Wolverine Origins #8 Review

[Jesse M. Huertas]

Better than Life Itself: It must be in your collection for eternity
Definite Read!: A great read from front to finish
Not bad, but not great: A decent read worth the asking price
Well, it’s not the worst: Only for diehards…even then
Where’s my Pistol?: Titles like this make you question your hobby!

Review:

That Dan Way is at it again...an issue filled with absolutely nothing, even worse...these covers make it a must buy, but Joe Q definitely disappoints with his cover and again the variants don't add much. Not much happens in this issue and it's going no where fast, a beat up Chris Nord tells Wolvie that Omega Red took off with Jubilee, tells him he gave the C-Synthesizer to somebody (cause really, why do we need to know?) and Wolvie takes off. He beats up a contact in Berlin and remembers why Sabretooth killed the CIA mole in Team X's last mission. He uses more stupid 'They' 'them' conspiracy theory terms. The issue ends with Wolvie catching up with Black Widow. That's about it folks, nothing more to see here, another wasted issue that has nothing to do with Wolvie's origin, cause really who cares at this point. Dan Way has penned 13 issues of Wolverine and his 'origin' and all we've learned is that Wolverine can be a perennial d*ck. Go check out Wolverine #50-56 for actual origin related material, till next month true believers

Grade: Well, it’s not the worst

[logan1981]

Am I the only one that is not enjoying Origins? It seems rushed, thrown together, "lets make up as much crap from Logan's history as we can possibly imagine and include it".

The storyline is just dire. On top of that, the art work isn't all that great.

I hope another creative team picks this up soon and uses it better.

[Jesse M. Huertas]

logan1981 said:

Am I the only one that is not enjoying Origins? It seems rushed, thrown together, "lets make up as much crap from Logan's history as we can possibly imagine and include it".

The storyline is just dire. On top of that, the art work isn't all that great.

I hope another creative team picks this up soon and uses it better.

Your not alone my friend, not alone...my vested interest in Wolverine is the only reason why I'm buying this mish mash...I just wished this book was canceled so I can save some money. I'm pretty close to dropping it anyways, and I never drop a Wolvie title, and suprise surprise, there's another slow and boring 5 part story on it's way. When will it end you ask? When we vote with our wallet!

[logan1981]

jmhuertas said:

logan1981 said:

Am I the only one that is not enjoying Origins? It seems rushed, thrown together, "lets make up as much crap from Logan's history as we can possibly imagine and include it".

The storyline is just dire. On top of that, the art work isn't all that great.

I hope another creative team picks this up soon and uses it better.

Your not alone my friend, not alone...my vested interest in Wolverine is the only reason why I'm buying this mish mash...I just wished this book was canceled so I can save some money. I'm pretty close to dropping it anyways, and I never drop a Wolvie title, and suprise surprise, there's another slow and boring 5 part story on it's way. When will it end you ask? When we vote with our wallet!

Totally with you. If I wasn't such a self confessed huge Wolverine fan boy I'd be dropping this title. Knowing me though I won't, and knowing Marvel, they know that too!

Total waste of something that had potential IMO.

[Megalictis]

I understood from the start that Wolverine: Origins was not a direct sequel to Wolverine: Origin, so I'm not disappointed that Way hasn't resolved anything to do with Dog, Smitty or the Howlett family. I am disappointed that the mystery of Silver Fox has only been touched-on (Sabretooth killed her on orders from someone else, Wolverine went berserk and attacked the town) but I'm willing to wait and see how Way will address this (assuming he ever does). I like Way's central idea - that an unknown party has been behind the killing of everyone Logan has ever loved, at least as far back as Silver Fox, and has been manipulating his life since long before Weapon X. Origins focusses on the periods of Wolverine's life during which the mystery behind that manipulaion is revealed. (Who knows? Maybe it's Dog or John Howlett, Jr. behind it all! Maybe it does go back to Origin.) That said, I am somewhat disappointed in some aspects of "our story so far."

First there's Steve Dillon's art: I don't think he's terrible, but his Wolverine - in fact many of his faces - seem to remind me of Ted Cassidy ("Lurch" from the Addams Family).

Then there's the "he told me" mystery revelation device. I flinch every time Way employs this. He'd held off for a while until ussue #8 hits us with this again.

Then there's "the long-lost son" element. Way has yet to "sell me" this concept. While it's not unreasonable to assume Wolverine has had some children he doesn't know about in 109 years, I'm having trouble believing that his 50-year-old son hates him so much since we haven't seen any sign of him in all that time. Since the "son" won't appear until issue #10, I'm reserving judgement for now, but so far, I ain't impressed with this aspect.

That leads me to Jubilee. I've said before that using Jubilee as a bargaining chip, or having "Logan, Jr." kill her off just to establish that he's Wolverine's enemy, would be the least creative use of Jubilee I can think of. Jubilee is used most effectively as an in-road to aspects of Wolverine's personality that can't be easily accessed otherwise. Way has made the point that Jubilee is important to Wolverine (as a "surrogate daughter") but provided no insight into how that relationship works or why it's valuable to them.

Then there's the Omega Red confusion: carbonadium negates a healing factor?

Finally, is it just my imagination, or are there relatively few words in a Wolverine: Origins story compared to almost any other Wolverine story? Way's story-tellng style seems to rely on (somewhat drawn-out) action sequences to tell the story, rather than dialogue or internal monologue/ifrst-person narration. It makes for a very brief read-through of each issue.

While I like the overall concept, and I believe Way has a plan that connects all the various glimpses of Wolverine's past, there is no single issue in the story (13 parts so far including "Origins and Endings") that has impressed me as a "great" issue. In part, there's a feeling that Wolverine makes very little progress in the present in each issue because roughly half the 22 pages are flashback. Clearly lots of "stuff" has happenned in 13 issues, but it feels like the present action is "de-compresses" because it's drawn-out over the last year. I can excuse that as Way's attempt to add new revelations about Wolverine's past into each issue, balancing old and new, but this pacing element may be working aganst the book overall. Perhaps if Way started each arc with a flashback that set the action for the next several issues, then stayed in the present for most of the middle of the arc, and closed with another flashback that puts Logan's progress towards his goal in perspective, we might feel as though more is happenning is each arc.

We all have opinions on what we like and what's wrong with Origins, so here's a question for you: If you were Axel Alonzo, and you wanted to give Wolverine: Origins a "sharp tug on the reigns" to "fix" the direction of this title - what would you change?

[Mark Caringer]

megalictis said:

I understood from the start that Wolverine: Origins was not a direct sequel to Wolverine: Origin, so I'm not disappointed.

I thought that was clear, i tried to warn poelpe about that before the series started.

Who knows? Maybe it's Dog or John Howlett, Jr. behind it all! Maybe it does go back to Origin

cool, didn't think of that

We all have opinions on what we like and what's wrong with Origins, so here's a question for you: If you were Axel Alonzo, and you wanted to give Wolverine: Origins a "sharp tug on the reigns" to "fix" the direction of this title - what would you change?

I would change the artist, inker and colorer, i would put a new artist each arc or so, like Marc Silvestri, Texteria, Kuberts, Jim Lee you know the star power that it needs, it i could only pick one for the whole planned 60 issues, then I would go with Mark Texteria since he still works with marvel

[logan1981]

A good analysis of the whole series there Megalictis. Spot on.

Mark I totally agree. Put Texteria on the job and this title would be worth picking up for the art alone.

[Megalictis]

I agree Mark Texeira would be an excellent choice. He illustrated the Hama run on Wolverine where a good portion of Logan's past was revealed, and he'd give the book a feel consistent with that period. That, and his bold-line energetic style is a good fit for Wolverine.

And he never made Logan (or Jubilee) look like Lurch.

Or maybe Barry "Weapon X was my idea" Windsor-Smith?

[Jesse M. Huertas]

As usual, Mega, spot on! I'm not dissappointed that this isn't a sequal to Origins, more dissappointed that its' not touched on at all, dissappointed that probably more history will be revealed in the main title with Loeb and Guggenheim coming back to talk about Azael. And generall dissappointed that nothing has happened really, all we learned about is Nuke (like really...who cares) and that Carbonadium negates his healing factor, which really became a plot device and a 'reason' for searching for his son. And Jubilee...how I love Jubilee...but she's said three words so far and seems like he's using her to introduce this kid...

[Megalictis]

Origin: Daniel Way can't pick-up directly from the ending of Wolverine: Origins because Marvel is planning a direct sequel (to be written some time in the unspecified future) and they're forcing him to leave room. But despite this mandate, Way has put himself in a position where his story has to butt right up against it, and they're going to have to let him.

Here's why: Logan was born in 1897. Origin told the story of his life from birth up to his later teens, when Rose dies, around 1915.

Logan enlisted in the Canadian Army and fought with the Devil's Brigade in WWI under Silas Burr (Cyber). WWI lasted from 1914-18 (Logan at age 17-21). There's not much time available between the events of Origin and Logan's WWI experiences.

At some point in his early life he builds a cabin in Canada and lives there with Silver Fox, until Creed killed her on Logan's birthday - an event Way has shown to be the earliest known instance (so far) of an outside influence trying to manipulate Logan's life. It has never been clear to me when this event took place relative to WWI, but I always assumed it was before the war. If so, this fills the gap between Origin and WWI with very little room left for that sequel.

Way has promissed that Cyber will appear in an upcoming arc in Origins. I believe he's going to make the point that Cyber killed Janet and maimed Logan on the instructions of the same mystery figure who ordered Sabretooth to kill Silver Fox, as part of the same lifelong pattern of manipulation. And that took place in WWI, so Way will have to cover that period.

Loeb and Gugenheim: It does seem to me as though the revelations in Wolverine are overshadowing the revelations in Origins. Gugenheim just introduced Lazier, who faces Logan in the "afterlife" every time he dies, and created a new mystery. Who is this guy? Where and when did Logan kill him? What is the unfinished task that Logan has to keep coming back from the dead to complete? Since Loeb's story hasn't begun we can't be sure what it will reveal, but Loeb and Way are coordinating stories so they won't contaradict. And based on previews and solicitations I'm predicting that all we'll learn is that Logan and Creeed are descendants of two competing species of proto-mutants and are naturally predisposed to kill each other (much like a slight twist on the Bear Tribe/Moon Tribe described in Earth X).

Jubilee: I agree with ya' J.M. - I'm disappointed with Way's handling of the character. This would have been a perfect opportunity for some long-overdue character development since Jubilee has been ignored for so long. Instead he uses her as a plot device. What I find most disagreeable (and out-of-character) is the way Logan instantly rights her off as "dead already" and goes on with his search for carbonadium. Let me get this straight - Logan basically abandoned the only person he's ever loved as his own child, to save the life of a 50-year-old "son" who he's never met?!? If it weren't for Joe Q. saying Jubilee will be repowered and put on an "unexpected" team in 2007, I'd've been willing to bet that Way planned on having the "son" kill Jubilee, just to give Logan another reason to fight him (which would be the least creative thing he could do with her).