Wolverine #5.1 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Jefte Palo (art), Nathan Fairbairn (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Melita throws a surprise birthday party for Logan, but the guest of honor finds himself side-tracked by some grotesque bad guys.

What’s Good: Wow, you could not get a comic with two more different halves.  On the one side, you get a feel-good party with the Avengers and Melita and on the other side, you’ve got a gritty tale of Logan battling cannibals in the backwoods.  How the hell can two such different things actually fit together?  The fact that Aaron manages this and makes both sides entertaining is already an achievement.

On the cannibal end, the Buzzard Brothers are a blast to read.  Aaron writes them with absolute glee and their dialogue is ghoulishly entertaining.  Yes, they’re appalling, but they’re also really, really funny, particularly when they bicker.  For them, murder and cannibalism is an everyday thing, so their dialogue and sibling animosity takes a ridiculous tone that I couldn’t help laughing at.  Despite being a bit of a cliché in concept, Aaron’s lively dialogue combined with Palo’s awesome character designs raises the brothers up into something special.

At the party end, the huge ensemble of Avengers actually helps rather than hinders.  Aaron successfully puts across the fact that Logan isn’t alone as he thinks.  The party comes across really naturally and is a perfect fusion of the mundane and the superheroic.  It feels like an ordinary get-together, till you notice all the jets parked outside.  Either way, all the characters work great and Melita is as likable as ever, if only because she acts like a perfectly normal human being amidst all the spandex.  Better still, her birthday present is touching.  I also have to highlight Deadpool’s role this month, which was absolutely hilarious, and I’m not even a fan.  Aaron used him so expertly this month, inserting him here and there as a kind of punch-line.  He’s far from being in a starring role, but his peripheral presence makes for plenty of laughs.

Invincible Iron Man #500.1 – Review

by Matt Fraction (writer), Salvador Larocca (art), Frank D’Armata (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: Tony attends a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, where he retells his history and his struggles.

What’s Good: This is one incredibly well-written comic.  Given that there are a lot of words on the page, as it’s basically one giant monologue from Tony, there’s a lot of room for Matt Fraction flex his muscle as a writer and the product is an impressive display of his talents.  It’s abundantly clear this month just how intimately Fraction “gets” Tony Stark as character, superhero, and, above all else, human being.  From his self-deprecating candor, to his vulnerability, it’s a compelling read in that it makes clear that Iron Man, one the most iconic superheroes around, is really just a man.

With the whole thing revolving around an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Fraction makes the comic feel real, concrete, and fully believable, regardless of the crazy cosmic events he has Tony describe.  Suffice it to say, by issue’s end, it’s impossible not to both like and empathize with Tony.  Part of the reason for this is that Tony is so aware of his own failings and vulnerabilities.  His self-analysis is comprehensive and astute and so it’s easy to both respect him and feel affection for him.  What we’re left with is, under Fraction’s hand, perhaps the most engaging and compelling leading man in superhero comics today, a fully three dimensional character that is infectiously readable.

Salvador Larroca’s artwork was also a big surprise for me this month.  He’s been working so steadily on Invincible Iron Man that I’ve come to associate that look with him so much that it’s hard to believe that he’s’ capable of anything else.  This month though, Larroca essentially becomes two different artists.  The present day portions are illustrated in his typical style, but when tasked with drawing flashbacks, he adopts a more old-school look.  It’s still detailed, but a little less super-realistic, less glossy, and a bit more scratchy.  I actually had to double-check to make sure there wasn’t a guest artist on board this month.