Wolverine #15 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writing), Goran Sudzuka (art), Matthew Wilson (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story:  Logan finds new and interesting ways of beating himself up after last month’s shocking finale.

The Review:  Once in a while, our standard review format doesn’t quite work, particularly when a book’s positives and negatives are deeply intertwined.  This is one of those times.

Reading this issue, there’s no mistaking the fact that Jason Aaron is a very, very good writer with an excellent handle of his craft.  His script is filled with deep, heavy emotion and he shows a complete mastery of Logan’s unique voice that I can only wish more Marvel writers had in their own backpockets.  This is an emotionally affecting, gut-wrenching book that bleeds depression like an unrelenting funeral doom album.  After last month’s revelation, it’s the aftermath you’d expect and more.  That Aaron isn’t content to dump a major reveal and move on is admirable, as is his willingness to explore the emotional ramifications more than anything else.

But here’s the problem: as good as the script is on a technical level and as evocative and Aaron’s prose is, he goes too far in his depiction of Wolverine’s self-flagellation.  It’s a narrow line to walk and, for me anyway, Aaron ends up  going too over the top, winding up in unintentional comedy country.  Wolverine’s self-imposed penance is, in a word, ridiculous.

Having him jump off a mountain again and again?  Having him drag coffins all around he country?  It’s too much.  Excluding the fact that this all comes dangerously close to depressing for depression’s sake, Logan’s actions wind up being unbelievable.  I mean…the man jumps off a cliff again and again like a certain Warner Brothers coyote.  When tragedy turns into morbid slapstick, it’s clear something has gone terribly wrong.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with depressing comics, but this book is a downer without much of a purpose beyond, well, being a downer, as though Aaron sat down with the sole express purpose of writing the most depressing Wolverine comic of all time.  This also leads to situations that beggar belief.  For instance, in one scene, I found myself particularly incredulous at the idea that an average Joe on the street would be willing to cut another man’s throat without a second thought.  Again, I may be coming off like a broken record here, but it’s just too much.

Wolverine #14 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Renato Guedes (pencils), Jose Wilson Magalhaes (inks), Matthew Wilson (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story:  Logan realizes that it was never his revenge that he was working towards as the Red Right Hand’s plan reaches its gut-wrenching endgame.

What’s Good:  Wow, Jason Aaron nails us with some huge, huge twists this month.  I mean, I suppose it was to be expected that we’d get a big curveball in this final issue, but seriously….just wow.

Right from the get-go, we discover the nasty surprise that the Red Right Hand has in store for Logan and it’s a stunner.  After all the diabolical acts they’ve perpetrated on Logan, it’s such an utterly twisted about-face.  Once again, all I can say is that Jason Aaron is a sick man and that this was the sort of thing that only he could come up with.

The best part of that twist though?  It’s a big twist, yes, but Aaron fools us into thinking that that’s the endgame.  And it’s not.  At all.  In fact, it’s just the appetizer for the megaton hammer of a shocker at the end of the issue.  As most readers have probably suspected, the Red Right Hand have been playing Logan for a fool as he rampaged about their compound.  However, no one could’ve possibly expected this.  Guaranteed, your jaw will hit the floor.  It’s one of those things where, one panel before the reveal, you start to realize what’s going to happen but still can’t quite believe it when it does.  It’s one of those shockers that’s guaranteed to make you pause and stop reading just for a moment.  Holy crap.

The team of Guedes, Magalhaes, and Wilson also do a fine job once again.  While we’ve seen their abilities in depicting action and grotesque stuff in general, they do solid work on subtler things this month, most notably Logan’s emotional reactions and the facial expressions of a couple key members of the Red Right Hand.  Of course, that’s not to say that they don’t get a chance at depicting some good ol’ violence.  Truly, their depictions of dead bodies really don’t hold much back.

Wolverine #13 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Renato Guedes (pencils), Jose Wilson Magalhaes (inks), Matthew Wilson (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: It always comes down to those damned ninjas.

What’s Good: In another flashback into the past of a “Wolverine victim,” Jason Aaron gives us an inside look into the Hand.  Overall, I enjoyed Aaron’s take on the ninja cult You get your honor-based suicides, your unsettling scenes of children killing each other, but most of all, Aaron adds a very, very unsettling wrinkle to the Hand with the role of its women.  I won’t spoil it, but in both dialogue and….occupation….it’s genuinely disturbing stuff and due to Aaron’s writing of it and Guedes’ unnerving illustration of these women, it may very well be the creepiest thing I’ve read in a major Marvel comic this year.

The art continues to be solid.  Renato Guedes’ action scenes are fast and fun and his illustration on the world of the Hand is appropriately dark with a hint of the grotesque.  His level of detail is rock solid as always and there’s little to complain about, particularly given that Matthew Wilson continues to find the best possible palette for Guedes’ work.

And oh yeah, we get one hell of a cliffhanger as well.  It’s really one of those endings that’ll leave you salivating for the next issue, but without feeling cheap or leaving you feeling cheated.

Wolverine #12 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Renato Guedes (pencils), Jose Wilson Magalhaes (inks), Matthew Wilson (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: The story is revealed behind another of the Red Right Hand, as is the demonic source of their power.  Meanwhile, Wolverine finds himself in a two-on-one fight to the death.

What’s Good:  Did you like Jason Aaron’s Ghost Rider?  If you did, you’re going to absolutely love this issue, because that’s the Jason Aaron we get this month, in force.

Between the insane violence, the gruesome satanic rituals, the hooded cultists, the animal parts, and the creepy possessed kids, this is Aaron heading back to the world of grindhouse horror.  That’s a very good thing, because it’s something he does very well and it’s very distinctly his own.  It makes for a Wolverine comic that’s far from the norm.  It’s creepy, gruesome, and has a grimy, over-the-top, low budget feel.

Going along with this is Aaron’s twisted humour.  The two villains we get this month are, as usual, demented in concept and brilliant and comedic in dialogue.  There’s also a gag in this issue relating to how one of the Red Right Hand’s members seeks catharsis that is…well…it’s hilarious and it feels like something Garth Ennis would come up with.  The visual image we get from this sequence is, in itself, unbelievable.

Much like the last two months, Aaron also gives us a flashback to recount the history of one of the Red Right Hand’s faithful.  Thankfully, he does deviate from the formula a bit here.  The flashback is a single prologue an isn’t spread throughout the issue, and it’s also much more contemporary.  It’s also very different insofar as what Wolverine is guilty of.  This month, Logan’s wrong is entirely accidental and unbeknownst to him.  While he’s looked like a monster over the last couple of months, here, he’s just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Wolverine #11 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Renato Guedes (pencils), Jose Wilson Magalhaes (inks), Matthew Wilson (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Logan fights for his life against Shadow Stalker and just who is that sad looking, veiled old lady, anyway?

What’s Good:  Much as was the case last month, I’m really digging the flashback scenes.  The writing is really intimate, emphasizing the trauma the Logan leaves in his wake and Aaron manages to paint as both a childhood boogeyman and the conflicted killer that he is, all in one fell swoop.  Aaron also does a good job of making the most of the perspective of the old lady’s memory; there’s a sense of grief throughout to go with the wrongness.  It’s solid work insofar as in just a few pages, I feel like I’ve really gotten to know a character that we only just met.  We understand her motivations, her personality, and her history in a narrative that felt both sincere and visceral.  It’s hard not to empathize with her, as through no real fault of her own, her loved ones all end up being enemies or targets of Logan’s and the consequent heartbreak feels real and developed.

In the present-day, the action scenes are fun as Aaron yet again cooks up another twisted concept of a bad guy for Logan to get his ass kicked by.  Shadow Stalker is all grindhouse chic, which is something that is definitely a strong point of Aaron’s.  Her banter is also about a demented as you’d expect, what with her appearance and all, which provides a more personal battle that’s a nice shift from the Cannonfoot fight last month.

Overall, I enjoyed the artwork as well.  While I sort of have a more ambivalent relationship with Guedes’ work, I enjoyed Matthew Wilson’s colors a great deal during the flashbacks, as once again he manages to give the scenes a nice, old-timey, American feel.  Also, I do really like Guedes’ character design for Shadow Stalker.

Wolverine #10 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Renato Guedes (pencils), Jose Wilson Magalhaes (inks), Matthew Wilson (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: “I know you’re the bastards who sent me to hell!  I’m here to return the favor!”

The Review:  With Wolverine on the warpath, Jason Aaron continues to right the ship on this title.  While this issue isn’t mind-blowing, “best of the year” type stuff, it’s the kind of comic where if I can get this level of quality month in and month out, the series will wind up being among the best that Marvel has to offer.

Fans of Jason Aaron’s run on Ghost Rider will enjoy this issue.  That’s not so much due to any ties in continuity or what have you, but rather because, in this issue’s major action scene, Aaron displays the gruesome, twisted imagination that made his work with the Spirit of Vengeance so memorable.  It’s that over-the-top, wince-inducing, yet oddly comical and ridiculous grindhouse frame of mind that Aaron has.   I’m mostly referencing the baddie Wolverine squares off with this month, a furry guy named Cannonfoot whose power or ability is both simple and ludicrous.  Honestly, only Aaron could have come with a character like this.  It’s just bonkers, but it also leads to a fight’s a lot of fun, particularly with how it ends.

Wolverine #9 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Daniel Acuna (artist), and Cory Petit (letterer)

The Story: Logan begins his bloodthirsty quest for revenge.  First target: Mystique.

The Review:  I’ve been waiting months, and it finally happened: Wolverine’s out of hell.  And by out of hell, I mean no more demons, no more demonic possession, no more fire and brimstone.  We’ve gone back to basics:  Wolverine is out for blood and will kill anyone who gets in his way.  That’s often when Aaron’s Wolverine has been at its strongest, so this alone is good news.

Thus, unsurprisingly, we get an issue with a lot of action.  First and foremost, Wolverine himself is awesome this month.  He is a bad, bad dude.  No more regret, no more deep introspection.  Logan is a one man wrecking crew and an absolute animal.  He’s scary and he’s on the hunt.  A particular favorite of mine this month is when, on a car chase with Mystique, Logan sticks his arm out a window in an attempt to deliver a drive-by clawing.  That’s the kind of Logan you get this month, and it’s very fun.

Speaking of fun: Jason Aaron’s Lord Deathstrike.  From a design stand-point, the guy oozes cool.  Who can say no to a guy dressed in a full suit and a creepy Japanese mask who happens to pack a huge assortment of guns and tech.  The feats Aaron has this character pull of this month are completely and utterly ludicrous.  So much so, that it’s impossible not to like the character.  The scene that first introduces us to him is singularly one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen a character do in a comic book.  It actually had me say “no freaking way” out loud.  Honestly, even if you don’t buy this book, I recommend reading just those pages (2-3) the next time you pop into your comic shop.