This week, Wolverine’s taking his sweet time dying for our amusement, Superman’s still angry, and Original Sin finally comes to a close. Celebrate Thursday with a few storms from Thor and an all new Image comic. It’s a busy life our comic heroes lead. The best you can do is give a little hand of applause.
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Death of Wolverine: 1 of 4
Logan’s looking for a way to fix his healing factor and he’s suffering from radiation poisoning and years of bacterial infections he’s gotten from pulling back into himself with his claws. Add this to all the trauma he puts himself though and death’s certainly in his future.
Logan finds his way north back to Canada and a bar he remembers from his past, has a drink, and asks the barkeep to kindly direct all the people looking for him to an island he’ll be waiting at. I don’t know about you, but if a person like Wolverine calls me out to a remote location, knowing I want to hurt him… I don’t go. Sounds like a trap to me. A man named Nuke apparently doesn’t think like me. He wants Wolverine.
He gets Wolverine, but none of his posse even makes it to shore. Nuke manages to get to the island, only to find a slew of bodies from various factions chasing Logan. This doesn’t bode well. After Wolverine finally shows himself and head-butts Nuke into submission, he let’s him live. Logan is going to let him go as a warning to others. Logan also has questions: Who wants him dead? As it turns out, the bounty is for Wolverine alive. Of all of Wolverine’s foe’s who might want him alive? Viper.
Charles Soule’s been tasked with writing the mini series, and so far, I’m pleasantly surprised. He captures the very visceral nature of a feral mutant and combines it with something morose and all too human. The best of its pages’ text boxes describe Logan’s senses and what he perceives, and if this is the style later issues keep up, it provides a more thoughtful route of experiencing what Logan does without thought bubbles. I like it.
Steve McNiven draws a great Wolverine as well and I’ve been a longtime fan of his since he did the art for the Wolverine story “Old Man Logan“. His art lends itself well to grit, gore, and action to top off this fantastically violent, powerful arc.
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Original Sin #8: The Final Judgment
Final Judgment ends as predictably as it sounds. King Midas lost, even died when Fury Used a weaponized Watcher eye to blow him to pieces. Hell, he blew everything around to pieces and, of course, confesses to killing the Watcher just before everything explodes. The after math shows the Avengers once again not trusting each other due to all the secrets laid bare. Thor still can’t pick up his hammer. The Orb’s running around being a Watcher by proxy, having escaped with one of Uatu’s eyes and Bucky, of course, picked up the mantle of Nick Fury…killing all the threats to our universe before we even know they happen.
The comic closes with Nick crawling from the wreckage cursed to sit idly by and watch for eternity, his penance for all his and the universe’s sins. Overall, it was a proper ending, even if I find it a little predictable. I think I’m a little blasé to all of this due to fatigue from an never ending onslaught (no pun intended Axis) of “big events,” it’s all worth a read, but no doubt a slog to endure now and again.
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Original Sin: Thor and Loki the Tenth Realm #4:
We open the issue with everything just a bit status quo. As usual, Loki revels in taunting Thor, Thor seems bored with it all, the two making hitting their usual beats. Leaving Thor all chained up Loki and Angela take off in “planet-killer” ships to attack Asgard. They then begin to whip the Thunder God good whilst mocking him and soon, after enduring some taunts Thor demands to see his sister threatening to bring the palace down around them. His threats fall on deaf ears though, because what harm could Thor possibly do while tied up and with no hammer in hand?
Loki launches his second betrayal; launching the fleet of warships of Heven into the sealed off Asgard. They all wreck themselves upon the force field sealing Asgard off from the realms, opening it for business once again. A classic Loki triple-cross. Good on you Loki.
Back in Heven’s palace, Thor asks a simple question: “Where are the clouds?” A storm unlike any seen in the Tenth Realm rolls in. Storms follow the Thunder God and lightning tears the palace asunder, freeing the Odinson. Hammer in hand, Thor asks again, all too calmly…about his sister.
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Wolverine “1 Month to Die” # 12:
This book certainly plays a strange part in Wolverine’s continuity. Wolverine 12 has Sabretooth in two places at once, much like Wolverine usually is (They joke Logan’s super power is multi-tasking). You’d assume Wolverine 12 takes place prior to the mini-series Death of Wolverine, but Marvel could’ve fooled us.
We last left Wolverine in what could easily be his worst nightmare. A mall full of civilians. With all the visions he’s been getting lately, is it real? Sure enough, it is. Sabretooth (Victor Creed) knows how best to torment Logan out of anyone, and once Logan sees to it that all the civilians are safe, he rushes off after his old arch nemesis. Sabretooth’s already used the orb from previous issues to create a phantom army. We learn the little device is a technologically created deity and grants near godlike powers to whoever it is currently obeying. Sabretooth should never wield that sort of power. After classic comic witty banter, the two feral mutants fight and no less brutal. Logan can actually die now, but in the end, he bests Sabretooth again and uses the orb to reverse what little Sabretooth had already done to the world. The comic ends with Logan recovering from his fight and Death watching, disapprovingly. She was hoping he’d have killed Sabretooth herself. Them’s the breaks.
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Superman Wonder Woman “Doomed” # 11:
Last time, Mongul and Non escaped the Phantom Zone. What untold horrors will they inflict on Superman? Nothing much. They run right back in after finding out Brainiac plans to bottle Earth up and collect it much like Kandor. Funny, but anticlimactic. Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Cyborg are fighting an unending battle.
It seems like they just can’t win and desperate times call for the desperate measures that must be taken. Diana and Clark both come up with risky plans. Racing to save the other from damning themselves first, they both take the plunge. Superman sets Doomsday free and in the battle of wits Doomsday seemingly kills the Superman persona.
Meanwhile, Diana battles her way across the Phantom Zone to offer Mongul a deal: Warworld (which looks exactly like the second death star on panel) for his aid in stopping Brainiac. The issue closes with that just the climax you imagine: to be concluded in Superman “Doomed” #2!
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Supergirl “Doomed” # 34
I include this only for the sake of checking off the event’s completion. All Supergirl “Doomed” simply shows that Supergirl’s lost her Red Lantern ring and gotten sick from the recently kryptonite-infused atmosphere.
She’s nursed back to health by a friend after Batman manages to remove the Kryptonite from Earth’s atmosphere. Then Brainiac’s Mothership hurts her new found friend. For better or worse, this gives an explanation (however flimsy) as to why Kara cares to help stop Brainiac later in the conclusion. Pass on buying this one.
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Wayward #1
I’m enjoying indie comics more than Marvel and DC put together lately, to say the least. Image is really putting some quality stuff out there and they’ve got a voice for new talent.
Jim Zub’s just one of the many talented writers they publish, an artist whom I’ve liked since I discovered his Skullkickers comics. He blends humor into his work seamlessly and it never feels forced. When I heard he was writing Wayward I was in from the get go. The art by Steve Cummings is also fantastic. I loved issue one and highly recommend it. Let me tell you why.
Wayward’s far too good to spoil, and wanting avoiding that, I’ll attempt a brief recap. Basically, our main character is half Irish and half Japanese, she’s coming to Japan for the first time, to live with her mother after her parents divorce. She finds the country strangely familiar despite being all new while running into trouble exploring and gets saved by a monster hunting girl with an affinity for felines. They become fast (albeit seemingly reluctant) friends.
Wayward captures teenage angst, Japanese culture, and the excitement of the monster killer genre all in one book. Jim Zub adds natural levity to this equation to create something truly special. Fans of Manga will appreciate the art and style. Fans of Image will love it for attempting a cross genre approach and Wayward remains unique while creating feelings of familiarity to all our favorite anime.
I can say I simply loved Wayward thus far and it’s looking to be a great first issue, free of the mundane set-up and snail’s pace of its peers. This had a smidgen of the required set-up, but it was executed smartly and was a fun ride from start to finish. Pick this one up!
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Tell us: What comics are or have YOU picked up lately?
