Savage Wolverine 12
P. Jimenez and Lope (w) and P. Jimenez (a) and Rosenberg (c)
Wolverine apparently spends a lot of his time in Africa because he likes to hunt the animals there; hunt, not kill, he's sure to mention. Hunt in that he likes to sneak up to and get close enough to the animals to hang out with them and commune with them. He's doing that currently, with an elephant specifically, when something draws him away. The smell of death hangs in the air and he tracks it to three extremely wounded rhinos, all of whom have had their horns cut off and all of whom are on the brink of dying a slow and painful death. A group of people with guns appear and Wolverine goes feral, attacking them ferociously. He manages to calm down just enough to hear that they're not the guys who did this, they're the rangers and they're on the trail of the poachers and now Wolverine's destroyed their guns so they can't put these animals out of their misery. Wolverine, of course, has to do it. Logan calls Kitty and has her track the poacher operation and figure out what their course of action is and has her track his elephant. Kitty traces the operation to flying out of Mozambique to Madripoor, where they're stored and sold to clients. Wolverine is outraged, having spent his time in charge of Madripoor making sure no poacher sales came through. He believes it was probably Daken who overturned that and welcomed poachers. He catches up with the jet out of Mozambique and pays a visit to old friend Tyger Tiger, hoping to find out who's been behind this. Of course, when he finds the warehouse, he learns that it's her and she has a slew of her men draw guns on him.
Pretty interesting side of Wolverine here. It's not a necessarily unexpected one for the guy who was raised with the animals. Even as recently as this summer's
The Wolverine, we've seen Wolverine care for and defend animals in their habitat and connect with them on another level. This is a nice part of Wolverine to see and his dedication to stopping this poacher ring is both admirable and intense. The comic itself drags a little bit as we get a little too much explanation of poaching and his deep love for animals, slowing a bit in the middle of the issue. Aside from that, the art is good and this Wolverine is pretty sharp and well-written, with his loyalties pretty openly at the surface here. There's also a little bit of a comic relief scene with Kitty teaching some ridiculous class about costume choice (??) that kind of breaks the flow of the book right down the middle. Still, not a bad issue and the art certainly does its job here.
Wolverine and the X-Men 38
Aaron (w) and Larraz (a) and Milla (c)
Broo is giving a tour to the newest students at the Jean Grey School, the Bricklemoore twins, as a SHIELD carrier descends on the school. Wolverine and the core administration head out to meet the emerging Maria Hill and Dazzler to talk about the events of BATTLE OF THE ATOM. Hill indicates that, despite what they might think, SHIELD didn't intend to fire on them over Cape Citadel and that they're not sure what happened. It still, for the X-Men, doesn't cover the fact that SHIELD clearly has Sentinels on their side. Hill doesn't regret having them, explaining that she's responsible for protecting the people of the world, which means being prepared to take down mutants on the days mutants end up almost destroying the world. The fight is a bitter one and it reveals SHIELD's fear of mutants. Wolverine gets Quentin Quire to hack SHIELD and find their Sentinel warehouses for him to destroy. The activity alerts Dazzler to Wolverine's plan. Dazzler (really Mystique) initially has the men at those warehouses stand mostly down to let Wolverine vent some frustration but then, finding out that Quire also moved funds out of her agency, changes her mind. Cyclops' school, meanwhile, keeps tabs on SHIELD activity and realizes that they're overprotecting their Sentinel bases and Scott wants to go investigate. Finally, the Bricklemoore twins reveal themselves to actually be secret not-mutant agents under Dazzler's command.
For there being so many irons in the fire on this one, the book certainly takes its time getting to them. The Broo-giving-a-tour is largely meant for kind of comic relief purposes and, one could say, establishing some characters around the school, which is particularly odd considering this is the 38th issue and that the book is ending after only a few more issues, KIND OF meaning that people who haven't already learned about these characters really don't have much time left to. The idea of Wolverine and Cyclops meeting one-on-one again is certainly an interesting one and, frankly, probably the most interesting of all of the ideas levied here. The idea that SHIELD is a little anti-mutant right now is obviously an interesting one but one that's being explored all over the mutant-wing of the universe and one that, you know, invokes SHIELD, making it kind of boring. As for Mystique's plans, this book makes no qualms about saying that that storyline is mostly happening in Bendis' books, making me wonder why this particular iron is in this particular fire. Still, there's plenty happening to keep us busy through the end of this series' run.
Wolverine and the X-Men Annual 1
Aaron (w) and Bradshaw, Wong, Kesel, and Olazaba (a) and Mossa (c)
Kid Gladiator is back on the Shi'ar homeworld and back at his Imperial Guard Training Academy, giving a report of his time on Earth. His report kind of makes him realize that he didn't actually hate Earth all that much and his time back with the Academy has made him realize that there's not enough action here for him. He's thus pretty excited when the Builders attack the universe, giving him a chance to stow away, against his father's wishes, and take part in the fight. He excels out there and eventually it comes to Gladiator's attention that his son is indeed out there and running rampant. He's impressed with his son (who also had to take down four Warbirds back on the Shi'ar homeworld to even escape) and allows him to keep fighting at his side. They also talk about Kubark going back to Earth, where he wants to go. Gladiator can't really allow it but, after all the fighting has ceased for the time, he relents and sends Kid Gladiator back to Earth, where we see him at the end of the issue as well as in WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN 38.
Not a bad character study for Kid Gladiator, who has always been a pompous Shi'ar warrior. His fighting has undoubtedly improved but we also see his personality come along a bit in the same way we saw Warbird's back in ASTONISHING X-MEN. It's not exactly a new story as the kid leaves his home that he thinks is better, learns about the new culture and doesn't like it at the time but realizes later that all he wants is what he thought he didn't. Okay, so that's not a great explanation but WHATEVER, it's Thanksgiving weekend and give me a break and you get it, right? It's still a nice look at Kid Gladiator and puts him a little into perspective as he heads back to Earth to brag and fight some more. It's also not a bad look at another angle of INFINITY, one that more invokes the Shi'ar's involvement and that shows the front lines a little more, rather than the war council/front lines.
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