Who’s Been Polishing Wolverine
By David Nieves
Written by Charles Soule
Art by Nick Bradshaw, Allison Borges
Being fans you probably know by now that no one stays dead in comics. Countless characters have come and gone through the revolving door of comic book death. The real payoff for these stories rarely ever happens in the actual demise but instead happens in what comes after. Wolverines is the latest title born out of Charles Soule’s monumental Death of Wolverine series. This book brings a shift in gear to all the post DOW stories so far. Where most of those dealt with the emotional ramifications on various character’s relationships with the ol Canuck, Wolverines starts to deal with the fallout from the event.
The book stars Shogun, Skel, Neuro, and Endo; the refugees from a Weapon X program Abraham Cornelius attempted to reopen before Wolverine wrecked the place. Along for the ride are a cabal of Logan’s long time enemies: the reformed Sabretooth, Mystique, Daken, and Lady Death Strike. Rounding out the group is Logan’s clone X-23. It’s action exploration Marvel style as this group of Wolverine-like people are vying for the hero’s corpse left covered in that sweet adamantium metal. It could be an extreme case of taxidermy. It could be they’re looking to take him to a metal recycling plant for the extra cash. It could also be the group looking for the key to their own survival.
One of the few things not clicking in the opening was minor and can easily be remedied in upcoming issues. For a book titled Wolverines, with a full cast of characters boasting claws or knives, there’s in fact very little stabbing going on. Charles Soule is no stranger to great action sequences so one can fully expect the violence level to ramp up later on.
Soule sets his distinct tone early on in the issue. Which could potentially be terrible for Daken. As with most of the superstar writer’s other runs on various titles; he lets readers know where they’re going almost from the outset and peels back the information selectively. It’s a sure way to leave your reader wanting more. When you see who ends up with the big Wolverine paper weight, you’ll definitely be intrigued. We all know Logan’s return to the land of the living is inevitable. The challenge for Marvel and Soule is to create stories that make the wait worth it and Wolverines has the ingredients to be the first book in a post DOW era to do that.
Ultimately can I say you should definitely put this on your pull list? Not quite yet, but the opening is worth looking at. It doesn’t have so much to do with the quality of the first issue as much as it does the nature of weekly series themselves. Often times they start out unbalanced and a bit too much of a slow burn through their first act. Soule tries to avoid this troupe by opening with event over exposition and while it helps alieviate the boredom effect some weeklies bring; I still need a couple of issues to decide if being on board for the entire series is worth $3.99 an issue.
Wolverines #1 still has something to prove but it’s earned picking up issue #2.
I’ve decided to get this in trades, but the team they’ve put together is very promising on it.
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