Welcome back to the Marvel Rundown! This week, Chris Claremont returns for another lost tale of that clawed Canuck, with Wolverine: Deep Cut #1 taking the stage as our main review! This review contains MILD SPOILERS, but head on down to the Rapid Rundown for quick hits on Annihilation 2099 #1 and Spider-Man Reign 2 #1.
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Wolverine: Deep Cut #1
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Edgar Salazar
Color Artist: Carlos Lopez
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Cover Artists: Philip Tan & Sebastian Cheng
A couple weeks ago, incoming X-Men Executive Editor Tom Brevoort answered a question if there was the possibility of Chris Claremont coming writing a modern day X-Men book. Brevoort made a good point. Claremont spent 16 years on the book. Possibly more than any other writer on the book, Claremont has very definite ideas about who these characters are and what drives them. He also has very clear ideas about what direction they should be in whether that makes sense with current continuity or not.
Claremont has been vocal about wanting to write present day X-Men. However, like David Micheline does with Venom, he keeps working on material set during his initial run on the book. Wolverine: Deep Cut will probably only make sense to people who remember two things from X-Men history. At one point the X-Men were presumed dead and lived in the Outback and that Wolverine once fought Sabretooth every year on his birthday.
The main thrust of the story seems to explain why Sabretooth didn’t kill Wolverine’s girlfriend Mariko Yoshida during the Outback era. Most of the book takes place during that year’s birthday fight with artist Edgar Salazar and colorist Carlos Lopez rendering it as brutally as they can for a non-mature rated book. There’s a brutality here that Claremont probably couldn’t have indulged in under the Comics Code. Sabretooth and Wolverine fights from the period tended to be tamer affairs.
And that brutality speaks to something Claremont did during his run on X-Men; reminding folks just how human Wolverine is. Folks, forget that Logan regularly got the snot kicked out of him by folks. It would take issues for him to heal from fights. He may be able to heal from anything but Here, and warning for anyone who reads this issue, he has Sabretooth gouge out Wolverine’s eyes. This book isn’t for the faint of heart.
As gory as this book gets, Salazar’s work feels indebted to the Marc Silvestri and Dan Green art style of X-Men during that time period. His line work isn’t quite as busy but you can picture him on a spin off mini-series from that time period. He also does a lot with page layouts making sure that he gets the most out his pages. The page where Wolverine loses his eyes is told from first person perspective while a flashback with Kitty Pryde gets a nine panel grid. Yes, Claremont pet character Kitty Pryde shows up seemingly to remind you this is a Chris Claremont written book.
This gets to the point of what Brevoort was saying. It’s hard imagining Kitty Pryde these days acting like the student of anybody. If this was set in modern ages, Wolverine would probably grow eye balls back in the next panel. Claremont may want to write stories in the modern era but it really would be hard to reconcile his idea of the characters with how far they’ve come.
Rapid Rundown!
- Annihilation 2099 #1
- The latest revival of the Marvel: 2099 universe has been running for some time but I have mostly ignored it. So I was unsure what to expect when I opened this book–would it be a fun standalone cosmic adventure? Or was this something that writer Steve Orlando has been building to? It turns out it’s a bit of both, but mostly it’s a rocking cosmic western. The ultimate threat is hidden for most of this issue until the backup story, which induced a shock of laughter. And that isn’t even the most surprising twist of the issue! Our hero, the mysterious last Nova of 2099 is a compelling lone gunman making his way through a lawless galaxy. It’s a familiar setup but handled with skill, and bolstered by an identity reveal that is both logical and absurd. The main story’s art team, Ibram Roberson and colorist Neeraj Menon, totally nail the Spaghetti Western look. This is a foreboding, dirty, lived-in sci-fi universe. Throw in letters from Cory Petit and the backup art by Dale Eaglesham and Raul Angulo, and this is pure fun superhero comics. I wasn’t expecting to love this book, but now I can’t wait to read more of Orlando’s 2099. — Tim Rooney
- Spider-Man Reign 2 #1
- As far as “follow-ups to alternative universe takes from a previous decade” go, the batting average ain’t too great. Late sequels are often far too late, pick up right where the first left off, require so much more context than their predecessor, and the collective tastes of audiences might have evolved into entirely other arenas by the time the late sequel drops. This is where Kaare Andrews returns to in his revisiting of his Peter Parker despair porn from 2007, Spider-Man: Reign. So, it picks up right where it left off, immediately fast forwards, then narratively rewinds farther than before while bringing some familiar Spidey faces to Andrews’ Reign AU. Andrews’ style has gotten more advanced in its intentional sloppiness. In comparing the predecessor to the present, Reign 2 is far more curated, but in its mess is an expression of the narrative’s world. This is not a pristine crystal through which to view fictional heroics. Much like Reign 1, Reign 2 is Andrews’ response to despondent times– it lives with a webhead struggle-surviving in the trenches and willing to inspire through penance. Brian Reber comes on to do his best color work in José Villarrubia’s absence. You can find them similar in taste, but Reber has found himself in painting scenes monochromatically while simultaneously keeping the palette in Reign’s emotional spectrum of loss and hope. While VC’s Joe Caramagna similarly replaces Chris Eliopoulos from Reign 1 in terms of style reproduction and eyeline management, Caramagna almost immediately takes a different swing that stands out for those binge-reading from Reign 1, so reactions may vary. If Spider-Man: Reign was your ish way, way back, give it a thwack. If not or if ‘Spidey but bleak’ isn’t for you, stay back. — Beau Q
Next Week: X-Men #1 and Kid Venom #1!
