An out-of-continuity adventure bolstered by incredible art.
Writer | Jonathan Hickman |
Illustrator | Greg Capullo |
Inker | Tim Townsend |
Colorist | FCO Plascencia |
Content Rating | Parental Advisory |
Publisher | Marvel | 08.21.24 |
Spoilers Ahead
I had an interesting conversation about Wolverine: Revenge with a couple of guys at my comic shop this afternoon. I could hear them talking about the first issue of the series and one of them was upset about Marvel having writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Greg Capullo working on what is essentially a glorified What If? story. I chimed in and said that Marvel is currently suffering from a dearth of talent—if you're going to get two of the few bonafide superstars left in mainstream comics to work on one of your series, why would Marvel have it be on a miniseries and not the mainline Wolverine book?
Yes, technically the story Hickman and Capullo are telling is either out of continuity or just a possible future, but... who cares? Old Man Logan was in the mainline Wolverine comic when it was published, not set as a miniseries, and the result was a memorable book despite the fact it was just a self-contained tale. Wolverine: Revenge would have been a huge boost for the Wolverine book as it relaunches as part of From the Ashes, but instead, Marvel has made it a miniseries, which means, as talented as the creators are, there will be some readers who opt to not buy it, or to not buy Wolverine proper when it hits stands, because they don't have infinite amounts of money to throw around at their LCS.
Forgive me if it seems like I'm on a tangent as I start this review, but it does relate to my thoughts on Wolverine: Revenge #1. I walked away from the comic impressed by the art but totally bewildered by Marvel not taking advantage of having such marquee talent on one of its monthly series. Wolverine is easily the third most important comic in the X-Men line and should always have top creators—this was the chance to do that. But if I had to guess why Marvel didn't, it's probably because of the story. Not that it's out of continuity, but rather that it would be too hard to justify not tying into what's happening with From the Ashes (although, it doesn't seem like Wolverine is going to make much sense anyway given Logan is off living in the woods while also being in Uncanny X-Men, but whatever).
Anyway. It is what it is. And after a single issue of Wolverine: Revenge, I'm not too sure if this story is going to be quite as revered, but I had fun nonetheless. As I mentioned above, this seems to be a What If?-style adventure, a potential future for the heroes of the Marvel Universe. Magneto has been killed while on Asteroid M, which sent the giant chunk of rock hurtling towards Earth. As it burned up upon reentry, an enormous electromagnetic pulse (EMP) went off with Magneto's dying breath, frying electronics all over the northern hemisphere.
That's not a bad setup, right? Maybe even something that could have been an event comic or whatever. However, Hickman has really upped the stakes with this one, talking about 100 million people dead after Asteroid M made landfall in Canada. It and the US are on the brink of total collapse following the calamity. In that sense, it's possible that maybe what Hickman is hoping to convey is too large scale and too irrevocable to justify as anything other than a hypothetical adventure.
Some have been less kind and are calling Wolverine: Revenge the equivalent of fan fiction by Hickman. It is indeed playing fast and loose with continuity, seemingly pulling in elements and characters from the MU that Hickman and likely Capullo were interested in playing with. For example, Logan is in his proper, classic yellow uniform (blue trunks and all), while characters like the original Nick Fury are present sans any modern day continuity (he's the director SHIELD here, for instance).
And you know what? I'm fine with that. I didn't really care that this story isn't concerned with whatever garbled nonsense is going on in the mainline MU at the moment. It's a take on the characters that anyone with a passing familiarity will be able to latch onto and get without doing a bunch of research. It really speaks to the sorry state of Marvel Comics that I'm this divested in any of the overarching continuity in the books. Still, while I had fun with the story, something about it still feels sort of... off.
I'm having a hard time pegging what it is about Wolverine: Revenge that doesn't feel right to me, but it's there, like a splinter poking out of your finger that you can't quite pluck. I guess for one thing it's weird that Nick Fury doesn't have more heroes assembled than he does. The roster is Wolverine, Captain America, and Bucky, and that's it. I guess everyone else is dead or unreachable? Also, we have a traitor in our midsts for this one: Colossus, who has sided with the Russians who have managed to keep on the lights after the EMP went off.
See, Logan and his pals are on Fury's orders to go into Mother Russia and get their hands on the power source they have that managed to survive the EMP. Colossus doesn't want them to do that, so he's going to fight to stop them at any cost, friends or no friends. I mean, Colossus has turned to the dark side before, so I guess this is in character for him, but it didn't sit right with me. Also, can we ditch the stupid beard? I can only assume Capullo wanted to draw him with it if he's allowed to put Wolverine in his old school costume. Regardless, it's a terrible look.
That said, the art is the real sell here. Capullo back at Marvel doing sequential work for the first time in years? Yes, please. The man is a master still very much on top of his game, and paired with regular collaborators Tim Townsend and FCO Plascencia, this is one mean looking book. It's also playing to Capullo's strengths, with lots of epic action and grizzly violence. Capullo is no slouch when it comes to quieter, dialogue-driven moments, either, as his composition work is truly some of the best in the business. Some of the ridiculously creative panel layouts will keep you returning to the book for multiple viewings just to soak in all of the details.
If I have a gripe, it's that a handful of the facial expressions on the characters are unusual. There are several shots of characters who seem to have grins or smirks on their faces and it isn't clear why. Capullo likes to use imperfect, wavy lines for things like mouths to make them more realistic, but sometimes that causes faces to appear happy when they shouldn't be. A prime example of this is a splash page of several heroes parachuting down to the ground with Cap at the forefront. Everyone else looks dour, but for whatever reason Cap is smiling. Given the destruction they're parachuting away from, and the danger ahead, I don't know why Cap would be happy.
That's small stuff, however. Overall, Wolverine: Revenge is just fine if you don't try to make it fit into continuity. It's simply a story in its own time and place, with familiar takes on beloved characters. If you're tired of what the mainline MU has become, then this should be a welcome break and (mostly) return to normalcy. Yes, it isn't the tightest story, and it might end up just being a self-indulgent fantasy for the two creators, but for now I'm onboard with what they're doing and think it's worthy of a read.
Verdict: Recommended
Thoughts on Red Band Version: Okay, so in case you aren't aware of this, Marvel has been doing "Red Band" versions of some of its comics. What is that? Basically, it's a bloodier, gorier version of an issue. An interior variant, as Wes over at Thinking Critical likes to call them. I am going to say that I consider Red Band versions to be complete and utter crap. Variant covers alone are an enormoush scheme that the industry has cooked up that I already dislike, but at least fans get the same comic no matter what's on the cover. Now, Marvel wants to convince you to plunk down more money to get a version of an issue with different art inside? In Wolverine: Revenge, for example, there are multiple shots that feature more guts and gore, and even an entirely different final page than what fans get in the standard issue. It doesn't even make sense that they've opted to create a gorier version of Wolverine: Revenge when the comic already has a Parental Advisory warning on it. In brief, Red Bands suck and I will not support them. If you want to encourage Marvel trying to get consumers to double-dip and now buy multiple versions of a story, that's your business, but I don't like being fleeced and hope no one else does, either. |
Comments