Wolverine Vol. 4 Issue 1 Review
Well, here we go. My first real attempt into getting into Wolverine. I mean, to be honest, the only reason I really decided to go for this was because I'm reading every single X-Men related book in the main continuity right now, so this clearly had to be read. Reading the concept for this book, I simply went "Meh". See, this just sounded kind of boring and when a book starts off, I like the character to be the first thing handled, not some giant concept. I splurged though and bought this book, and luckily it wasn't half bad.
The issue opens three weeks ago with Wolverine at a church with John Wraith, who is now a pastor. They discuss their true nature and the things that come with faith. Coming to the present, Wraith is giving service to his church and a woman is brought in with three giant claw marks on her arm. As Wraith arms himself to look for Wolverine in the woods, his assailant attacks and Wraith is attacked by nature itself. However, he is not so easily dispatched and attacks "Wolverine" as the church is a blaze, only to realize something is amiss and Logan is not quite himself. Meanwhile Wolverine's girlfriend is attacked and rescued by a mysterious woman and we learn that not only is there a plot going on against Wolverine, but Logan himself is in quite a bit of trouble.
Okay, before I say anything else I have to get this rant off my chest. Seriously, WTF?! I mean, how much dialogue do you have to put on a single page?! IT'S UNAPPEALING! I mean, we really didn't need this huuuge talk to drill the fact that Wolverine has a bad past through our head. WE KNOW THIS. It's like common knowledge worldwide. This entire issue suffers from John Wraith, a character I want to like, but who seems to feel the need to tell us everything we can see like he's talking to a blind person! UGH! Jason Aaron, shame on you, we're better than that. Excessive exposition aside, the story wasn't bad and though it was largely predictable, I never expected the rescuers to pop in there and you learn to root for Wraith quickly. But dude, lay off the exposition.
Renato Guedes on art is a pleasure. While he doesn't have the greatest stylistic flair I normally like, he's got great detail and talent that is reminiscent of both Leinil Francis Yu and Marko Djurdjevic, which is one of the best things you can hope to accomplish. His Logan looks exactly as he should and overall, the art is pleasing enough. Jose Wilson Magalhaes is great on inks, maintaining clarity and giving great motion, and Matt Wilson proves why he is such a great colorist, making the book look better than it should and keeping it bright yet grim, a touch feat to accomplish. Anybody can do grim at night, but to do grim at day is amazing.
There is also a side story about Silver Samurai that is really simple yet extremely well done and it's funny since so much is accomplished with much less dialogue, you wonder why Aaron messed up so bad before. Jason Latour pulls duty on art here and does an outstanding job, surpassing his already great work in "I am an Avenger", also out this week. Color me impressed.
Overall, I'm not raving about this book but it's quite good. I'll check in next month really to follow up on the side-story more than the main and we'll see if Wolverine survives the arc. Hmmm... I really wonder... Oh well, 3.5 out of 5.
