Wolverine 12
Cornell (w) and Davis and Farmer (a) and Hollingsworth (c)
The Killable arc is finally on the homestretch as is this iteration of WOLVERINE before Stegman takes art duties and the series renumbers. Wolverine gets beat up by Silver Samurai and a couple more of the Hand before they disappear, allowing him to run back, shaken and on the brink of being feral, to Kitty and the others who are trying to barricade the doors. One of the human guards yells at Wolverine, instigating him and accusing him until Wolverine can't handle it and slashes his arm. Everyone is sort of horrified but the guard changes into Mystique and rushes away, satisfied at showing Wolverine's lack of morals. Wolverine and Kitty step away and Wolverine calls out for Sabretooth, summoning a couple of Hand soldiers and Sabretooth himself, who destroys Wolverine some more before promising to kill him with his own sword. Meanwhile, back at the SHIELD helicarrier, the Host is trying to interact with the virus on a worldwide basis but the helicarrier is under attack.
I've said it before and I'll say it again (hopefully just the once more though REALLY hopefully not ever again) this series has some interesting things happening in the story and with some of the characters but overall, it's woefully boring which weakens all of the positives of the series. The art continues to feel slow and the writing never feels weak but it never feels particularly sharp either. I'm hoping that the change of pace artist when Stegman takes over will revitalize the series enough to keep what might even be strong storylines a little less slow. Overall though, this arc has mostly been about Wolverine getting beaten up all over the place and really heavy-handed human/mutant problems and so on, so the underlying story is okay but even the beats are getting old here, and again the pacing and the overall tone slow the book more so everything is working against it right now. WOLVERINE has the potential to be a good book but I think we'll have to wait to see Stegman's stuff (though again with Cornell's writing) before we can say this is the way to go with him.
Wolverine and the X-Men 39
Aaron (w) and Larraz (a) and Milla w/ Pantazis (c)
Wolverine has arrived at the secret SHIELD base where they've determined SHIELD is storing Sentinels and is dismayed to find himself face-to-face with Cyclops. The two put aside their problems to team up against the Sentinels but both discover that neither's powers are up to standards, with Cyclops' eye beams uncontrollable and Wolverine's healing factor gone (been a long year, huh?). Back at the school, the Bricklemoore twins (new students from
WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN 38) have successfully infiltrated the school as agents of SHIELD to assess the threat. The boy, a three-faced boy named Tri-Joey by the other students, has taken to the school and enjoyed his time there while his sister Squidface (pretty accurate description) has stuck to the mission and her drilled-in hatred of mutants. They're actually kids who were taken out of an orphanage from SHIELD and given mutant growth hormones to fit in but now Squidface is ready to take down the school, to the chagrin of Tri-Joey. As they prepare to call in SHIELD and break into the teacher's room to take control of the school, the students show up to stop them, disappointed that Tri-Joey is following his sister's lead.
Somewhat interesting book. I don't know if I mentioned yet but this book apparently isn't
actually going away, as I may have reported previously, with Jason Aaron's leaving. Instead, WINTER SOLDIER scribe Jason Latour will be taking over writing duties on the book. As I type that, I'm certain I've already said it but WHATEVER, it's more applicable here than it was there, I'm sure. Anyway, this issue was a bit better than a lot of the ones we've had over on this title for a while, giving us a nice rundown of a lot of the characters (making this a pretty good issue to jump onboard, actually) and showing the different perspectives on them from friend and enemy alike. Tri-Joey focuses on the good of the school and the people who could be dangerous but aren't while Squidface's report focuses on the seemingly more harmless ones who are actually pretty scary in certain lights. The Wolverine and Cyclops meet-up is predictable but also a long time coming (they met again in the terrible BATTLE OF THE ATOM but didn't do the one-on-one thing so it's a bit new here). Not bad.
Wolverine MAX 14
Starr (w) and Boschi (a) and Brown (c)
The penultimate issue of WOLVERINE MAX, a series that may have already gone too long, finds Wolverine finally finding the guy who called him to Vegas. The man's son leads him to the casino his father owns and leaves the two alone for a bit. The man, Mickey Gold, tells Wolverine that he'd been a hit man for Gold and that he wants him to pick it up again. Wolverine is against it, saying that he's not sure what he did then or who he was then but that he's different now and he won't get caught up in this. Gold points out that he's already responsible for tons of deaths in his short time back in the states and that the police are looking for him all over the city so just walking outside without Gold's protection would get him arrested. As such, Wolverine goes with Mickey Gold Jr. to the first target's home, a man named Saiquan, and Wolverine surprises Gold Jr. by trying to tell Saiquan that they're there to tell him to get out of town and that someone's trying to kill him. Gold Jr. is blown away by the change and immediately grabs the woman who had opened the door and puts a gun to her head. Saiquan, in turn, grabs his own gun and starts shooting at Wolverine, who cuts off Gold Jr.'s hands before charging Saiquan. Soon, everyone but Wolverine is dead and he's left with his thoughts.
I still don't really get this series and I think that the writing feels kind of the same way. For a long time, I think this series has floundered and has been extremely heavy-handed about Wolverine's memories, constantly reminding us that Wolverine doesn't have his memories and doesn't know who to trust. I think there's a good series in here somewhere, something that could have been a really great mystery and suspenseful book in kind of the way SECRET INVASION was good, with no one being sure who to trust and people occasionally revealing themselves to be allies and some occasionally revealing themselves to be enemies. I don't know that you could write a full Wolverine book like that entirely but I think it'd've been more interesting and better executed than what's happened here. Not going to be too upset that this one's falling by the wayside.
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