Wolverine 5, Origin II 5, What If? Age of Ultron 5

Wolverine 5
Cornell (w) and Sandoval (a) and Curiel (c) and Petit (l)

Wolverine, new girlfriend Pinch, and the Lost Boy go out into the city on a night off while Wolverine gets drugs that keep his metal skeleton from poisoning him. Afterwards, the three of them go to a tattoo parlor where Wolverine gets a tattoo from a superpowered tattoo artist, who has the ability to instantly know what tattoo best fits a person (??). He chooses a rose for Wolverine and, though he doesn't necessarily know why it fits, instantly tattoos it onto his arm. Then the three of them head to Wolverine's favorite bar wherein some of his old pals tend to gather. Tonight, though, Thor is among those old pals and he's not thrilled to see Wolverine. Logan tries to show him the tattoo but it doesn't seem to have an impact on Thor and the three are forced to hustle away. Their next mission will take them to Madripoor in search of Sabretooth.

Story
This issue is more dedicated to character than to story as it's something of a break in the spy work storyline, though a few things are made very slightly more clear story wise. In this case, Wolverine's "I take drugs to stop my skeleton poisoning me" clears that question up with literally the tiniest of explanations (WHATEVER, we're not really reading for the science of this, are we?) and Wolverine sort of reaching out to Thor as if to try to get him to be understand is a neat little story twist, though it's negated somewhat by the fact that SOMEHOW Pinch figures it out. We don't know much about Pinch but I'm willing to believe she's a pretty smart, pretty capable woman. However, the leaps she makes to start to suspect Wolverine's true motive in showing Thor his tattoo feel really convenient, very much like an advance-the-plot kind of thing. 3/5

Character
The focus of this issue is Pinch, which is good because we're five issues in with Wolverine's new team and I feel like we don't know a thing about any of them. I have literally no connection to anyone regularly appearing in this book who isn't named Logan (or Wolverine or James or whatever, you get it). Now Pinch is starting to get a little more personality but, as I mentioned above, I'm not sure it's any more personality than just what's capable of driving the plot forward. The key for Cornell right now is clearly to make Wolverine feel attached to his teammates so he's conflicted when the time comes to turn evidence on them and so most of Pinch's narrative and dialogue this issue can be chalked up to a desire to only do exactly that, drive the plot ahead or tell us more about Wolverine. She's slightly more defined but it's done in such a way that she feels like a plot device as much as anything else. Also, Wolverine's new rose tattoo (meant to symbolize Rose, his childhood friend he ended up accidentally killing as told back in ORIGIN) doesn't so much characterize anything new as it does hit us over the head with the old. 2/5

Writing
There's no big tone to establish here as it's something of a rest issue, meant instead to establish characters over story. As such, I covered most of the writing of the book with my complaints in the above two sections, particularly in character. Not entirely onboard with the writing here. 2/5

Art
Gerardo Sandoval's art isn't totally dissimilar to Ryan Stegman's but it's not totally similar either. Everyone has a rather similar look and build but Sandoval's art seems to be sharper, giving Wolverine's mask and almost Batman Beyond feel. I don't love Wolverine's new costume (reminds me almost too much of someone like Constrictor, weirdly) but I do like Sandoval's much sharper cowl sort of thing. I can't really explain why, just appreciate it aesthetically. And guess what, the art gets full marks because of it. I've gone mad with power! 5/5

Miscellaneous
Whatever.

Total score: 3/5


Origin II 5
Gillen (w) and Adam Kubert (a) and F. Martin w/Beredo (c) and Caramagna (l)

With Clara thought dead, Logan and Victor plan to raid Essex's compound and kill Nathaniel Essex. Logan leads the way, plowing through mines and gunfire and soldiers before reaching the building. He makes his way to Essex, who informs him that Creed tipped them off to where Logan would be. Logan guts Essex then goes to find Creed. The two fight and Creed tells Logan that he ought to kill himself now, or at least take some of Essex's poison, because he can never live as a human. Everyone he loves will leave him somehow. Before the fight concludes, Clara shows up wielding a rifle. She explains to Logan that the Creeds are also mutants with varying skills and tries to convince him not to kill Victor. Logan, not wanting to hear that, holds Creed's head in a vat of Essex's concoction until he seems pretty dead. Clara demands he leave, rebuking him for the act and not seeing him again. Four months later, a more animalistic Creed has re-emerged and finds Clara only for Clara to tell him that their little brother Saul is dead.

Story
The conclusion of ORIGIN II is a nice finish as it brings up all the regular Wolverine themes, animal vs. man, Creed vs. Logan, the price of killing people, etc., while leaving a certain amount of ambiguity to the story. Clara, who has some experience both with dealing with animals (it's apparently her mutant power, along with healing) and dealing with broken people (being a Creed), seems the perfect judge of Wolverine's character and rebukes him not for his animal side but for his cold-blooded killer man side. It's a blow to Logan but it's not inaccurate and it puts this story firmly in the camp of interesting Wolverine stories that make a reader wonder what's really going on in there. The story's ending is a little abrupt and feels like it could lead into another story all its own but without any announcement of that (unless I've missed it) or without knowing what already existing story it might refer to (whatever, I don't know it all, okay?), it feels a little strange. 4/5

Character
It's still a relatively young Wolverine and a young Victor Creed we're dealing with here and Gillen is sure to keep that in mind in each issue. Logan isn't someone at this point who weighs his decisions and thinks carefully about the cost of killing. That ends up being the driving force behind the story of this book but it's also the driving force behind the creation of his character in this book, molded as someone who knows he doesn't fit in the human world but also hasn't really had that pointed out to him so he's not even really pondering why. By the end of the miniseries, he's forced to do exactly that, wondering if he's Essex's bear, the grey family wolf, the lone wolf, or something different. Clara puts it in no uncertain terms: he's something else, something worse than any of those. He's a man who has the ability to have a different nature but doesn't. 5/5

Writing
The story and character sections cover a lot of this nicely, though it's worth noting that there are times where the exposition feels a little rushed (Clara is an exposition machine out there) because there are so many ideas Gillen would rather get across than plot points. Still, it's overall a very solid issue and a good conclusion to the series. 4/5

Art
I've liked Adam Kubert's art throughout and continue to really like his portrayal of this pre-serum Sabretooth. His post-serum Sabretooth is strong too but falls more in line with the current look of Sabretooth (albeit lacking the stupid suit. Man, I am really not onboard with many of these new creative decisions in Cornell's book. Sabretooth wears a suit, Wolverine has a rose tattoo, there's a tattooed guy whose costume is just an unzipped hoodie with no shirt underneath named the Lost Boy? All TERRIBLE). The action is good and smooth while still looking brutal and efficient. Martin's colors continue to shine throughout. No complaints here. 5/5

Miscellaneous
I don't think it was an easy job to come in here and tell another Wolverine ORIGIN after the first one had been so big and after we've uncovered so much of Wolverine's history already. Still, Gillen and Kubert came in with a goal and they clearly achieved what they wanted to achieve. Strong stuff.

Total score: 5/5


What If? Age of Ultron 5
Keatinge (w) and Doyle, Villalobos, Ienco, Edwards, and Magyar (a) and Rosenberg, Serrano, Redmond, Beaulieu, and Major (c) and Sabino (l)

In another universe, Hank Pym begins to consider the possibilities of AI when he's hit with the timeline snap and, though it doesn't harm him physically, the thought disappears from his mind entirely. It's a world without Ultron and Ultron from the first issue of this series, the one where Hank is the only human even sort of left, realizes that Earth is prime for the taking. Portals open up all through the multiverse as Ultrons flood past to shatter a new world. Everyone we've seen so far, from Asgardian Natasha to a new Captain America to Wolverine and Ghost Rider is summoned into the world without Ultron to fight these invading Ultrons. As the world verges on defeat, Hank of the first world finds Jan and directs her and the other remaining Avengers to his old, dead world as one that won't have any Ultrons left on it, a world where they can all start over. They rush through and discover it abandoned, leaving them with a whole new world to try to make better than the worlds they left, a new world where they can ask...wait for...WHAT IF?

Story
It's an incredibly convoluted way to tie everything up, if you can call it that, in this limited series. The rips across space-time start to open up and suddenly everyone we've seen in this inexplicably long series comes together and manages to escape the Ultrons out there. If you're left wondering what the point of this all was, you're not alone. 2/5

Character
There's not a lot to look at character-wise as we've already seen the majority of these characters before and we're not really here to see them evolve, just to see how they end up, I suppose. There's nothing more remarkable about them and it's clearly not Keatinge's intent to improve on them, just to push them through a story. 1/5

Writing
There's exposition aplenty in here but it somehow still never really explains what's happening or why. Ultron just has a need to conquer worlds and his other Ultrons want to conquer them too and portals open up that bond all of these worlds together and now these peole we've seen survive for probably nothing. It's convoluted and rather all over the place. 1/5

Art
The art changes throughout the book with Ming Doyle providing the new universe with art and the other artists from this series rejoining to illustrate their respective universes for one more time. It clashes a little but overall you get the point and it helps to differentiate this confusing plot. 4/5

Miscellaneous
No, I don't know why it existed either.

Total score: 2/5