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Is It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 Review

Comic Books

Is It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 Review

By any indication, Wolverine #1 proves he’s “the best there is at what I do” and what he does is take a beating. Sure he kills, but that’s all off-panel. No, over the years we’ve seen so many ways Wolverine can take a beating I figure that’s really what he’s good at. Wolverine gets a new #1 issue—think of it as his Marvel NOW! introduction—and we ask ourselves, is it good?


Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 (Marvel Comics)


Is It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 Review

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There are single issue comics where heroes fly across galaxies fighting multiple battles or are born and grow old and die and then there are comics where they sit in a single room and do not a whole lot. Pacing dictates how much a protagonist can accomplish and in some cases that’s okay. They might not do a lot, but in some cases they certainly do a lot of thinking. This is an issue that doesn’t accomplish a lot in either sector, as Wolverine doesn’t do much besides face a holdup from a guy with a laser weapon. It’s a setup to something bigger, but it doesn’t cover much ground.

Is It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 Review
Wolverine scared? Bah, this is outrageous!

Is It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 Review
Whistle while we work!

Wolverine isn’t the detective type, but this seems to be a detective type of story. It goes as far as establishing a relationship between Logan and a detective on the police force. I guess he has time to help local authorities now? There isn’t much detective work in this issue, but rather the setup for a mystery that’s compelling. Of course, like with any detective story not a lot of details are revealed. No, those are saved for the following three issues, but writer Paul Cornell does a good job veiling this mystery here. Peculiar things are going on and there’s no telling who or what is behind them.

One point that stuck out was Cornell tackling Wolverine’s relationship with children. Sure, he’s a headmaster now at the school, but his tumultuous relationship with Daken seems to be touched on here to some extent. It’s not clear if he’s feeling regret for being a terrible father or what, which makes the read slightly confusing. Most likely more will be revealed on this, but the character thread dangles there.

Is It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 Review
Wolverine needs to be naked more…said everyone!

Unfortunately for this issue the pacing kind of kills it. The story probably didn’t need to be four issues as proclaims on the credits page, and as far as this opening issue goes much more probably should have been covered. To fill in the issue we get a hell of a lot of Wolverine beatings. He gets crushed by a car, shot with a flesh burning laser and other such fun. The damage he takes amounts to reading filler or it’s simply misdirection.

The pencils by Alan Davis do a good job articulating Wolvie’s damage, but there isn’t a whole lot for him to do here. That said, I’m still holding out hope this turns out to be a good story. It just hasn’t reached that point yet.

Is It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 Review
Love how that panel zigzags.

Is It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 Review 7.0

Is It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 ReviewIs It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 ReviewIs It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 ReviewIs It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 ReviewIs It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 ReviewIs It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 ReviewIs It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 ReviewIs It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 ReviewIs It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 ReviewIs It Good? Wolverine Vol. 5 #1 Review
  • Nice setup
  • Strong pencils by Alan Davis
  • Not enough story

I think it’s safe to say Wolverine is a character that has been used way too much in the last, oh, I’d say two decades. Because of this he’s been set in stories that are so big the man hasn’t had a chance to have a small story in quite awhile. This story might explode in the next issue, but it’s nice to see a smaller detective type story taking place with the character. Maybe something new will pop out.

Is It Good?

Yes. A nice intro to a slow issue.

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