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 #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.