Wedding bells are ringing in Madripoor - but when the "happy couple" are Wolverine and the villainous Viper, it's anything but a cause for celebration! Why is Wolverine tying the knot with one of his most vicious foes? And what do Shadowcat and Sabretooth have to say about it? And what deadly new advantage makes Sabretooth unbeatable? X-legend Chris Claremont returns to the character he made famous, in an old-school, action-packed caper against Hydra and the Hand! Wolverine faces Roughouse and Bloodscream, and teams with Captain America on a quest for self-improvement - but when he battles the Wendigo, it's all he can do to stay alive! Wolverine (1988) 123-132, Black Rio
Two iconic Wolverine stories are featured here: Wedding to Viper and Claw breaking from Sabretooth. The problem for me is the amount of less interesting stand alone adventures that pad out the book. Fights with Wendigo and alongside Captain America are filler. Instead of marching towards a climactic moment it plods along. I think this era of comic spent longer on fight scenes too, dragging them out.
This book is alright, but I was hoping for more. Maybe my expectations are high. I only rate 1, 4 or 5 stars. I would rate this lower than 4 stars if I change my rating system.
First, each of the first six or so collected comics begins with almost exactly the same inner monologue regarding the challenges faced by Wolverine now that he has no adamantium skeleton. This seems like it would have been a little tired, even when it was written. I just checked the year . . . . This was more than 5 "IRL" years after the Fatal Attractions event when that happened.
Second, in many of the fights, Wolverine is slashed in the belly and stumbles about holding his internal organs and commenting that his healing factor is not kicking in because of the immense damage. There's nothing wrong with doing that once a year, but once a fight seems a little much.
Third, there are a lot of events that should have real emotional weight: the titular blood wedding, the forced confrontation with some of the closest people in his life, the return of hated adversaries . . . . But if these shocking events bother the main character he does not show it. Rather, to the extent any emotions are conveyed, they are conveyed by secondary women sidekicks.
Perhaps this book stands as a monument to the difficulty in writing about a not-particularly-introspective hero who can't be killed. Perhaps.
1st story (#123) DeFalco/Cowan - ** And only just because I like Bloodsport and Roughhouse. 2nd story (#124) DeFalco/Cowan - * Lame and ugly. 3rd story (#125-128) Claremont/Yu-** Boring storytelling. Great art of Leinil Francis Yu. 4th story (#129-130) Dezago/Yu-*** Only little beter than Clermont´s story. I really enjoy how Yu drew Wolverine vs. Windigo fight. 5th story (#131)-* Meh 6th story (Wolverine: Black Rio) Casey/Jimenez-* I don't even recognize Wolverine in that strange dancing geezer. Remind me retarded disco Wolverine from Wolverine: Best there is. 7th story (#132) Nicieza/Yu- **** Best part of book. Dark short criminal story.