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Return of Wolverine review7486

If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8. xkonk private msg quote post Address this user
Since at least one of the multiple Damned posts mentioned how little news there was on Return of Wolverine, I thought I would give a quick review. Note: some spoilers for other comics that are already out.

Wolverine died about 4 years ago, although the Old Man Logan series basically took his place. Occasional discussions about how he's slowed down with age and is from a different timeline aside, there weren't too many places where you couldn't have just put Logan in there. But Wolverine obviously isn't going to be dead forever.

In April Marvel released a one-shot, Hunt for Wolverine, that revealed that Wolverine's body was missing. They also started four four-part series about different groups looking for him. Unless you care deeply about Wolverine and/or the X-Men, they are skippable. I do care about Wolverine and the X-Men, and I wish I hadn't picked up the Claws of a Killer series at all. Mystery in Madripoor didn't have a lot going for it, but did put Psylocke back in her 'original' body. Weapon Lost was sort of interesting because of my tangential appreciation for Daredevil and Misty Knight. Adamantium Agenda I actually enjoyed well enough.

All four series basically point towards a mysterious company that is somehow involved in things involving Wolverine. They get somewhat summarized in a one-shot from the past month, Hunt for Wolverine Dead Ends. This one introduces a new (or at least I don't recognize her) villain behind the company but otherwise no Wolverine.

So finally we get to Return of Wolverine. You don't learn a lot here; it's pretty obviously the first book in a series. Looks like there are at least 4 issues. But you get some of the usual Wolverine tropes: memory confusion, mysterious company using Wolverine for its own ends, lots of blood. I like McNiven's Wolverine art. Some of it looks like Windsor-Smith from the Weapon X storyline, which I'm sure is intentional.

As for the hot claws, they don't really show up much here. A mystery for another issue, I guess. So only time will tell why they're hot and what the point is. Hopefully it's something a little better than Weapon H, where the answer to "why would the hulk need adamantium and/or claws?" is "because it seems badass".

Overall: if you're a completionist you can get all the books I mentioned, but you could honestly skip the four miniseries. If you're just a Wolverine fan, you could get the two one-shots and then pick up the new Return series. If you don't care at all but just want to have 'first appearance of hot claws', Return is for you.
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Collector KYoung_1974 private msg quote post Address this user
I'm sure it was my comment about the lack of Return threads. I picked the book up, but I found it underwhelming. I like Wolverine and always have, even through the 90's when if Marvel wanted to increase sales for a book they would throw in a guest appearance by Wolverine. I swear during that time period he was on every team imaginable, simultaneously. Everything from the Avengers to the Fantastic Four to every X team. But I digress...

I found Mystery in Madripoor interesting and it's about time Psylock got her body back, but the others were so so. Return just felt like the same old ground that's been worked over time and time again. I'll pick up the next few just to see how it plays out, but so far I'm not impressed.
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Collector DJC_II private msg quote post Address this user
Reviews! Yes! Great idea.

Return Of Wolverine #1

Simple. I'm giving this a 4 because of the art. 

I love Steve McNiven's art. I grew up with BWS' Weapon X. This looks perfectly Wolverine to me. 

Soule's script is garbage. It's something a high school student could do, not a 'top tier industry profession', and certainly not the same guy that killed Wolverine off in the first place. I spent the entire issue waiting for Wolverine to get somewhere, to find out something, but instead it was just exposition.

The Death of Wolverine, although not a fan favourite story for some, was very well executed. Each issue had its own journey and yet, still tied the whole series together. This is literal trash, and most definitely the reason why McNiven dropped issues 2 to 5. 

STORY:0 

ART:8 

OVERALL:4 

4 for the pretty pictures.
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Collector Enelson private msg quote post Address this user
Yeah, I give it about a 5 review, it looks like they are definitely trying to bring back "confused, mysterious wolverine", which I get because, IMHO, ever since they demystified so much of his origin, its been a train wreck of continuity. I'll give this series a chance, but mostly because I can't even follow the x-books right now. I gave up 3-4 reboots ago and don't understand any of it. The art was good, but the rest was meh.
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8. xkonk private msg quote post Address this user
I hope they don't keep Wolverine confused too long because it's going to just be pages of exposition every time he runs into somebody. "Wolvie, don't you remember...?", but it'll be stuff that the reader knows.

Agreed that the first issue doesn't go on much of a journey. It's all mystery. I guess that's ok since everyone knows Wolverine, so everyone gets the mystery, but it definitely relies on the other issues to do the heavy lifting on the plot.

Art-wise, it might be nicer to have McNiven doing the rest of the series (he's at least doing the covers), but Shalvey is fine.
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Collector DJC_II private msg quote post Address this user
@xkonk

INCOMING RANT!

I don't have a problem with Declan Shalvey.
He is a good artist. I can't say I've ever seen anything of his that has stopped me in my tracks or blown me out of the water, but that isn't to say he's not capable of that.

My complaint is tone. Comics are a struggle with tone because of many factors, time, budget... time. I like to keep the same artist on for the duration of a story. It keeps a uniformity? A story together. When you have a whole stack of artists, jumping back and forth on a book, it usually makes reading jarring and difficult.

MARVEL is ESPECIALLY bad at this. MARVEL seems to think that anyone will do. That's what happens when you've been the top dog your whole life. They miss out on lessons because rich daddy has been able to cover their asses.

Few examples of blended artists on a book come to mind, but Detective 871-881, The Black Mirror, worked. Partly because it was two separate stories woven into one. Backup stories, like The Death of the Family, where Capullo drew the main story and Jock did the epilogues... Batman 50, although a dismal comic, really created a beautiful masterpiece visually.

Seems like Batman has his shit together.

I'd like to hear of more good examples of where the mix up of artists is a benefit, and not a hindrance...

Anyway, the tone of McNiven, and especially what he's trying to achieve with his BWS take will be an odd combo when placed beside Shalvey's very obvious, artistic difference.
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Collector MR_SigS private msg quote post Address this user
Wolverine died?


















j/k
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Collector Drogio private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by MR_SigS
Wolverine died?

j/k


Who knew, right!

Have Logan and Old Man Logan ever met or teamed up? Sorry if I'm dense if this has happened...not a big follower of either. And when I came back into comics a few years ago I wa totally confused by what was goin on with X-23 and old man Logan and all these different hulks, some alive and some dead...I just stayed clear.
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8. xkonk private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drogio
Who knew, right!

Have Logan and Old Man Logan ever met or teamed up? Sorry if I'm dense if this has happened...not a big follower of either. And when I came back into comics a few years ago I wa totally confused by what was goin on with X-23 and old man Logan and all these different hulks, some alive and some dead...I just stayed clear.


Logan was dead before Old Man Logan popped up (he joined the main Marvel universe at the end of the Secret Wars II run). X-23 has been around long enough to spend time with both, although she hasn't met OML especially often. My opinion, X-23 is much more her own character than OML.

But, it looks like the Old Man Logan series has three more issues in it. Maybe OG Logan will be able to make an appearance. The descriptions don't look like it but you never know. Speaking of hulks though, OML will be fighting the Maestro again in #48 and 49.
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Collector Drogio private msg quote post Address this user
Relationship Logan is gonna kill Independant Logan...
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597993 10 10
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