Post by Jesse M. Huertas on Oct 18, 2007 21:13:30 GMT -5
5 Claws: A must have for your collection
4 Claws: A worthy 3 dollar spend
3 Claws: Not too crappy, yet nothing special
2 Claws: Seriously not worth your time nor money
1 Claw: This book belongs in your burn pile
This year's annual is a stand alone issue written by newcomer Gregg Hurwitz with art by Marcelo Frusin. In this story, reminiscent of Wolverine #56 is a story of Smitty who's on the run from the most dangerous badass he's ever encountered, he's on the run from Wolverine and he's trying to atone for all his sins.
The basic plot is a tried and true formula that works for Wolverine. Wolverine is after Smitty and his boys for killing a defenseless old woman during a botched robbery attempt. The woman gives Logan a flower to tell him that if you look harder, there is still peace and love in the world. Seeing this woman dead, naturally pisses off our hero and thus the story begins. Smitty, naturally grew up in a pretty much broken home and found peace in church, but could never get away from crime, ever so, each crime gradually getting bigger and bigger. Smitty's life is all but pissed away before he meets up with some big timers.
With Wolverine on the hunt, he catches up with Smitty to tell him that after he kills his crime lads, that he'll kill Smitty, hinting that Logan knew Smitty really wasn't a bad guy, but that it was time to atone, Logan's way. The fear on Smitty's face couldn't be done any more perfectly. It captured the look that one should have when facing up with Wolverine and death just staring out you. With Frusin seemingly taking a sample out of Sam Kieth's style of drawing, it set the mood perfectly.
This story is told through Smitty's narrative as he's searching for more time to set things right, knowing that when death literally crashes through his front door, he'll never achieve that goal. It was a good and simple story that will give you a good read. It wasn't classical, wasn't groundbreaking and wasn't something you haven't read before, but with the state of Wolverine these days, it was just the type of story a fan like me has been begging for.
A few things I'd like to touch on was first, the scene where Wolverine fell into a molten lava pit. The scene seemed to have generated hate on the forums around a bit, the same way that Guggs scene with Logan regenerating after Nitro hit him back in CW. First things, it states that when the head honcho was killed that it was a week after the pit incident, so it could be that it took a week to heal, even if in the next scene he's killing Smitty bucked naked. Overall the scene didn't remove me from the story like other high end healing feats Logan's accomplished lately have.
Secondly, the inclusion of having Wolverine in his uniform DID throw me from the story a bit. On the cover, sure...that's what you do for the main characters, but for this story I felt that it kinda removed the impact. The idea of the story was to make Logan more of a role player and not the star, and for me, having him in his full getup just throws that idea out the window. It just looked awkward with the layout of the story. It's a minor nitpick, sure, but it detracted more from the story than the lava incident, and I guess that's a kudos to the writer that only the costume inclusion bothered me most overall.
Lastly, while Hurwitz did a great job overall with the character, the artist Marcelo Frusin really stole the show for me. His Wolverine was a throwback to the Wolverine I love. This was a Wolverine that was gruff, mean looking and a general badass with a side of compassion. He'd just looked like a guy you didn't want to f*ck with and I loved that. The artist obviously drew some parallels from Hugh Jackman, but so what, it worked perfectly. I much rather have this than what's going in the main title with Chaykin and with the lifeless models we have going on in Origins. A very big thumbs up and I would love for this guy to go back and do more Wolverine work.
Overall, this issue did one thing and one thing most important that has been lost in Marvel and that was showcase that the formula for Wolverine works. Wolverine by nature is a simple, straightforward character who is just a man trying to do the right thing, his own way. It's what separated him from other characters, he's not convoluted by design. He doesn't need to be desceneded from sasquatches and cats, he doesn't need to be mixed up with mystic arts with Dr Strange, he doesn't need to be mixed up with some convoluted and tired and amateurish plot of deception, he's a guy fighting his demons by hanging out with the Avengers and the X-Men, a guy who just wants to help out the helpless. It's the simpleness of the character that made him great, it's what made him beautiful and it's great to see a writer recognize that and set himself apart from the clowns that are currently dragging this once great character through the mud.
The shameful thing of it all is that this team is just a one and done team that will leave fans asking what ifs. It's a shame, I would love to see where'd they would take this character. It's high time that Marvel stops making Wolverine the stepping stone character for writers to jumpstart their careers. It's deflating
REVIEW: 4 Claws: A worthy 3 dollar spend
Enjoy this story, who knows when we'll get another good one.
4 Claws: A worthy 3 dollar spend
3 Claws: Not too crappy, yet nothing special
2 Claws: Seriously not worth your time nor money
1 Claw: This book belongs in your burn pile
This year's annual is a stand alone issue written by newcomer Gregg Hurwitz with art by Marcelo Frusin. In this story, reminiscent of Wolverine #56 is a story of Smitty who's on the run from the most dangerous badass he's ever encountered, he's on the run from Wolverine and he's trying to atone for all his sins.
The basic plot is a tried and true formula that works for Wolverine. Wolverine is after Smitty and his boys for killing a defenseless old woman during a botched robbery attempt. The woman gives Logan a flower to tell him that if you look harder, there is still peace and love in the world. Seeing this woman dead, naturally pisses off our hero and thus the story begins. Smitty, naturally grew up in a pretty much broken home and found peace in church, but could never get away from crime, ever so, each crime gradually getting bigger and bigger. Smitty's life is all but pissed away before he meets up with some big timers.
With Wolverine on the hunt, he catches up with Smitty to tell him that after he kills his crime lads, that he'll kill Smitty, hinting that Logan knew Smitty really wasn't a bad guy, but that it was time to atone, Logan's way. The fear on Smitty's face couldn't be done any more perfectly. It captured the look that one should have when facing up with Wolverine and death just staring out you. With Frusin seemingly taking a sample out of Sam Kieth's style of drawing, it set the mood perfectly.
This story is told through Smitty's narrative as he's searching for more time to set things right, knowing that when death literally crashes through his front door, he'll never achieve that goal. It was a good and simple story that will give you a good read. It wasn't classical, wasn't groundbreaking and wasn't something you haven't read before, but with the state of Wolverine these days, it was just the type of story a fan like me has been begging for.
A few things I'd like to touch on was first, the scene where Wolverine fell into a molten lava pit. The scene seemed to have generated hate on the forums around a bit, the same way that Guggs scene with Logan regenerating after Nitro hit him back in CW. First things, it states that when the head honcho was killed that it was a week after the pit incident, so it could be that it took a week to heal, even if in the next scene he's killing Smitty bucked naked. Overall the scene didn't remove me from the story like other high end healing feats Logan's accomplished lately have.
Secondly, the inclusion of having Wolverine in his uniform DID throw me from the story a bit. On the cover, sure...that's what you do for the main characters, but for this story I felt that it kinda removed the impact. The idea of the story was to make Logan more of a role player and not the star, and for me, having him in his full getup just throws that idea out the window. It just looked awkward with the layout of the story. It's a minor nitpick, sure, but it detracted more from the story than the lava incident, and I guess that's a kudos to the writer that only the costume inclusion bothered me most overall.
Lastly, while Hurwitz did a great job overall with the character, the artist Marcelo Frusin really stole the show for me. His Wolverine was a throwback to the Wolverine I love. This was a Wolverine that was gruff, mean looking and a general badass with a side of compassion. He'd just looked like a guy you didn't want to f*ck with and I loved that. The artist obviously drew some parallels from Hugh Jackman, but so what, it worked perfectly. I much rather have this than what's going in the main title with Chaykin and with the lifeless models we have going on in Origins. A very big thumbs up and I would love for this guy to go back and do more Wolverine work.
Overall, this issue did one thing and one thing most important that has been lost in Marvel and that was showcase that the formula for Wolverine works. Wolverine by nature is a simple, straightforward character who is just a man trying to do the right thing, his own way. It's what separated him from other characters, he's not convoluted by design. He doesn't need to be desceneded from sasquatches and cats, he doesn't need to be mixed up with mystic arts with Dr Strange, he doesn't need to be mixed up with some convoluted and tired and amateurish plot of deception, he's a guy fighting his demons by hanging out with the Avengers and the X-Men, a guy who just wants to help out the helpless. It's the simpleness of the character that made him great, it's what made him beautiful and it's great to see a writer recognize that and set himself apart from the clowns that are currently dragging this once great character through the mud.
The shameful thing of it all is that this team is just a one and done team that will leave fans asking what ifs. It's a shame, I would love to see where'd they would take this character. It's high time that Marvel stops making Wolverine the stepping stone character for writers to jumpstart their careers. It's deflating
REVIEW: 4 Claws: A worthy 3 dollar spend
Enjoy this story, who knows when we'll get another good one.
