Dark Wolverine #85 – Review

by Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu (writers), Stephen Segovia (artist)

The Story: Wolverine calls a meeting with his wayward son, Daken, to request his help in taking down uber-baddie Romulus.  However, unbeknownst to the feral X-Man, his son isn’t necessarily on his side.  But is that actually part of Wolverine’s plan?

What’s Good: * Sigh*  I would really like to be positive here and have something nice to say about this issue.  I’d really, really like to…

What’s Not So Good: This is by far the weakest Dark Wolverine issue since the character of Daken took over his father’s title.  The driving cause of this is easily the fact that it’s crossing over with Wolverine Origins beginning with this issue.  Despite the unnecessary convolutions in the life of Wolverine that Daniel Way has wrought over in Origins, Daken somehow emerged to be an interesting character when you separated him from all of that mumbo jumbo.  Now that this story has brought him back into the excruciatingly boring Romulus story-line, it seems we’ll have to deal with two months of uninteresting plots.  I’m being a little harsh here, really, but man, I love Wolverine, and Daken has grown into a favorite character of mine under the pen of Way and Liu, despite all odds.  The fact that we’ve taken a step back to wrap up the whole Romulus thing seems like a shame to me.  At least this crossover will tie all of that up and then we can move on to telling interesting stories again.

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

DS’ Top Picks

Pick of the Week: Batgirl #9 – Despite some strong competition, my surprise winner for pick of the week is Batgirl #9. This book is just plain fun, all the time. Solid craftsmanship on writing and art delivered speeding adventures, tense personal moments and lots of Batgirl’s self-deprecating one-liners.

Most Anticipated: Green Lantern #53 – a Brightest Day tie-in! Fresh off of Blackest Night, Brightest Day is the next big thing and Green Lantern is at the center. Watch this title this week and this year – lots of big things are happening as the DCU shakes off the effects of Blackest Night.

Other Top Picks: Justice League of America #44, Guardians of the Galaxy #25, X-Men Legacy #235 (Second Coming, Chapter 4), Power Girl #11, Avengers vs Agents of Atlas #4.

Joe’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week: Siege: Loki #1 – While far from essential to the overall Siege storyline, this one-shot from Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie really blew me away.  Pitch-perfect artwork supported by a script that made the decades-old character of Loki seem fresh pushed this one to the top of the pile for me.

Most Anticipated: The Amazing Spider-Man #628 – There’s lots of comics being released this week that I’m eager to flip open, but the last issue of ASM surprised me by entertaining me from front to back, so this one jumps to the head of the line.  Juggernaut, Spidey, Lee Weeks, and Roger Stern?  I am so there.

Other Picks: X-Men:Legacy #235, Green Lantern #53, Dark Wolverine #85, Doomwar #3, Marvelous Land of Oz #5, Supergirl #52, Blackest Night Director’s Cut #1, Guardians of the Galaxy #25

Alex’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week: The Unwritten #12 -Great artwork is only the icing on the cake for one of the funniest things I’ve read this year thus far.  Of course, it’s not all obscenities and jokes, as also get yet another theme of literary interpretation.  There is no limit when it comes to the awesomeness of this book.

Most Anticipated: Green Lantern #53 -This is my only pull for the week.  I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a week more dead.  So Green Lantern wins by default, though I’m sure it’ll be another solid outing for Johns.

Dean’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week: The Unwritten #12 – Learning that “real people” could be forced into stories was a pretty neat reveal, but the magic of this issue came from the foul-mouthed cartoon rabbit as he tried to escape story-hell.

Most Anticipated: Guardians of the Galaxy #25 – After last month’s cliffhanger I’m really excited to see how this leads into the Thanos Imperative.

Other Top Picks: American Vampire #2, Elephantmen #25, Amazing Spider-Man #628, X-Men Legacy #235