Savage Wolverine 2, Wolverine MAX 4

Savage Wolverine 2
Cho (w and a) and Keith (c)

Still not sold. That's what this is going to come down to, so there's my prediction for the end of this review. My issues from last week are at least somewhat diminished, largely regarding Shanna and her often exposed bits. Don't get me wrong, they're still pretty exposed. And yes, that's Shanna's outfit and Kazar is just as exposed, sure. Though, I'd argue with Kazar, his secret parts (the totally adult way I refer to genitals) aren't bulging out, as Shanna's breasts are. The reason I'm saying, then, that they're somewhat diminished is that Cho revealed that Shanna IS, in fact, wearing a leopard-print bikini bottom  underneath her loin cloth. So that's a step up and, quite frankly after last issue, we were at kind of a low bar. However, the story itself wasn't as prominent here as it was in issue one, which is worrying. They reiterated the fact, a lot, that they need to get off the island and that they need to damage a machine and that there are dinosaurs in the Savage Land. If I had to summarize this issue, I'd say "Wolverine and Shanna fight dinosaurs, talk about needing to get off the island, fight more dinosaurs, and bicker. And Amadeus Cho shows up and allows the natives to think he's a god."

In truth, the Amadeus Cho stuff was the most interesting of this issue. It's worth wondering where he's been since he and Hercules split up after, I think, the Chaos War, and after his very small part in, I want to say, Fear Itself. He's at least typically a pretty intriguing character, if just because unbelievably intelligent people are usually easy to watch. So he shows up, with a new AI named Calvin and with powers tied to that AI. It's like Iron Man's Jarvis AI in the movies and what not. Though the machine on the island preventing Shanna and Wolverine's escape is impairing his own abilities, Cho is still able to protect himself with an AI-based exoskeleton, translate with his AI-based universal translator, and hover a bit with his AI-based...hover-abilities, I guess? He does all of this as he's attacked by some natives and they quickly bow to him. If I'm sounding vague about this new AI, it's because we only know what we're given right now. Presumably we'll hear a backstory about it at some point or something along those lines because I believe it's new tech for Cho.

Unfortunately, the fact that Cho is the most interesting part to me of this issue doesn't really bode well for a book called "Savage Wolverine." I just don't get it, I think. When I didn't realize there was a new Wolverine book coming out with Marvel NOW!, Savage Wolverine made some amount of sense. Bring Wolverine back to his more antihero roots outside of things like Wolverine and the X-Men and Uncanny Avengers. But Paul Cornell and Alan Davis have a new Wolverine series coming out in March and the next review on this very page is Wolverine MAX, which has more leeway with swearing and gore and sex. We'll see how Cornell's series goes, but it does beg the question "why does Savage Wolverine need to exist?" Still not sold.

Wolverine MAX 4
Starr (w) and Boschi and Ruiz (a) and Brown (c)

I admit, I think I missed an issue or two of this series. I remember the first issue and maybe another one in between then and now but a lot of the information in this one was a first to me. However, it's also possible that's because of my predisposed sort of aversion to the MAX line or to the fact that, as an ugly American, I tend to zone out a little more when Wolverine's in Japan. It usually ties to his samurai background and I just tell myself I'll never fully understand it so my brain doesn't even bother trying. It happens. Still something interesting going on, clearly, that I'm JUST on the outskirts of. Wolverine has run across Victor Creed and Creed is trying to convince him that he's responsible for a plane crash that killed all the passengers (aside from Wolverine), including his own girlfriend Yami. Wolverine refuses to believe it but his memories are shot from the crash and he can't confirm that what Creed is saying isn't true. Neither can the audience, so we're left in a tough spot trying to figure out if Wolverine is the animal he always tries to bury or if Creed's lying, like normal.

The issue shows a series of flashbacks as Logan slowly gains memories back. He attempts to remember his deceased wife Mariko and what the cause of her death was, as well as where he might have hidden a sword she gave him (which Creed needs). Along the way, he starts to remember bits from the plane ride. Finally, just as someone sneaks up on him at Mariko's grave, he remembers that there was a decoy on the plane with a detonator who Wolverine tried to stop while Yami pressed the real detonator. It's an interesting story that goes the way a lot of Wolverine stories tend to go. Wolverine can't remember what's happening, he can't decide if he's a monster or not, and finally he realizes that he was a pawn or that he's being manipulated or that he's the good guy. The next step, likely saved for Wolverine MAX 5, is to beat up a whole lot of people. So get ready for that.

Like I said, the story's a pretty good one, if well-tread. I do appreciate that both this book and Fury MAX 9 steered a little bit clear of the MAX designation. There was extra blood and a couple extra swears, but I don't think it really stood out a whole ton. There are plenty of things like this MAX line (where this has happened before) or, for example, shows on HBO and the like that have excessive amounts of swearing or sex just because they can. It usually weakens the story. I'm not saying that these series won't eventually have elements of that, but it's nice to see that they aren't leaning on it. Still, we'll have to see how this storyline pans out before making a full-out judgment for or against it.