So Marvel wants to kill off the Ole’ Canuck? Go figure. The feral black ops agent with the heart of a samurai has been used and saturated all over Marvel for decades now. But does the mini-series stand the test of time?
Does it stand against the greats who have taken Logan to new heights, and even greater lows? Perhaps this review will help you determine such. Let it be known that this review will contain spoilers. So if you’re not a fan, then feel free to read something else.
Wolverine catches the mutant equivalent of AIDS, which has degenerated his healing factor, on top of compounding some glaring problems with his biology; like the act of popping his claws, and having a foreign metal in his body. Ultimately Marvel’s top scientific minds can do nothing for him.
To make matters worse, someone has put a bounty on Logan’s head. Not surprising, he’s never been above killing, and there sure are a lot of disposable HAND Ninjas who need avenging. That being said, Logan sets off on a magical journey to find out who put the bounty on his head.
Whilst pondering the meaning of life, he somehow finds himself camped out on a mysterious island where he kills a bunch of generic bad guys, until another generic villain by the name of Nuke shows up, and works him over a bit. Wolverine is able to ascertain that the person who put the bounty on him is located somewhere in Madripoor.
Arriving in Madripoor, Wolverine is on the hunt for Viper, but then finds himself in a confrontation with Sabretooth, and then Lady Deathstrike butts in to collect on her piece of the bounty. Here’s when the convolution of plot comes into play. At this point in the story, another player enters the fray. Wolverine’s pal Kitty Pryde comes to even out the odds for her partner. But it seems that all of the conflict up until now is designed to point Logan towards Ogun.
So Wolverine heads to Japan… is it getting ridiculous yet??? Because I nearly had to put the book down. Anyway, Wolverine goes to Japan where Ogun possesses Kitty’s body…. because apparently he wanted to touch himself. After Ogun body swaps with a man, and a short chase, Wolverine finds out that the man who put the hit on him is none other than Dr Cornelius. One of the scientists from the Weapon X program who bonded Wolvie’s skeleton with adamantium.
Ok so now Wolverine returns to the weapon x facility. The revelation seems to be that Dr Cornelius wants to create an army of super soldiers more suited to his whims than say an animal like Wolverine. When Dr Cornelius finds out that Logan doesn’t have his healing factor anymore, he freaks out and orders a whack job of a soldier to end Wolverine. Well, even without a healing factor Wolverine ends the fight pretty quickly.
At this point Wolverine busts through the protective glass that was shielding the good doctor from him, right as he presses a button to bond adamantium to some poor unsuspecting kid. The cooling jets of adamantium hit Wolverine instead, and he chases Cornelius outside where the mortally wounded dr monologues about life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. Wolverines last view is of a beautiful sunrise, as the adamantium cools, and he apparently dies… maybe.
I’ll be brutally honest: I could never get into the book. I think it happened right in the beginning where Wolverine gets this craptastic death sentence, and doesn’t have his healing factor to combat anything. There’s no profundity to this tale whatsoever, unless you count the art. Steve Mcniven really put his foot into the pages. It just sucks that the writing didn’t match the art. One of the biggest drawbacks were villains, and their overall placement within the plot. They felt more like, “oh let’s put Sabretooth in here and job him out,” rather than use the characters to weave a convincing death for arguably one of the most important characters within Marvel continuity.
Saturday AM gives the Death of Wolverine 1-4, a 6/10
+The art rocks
+At least you know Logan will come back so another creative team can try their hand at killing him.
-Death sucked
-Plotting is disjointed
-Story didn’t have any heart
-Characters not used to their fullest potential
-Everything about this series is throwaway except for the art.
Wille, ( the e is silent) S. Colon is a Ninja with a Black Belt in wordplay, he specializes in creative fiction and making the world a safer place from whack emcees.
