Wolverine: Wolverine's Revenge

Wolverine (2010) (Collected Editions)

by Jason Aaron, Renato Guedes (Illustrator), Goran Sudžuka (Illustrator)

First, Wolverine was sent to Hell. Then, he was forced to fight for control of his own mind against demonic invaders. All thanks to the machinations of a mysterious group called the Red Right Hand. Who are they, and what is their grudge against Logan? And how do they hope to survive now that Wolverine has come looking for some revenge of his own?

COLLECTING: Wolverine 10-16

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Fantasy

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 2011

About the author

Jason Aaron grew up in a small town in Alabama. His cousin, Gustav Hasford, who wrote the semi-autobiographical novel The Short-Timers, on which the feature film Full Metal Jacket was based, was a large influence on Aaron. Aaron decided he wanted to write comics as a child, and though his father was skeptical when Aaron informed him of this aspiration, his mother took Aaron to drug stores, where he would purchase books from spinner racks, some of which he still owns today.

Aaron's career in comics began in 2001 when he won a Marvel Comics talent search contest with an eight-page Wolverine back-up story script. The story, which was published in Wolverine #175 (June 2002), gave him the opportunity to pitch subsequent ideas to editors.

In 2006, Aaron made a blind submission to DC/Vertigo, who published his first major work, the Vietnam War story The Other Side which was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Miniseries, and which Aaron regards as the "second time" he broke into the industry.

Following this, Vertigo asked him to pitch other ideas, which led to the series Scalped, a creator-owned series set on the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation and published by DC/Vertigo.

In 2007, Aaron wrote Ripclaw: Pilot Season for Top Cow Productions. Later that year, Marvel editor Axel Alonso, who was impressed by The Other Side and Scalped, hired Aaron to write issues of Wolverine, Black Panther and eventually, an extended run on Ghost Rider that began in April 2008. His continued work on Black Panther also included a tie-in to the company-wide crossover storyline along with a "Secret Invasion" with David Lapham in 2009.

In January 2008, he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel, though it would not affect his work on Scalped. Later that July, he wrote the Penguin issue of The Joker's Asylum.

After a 4-issue stint on Wolverine in 2007, Aaron returned to the character with the ongoing series Wolverine: Weapon X, launched to coincide with the feature film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Aaron commented, "With Wolverine: Weapon X we'll be trying to mix things up like that from arc to arc, so the first arc is a typical sort of black ops story but the second arc will jump right into the middle of a completely different genre," In 2010, the series was relaunched once again as simply Wolverine. He followed this with his current run on Thor: God of Thunder.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect example of the punchline paying off.

Wolverine going through multiple assassins to get the group who's trying to torture and kill him only to get a reveal but shocking and twisted...what a dark chapter. Well worth reading.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I figured this would be a standard blood and guts Wolverine story so I let it sit in my library book pile for months.

It turned out this was very good.

Enemies of Wolverine know they cannot beat him so they plan out another way to hurt him.

OVERALL GRADE: B to B plus.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably one of the best Wolverine stories ever!

Wolverine goes after Red right hand and we learn who they are aka the victims aka the people left behind when Wolverine was serving Dept H, Team 7 or another phase when he was being mind controlled and killed the loved ones of these people and we see some of their backstories like the old man whose father was a coal mine owner, a woman who lost her father and husband to him and each of them have tried taking revenge on him but never succeeded and then finally we have them gather the mongrels and Wolverine has to fight Cannonfoot, Gunhawk, Shadow Stalker and more. And when the secrets are revealed of who they are what they do to get their revenge its awesome and is a very twisted tale but just too juicy and breaks Wolverine down.

Somewhere he decides to be a pack of wolves but that story just shows how essential Wolverine is and we get the segment of what Wolverine means to the people be it the X-Men or the Avengers and its just such a good story and probably one of the best and seeing all his teammates there was man so good. Ugh. The art was awesome and I am loving Melita and her <3. Aaron really knows how to get into the heart of these characters and shows them in a way that will make you love them and showing the tragedy and all in their life.

[Jedhua · Rating 3 out of 5]

If You Enjoy This, Check Out...: Wolverine Weapon X: Insane in the Brain

Book Info: This collection contains Wolverine issues #10-16.


ABSOLUTE RATING: {3+/5 stars}

STANDARDIZED RATING: <3/5 stars>

[Valentin Derevlean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bun, foarte bună concluzia evenimentelor din numerele anterioare. Cine e organizația Red Right Hand și de ce l-au trimit pe Wolverine în Iad. Wolverine îi caută, îi găsește și luptă să-i ucidă unul câte unul, crezând că se va răzbuna pe ei. Dar lucrurile nu merg așa cum trebuie. Inamicii mor, însă planul era de la început ca ei să moară.

O idee bună, dusă la capăt cum trebuie. Cu Wolverine luptând pe viață și pe moarte și multe secvențe din trecut care să completeze tabloul general. Arta bună, se ridică la nivelul poveștii.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Next to Spider-man, Wolverine is probably Marvel Comics most iconic character. Like Spiderman, Wolverine has been often ill-served in the type of story lines created. Wolverine, as the resident Marvel anti-hero should be easy to write for but that isn’t always the case. Look how he’s portrayed on screen. He comes across gruff rather than menacing. Sentimental and emotional (Wolverine should not cry!*) instead of feral. He rarely gets to go berzerker.

This book is the windup of a storyline in which Wolverine had previously been sent to Hell by a group called the Red Right Hand for directly or indirectly being responsible for the deaths of their loved ones. The anger I can understand, but the way in which the” ultimate” revenge is pulled off is strictly nonsensical and I don’t even want to think about the treacle that is the denouement.

*When Magneto ripped the adamantium through his skin, he didn’t cry. He might have curled up into a fetal ball, but he didn’t cry.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5, rounded up.

Freed from Hell and having wrested his body back under control, Logan sets out to take down the Red Right Hand once and for all. This strange collection of characters waits for him patiently, with only the Mongrels to protect them. As Logan claws his way towards his revenge, he has no idea just how terribly the truth behind the Red Right Hand's scheme will cut him.

Act three of Jason Aaron's Wolverine epic continues much in the same vein as the previous two - the A plot sees Wolverine carving through a different member of the Mongrels per issue, while the B plot gives us flashbacks as to how certain members of the Red Right Hand came to join the group. These are many and varied, and the way that Wolverine impacted their lives is also surprisingly diverse even if it can be boiled down to 'he killed someone they loved'. These are infinitely more compelling than the A plot, since the Mongrels are fairly generic as villains, but this actually helps the final gut punch reveal land better, because they feel so inconsequential until they're absolutely not.

The final two issues of the volume act as an epilogue, as Wolverine reels from the ending of the Revenge arc. It's hard to say too much here without spoiling the reveal earlier in the story, but it's interesting how Aaron can make such a powerful story feel relevant, and also give Wolvie a recovery arc in only two issues that still feels earned and noteworthy. It could have gone on much longer, but it works really well despite the short length.

On art is the returning Renato Guedes for the main arc, then Goran Sudzuka takes over for the final two issues. His art's a little more pedestrian than I've seen it before - there's a group shot that looks very dodgy with some X-Men having oddly shaped heads, but the emotional core of the scene remains intact despite this.

Wolverine's Revenge is a story that, on the surface, seems to be one we've seen before. But it hides a dark core that stabs Wolverine right in the heart. A perfect ending to this first year or so of Aaron's run on the title, and one I won't soon forget.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed reaction here: first four chapters had action & good detailed art. In the last two chapters the art became like Saturday morning cartoon. (Due to two different artists) The big 'revenge' twist ending was silly nonsense where I just did not believe the villainous cult motivations. Reminded me of poor writing in Bond film 'Spectre' (where the conspiracy of villian behind the scenes was just not convincing)

[Hilmi Isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good! I didn't expect the plot twist at the end between Wolverine and The Mongrels.

[Jonathan Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars this was a kinda bad, and an elaborate story that in the end made not much sense and was dog shit.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wolverine's Revenge poses a good question. How do you get revenge on a man that is essentially an immortal assassin? Jason Aaron comes up with a clever answer that could have been a really great Wolverine story that comes up a little short. First off, this is a very dark revenge tale that has more in common with Insane in the Brain from the Weapon X series than any of the other Wolverine stories Aaron has written. It features a satanic cult (albeit with nothing more than the standard portrayal of these cults) and a host of new characters, some of which have nice introductions to the reader.

There is a major plot twist and you really have to read almost the entire story to judge Wolverine's Revenge. Without giving anything away, I think this story could have explored the characters involved in the plot twist a bit more. That would have really made me feel the shock even more. With that said, I did like the last two issues which explored the aftermath in a relatively predictable but satisfying way. The art is overall good in this volume, if unremarkable. The real highlight is Renato Guedes who draws a great Wolverine.

[Frans Kempe · Rating 3 out of 5]

He faces of with the people that sent him to hell and finds himself face to face with his past. Interesting twist in the end.

[Sheldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like I had to write a review to balance out reviews for this title as I feel Jason Aaron's run of Wolverine has taken a bit of a battering critically and to just focus on the old comic book trope of "who" Wolverine fights against in this book (which collects Wolverine 10-16) is missing the bigger picture that Aaron is trying to tell which is "why"?

The actual public aftermath of superhero conflict is rarely told in comics (Kurt Busiek's Marvels being one notable exception) which is what Aaron chooses to focus on here. The Red Right Hand is indeed a pitiful group of individuals and yes we don't know these people Logan has (often unintentionally) killed but that is the point; we're on this ride with Wolverine, this realisation that there are consequences to these so called heroes' (a very loose term when applied to Wolverine) actions that they don't consider or brush off. These nobodies are people that have had their lives forever changed from one short, fleeting meeting with Logan and there eventually comes a point when the amount of individuals become so large they become something more than collateral damage, especially when you've been alive as long as Logan.

It's good that there are books out there that depict Wolverine in this grey area as there are way too many modern Marvel comics post-Hugh Jackman that gloss over the fact Logan is far from a clean cut, role model and team leader that he is shown as.

An arc focusing on an individual character like this works so much more than something like the Civil War event which quickly escalated into panels upon panels of superheroes fighting and missed the original premise of the public impact.

Admittedly the final issue does come across as over-sentimental however, the pay-off of Wolverine [again] coming to the conclusion that he cannot simply run from what does best, consequences be damned, makes this worth the read.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the two volumes leading up to this rather lackluster, solid but standard. The punchline of this whole plot is pretty affecting, though. Revenge indeed!

I'm going to knock down a star just because the wrap up is a little cheesy, but I'm hoping that the next volume lets the sense of despair and tragedy continue.

[Nicole Westen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why do I feel like Logan's response to deep emotional trauma is the go into the woods and live with a pack of wolves? This is like the second or third time he's done this, at least from what I've read so far. Also, the first thing I would have done after being invited back to civilization by my friends/enemies(?) is to ask for some damn pants.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, I get this twist. I just don't think it would affect Wolverine that much.

Also, it kind of goes against the comicbook bloodline rules that Wolverine would have such lame kids who are so unlike him. A kid named Cannonfoot? A guy with, like, a hat and a revolver"

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

mixed feelings. I guess I expected something different.
I love Wolverine, though.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more of a 3.5, but still better than I was expecting. I found the first few issues a little dull, but the last couple of issues helped add weight to the preceding ones.

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last issue of this book was so bad, I considered giving this one star.

We'll get there.

The overall arc of this book is that a group of conspirators who've come together because their loved ones were all killed by Wolverine. But we learn in the issues that, with one exception, their loved ones were all Terrible People who deserved to die. So this group has assembled a group of mutants to battle Wolverine, knowing that they are going to die. They (the conspirators) watch the battles on a large screen waiting for Wolverine to make it to the room where they're all assembled. They then drink poison just before he gets into the room, leaving him to watch a video where they announce that their blood is on his hands, too.

That's a bleh enough premise. But the reveal that all the mutants he kills on his way to find the dead conspirators were his own bastard children that he had with one night stands over the course of his life is so over the top that it almost hurt to read. And that it was then tied into the Wolverine: Origin story gave me a headache.

The one laugh I had was all the conspirators end up in hell after they kill themselves where they are reunited with their terrible relatives, except for the kid whose mother was actually a good person who was killed by Wolverine during Wolverine: Enemy of the State, Volume 1 when he was brainwashed by The Hand. Him looking around Hell for his mother, and not finding her was chuckle-worthy.

The last issue has Wolverine in the wilderness again, punsihing himself for his misdeeds again. All that drama is on the odd numbered pages, while on the even numbered pages other Marvel Universe characters talk about how important Wolverine is. The last two or three pages should be torn out of every book and fed to Jason Aaron by anyone misfortunate enough to read this book.

I don't recommend it.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the final part of the story cycle that began with "Wolverine Goes to Hell" and "Wolverine Vs. The X-Men" where Logan faces the Red Right Hand for the final time and has his revenge... or does he?

I think Jason Aaron's work is fantastic but this run of "Wolverine" (he does another strain called "Weapon X" which is vastly superior) is far from his best work. "Hell" was so so and mostly had Logan fighting an unlimited number of bad guys, "Vs" was mostly the same thing but with X-Men, and "Revenge" is again a series of opponents fighting Logan and Logan inevitably taking them down.

The Red Right Hand are a pitiful group of villains and the reveal at the end that's supposed to be their ultimate revenge on him is weak mostly because we don't know the characters Logan is supposed to have killed. Their implied relationship is never real. The book does show the consequences of Wolverine's long and bloody life on the survivors of his victims or collateral damage, but Logan has always been an ambiguous hero at the best of times.

Mostly it's just a series of D-list bad guys being killed by Logan and is no great shakes as a story. Aaron is a better writer than this and this run on Wolverine is one of his weakest efforts. For better reads try "Weapon X" or Aaron's own series "Scalped".

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wolverine's Revenge (#10-14). Wolverine's final battle against the Red Right Hand starts off quite intriguingly. It's a great reminder of Logan's bestial roots and his willingness to kill. But then Aaron presents issue after issue of fight combined with backstory of yet another person destroyed by Wolverine. What was good the first time is boring the fifth. The ending is also pretty obvious well in advance. [3+/5]

Aftermath (#15). This immediate follow-up to "Wolverine's Revenge" is much better than the arc itself, because it focuses on the grotesque emotional impact that was the good part of the longer arc [5/5].

Return (#16). Finally, we have a thinky place about fate and destiny. And there are wolves. And we see Wolverine's place in the world. It's not as emotionally fraught, but it's a good finale [4/5].

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I preferred the latter half, the redemptive part, of the story as the art work from issue #15-16 looked terrific. I didn't much care for the story in the prior volume so it's understandable I was underwhelmed by the formulaic revenge tale in which several old folks ushered the reader with flashbacks from their childhood of how Wolverine messed up their lives and I'd have minded it much less if the payoff was sweeter, but I didn't think it was.

[Genevieve Trainor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I *love* Jason Aaron's writing, as always. This book is disturbing, almost too much so... but not in an entirely bad way. Something about it kept me distanced from it while reading; perhaps it's just been too long since I read the first part of the story, or perhaps the anger and psychological tension just doesn't hold up on its own. It seemed overwrought at times. I loved the interspersed stories about the origins of the Red Right Hand.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jason Aaron crafts an amazing tale of revenge and retribution. The Red Right Hand comes to its conclusion and its a kick to the groin. Without spoiling anything, Aaron delivers a twist that I never saw coming and I think will rock Logan's world. Learning the past interactions and motivations of the RRH was a treat and their mystery cohort was intriguing. Overall, a fantastic Wolverine book that should go down as one of his best storylines.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the wrap-up to the whole Wolverine Goes To Hell cycle, and I felt this was the strongest & most effective part of the story. I liked seeing the motivations behind the villains as well as a pretty wild twist. Also Logan's emotional "rebirth" was quite emotional affecting. Aaron also plays down the humor here, giving the story a more sober tone. I've liked all the Aaron Wolverine stories I've read, but so far this may be my favorite.

[Matt Sabonis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good conclusion to the whole Wolverine-gets-his-life-ruined story. The Red Right Hand's revenge is excellently evil, and it pays off in the concluding two issues, where Wolverine has to finally confront everything he's done before this. Guedes' and Parlov's art is fantastic in each story, and, while the construction of the main arc could get a bit tiresome, it overall works. Good stuff.

[Maddsurgeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off a little slow, and some of the fight dialogue is a bit hokey, but the buildup is nice, and the reveal of the Red Right Hand's scheme, though predictable, is effective. My favorite part was actually the epilogue, which has a bunch of cute cameos as well as the return of Melita.

Good stuff in general; I like Aaron's take on Wolverine.

[AGraphicMaduck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bigger fan of the art in the first four comics collected, thought it did a better job capturing Wolverine's emotions, etc...last two books liked the writing more...overall enjoyed this more than Aaron's "Back in Japan."

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Individual issues on marvel unlimited