Wolverine MAX, Volume 1: Permanent Rage

Wolverine MAX

by Jason Starr, Roland Boschi (Illustrator), Connor Willumson (Illustrator)

Your favorite X-Man done the way you wanted to see him - in a no-holds-barred MAX series written by award-winning crime novelist Jason Starr (PUNISHER MAX, The Chill)! In modern-day Tokyo, Logan gets pulled into a terrorist's plot...or was he the target all along? It's a new look at Wolverine's past, as Logan investigates the crash that wiped his memory - and
uncovers things about his history that he didn't want to know! Plus, meet the man known as...Victor Creed!

COLLECTING: Wol verine Max 1-5

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Fiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Jason Starr is the international bestselling author of many psychological thrillers, including Vanessa's Men, Too Far, Panic Attack, Fantasies, and The Manhattan Trilogy. He also writes original graphic novels, such as the thriller Casual Fling, and comics for Marvel and DC. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the comic books Wolverine Max #1-5 which focus on an amnesiac Wolverine trying to find out who he is and if there's more to him than being a killing machine, whilst getting caught up with terrorists in Tokyo! There's of course a Victor Creed Max! Pretty good, but I expected even more from a MAX title. 8 out of 12.

[A.J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was...not great. I think that’s what’s so disappointing about it: A Wolverine MAX book should be awesome, not like this. The only thing I genuinely liked was the final issue with the confrontation with Sabretooth, but even then, that’s reaching for compliments. Pretty bad so far, hope the other 2 volumes are better.

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one ain't for the kiddies! The f-bomb shows up and there is nudity and plenty of in your face violence. I don't necessarily need that to enjoy a story, but I feel that the violence is part and parcel of Wolverine aka James Logan Howlett's life. This book is a good one for people who got introduced to Wolverine via the Marvel Movie Universe and want to dive into the graphic novels about this beloved and complex character.

This starts with a boom and ends fairly the same way. The reader is just as confused as Wolverine about his situation, since he is afflicted with memory loss. Of course, Wolverine's personal Satan, Sabertooth is there to engineer chaos and destruction and to try to convert Wolverine to his way of doing things, psychopathic behavior. But Wolverine is no one's plaything. He's a strong-minded person, and while he doesn't always do the right thing, he is guided by an intrinsic sense of honor that keeps him from going over the edge and into the abyss where Sabertooth happily lives.

I gave this four stars because I just plain love this character. The writer gets this character, and he conveys the essence of him to readers, older and newer fans alike. However, I do have a quibble. Some of the artwork was just ugly. Wolverine is a hairy guy, let's face it. But they made him look like a grotesque troll. And there was too many bulgy eyes and gooey entrails. Not very pretty. yes, violence can be conveyed in an aesthetically appealing way if done right. I could have done without that art, but I did like some of the artwork, and I especially like the chiaroscuro cover that the volume I got from the library has. My library has a plethora of Wolverine volumes to enjoy, and I am taking my time exploring them. This was a nice use of my hour while I was waiting for my ride home.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wolverine wakes up in the wreckage of a plane floating in the sea with no memory of who he is. After being saved, he begins the investigation into what caused the plane crash and why.

I don’t know who Jason Starr is but he’s basically just ripping off the Bourne Identity with his book Wolverine MAX: Permanent Rage. Besides the Logan floating in water with no memory scene, there’s a scene where he discovers a safe full of passports and false identities! Why does Logan need so many different identities? Because he’s some kind of hitman for Sabretooth which is nonsense. Also, most of this book is set in the present day and you’d think Wolverine by now would be pretty famous to the general public, even in Japan. He’s an X-Man, an Avenger, he’s the headmaster of the Westchester school, yet despite having his picture plastered across 24 hour rolling news, nobody tells him he’s Wolverine, and not one of his many supe buddies comes to tell him that either!

If you don’t already know, any Marvel book with MAX in the title means that you can expect to see swear words, bewbs, excessive blood from fighting and basically all the grown-up stuff that gets censored out of the main Marvel comics. Starr gets mileage out of Wolverine swearing by having him repeat “fuck” over and over for the first few pages, and then having a scene in a strip club for no reason other than to show some topless strippers. None of this stuff enhances the book in any way or has any relevancy to the plot, it’s just put there because they can do this in MAX books. Blood in a Wolverine title is appropriate given his claws and violence and I suppose the downed plane wouldn’t feature in mainstream Marvel stuff, but generally it feels like a lot of stuff in here is excessive.

Starr’s writing is truly uninspired. His zig-zag plot has Wolverine trying to first figure out how his plane went down then switches to Wolverine trying to find a sword, neither of which are particularly interesting to read about. It’s a Wolverine book so Mariko and Sabretooth both get shoe-horned into the script. Mariko does what she always does and makes Logan fall in love with her while Sabretooth does what he always does and shows Logan his own limits on what he’ll do. In other words, nothing we haven’t seen in numerous other Wolverine stories, and an utterly snooze-inducing read. Plus the whole plane crash story is garbage – I won’t say what the resolution is but it’s just garbage.

The writing and story may be pitiful, but by far the worst thing about the book is the art. Somewhere like 6 or 7 artists worked on this book, the varied art styles chopping and changing for no reason at all. After a few pages, we switch to an artist seemingly channelling R. Crumb because we suddenly get cartoony Logan with massive Hulk-like hands! And the character designs are the worst – the Yakuza boss literally looks like the Gangnam style dude. He’s supposed to be menacing but I couldn’t take him seriously, I kept waiting for him to start hopping up and down, twirling an invisible lasso!

Sabretooth’s character design is just plain baffling. When we first meet Victor Creed aka Sabretooth he looks exactly like Sam Elliott, then the second time we see him he looks like Owen Wilson, and the third time he looks like classic Sabretooth – what the hell is going on!? Having multiple artists drawing him doesn’t help either, but the way his appearance kept changing was nuts.

The only art that was any good were Jock’s covers and is the only positive thing I can say about this book. Everything else about it is a disaster – the writing is dull, the story is completely boring, and the art is messy at best. Permanent Rage would be a good description of how I felt when reading it but it didn’t really produce that strong an emotion in me – Permanent Disinterest would be more accurate.

[Sud666 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Permanent Rage is pretty much an origin story for Wolverine. Logan wakes up after a plane crash with no memories. The rest of the book is spent with him trying to tie the pieces together. What you get is a look into his past and his relationship with Victor Creed, Sabertooth and Mariko.

Flashing back and forth between the Shogun era when he and Victor worked together for the Shogun to modern times where Creed is messing with his head while he tries to recover his memories. The story isn't all that great. Victor's reasons make him sound like an ex-boyfriend stalker type. The artwork is truly underwhelming. As a MAX series it does have some graphic violence but that doesn't really make up for this story and the unimpressive art.

Is it terrible? As far as memory loss stuff goes..no...I've read worse. But that's not a ringing endorsement. Also what's the deal with Logan? Does he have an adamantium skeleton or not? The book has him with his claws (the metal ones-not the bone ones) but his legs get ripped off? WTF? (yes everything regenerates..but how did he get the claws but not the rest?)...also the part about why Victor used a samurai sword is odd..didn't Victor always have claws? Actually I don't care as this wasn't that great a story. Meh.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun volume!

It starts with Logan and a plane crash and him being suspected so him on the run but the real fun starts when we see him make a run for it and slowly piecing his different memories together.

First 150 years ago how he was fighting for the shogunate with Creed vs Yashida clan and then falling in love with a woman named Mariko and the family drama there but falling in love with her and how Creed and him started out as friends but then enemies after what happened with Mariko and I love the story especially the element of sword, its fun and kinda turns the whole wolvie mythos in a fun manner.

Plus the present day about how this woman named Yami might have been his lover and the whole confusion as to who might have destroyed the plan juxtapose with his present memories and what a mess they are, it becomes a tough read sometimes as you follow two flashbacks one 150 years ago and the other in the present-past with YAMI and whatever he is doing on the run vs Sabretooth.

It can become a struggle to read sometimes bouncing around so many times but when the story comes together it forms a much linear story in a way and you see his love for Mariko and a great fight with Creed but it should have been more brutal and feels like a PG version like a MCU movie but then again a cool story nonetheless and the art was okay for the most part.

[JB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Up till now I’ve enjoyed every Max title and Marvel Knights title I’ve read. This is no exception. Wolverine is my favorite Marvel character. And this is a typical but great dark Wolverine story. It features the century old bond between Logan and Creed. Which is always a plus for me.

It’s a very noir-ish type of story. I really like the art. It fits the dark and mysterious tone of the story perfectly. Wolverine has lost his memory in a plane crash and tries to regain his memory. He’s on the run for the police, the Yakuza and like that wan’t enough, he has Victor Creed aka Sabretooth on his tail.

If you enjoy Max stories, stories with a mature content and gory violence, then this is for you. Like I said, I’m a big fan of Wolverine and Wolverine equals blood, gore and violence. After reading this story I can say check, check and check.

[Nazary · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book starts out with so much promise - Wolverine has amnesia so he doesn't have to be mopey and growly! - and gorgeous art but midway through loses all it's steam. It goes from being edgy by tackling the question of - who is Wolverine? from an actual fresh perspective to being edgy for showing gratuitous violence and boobs.

[Starlight Kid · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated the other one so no surprise I hate this also.

Poor choices with story and goes for shock value then anything else.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvel's MAX imprint is the mature reader line which has more profanity, nudity and violence than the average Marvel comic. Now, let me rant about this for a second. Marvel originally came up with this concept as a counter to DC's Vertigo line. However, Marvel mostly missed the point. At first, all Marvel did was stick some characters in a story loaded with sex and violence and cursing. That's never been what Vertigo was about. Vertigo told mature stories, and as such they sometimes contained adult themes. They didn't just stick adult themes into a story in order to make it mature. But in any case, this story was a pleasant surprise as the adult aspects weren't overdone, and just came across as part of the story.

This was a noir type story starring Wolverine. Basically the story could have been adapted into a hardboiled crime story without superheroes, but in this case we had Wolverine and Sabretooth as the main characters.

Wolverine is in a plane crash and he loses his memory, so the story follows him as he slowly tries to figure out his past, and specifically why he was on the plane. We have some flashbacks to his days as a samurai, mixed in his with modern day quest. There's some revisionist history here, as we see Mariko Yashida and her father Shingen leading a samurai clan back in the 1800s rather than the modern version we know from the Frank Miller limited series. Overall we end up with a pretty cool story that's somewhat different than usual comic book fare.

I kept picturing a Liam Neeson film, as that's what the story felt like. I would recommend this to any Wolverine fan, especially if you like crime drama.

[Nerdish Mum · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

I really didn't think that I would like this at all after flicking through it when I got the book home and all I could see was T and A. Luckily the story was really strong and in context the T and A made sense and fit the story. I really enjoyed what Starr did with both Wolverine and Creed, I thought the whole story worked really well. The artwork in my opinion was a bit rough around the edges but I do think it matched the writing.

[Brian Misakian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly and completely badass. While this is a short volume, it's immensely satisfying. It's a full story that stands on its own, while leaving plenty of questions for the creators to explore in future volumes. The MAX imprint is perfect for a violent, flawed character like Wolverine, and I want to see where else they go with this little series.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Si bien extrañaba que Lobezno no se prodigase como tal por las líneas "adultas" Marvelitas de principio de siglo, como si hizo el Castigador o hasta un Thor de Garth Ennis. La cabecera canon por aquel entonces de Greg Rucka ya insuflaba bastante seriedad y oscuridad derivada del éxito de la versión cinematográfica estelarizada por Hugh Jackman. Que ofrecía un Lobezno con notable aversión al perfil superheroíco "pijamero". Más cómodo en ser ese antihéroe callejero que gusta más de una buena riña de bar que acabe con maleantes en el hospital que tener que seguir a la Patrulla X contra un supervillano que amenace a todo el planeta.

Justamente este Lobezno MAX parece existir a sabiendas del Lobezno cinematográfico, quien ya tenía su "saga" independiente. Primero con la más defenestrada X-Men Orígenes: Lobezno. Pero a año y poco de publicar este primer arco argumental llegaría la más apreciada Lobezno Inmortal para llegar a ese emblemático colofón titulado LOGAN. Lobezno MAX parece adelantar mucho de lo que James Mangold presentaría en Lobezno Inmortal y recoge algo en concreto de Orígenes: Lobezno. Siendo una más que curiosa recomendación para quien gusta más del personaje en cines que en viñetas. Porque la pretensión de Lobezno MAX es alejarse bastante de la idiosincrasia regular de Lobezno. El autor Jason Starr no niega el universo superheroico que es parte del personaje. Pero toda mención a Lobezno como tal y a otros personajes como Los Vengadores, será como eso mismo: simples guiños verbalizados por los personajes. Pero la historia nunca saldrá del ambiente "mundano" criminal donde el hombre que se conoce más comúnmente como Logan, se interna para descubrir lo más de sí mismo y la verdad tras un terrible accidente de avión del que solo él sobrevive (factor curativo mediante). Jason Starr basa su propuesta argumental de Lobezno MAX en esa amnesia del que el mutante canadiense siempre se ha valido para hacer más interesante su historia y trasfondo que como sabemos, suele abarcar incluso siglos de antigüedad. El necesitar de diferentes alias y alter egos para evitar miradas curiosas, termina convirtiéndose en un peligro para el mismo Logan, quien en situaciones así solo se encuentra preguntándose qué versión de sí mismo es. Aunque siempre sale a flote la más salvaje y propensa a la violencia descuartizada por sus garras de adamantium.

El avión que se estrella parte de Japón hacia Los Ángeles. Logan se encuentra atrapado en ese país del que suele quedarse ligado y prendado. Pero tras ser visto como un milagro, la fama se vuelve en su contra al acabar siendo principal sospechoso de lo que parece ser un atentado. Esto solo impulsa la acción y suspense con el personaje teniendo que tirar de la madeja de sus recuerdos lo que le permite el acoso policial o los individuos peligrosos de los que parece que formaba parte intrínseca. Sobre todo, de un salvaje melenudo que parece compartir su naturaleza superhumana. Y con quien ha compartido los recuerdos más vívidos de su pasado por la extrema violencia forjada en los conflictos bélicos de la era Meiji. Victor Creed (aka Dientes de Sable) se presenta tanto como aliado como enemigo. Redescubriendo una trama con el clan Yashida de la que Logan forma parte sin aún recordarlo.

Como se intuye, Lobezno Inmortal también se contextualiza en Japón por una trama del clan Yashida con Logan que termina implicando a la Yakuza. Pero Lobezno MAX tira más del pasado del personaje en Japón que en el presente, donde Mariko es solo un recuerdo. Por otra parte, Jason Starr reincide en esa conexión y enemistad particular de Lobezno y Dientes de Sable de la que la primera película individual del personaje descubría una hermandad total. En este caso, sorprende que el autor parezca insinuar un afecto más "románticamente retorcido" de Victor, por volver a tener a su lado a su salvaje compañero y recuperar el ciclo de violencia extrema.

Lobezno MAX no deja mucho a la imaginación. Jason Starr tira de su experiencia en el género noir pero no logra que el hecho de contar con el mutante canadiense y ese trasfondo samurai, sean cosas a fascinar al lector. La necesidad de remarcar la violencia gráfica o las escenas sexuales para destacar el ser parte del sello "Adulto" de Marvel, tampoco termina por distanciar la lectura de un personaje que incluso en sus historias más "naifs". Es un elemento disruptivo de la idiosincrasia superheroica regular de Marvel. Como digo, quizás si vienes exclusivamente de las películas. Abraces más y mejor este comic en su propuesta independiente y tirando más de la acción gráfica que el fondo argumental.

[Max Ostrovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first MAX title and didn't really know what I was getting into. And I quickly got into it. I thought the artwork was beautiful and beautifully gruesome when it needed to be. The narrative was fast passed and engaging.
And I absolutely loved the Noir reinvention of the Wolverine character.
I had to quickly learn to let go of everything I've ever known, thought, and believed about Wolverine, his story line, his abilities, his universe, everything.
The only element that was the same was Wolverine's struggle and self-doubt related to his memory loss. It was brilliantly done and even played with.
But everything else had to be tossed out. And that's where letting go becomes the most difficult, especially concerning what I would consider to be absolutely core to the character.
Wolverine's healing factor isn't what got him his adamantium. Adamantium isn't rare in this retelling (or at least accessible to be used for pointless constructs and other non-healing ability characters).
I guess I was along for the ride up until the climax and resolution. It did have a cool ending, but cool was all it was. I just couldn't get it to go with the concepts of Wolverine I couldn't let go of.
So that's probably just my issue.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will appeal to a lot of people will be happy to see Logan swear and nudity due to the book being a MAX title. Personally, neither of those elements added to the story but it wasn't a bad story. Victor and Logan fighting is nothing new but this was a decent look at who Logan is (even if this doesn't take place in the main Marvel Universe). The book was gritty and bloody but it should be given the subject. The art was all over the place though. Some really nice work and some very unreadable panels. Overall, an average Wolverine book that doesn't bring anything new to the character but doesn't offend.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend recommended this to me so If you like Wolverine this is an awesome comic to pick up. Following the events of a plane crash, Logan loses his memory and cannot remember if it was him who crashed the plane. He has multiple identities which is awesome and the villain is Victor Creed. With epic and gory fight scenes this is always a great read. The gritty art sets a perfect tone for the book as well. If you like a mature comics this is the way to go. Loved this! 5/5

[Judah Radd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not sure why the reviews were so harsh. I kinda dug this.

Was it great? No... but it was enjoyable, a good character study of Logan, and well drawn.

This has a Jason Bourne vibe. It’s the old “guy who is a badass has no memory” deal. The revelations were exciting. I kinda wish he did a little more “people saving,” but there were enough badass moments of Weapon X violence that I got over it.

The strip club scene rules.

I’m intrigued by what comes next.

[Gamal Hennessy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wolverine Max is a remix of the standard formula. The eternal killing machine struggles to remember his past and decide if he's a man or a monster. Like an alternative version to a good song, the story isn't bad, but it's been done better. The noir mood and gore fit the narrative, but it never tried to expand the mythology or draw outside the established lines of the character. For all the cursing and violence, this is a very safe story for Wolverine fans.

[Joe LaConte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Logan's storylines in Japan are the best of his solo stories, hands down. This is one of the better ones. Without any spoilers, be prepared for conflicting feelings. I definitely felt that way. I appreciate the use of the MAX line to add details normally left out from his powers, without needing to go excessive. This is a good example of what the MAX line could have been at its best.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wolverine with boobs and f words! If you needed Wolverine stories with boobs and f words enjoy! I thought this mostly hovered in the good category even if the cover for issue 4 might be one of the best I've seen in a long, long time.

[Subhradeep Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply epic. Go for it

[Sofia The Great · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uh.... I feel like the Logan forgets his memory storyline keeps happening all the time and this time I didn't care. The story was just okay. Nothing to write home about.

[skyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best wolverine ever

The absolute best wolverine comic I have read in a long time the story the violence the gore everything worked together so well definitely worth checking out

[Aarthika · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid wolverine story. I wasn't a fan of the art though.

[Hrishabh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully drawn origin story

[iamjacsmusings · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inconsistent writing and art.

It's a SNIKT! for this MAX series after one volume for me. Bub.

[Ellie Cripps · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty uninspired honestly, felt like a rehashing of everything we've seen before and not in a good way

[Larisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

The cover is the best part of the series.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

So very much NOT my kind of graphic novel. If you like gore and strip clubs, you may enjoy this more than I did. At least I completed a readathon prompt...

[Callie Stubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what wolverine should be

This comic is the perfect wolverine story. It’s Gritty, violent, beautiful art. Wish Marvel would write like this more often.