Written by Marc Guggenheim
Pencils & Cover by Humberto Ramos
I can’t help but chuckle reading through the last pages of this comic where a group of random ‘tech-based’ thugs threaten (and make good on) a threat to cut Wolverine’s neck with an adamantium saw blade. I laugh because Daniel Way (over in his ‘Wolverine: Origins’) has espoused that the only thing that can really hurt Logan is ANOTHER made-up metal called carbonadium (or some such spelt word) that keeps healing factors from kicking in. That notion completely makes Guggenheim’s cliffhanger null of emotion or drama, not that a Wolverine comic ever had much of that before when it came to Logan’s health.
Guggenheim’s series boils down the character into the bare elements of what a good Wolverine comic should have: Logan finds villain worthy of the name, fights said villain, discovers larger plot of evil-doers, and finally, takes them down too. Well, we’re three issues in and we’re already to the ‘discovers larger plot’ part. That plot is revealed to be an Enron-esque conspiracy where a company (Damage-Control) creates more business and inflates prices by creating disasters themselves. That disaster leads indirectly to the Stamford Incident because Nitro’s powers had been augmented with MGH (Mutant Growth Hormone). MGH shouldn’t really work to augment non-mutants with powers, but it serves its function well-enough as a plot device.
Damage-Control is a company that specializes in cleaning up after superhero fights. Logan busts into the company’s HQ to confront the CEO but is really just planting a spying device that obtains the pertinent information he needed to prove their guilt. Turns out they’ve been helping augment villains for a long time now. This leads us back to the cliffhanger: Damage-Control lays a trap for Logan, one he walks into knowingly just because that’s his style. Enter random bad guys. Enjoy ensuing hack-slash.
Guggenheim understands the basics of a good action comic. The plot isn’t outstanding but it serves its role admirably, that is, to provide Logan with plenty of people to claw into.
Since this review is the smallest this week, I’ll take this time to comment on the plethora of two-page ads for NBC’s ‘Heroes,’ a LOST meets Rising Stars TV show. I mention it because the ad is so horribly bad. I never would have known it was in any way related to superheroes and powers just by seeing the ad. In fact, had I not seen the first episode online, I would have never paid it any heed at all. The ad just looks like it’s about firefighters or more doctor shows or some other NBC crap they normally put out. It is good though, good enough for everyone to check out the first episode.
Rating - 6
