Wolverine #2

Wolverine continues his journey through Hell as his body continues it's rampage through everyone he ever loved. I have to admit I am surprised I actually like this. I felt like after the whole Romulus story-arch exploration of Wolverine's psyche and history was pretty much done. But I do like this look through all those Wolverine has ended. And hey look Wolverine's girlfriend, I remember her, sort of.

Actually lets touch on that briefly, the introduced this girlfriend for Wolverine who was totally out of any crime, yakuza families, super-hero teams, etc. Then did an entire issue where he talked to various friends of him for advice on what to do about her and how to protect her and then... forgot about her. Wolverine has even slept with Domino since she was introduced. Yet now she's front and center again in the middle of this mess of Wolverine's soul being sent to Hell.

There are two stories being told in the middle all of this (as well as a nice separate one at the end.) Wolverine's Girlfriend trying to find out what happened to Logan with the aid of Mystique. And Wolverine's sojourn in Hell. So I need to pause again and talk about Marvel and Hell. Who is this devil? He doesn't look like any of the devil like entities that Marvel usually uses, yet his Hell seems to be "the real" Hell. By the surprise guest stars at the end of the issue I'm assuming he's Satan, but Marvel is very quiet about that sort of thing.

Okay enough of me bitching about little things. The book is good. Wolverine's face-off with every person he has ever killed, including a very special surprise character that had me get misty for a bit. The weak point of the story however is Wolverine's Girlfriend. While Yukio's appearance added a lot to her story but its not enough to keep her part interesting. I think the main problem is that we don't really know Wolverine's Girlfriend (and hell I can't even remember her name so I keep calling her Wolverine's Girlfriend) so her plight doesn't really resonate well.

However Wolverine in Hell is a great story for Wolverine fans, with Omega Red and Sabertooth reappearing in this issues it only got better. And that surprise appearance I was talking about earlier was perfect addition and just made everything so right. With Puck and the shadowed man (who I think I know who he is but I'll hold off on saying who I think it is) also sets up perfectly how Wolverine is going to be escaping Hell and get his body back.

Jason Aaron is a great writer, I love his work on Wolverine in the past though he does seem to have a bit of a fetish for Mystique. It may explain her inclusion in this story actually. Renato Guedes is an artist I'm not really familiar with but a quick googling shows he mostly does DC work which explains it. I loved his pencil work in this comic though and it was a stellar addition to this comic.

Now a special note on "Amiko's Story." I've always been a fan of Wolverine's adopted daughter and its nice for her to be included in all of this. I would probably be more engaged in the girlfriend story if the girlfriend was replaced by Amiko. And I did love Aaron's blase dialouge for her "You being mind-controlled. Logan? Really? Again?"

What I am wondering though is are they going to remember "Wolverine: Soultaker" that Amiko has priestess powers she's been training. Or maybe that will part of the plot, we'll just have to wait and see.

Overall I'm happy with Wolverine's current direction and I can't wait to see where it happens. With Daken and X-23 following this story as well, it can become a very epic Wolverine story.

I like that the Wolverine family has a new story after Romulus. I really thought that Wolverine's tale was over after Romulus but Wolverine goes to Hell is giving me hope. Let's hope it still gives me hope.