happen at the same time but we see Selene and her crew in her headquarters rather then where they were previously shown to be hopping all over the place. It makes it hard to see this as an single united story. While I know it has separate plot lines, when you put them in one issue they should not contradict each other.

Wolverine: Weapon X #6 (preview)
Writer: Jason Aaron
Penciller: Yannick Paquette
Inker: Michel Lacombe

SPOILERS BELOW…

MY TAKE This is the first truly original Wolverine story I have read in a long time. While it has some elements we have seen before, the idea of Logan in an insane asylum is very different and interesting. It is also such a natural fit that is a wonder why no one has done it before. Although this is little more then a setup issue, it succeeds in capturing my interest immediately. I especially like the Lovecraftian overtones in the issue.

Aaron continues to impress with his depiction of Wolverine’s personality and actions. It is nice to have at least one series that really feels like the Logan I am familiar with. The rest of the characters here are a bit too over the top to be really interesting yet. Doctor Rottwell certainly has potential but is too insane to be much more then a caricature so far.

There are definite problems with the details of the story, however. For example, having Logan write his message to himself on the outside of the door where he will not be able to see it makes no sense. Also, why would a man that is obsessed with removing and playing with human brains want a patient who has a skull you can not cut through?

I also hope that is is explained how they manage to drug and control Logan with his healing factor. Even extremely well-funded and technologically superior groups have had trouble with that, much less be able to put him to sleep with a push of a button. Since Wolverine now has all his memories, I would expect it is even more difficult to control him than before. I know this is just the first issue but since they spent a while on his so-called drugs I would have liked a hint.

In the end, this is a very interesting and original story with strong characterization of Logan. There are some details and questions that detract from the plot but only in a minor way. There is a great deal of potential here for this to be a truly memorable story. I hope it can deliver on the promise.

Wolverine: First Class #20 (preview)
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Dennis Calero

SPOILERS BELOW…

MY TAKE This issue wraps up the two-part Skrull, pre-Secret Invasion story with Captain Marvel. The Kree takes center stage and has most of the big fight scenes. While I know he was a powerful force, it does not leave Wolverine and Kitty much to do. They spend the majority of the issue running away injured or helpless and that distracts from the entertainment of the issue for me.

Kitty does have a couple of good moments but Wolverine’s one fight happens almost entirely off panel. Which also leads people to wonder, as I expect is intended, whether or not the real Logan won at all or if he was a Skrull all along. That simply serves to muddy the already confusing and overdone Secret Invasion plot even more. While that story was decent enough, I do not see the point of having it be revisited.

The plot is merely an escape story without much else going on. I do not know much about Captain Marvel but I did like him in this. He has a good balance of power and compassion. Kitty gets a few good lines and Wolverine and Kitty’s return to the mansion is amusing. But there simply were not enough of these moments to really make this anything more then an average issue.

I hope we get the focus switched back to Logan since his name is on the cover. I have no problem with Kitty having center stage either but if I wanted to read a Captain Marvel and Skrull story, I would go through the back issues. I actually like the retro feel but this was trying too hard to be relevant to current Marvel stories. At least Colossus is the next guest star so all the players will remain in the X-Men family.

Dark Reign: The List – Wolverine (preview)
Writer: Jason Aaron
Penciler: Esad Ribic
Inker: Tom Palmer

SPOILERS BELOW…

MY TAKE I have not read most of the List comics but seeing this I have to question why they were bothering to make it a series. The story is not really bad, it has some good moments and it was nice to see Logan’s faith being addressed, but it did not seem to be any different then any other one shot. Basically a throwaway story that featured Wolverine and others.

I am not personally a fan of any of the Weapon Plus elements and so I found it hard to get into the issue. It did not help that Wolverine spent most of the comic as a mindless fanatical beast. Therefore the bulk to the story fell onto Marvel Boy and Fantomex. Although they are written well and have some good lines, neither of them is interesting enough to me to carry the story and make it enjoyable. I found myself scanning ahead to see when Logan would be regaining his senses.

The plot, such as it is, was simply about keeping Osborn from getting his hands on the Weapon Plus facility, the World. It is good to have some kind of resolution to that storyline rather then leaving the place up and running for anyone to access. I did not quite get how Noh-Varr suddenly knew that Osborn was sending his agents right then to attack the place considering he left the Dark Avengers weeks ago.

Still for as much as I did not really care for the principles or the plot the writing was still very solid. Aaron has a flair for Wolverine and does a great job with dialogue and adding little touches of humor and characterization. I really liked the nod to Deathlok at the end. I just could not get over the rest of it to really enjoy the story. At best it was a decent read but one that will soon be forgotten.

X-Men Forever #10 (preview)
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Paul Smith
Inks: Terry Austin

SPOILERS BELOW…

MY TAKE This is the funeral issue for Wolverine and I have to say it is about time. While I know that the team has been busy, Logan died before issue one so it has taken ten issues for everyone to gather and pay their respects. Usually you see the mourning issue immediately after a death or no more then an issue or two later. This feels almost tacked on due to its lateness.

Still it was great to see everyone gathering together and remembering Wolverine and Scott’s eulogy was particularly well done. I am also impressed that with so many guest stars it never feels overdone and many of them get their own special moments. Some of these characters are ones that Claremont invented and yet has not written in decades. They do feel a bit dated but still have their own unique voice and style and that is great to see. It makes me wish that Claremont would include some of them as regular cast members, especially the New Mutants and Excalibur.

The plot was merely about the funeral, with guests arriving and reflecting on Wolverine and on what they have lost. But it was an important enough event that it pretty much required a full issue. I was glad that the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and even the Hulk stopped by to pay their respects. It was a good way to show just how important Wolverine truly is to the Marvel Universe as a whole.

One thing did really bother me though and that was the ending with Nathan. While I never really agreed with the whole Nathan and Cable plot, by this point Scott’s child had most definitely been sent into the future and we have seen plenty of Cable as well. Even if you ignore that story, Nathan should be no more then a toddler at the oldest. But here we see him as a young boy living with Cyclop’s grandparents. It was one of those moments that completely takes you out of the entire story.

But the issue was still good, it is just annoying that they are still calling this series the continuation of the original X-Men run when pretty much nothing of continuity is being honored. I am, however, still enjoying the series for the most part and am looking forward to the next issue with Colossus. They just need to remove all references to the past events and start fresh otherwise it is too jarring.

DiG here. With jrpbsp writing so many reviews this week in abbreviated format, I’ve decided to tack on my Week-in-Review at the end of his massive post. I actually enjoy this version better, so let us know if you prefer that we bypass the recaps in the future.

Hulk #16 (preview)
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Pencils: Ian Churchill
Inks: Mark Farmer

DIG’S TAKE: Jeph Loeb is a big name in the comic book industry. Unfortunately that renown has not translated into any quality stories in the Marvel Universe the past few years.

Just look at ‘Ultimates’ 3, ‘Wolverine’ #50-55, and ‘Ultimatum’ if you doubt my assertions.

So it should come as no surprise that ‘Hulk’ #16 continues this trend.

All of the classic Loeb ingredients are there: trite dialogue, grade-school parables and plotting that would shame Jerry Bruckheimer.

The good news? The X-Force crossover seems to be at an end.

New Avengers #58 (preview)
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Stuart Immonen
Inks: Wade von Grawbadger

DIG’S TAKE:: Brian Michael Bendis can be extremely frustrating.

On the one hand, he has made ‘New Avengers’ a must-read book for close to five years, picking his way through three major Marvel Universe-wide events, sometime nimbly, sometimes laboriously.

This particular issue is quite strong (though I would argue that ‘Dark Avengers’ is better), but every time he touches the Norman Osborn-media angle, the believability just fades away, at least for this reader.

The Wolverine connection? Daken gets his ass handed to him again.

How did this guy ever hold his own against the X-Men?

Marvel Holiday Spectacular (preview)
“If the Fates Allow”
Writer: Jim McCann
Artist: Todd Nauck

DIG’S TAKE: This year’s ‘Marvel Holiday Spectacular’ offers an X-Men holiday story with tender thoughts of the missing Kitty Pryde, whose sacrifice has, unfortunately, largely gone ignored in Marvel continuity. So while this tale is most appreciated, its sincerity does ring rather hollow…

And last but not least, don’t forget the ‘Wolverine Art Appreciation’ collection that does a very nice job of reprinting all the Wolverine Art covers from earlier in the year sans logos and featuring background on each artist and art style.

Wolverine: Origins #41 (details)
“7 the Hard Way, Part One”
Writer: Daniel Way
Penciler: Doug Braithwaite
Inker: Bill Reinhold

SPOILERS BELOW…

RECAP: Wolverine speeds down the highway while contemplating his loss at the hands of Romulus. Coming to the realization that in order to best his enemy at his own game and save his son he has to do the unexpected. He resolves through the advice of another to destroy the throne of Romulus’ empire as opposed to the man who rules it, thus ending the potential cycle.

In order to do so he needs to collect the pieces and players of this gambit: the first approach being one Bruce Banner. Banner plays dumb, pretending to be unaware of their shared history. Wolverine informs him that he’s looking for someone else to which Bruce replies that that part of his life is over (Note: Bruce Banner was recently “cured” of the Hulk in his own title).

Logan, knowing that the best way to bring out the Hulk is to anger his alter-ego promptly attacks Banner, hoping to elicit the proper emotion and release the beast within. Enter Skaar, the Son of Hulk, the Hulk’s lovechild from another world. Coming to his father’s defense Skaar soon learns that he would be unable to kill the feral mutant due to his healing factor and unbreakable skeleton.

Wolverine makes one last remark to Banner, stating the following: “Hopin’ to keep your son from gettin’ sucked into the same nightmare you were livin’? Well, Bruce it might surprise ya’ to know… that I’m doin’ the same damn thing”. Skaar then punts him into a forest one state over.

Here he is found impaled on a tree by yet another father and son, two adult civilians. The father attempts to help Logan while the son calls 911 in order to protect his father from Wolverine, who he sees as a dangerous individual and a potential heart attack risk for his dad. The officer taking the call contacts Romulus, who then uses his connections to send the local police force to apprehend Logan.

As the police close in on him, Skaar and Bruce appear to lend a hand. The latter having changed his mind after thinking over Logan’s aforementioned words.

MY TAKE: Now this is more like it! It may not be the best issue in the world, but I’ll take something happening over a non-story like the previous issue any day. At least this I can review. While I actually rather enjoyed this particular story (especially when comparing it to #40), it was hardly without flaws.

Lets start at the beginning, Wolverine: Origins #41 opens with Wolverine contemplating, in his own words, how he “got his ass kicked in every possible way”. Did I read a different story? Was he not actually present during that fight? Did Daniel Way not read the scripts for #40 and #41 while he was writing them? In no way were the events of last issue an “ass kicking”.

Without spending too much time on the events of last issue, Wolverine not only held his own during that fight, but he was also winning it for the majority. And when Romulus walked out of there, he did so bloodied and beaten, having just barely survived the encounter. Wolverine’s statements in this issue completely contradict what we just saw in the last. Someone dropped the ball.

Another quibble would be how codependent this story is in regards to recent Hulk continuity, with nary a writer/editor’s note to be seen. I’m all for continuity, but this story assumes you’ve read Planet Hulk, World War Hulk, Son of Hulk, the recent issue in which Bruce loses his ability to become the Hulk, and the events of Incredible Hulk #602 which takes place before this story and features Daken/Skaar and Bruce/Logan interaction. To make matters worse, that final story was released in the same week as Origins #41.

It was to the point that I actually felt the need to insert my own note into the issue summary, as the Wolverine and Hulk fandoms are hardly interconnected, even with the characters shared histories.

As for my final gripe, I’m a bit perplexed by Romulus’ logic here. Why would he possibly believe sending a backwater small town sheriffs department to apprehend Wolverine would work? That said, I do love the idea of him having those sort of connections to begin with.

Switching gears, I’m starting to rather enjoy these “Wolverine gets punted across the country by super-beings” gags that have been popping up of late. They’re a bit silly, but what other character could take that sort of power and punishment and walk away from it in such a fashion? Quite amusing.

I’m glad to see the storyline getting back on track. As much as I hated that what should have been the big reveal last issue turned out to be a glorified promotional ad for this one, it actually had a rather interesting premise. Wolverine had two choices: go to one or all of his teams and ask for an assist, or go solo. Nothing particularly groundbreaking in either scenario, typical Logan behavior.

Instead the character is going out of his comfort zone and doing something a bit more radical, something the enemy presumably doesn’t have a counterplan for. As a reader I find that intriguing.

Overall it’s not a bad issue, and it’s certainly an interesting start to the new storyline that seems to seek to close out the series. It suffers from the typical logical fallacies the book often falls into, but above all else it shows promise to be a unique tale, one we haven’t seen before from Wolverine.

Unfortunately I believe this will be my last review for Wolverine Files for the time being. I always knew some day my other duties would pull me away, but I thought I would have more time. Please keep the comments coming and thanks for reading. – Ace

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…