Santa Claws

Let's face it:  Wolverine is everywhere.  Not only does he have two of his own solo comic book series (Wolverine and Savage Wolverine) but he's also a member of several X-teams and Avengers teams, plus appears in the other self-titled Wolverine and the X-Men (and these don't even include the alternate versions of him in the Ultimate Universe or Wolverine: MAX).  It's especially -- for lack of a better word -- interesting when the storylines don't even intersect.  He can be in outer space with the Avengers, fighting solo in Madripoor, taking on Sentinels with the X-Men in New York, or just sometimes...DEAD in hell.  ALL AT THE SAME TIME.  Now, one man cannot seriously be in all of these places at once.  So, naturally, I've come to the conclusion that, like Santa Claus, there must be several actors playing the Wolverine character (or, as I like to call him, Santa Claws) in order to make this a reality.  I'm waiting for the day when Marvel comes out with Wolverine, Inc. with all of the Wolverines from around the world and across the galaxy and puts them all in one double-sized, bi-monthly comic. 

I hate to sound like that grumpy old man in the corner that people talk about, but I remember when there was ONE Wolverine and he appeared in Uncanny X-Men.  Period.  And we liked it.  Then in 1982 he got his very own mini-series.  And we loved it.  Then he finally got his very own monthly series in 1988.  And there was a collective "Meh."  I read it for a few issues, got bored, and removed it from my pull list.  

In 2013, we now have his fourth solo self-titled series, so I decided to give him another try.  I enjoyed Paul Cornell's take on Lex Luthor in Action Comics, so I looked forward to what he was going to do scripting Wolverine.  After reading several issues of the new series, I've been less than impressed.  There's little characterization.  It's just Wolverine doing what he does best: fighting.  There's no emotion in the comics.  The storylines are otherworldly.  And there's no personal connection for the reader.  Maybe Cornell had a ghost writer for Lex Luthor?  Frankly, any generic writer who has no background in comic book characters could have written the first several issues of the latest incarnation of Wolverine.  And what's with all of the guest stars, from Nick Fury to S.H.I.E.L.D. to Black Panther to other X-Men?  If Marvel is worried that Wolverine can't carry his own series, then why give him a series?   I already see Wolverine interacting with several different characters in several different monthly comic books.  Shouldn't a solo title be focused on his experiences exclusive of others in the Marvel Universe, a la Hawkeye?

I haven't even picked up an issue of Savage Wolverine.  Why?  I'm already oversaturated with Wolverine in EVERY comic book and, to be honest, with that much exposure he just becomes boring.  Yes, I said it.  Wolverine now bores me.  How about getting back to basics with Wolverine?  Giving him stories that really bring out and develop his personality?  There's so much depth to him, but all anyone wants to use him for is being the angry guy and slicing up people and things.  He's Marvel's cash cow, so they figure that just by throwing him in every comic he'll generate increased revenue.  

Wolverine deserves better.  He deserves to be properly explored with excellent written stories, and he deserves to be illustrated with excellent artwork, neither of which he's gotten in a long, long time.  Most of all, he deserves to be given to readers in smaller, natural quality doses, not shoved down our throats like gallons of artificial High Fructose Corn Syrup. 

The Silly X-Men

I've been reading the new Wolverine and the X-Men comic that resulted from the team "Schism."  Now, it doesn't take a marketing genius to know that the split of the 500+ issue series Uncanny X-Men into two new series (a new Uncanny X-Men series and a Wolverine and the X-Men series) was just an excuse to increase sales because X-Men-related comics are the biggest sellers.  I guess DC was offering more Batman monthly titles and Marvel had to find a way to compete.  

Naturally, I'm one of the gullible souls who was reading only the original Uncanny X-Men (no X-Men Legacy, Astonishing X-Men, or even just X-Men) but now have been purchasing Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine and the X-Men at $3.99 each, so they got me for an extra $4 per month.  And lately, they've been releasing each comic twice monthly, so they're making an extra $12 from me every month. 

The extra money spent wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the awful product I'm getting in return.  I'm speaking specifically of Wolverine and the X-Men, which should really be retitled as The Silly X-Men.  Yes, Wolverine does appear in the comic (although seriously, what comic doesn't Wolverine currently appear in?).  However, it's primarily about a bunch of young silly mutants that I don't even know or care to know.  Quentin Quire?  Who the hell is he?  Isn't he the oversexed dude on Family Guy?  Oh, no, wait.  My bad.  He's a stupid punk-ass kid with pink hair, a la Perez Hilton.  Or, as I like to refer to him, the Danny Chase of the X-Men.  (See: When the New Teen Titans Went South.) 

I liked the concept of the "Schism" storyline wherein Cyclops would lead a team of X-Men off the coast of San Francisco on Utopia and Wolverine would start up a new school in Westchester, NY.  I also liked that Wolverine and the X-Men promised to feature Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, and the Beast teaching at the new Jean Grey School.  Sadly, we barely get glimpses of Kitty Pryde, Beast, or even Wolverine (!).  We mostly see these younger X-Men in training.  And they're not even the good Young X-Men.  Where are the characters from the Young X-Men short-lived series?  Dust?  Anole?  Graymalkin?  These characters had depth and personality.  The current motley crew consist of a bunch of whiny, annoying brats whose names I don't even know.

So, Marvel, I'm taking my $4 (or $8) and putting it toward the new Astonishing X-Men.  With Marjorie Liu scripting and Northstar making headlines, it's bound to be the better pick. 

Sayonara, Daken

Daken #23 (final issue)

With issue #23 of Daken: Dark Wolverine, we say goodbye to Wolverine's son.  SPOILER: It's not only the last issue of the series, but Daken supposedly dies.  Of course, we all know how that goes in the superhero world.  After a few months of no appearances, he'll show up again.  Maybe in Marvel's new Dark Avengers ongoing series.   

It's quite sad to see Daken lose his own series.  He's a very intriguing and complex character, and I'm sure there are many excellent storylines that writer Rob Williams could have come up with for future issues.  Sadly, we'll never see them.  Instead, we'll see dozens of mediocre Avengers and X-Men comics on the shelves featuring the same characters over and over and over.  (Yes, I'm talking to you, Wolverine and Spider-Man.)

Daken #10

Daken had such great, well-written storylines when he took over Wolverine's own series for awhile that he was given his own monthly series.  Unfortunately, Daken's self-titled series started out a bit slow with the ho-hum "Wolverine Goes to Hell" and Madripoor storylines.  However, it quickly livened up when Daken hit Hollywood and writer Rob Williams came onboard and shook things up, showing us why we fell in love with Daken in the first place.  He's a bad boy.  And who doesn't love a bad boy?  I guess it was too late at this point, though.  Readers had already jumped ship and sales declined enough to warrant Daken's cancellation.  Such a pity.  Wolverine appears in all the X-books (literally) and yet his more complex, mysterious, hot-headed, selfish, bi-sexual son can't even get one. 

Here's hoping that Marvel sees the error of their ways...and Daken never does.

Daken, Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are!

My wish from my September 2009 posting came true: Daken -- Wolverine's son -- received his own series.  Unfortunately, that's where my enthusiasm ends. 

Having a day off recently, I sat down and read 4 or 5 consecutive issues of Daken: Dark Wolverine.  (By the way, I still hate that they use that title, left over from the Dark Reign days, only as an attempt to drive sales.) 

I didn't realize I had bought the new Tyger Tiger, Crime Lord of Madripoor series.  Each issue that I read of Daken was about crime lord (lordess?) Tyger Tiger, her henchmen, and other various criminals in the fictional country of Madripoor.   Did anyone bother to tell the writers that the title character should actually appear in his own comic series?  I'm all for supporting characters, but when title character BECOMES the supporting character, that's where I have a problem. 

There is so much depth, intrigue, and mystery to Daken, that to push him to supporting role status in his own comic book is equivalent to a slap in the face (and you don't want to be slapping Daken).  If I didn't already get to know him from previous comic book tales, I would have no idea who he is or what he is about from reading his new self-titled series.  The stories I recently read were of fair to mediocre quality, certainly not worthy of the complex character of Daken.  If he took over Wolverine's book for awhile and received his own title as a result of its success, don't you think he's worthy enough to have better stories written for and about him? 

Avengers Discombobulated

When I heard that the Avengers were going to have a fresh start with the Heroic Age after the dreaded Dark Reign cloud that hovered over the Marvel Universe, I was elated.  I have fond memories of the Avengers from the 80s and wanted to recapture that excitement.  I've picked up the first three issues of The Avengers, the first two issues of The New Avengers and the Avengers Academy, and the first issue of The Secret Avengers.  Color me unimpressed.  The only one that has interested me so far is the Avengers Academy.


The Avengers Academy takes a group of relatively unknown teenagers and allows them to interact, working out their personality differences, learning how to use their powers together, and coming to terms with why they were chosen for the group.  This is great storytelling.   

What isn't great storytelling?  Avengers, New Avengers, and Secret Avengers.  The stories have been pretty bland and generic and aren't a very good starting place for newcomers.  The characters aren't given enough time to interact before they're thrust into battle with some other worldly villain.  We never get to really know them and, frankly, at this point, I don't even want to.

My main pet peeve: why are Spider-Man and Wolverine on both the Avengers and the New Avengers teams?  Furthermore, they each have their own comic book series (Spider-Man's is published thrice monthly), and Wolverine is in the Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, Astonishing X-Men, and the new plain ol' X-Men comic. Talk about overkill.  I wish I had that much free time.  No wonder they created clones of Spider-Man.  Then there's the addition of the Thing who is and will always be a member of the Fantastic Four.  I think there are plenty other Avengers out there with good tales to tell that could use a wee bit o' screen time.

Unfortunately, Marvel missed the boat on this "revamp" of a classic series and team(s).   2010 isn't so much the "Year of the Heroic Age" or even the "Year of the Avengers."  It'll be remembered by me as the year I wasted $3.99 a comic on some crappy Avengers wannabe series.  

Check out: Avengers Academy: Permanent Record

Giant-Size Old Man Logan

The finale of the "Old Man Logan" tale that ran through Wolverine #66-72 was released in a "Giant-Size" comic last week. At $4.99, the only thing giant-sized about it was the price. Knowing how popular the "Old Man Logan" storyline was, Marvel Comics decided to capitalize on that and serve up a regular-sized story with the other half of the issue being images of past covers that we've already seen, and some rough sketches. Big effing deal. To me, that wasn't worth $4.99. I expected a giant-sized story. Boo, Marvel!

The finale focuses on Wolverine's final confrontation with the Hulk family, who are basically a bunch of crazy rednecks like something out of Deliverance. While I was satisfied with the ending, I look forward to this becoming a regular series. It certainly has the potential to be a great ongoing comic. The characters are well fleshed out, the story is fairly simple yet intriguing, and the art is amazing and "dark," as it should be for this particular kind of story.

Unless you're a collector, save your money, though, on the Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size comic and buy the entire series in hardcover that comes out shortly. Read it from cover to cover and discover a familiar Wolverine that you've never seen before.

Here Comes the "Reign" Again

Continuing with the "Dark Reign" storyline that Marvel Comics has basically spread throughout all of their series, I've picked up a few of the series that focus on the individuals within Norman Osborn's "Dark Avengers." You know the ones: they vaguely resemble and dress up like actual Marvel superheroes, so everyone thinks that they're the real deal, despite the obvious differences (like swearing, maiming, killing, destroying property) and the fact that the real superheroes are...actually still doing their thing. Anyway, once you suspend your disbelief at this ridiculous notion, there are some pretty decent stories going on...and some rather horrible ones.

The GOOD:
The Wolverine series has become a playground for "Dark Wolverine" instead of the normal, lovable (?), fuzzy, one-of-a-kind Wolverine. Dark Wolverine (blecch! I can't stand the "Dark" titles in every name and/or group) is actually Wolverine's son. Wolverine was apparently married long ago to a Japanese woman (but not the famous Mariko from his first limited series back in the 1980s) and had a child that he thought long since dead. Daken (Dark Wolverine) is all grown up now and sports a mohawk and tattoos underneath his mask and costume. He has similar mutant powers to Wolverine, plus a unique pheromone manipulation ability, which I find very intriguing. It's something unique that I haven't seen in comic books before. He is also struggling with his own identity, and between good and evil. Lastly, Daken seems pretty comfortable in his sexuality...whatever it may be. He made a couple of joking sexual innuendos to "Sinister Spider-Man" and The Thing to f**k with their heads, using his pheromone ability. For all of these reasons, he is a very interesting character and not just the child of a superhero with the same abilities. I hope Wolverine gets his own series back and Daken goes on to new adventures in his own series. I'd definitely invest my reading time in finding out more about him.

The BAD:
In the tradition of the new "Dark" Hawkeye limited series comes Sinister Spider-Man. Why "sinister" instead of "dark" like everyone else? Other than for alliteration purposes, who knows!? Anywho, this new Sinister Spider-Man posing as Spider-Man is actually...Venom. I know, I know. It's pretty hard to believe considering he's actually wearing the black and white Venom symbiote costume while posing as Spider-Man. It would be like me walking into work wearing a rubber Obama mask, toting myself as our President. Deceptive, right?

Apparently there have been some changes to Venom over the years. He's no longer Eddie Brock. He's now Mac Gargan, formerly the Scorpion. This in itself is kind of sad, because I always liked the idea of the Scorpion as a villain. Maybe another one is in the works. But I digress...

I read Sinister Spider-Man and all I can say is {YAWN}. It's a four-issue limited series by writer Brian Reed and artist Chris Bachalo. Reed says, "the whole Marvel Universe thinks Spider-Man is living in Avengers Tower, when it's really Mac Gargan, who has a long history as a sociopath." Venom...er, Sinister Spider-Man...er, "Spider-Man" is a womanizer, a killer, and an all-around a-hole. He's the male equivalent of a Black Widow spider. He bites the heads off the women he f**ks. And it's all on the news. So, you can see why people would naturally believe him to be the real Spider-Man. Especially with the real Spider-Man out there swinging around in his red and blue tights. After the first issue, I didn't want to read the rest (and had wished I hadn't already purchased them), but I did anyway. The story of Sinister Spider-Man felt rushed and randomly thrown together, unlike Dark Wolverine or Dark Reign: Hawkeye (previously reviewed), just to sell comics.

The UGLY:

The artwork on Sinister Spider-Man. With all the talented, unused artists out there looking for employment, why settle for mediocre?

Dork Reign

In case you're unaware, Marvel Comics has this ongoing theme/story running called "Dark Reign" throughout most of their comic books: Norman Osborn (formerly the Green Goblin) has a government job running the agency called H.A.M.M.E.R., which replaced S.H.I.E.L.D. As the director of this new "law-enforcing" agency, Osborn creates his own Avengers and X-Men team, made up of villains posing as superheroes. And nobody notices.

I know, I know. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking WTF? And you'd be right.

Maybe I'm not on the same trippy substance as the current Marvel writers and executives, but seriously...WTF? From the few different series and issues I've read or browsed, I just have to wonder how it is that not a single person has questioned that the "heroes" look a little different than their counterparts...and are killing people. Case in point: the new "Spider-Man" looks like Venom. And IS Venom. The new "Hawkeye" sticks a pen in the eye of a "fan" asking for his autograph. Norman Osborn is a hybrid of Iron Man and Captain America called Iron Patriot, but I guess people just see him as Iron Man or Captain America, depending on who they want to see? Kinda like one of those Magic Eye puzzles? But wait...doesn't everyone know that Norman Osborn is/was the Green Goblin? And everyone is...okay with all this? I feel like I'm in the middle of an I Love Lucy episode where Lucy is trying to deceive Ricky by wearing a fake mustache and...it works! He has no idea who she is!

Anyway, onto one single (but long) story of the thoroughly confusing (and dull) Dark Reign storyline: the Dark X-Men / Dark Avengers crossover "Utopia," which runs through a series of one-shots and the Dark Avengers and Uncanny X-Men series. I read most of the storyline, avoiding the Dark Avengers series since I don't currently collect or read them. However, after reading the first one-shot about "Utopia," I was regretting purchasing the rest, including Uncanny X-Men, which I regularly buy. Again...WTF? There was no coherent thought process throughout and I didn't care about anyone or anything I read. To top it off, the Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1 one-shot was drawn by Marc Silvestri, an artist who became big in the 1990s when the women of the X-Men became a lot more bustier, a lot more Asian, and the stories took second (or third) place to all of this. Is it any wonder that's when I stopped reading comics after 15 years of nonstop dedication? Ugh.

I forced myself through all of the issues of "Utopia" I had purchased...and I still have no idea what happened. And, honestly, don't really care to know. All Marvel needs to know is that it's time to drop the lame Dark Reign storylines throughout its titles before it begins to lose readers. DC is currently doing a "MARVELous" job with their "Blackest Night" storyline. It's one of their best ever. Why is Marvel trying to compete with the poorly assembled Dark Reign? Forget Dark X-Men, Dark Avengers, Dark Wolverine, Dark This, Dark That. If I ever hear the word "dark" again, it'll be too soon. There's such a thing as overkill, Marvel.

OLD MAN LOGAN

I'm not a regular Wolverine comic reader. I do love his character but usually steer clear of all mutant-related comics except for Uncanny X-Men because there are SO MANY X-Men and Wolverine comics out there that I can't keep up...and neither can my budget. Plus, I've always been more of a DC fan than Marvel, mostly because of the writing quality (with a few exceptions).

A friend of mine told me about the "Old Man Logan" storyline that recently ran through the Wolverine comic (issues 66-72) and told me it was a "must read." On his advice, I picked up all eight issues (at $2.99 each, that's a lot of cash to drop on a new series just on the advice of one person). They were all third or fourth variants; I guessed the story was that popular and in-demand, although I had heard nothing about it previously.

The story centers around Wolverine -- now just going by Logan -- 50 years in the future. And what a bleak future it is. The superheroes have all gone away and the US is divided into five parts, four parts being run by a different supervillain. The fifth -- in the middle of the country -- is just overrun with dinosaurs. (Yup, you heard me.) Wolverine is making a home with his wife and two kids in the Hulk Family-controlled part of the country when an old, blind Hawkeye pays him a visit and asks for his assistance. There are also random Marvel characters placed throughout the entire storyline. Not only is this a story about an aged Logan, it's a story about ALL Marvel superheroes (and villains!). We get to see their existence (or non-existence, as the case may be) fifty years from now.

I sat and read all eight issues in one sitting. All I can say is...WOW. That has to be the best Wolverine story I've read since his very first limited series back in the 80s (before he was super-popular and so well-known). It was SO well-written by Mark Millar and so beautifully drawn by Steve McNiven. What I loved most about the story was that there were so few words on the pages. I got to see the beautiful, realistic artwork, yet get a fantastic sense of the story. That's the sign of a great writer. He showed his audience the story; he didn't tell it.

The finale of the Old Man Logan story can be found in the September 23, 2009, release of Wolverine: Old Man Logan Giant-Size #1. I, for one, can't wait. After this, I would love to see (and buy) an Old Man Logan monthly series. This is one of the best pieces of work Marvel has produced. Ever. I, too, will recommend it to everyone.