The Marvel Rundown: WOLVERINE: REVENGE is a dish that’s just cold

Welcome back true believers to another edition of the Marvel Rundown! This is a huge week with the return of a superstar artist to the Marvel fold, Russell Dauterman drawing some interiors, the start of Venom War, and Black Panther fighting the deadliest alien in the galaxy (no, not that deadly alien). Our main book this week is Wolverine: Revenge which sees Greg Capullo return to drawing Marvel interiors. After that we have a Rapid Rundown of Scarlet Witch, Venom War: Venomous, and Predator vs. Black Panther!  

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Wolverine: Revenge

Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Penciler: Greg Capullo
Inker: Tim Townsend
Colorist: Fco Plascencia
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit 

Wolverine: Revenge marks the return of Greg Capullo to a regular Marvel series 31 years after X-Force #25. In that time, he’s did a lengthy run on Spawn, he famously drew Batman and the two DC Metal events in a fruitful collaboration with Scott Snyder, and then he drew the Batman and Spawn crossover book in 2022. He left Marvel as Rob Liefeld’s replacement on X-Force and returns as a superstar artist. Now his pencils once again grace a Marvel book with Jonathan Hickman scripting him while Tim Townsend provides inks.

The story is safely an out of continuity story. Asteroid M crashes to Earth with Magneto in it. With his dying breath, Magneto creates an EMP that kills hundreds of millions of people. Wolverine gets recruited for a heist to steal a fusion reactor that could restore power to the western world. The hitch is that the reactor is being held by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Of course, the heist goes wrong, Wolverine gets left for dead, and guess what he wants to get. If you guessed revenge, give yourself a no prise. 

Capullo drawing a Wolverine book isn’t really a let’s match this artist to a book that suits his skills, like say Pascual Ferry on Doctor Strange or Pepe Larraz drawing the Marvel Universe in Blood Hunt. It’s more let’s put a massively popular artist on a book with a massively popular character.  Capullo does what he does best which is create really solid action scenes, which can sell a superhero book. Wolverine is an action character. This book gets filled with a lot of action scenes, especially the opening with all of the dinosaurs. 

 

Which brings up the Jonathan Hickman in all of this. This book also marks Hickman’s return to an X-Men related book since the Inferno mini series in 2021. Such a return should be a big deal and carry certain expectations. Wolverine: Revenge doesn’t hold up to what one expects from Hickman. There’s a certain headiness to Hickman’s books or at least a sense of purpose with his take on particular characters. There’s no particularly deep take on the characters in this issue at least. Bad guys are bad and Wolverine just wants revenge. It’s a very smooth brain script from a writer that once wrote two intertwining mini-series that required a lot of mental gymnastics.   

Wolverine: Revenge seemingly exists to give Greg Capullo the opportunity to draw whatever he wants. Dinosaurs! Sabertooth, Deadpool, and Omega Red! Violence! There’s not much logic to the proceedings or reasons that drive the action. The plot and character motivations come across as threadbare. Rarely does Hickman come across as a hired gun but that’s the feeling reading this first issue.

Final Verdict: BROWSE 

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RAPID RUNDOWN!

• Scarlet Witch # 3
  • Although this is billed as issue 3, this is actually just another issue of Steve Orlando’s long running work with Scarlet Witch, a story that has run multiple volumes of multiple series under a variety of names. Marvel editorial’s decision to bounce the character—and Orlando’s work—over multiple series had made it difficult to keep up with this ongoing story. I jumped onto this comic in the latest relaunch, and it’s a fun adventure but after several days of trying to figure out where the story started I have to admit some frustration. There is payoff here to things new readers simply do not follow. Why is this issue 3, not 20? Anyway, the book is beautiful. The series’ regular art team of penciler Jacopo Camagni and colorist Frank William is joined by some beautiful, and increasingly rare, interior work by Russel Dauterman and colorist Matthew Wilson. Dautermann’s art is far and away the highlight as he draws some breathtaking dreamscapes depicting Wanda battling the forces of darkness and her own self doubt to rejoin the land of the living. The layouts are stunning, flowing works of baroque artistry befitting the poetic dialogue and tale of witchcraft. The letters by VC’s Ariana Maher add loads of character and tone to the visuals. Steve Orlando’s script is full of compelling and inventive ideas that I wish I had more context for. This has made me want to go back and read all of his Scarlet Witch work —if I can figure it out—which is saying something since I have historically had little interest in this character. Can Marvel include a guide to reading the past volumes in issue 4? –Tim Rooney

• Venom War: Venomous #1

• • If you caught my previous review of the lead-in one-shot, Black Widow: Venomous, then you’ll know I’ve been excited for this creative team to give us more Natasha and Sliver adventures! The core of Widow’s journey into Venom War seems to be along the lines of containing an anti-symbiote chemical, K42T, whether it’s in labs or auctions; this time, the latter. While Erica Schultz keeps the dialogue to essential chatter, there’s enough carefully placed personality in those moments that helps guide the character development arcs of Nat, of Sliver, and of Flash Thompson (!) to a foreseeable and fun conclusion. It’s not much, but Team Venomous has shown remarkable ability to curtly establish and effortlessly evolve their cast while stringing along some Marvel Comics classics. However, gone are the iconic Widow compositions that Luciano Vecchio spun this tale with last time. Seems Vecchio has settled on striking, angular page layouts that keeps the pace moving, but they’re not as impactful or immersive as they seem once you start reading. There’s a disconnect there in the pacing between dialogue and interest points that, once tightened, can result in the kind of romp Marvel Comics is known for. I’m particularly in love with these widow’s peak bangs Vecchio frames Natasha’s face with and her midcentury fashion sensibilities– it really adds a layer missed in previous catsuited spy-fi adventures. No stranger to spider work at Marvel, Rachelle Rosenberg steps out of her wheelhouse to bring us a espionage world of cold sterility and seedy laboratories. Rosenberg’s fondness for primary colors that frame characters against a complementary hue while setting the mood with a hamfisted accuracy certainly helps amplify the superheroic fun we’re supposed to be having in an era of often drab and intentionally uncomfortable reads. VC’s Ariana Maher matches playfulness and prime placement for the book’s many THWIPs and GRAWRRs, but given that 50% of the dialogue is red text on black balloons, those with vision impairments might not enjoy the breeze. We should really have a better answer to “other voices” than any color font on the darkest black balloons. Look, I’ve found absolute gems in tie-in minis– often a trial run of an upcoming ongoing title’s creative team– so if this is how Team Venomous rock, then I say we let them roll the good times out with an ongoing Black Widow run. After this miniseries, maybe you will too! — Beau Q.
• Predator vs. Black Panther #1
  Earth has always been a favorite hunting ground for the Predators, using advanced technology to enhance their hunting skills against the most dangerous prey, Humans. As a big fan of writer Benjamin Percy’s previous Predator vs. Wolverine mini-series, I was excited to read this follow-up to Marvel’s crossover with the Yautja aka the Predators. To pit them against Black Panther and Wakanda, the most advanced technological nation on Earth is perfect fan service but done in an imaginative way that makes comic book sense. To add to this artist Chris Allen, hot off his run on Black Panther brings his intense and detailed style to the mix. Percy’s gritty story and Allen’s funky art make a great pairing in this establishing issue laying out the setting and the stakes. A solid start for the creators with artistic backup from Sean Damien Hill on pencils, with inks by Craig Yeung and Lee Ferguson. – GC3