Regular readers will remember the series of reports I did on Essential Classic X-Men Vol. 2. As it happens I get to revisit that, because the large batch of comics I covered in the Quarter Bin "Brother's Blitz" columns also included Essential Wolverine Vol. 2, and so I'll be doing exactly that again, giving my thoughts as I read through the collection.
Starting out we have in the first reading:
WOLVERINE #s 24-30 (Marvel)
All comics in this collection were originally published between 1990 and 1991. As we begin, he is apparently on a leave of absence from the X-Men, believed dead and living in Madripoor, a small island nation off the coast of Asia. The first issue is written by Peter David and is pretty storybook in its examination of the inhabitants of this country, the typical assassins of a superhero (or crime) story mixed with street urchins. Comics legend Gene Colan provides the art.
The other six issues from this reading are written by Jo Duffy, notably a woman working on one of the most masculine characters in comics. Art varies from John Buscema to Klaus Janson to Barry Kitson. Though only the final four issues comprise the "Lazarus Project" arc, it's all essentially a connected narrative concerning the life Wolverine has made in the tiny country under the assumed identity of Patch (so-named because he wears a patch over one eye).
While there's plenty of story happening around him, the issues are notable in that they're related to the reader via a running monologue from Wolverine, the kind of caption narration that has fallen out of favor with most creators. I happen to love this kind of comic book storytelling. I like when creators are confident enough to show as well as tell. Most amateur writers have it drilled into them that telling is somehow a sin of the craft.
In this particular show, it's very reminiscent of the kind of movies Hollywood was making at the time, still influenced by the Vietnam and Cold Wars, what gave us John Rambo. Wolverine in this version is Rambo via Clint Eastwood (no chairs involved).
What's funny is that Wolverine could have a comic like this at perhaps the height of X-Men popularity (at least in the comics), that is nothing at all like you'd expect from a character known, as I've said, to be about as manly and savage as you can get. It was a different time. It was before Image. It was perhaps the last time Marvel could truly be itself and get away with it. And so we end up with a Wolverine who sits around drinking tea and gambling and basically doing everything he can to stay out of trouble. In this version of the character, he's very similar to the Bruce-Banner-on-the-run as seen in the old Hulk TV series and in some of his recent movie experiences (or even where Wolverine himself in when we first meet him in the movies).
It's not even the classic Wolverine-in-Japan stories. Some of that is touched on, though, and it actually seems the most extraneous element of Duffy's stories. I'll admit to some skepticism early in the reading. This isn't the Wolverine I expected. But it's a Wolverine I started to love.
I don't read a lot of Marvel comics, and I don't read a lot of Wolverine comics. I enjoyed the "Old Man Logan" arc, and Marc Guggenheim had some interesting thoughts about why Wolverine can't die, and perhaps more recently Jeph Loeb seems to have done some interesting things concerning Sabretooth (those are some stories I will read at some point).
We'll see how the rest of the collection goes.
Gambling's probably not a good idea when you want to avoid trouble, unless it's buying lottery tickets.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly he wasn't really trying to avoid trouble so much as putting Wolverine temporarily out of the picture. He was more low-key. Aside from retaining that ridiculous hairdo. Still, Hugh Jackman pulls it off. He's probably the only person in existence who can, however.
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