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Wolverine by Jason Aaron: The Complete Collection
Wolverine by Jason Aaron: The Complete Collection, Vol. 3
He's the best there is at what he does...and Wolverine's not so bad, either. Writer Jason Aaron's (PUNISHERMAX, Scalped) acclaimed and character-defi ning Wolverine run conti nues in this third volume! Joined by some of comics' top artists, Aaron tests Wolverine to his limits as the feral hero takes a lengthy trip through time with the ever-annoying Spider-Man! Then, a mysterious organization conspires to send Wolverine to Hell, where he encounters the souls of unexpected family and friends...and batt les the Devil! COLLECTING: ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN & WOLVERINE 1-6, WOLVERINE 1-9, 5.1; WOLVERINE: ROAD TO HELL 1
456 pages, Paperback
First published August 5, 2014
43 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Jason Aaron
2,415 books1,665 followersJason 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 6, 2015
Up to this point I've loved Jason Aaron's expansive Wolverine run. He's done a ton of work to redefine the character and take him in fresh directions, and I appreciate that he was attempting to do the same in the storylines contained here. I just don't think these quite worked for me.
First up is Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine, a pretty wild time travel adventure featuring the titular characters, who we find out totally hate each other for some reason (I guess just because they're kind of different? I mean, there are a lot of people for Wolverine to hate, and Spider-Man doesn't seem like one of them.). Anyway, a story about two people who totally hate each other starts to become VERY tiresome, since all they do is bicker when they're together, and think about how much they hate each other when they're apart.
In addition to this problem, I've also started to notice a pretty distinct formula for Aaron's larger Wolverine plots, which didn't exist in his earlier, stronger stuff. Step One: Introduce a very crazy-seeming mystery with little to no (usually no) explanation, making the reader wonder what the hell is going on. Step Two: Drag this out as long as possible, giving almost no hints or clues as to what is going on so that the reader has to stay invested if they want to find out. Step Three: Finally, at the last possible second, have someone explain everything that was going on in a monologue. Step Four: Everyone fights.
He's basically been doing this since Wolverine: Weapon X. First it was the "Who are these guys with Wolverine's powers?" mystery. Then it was the "Why is Wolverine locked in a mental asylum?" mystery. Then it was the "Why is a Dethlok killing all these random people?" mystery. Then it was the "Why are Wolverine and Spider-Man trapped in the future?" mystery. And then, finally, the "How did Wolverine manage to wind up in Hell, and who did this to him?" mystery.
It's fine if Aaron wants all these things to be mysteries, but for the most part there's no reason for them to be. It just feels like forced stakes with very little payoff. "Leaving small shit unexplained for a long time" is not how you build a compelling mystery, and all the way through Wolverine Goes to Hell I've been getting more and more annoyed with this lazy method of drama building. This book even ends with the introduction of a new mystery, and I just don't really care at this point.
Now, that's a pretty big gripe, I think, so why did I still give this 3 stars? While Aaron is seemingly very bad at building genuine dramatic tension (at least in this title, because he's been great at it in others), he's still a fantastic character writer. The various characters that show up in here all feel fully realized, and Wolverine himself has never seemed more developed. I also feel like, despite the new dumb mystery to deal with in the next book, there's a lot more going on that could pay off very well going forward. At least I severely hope so.
So, right now, I'd say this is a pretty skippable volume. But, I'm waiting to withhold full judgment until I've read his full Wolverine run, which I will be finishing soon.
First up is Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine, a pretty wild time travel adventure featuring the titular characters, who we find out totally hate each other for some reason (I guess just because they're kind of different? I mean, there are a lot of people for Wolverine to hate, and Spider-Man doesn't seem like one of them.). Anyway, a story about two people who totally hate each other starts to become VERY tiresome, since all they do is bicker when they're together, and think about how much they hate each other when they're apart.
In addition to this problem, I've also started to notice a pretty distinct formula for Aaron's larger Wolverine plots, which didn't exist in his earlier, stronger stuff. Step One: Introduce a very crazy-seeming mystery with little to no (usually no) explanation, making the reader wonder what the hell is going on. Step Two: Drag this out as long as possible, giving almost no hints or clues as to what is going on so that the reader has to stay invested if they want to find out. Step Three: Finally, at the last possible second, have someone explain everything that was going on in a monologue. Step Four: Everyone fights.
He's basically been doing this since Wolverine: Weapon X. First it was the "Who are these guys with Wolverine's powers?" mystery. Then it was the "Why is Wolverine locked in a mental asylum?" mystery. Then it was the "Why is a Dethlok killing all these random people?" mystery. Then it was the "Why are Wolverine and Spider-Man trapped in the future?" mystery. And then, finally, the "How did Wolverine manage to wind up in Hell, and who did this to him?" mystery.
It's fine if Aaron wants all these things to be mysteries, but for the most part there's no reason for them to be. It just feels like forced stakes with very little payoff. "Leaving small shit unexplained for a long time" is not how you build a compelling mystery, and all the way through Wolverine Goes to Hell I've been getting more and more annoyed with this lazy method of drama building. This book even ends with the introduction of a new mystery, and I just don't really care at this point.
Now, that's a pretty big gripe, I think, so why did I still give this 3 stars? While Aaron is seemingly very bad at building genuine dramatic tension (at least in this title, because he's been great at it in others), he's still a fantastic character writer. The various characters that show up in here all feel fully realized, and Wolverine himself has never seemed more developed. I also feel like, despite the new dumb mystery to deal with in the next book, there's a lot more going on that could pay off very well going forward. At least I severely hope so.
So, right now, I'd say this is a pretty skippable volume. But, I'm waiting to withhold full judgment until I've read his full Wolverine run, which I will be finishing soon.
July 31, 2022
This was a interesting mixed bag. Wolverine gets possessed and goes to hell, the X-Men have to stop him, Aaron's fixation with the Phoenix is made clear, and more revenge on Mystique. Astonishing Spidey and Wolvie was a bizzare time travel storyline that sorta jumps the shark about halfway through, it gets a bump since Kubert is drawing his ass off.
December 19, 2014
My friend said the other day that Jason Aaron's ability to write Thor and Wolverine is based on the length of his beard.
I think he might be right, because Aaron's beard is ridiculously long.
This trade has far more outlandish stories than the previous Aaron collection. A majority of this book is spent with Wolverine fighting the devil or Demons within himself. There is not just one Ghost Rider but two. I felt like the weakest part of this trade is the issues of Astonishing Wolverine and Spider-man. I kept wondering if Jason Aaron wrote the plot for that one while extremely high. The plot was all over the place, and the villains were ridiculous.
I think he might be right, because Aaron's beard is ridiculously long.
This trade has far more outlandish stories than the previous Aaron collection. A majority of this book is spent with Wolverine fighting the devil or Demons within himself. There is not just one Ghost Rider but two. I felt like the weakest part of this trade is the issues of Astonishing Wolverine and Spider-man. I kept wondering if Jason Aaron wrote the plot for that one while extremely high. The plot was all over the place, and the villains were ridiculous.
January 1, 2019
After a fairly strong (albeit not entirely even) opening to this series of TPBs collecting Jason Aaron's Wolverine material in the first volume, and then a slightly weaker (and still uneven) follow up in the second volume, volume three returns somewhat to the initial form (albeit still suffering from unevenness).
First out is Another Fine Mess (from Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1–6) with beautiful art by Adam Kubert. I have to say that I initially felt sceptical about the narrative, but this time travel romp won me over and with a vengeance (Kubert's art certainly helped as well). It is a wild run and a lot of fun. Four strong stars.
Second out is "Falling" (from Wolverine: Road to Hell), which is a short psychological seven-page piece drawn by Renato Guedes (whose work I am not sold on), which sort of leads into the next arc collected in the volume. Three stars.
Wolverine Goes to Hell (from Wolverine #1–5) sees Wolverine literally going to Hell, as the victim of a conspiracy that goes way back. Part of me thinks the concept is a bit dumb and the fact that Guedes is on art duty does not really help, but on the whole the arc nevertheless got to me. Three and half stars to a weak(!) four.
Scorched Earth (also from Wolverine #1–5) presents short back-up pieces to Wolverine Goes to Hell, which help building background to the main story. The opening and closing pieces feature Aaron's partner in crime from Southern Bastards , Jason Latour, and they work very well for me (four stars), as does part four by Jamie McKelvie (four stars). Part three, drawn by Michael Gayados, is also not shabby (three stars), but part two, drawn by Steven Sanders, is a weak three stars at best (but probably more like two and a half stars).
Following the aforementioned arc, the action moves straight into Wolverine vs. the X-Men (from Wolverine #6–8), in which a possessed Wolverine fights his fellow X-Men. The art here is provided by Daniel Acuña, and the story is okay. Three stars.
Acuña also provides the art for "Get Mystique: Final Repose" (from Wolverine #9), which continues Aaron's ongoing story of Mystique (very much in relation to Logan). Three stars.
Last out is "Happy" (from Wolverine #5.1), drawn by Jefte Palo. This is an odd piece about a surprise party and a man (Logan) doing what needs to be done to help people while on his way to the location of the party. Palo's art is not a favourite of mine, and the story occasionally feels a bit over the top (especially in the party scenes), but it works all right. Three stars.
All in all, it is the opening arc that really gives the volume its grade (supported by the better parts of Wolverine Goes to Hell and Scorched Earth), even though the volume is an uneven read.
First out is Another Fine Mess (from Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine #1–6) with beautiful art by Adam Kubert. I have to say that I initially felt sceptical about the narrative, but this time travel romp won me over and with a vengeance (Kubert's art certainly helped as well). It is a wild run and a lot of fun. Four strong stars.
Second out is "Falling" (from Wolverine: Road to Hell), which is a short psychological seven-page piece drawn by Renato Guedes (whose work I am not sold on), which sort of leads into the next arc collected in the volume. Three stars.
Wolverine Goes to Hell (from Wolverine #1–5) sees Wolverine literally going to Hell, as the victim of a conspiracy that goes way back. Part of me thinks the concept is a bit dumb and the fact that Guedes is on art duty does not really help, but on the whole the arc nevertheless got to me. Three and half stars to a weak(!) four.
Scorched Earth (also from Wolverine #1–5) presents short back-up pieces to Wolverine Goes to Hell, which help building background to the main story. The opening and closing pieces feature Aaron's partner in crime from Southern Bastards , Jason Latour, and they work very well for me (four stars), as does part four by Jamie McKelvie (four stars). Part three, drawn by Michael Gayados, is also not shabby (three stars), but part two, drawn by Steven Sanders, is a weak three stars at best (but probably more like two and a half stars).
Following the aforementioned arc, the action moves straight into Wolverine vs. the X-Men (from Wolverine #6–8), in which a possessed Wolverine fights his fellow X-Men. The art here is provided by Daniel Acuña, and the story is okay. Three stars.
Acuña also provides the art for "Get Mystique: Final Repose" (from Wolverine #9), which continues Aaron's ongoing story of Mystique (very much in relation to Logan). Three stars.
Last out is "Happy" (from Wolverine #5.1), drawn by Jefte Palo. This is an odd piece about a surprise party and a man (Logan) doing what needs to be done to help people while on his way to the location of the party. Palo's art is not a favourite of mine, and the story occasionally feels a bit over the top (especially in the party scenes), but it works all right. Three stars.
All in all, it is the opening arc that really gives the volume its grade (supported by the better parts of Wolverine Goes to Hell and Scorched Earth), even though the volume is an uneven read.
Read
September 3, 2024Like the second collection, this one has a few arcs that are tonally distinct from each other. And like the second collection, these stories are good but not great. The first is a Wolverine/Spider-Man time travel romp that really lays on the comedy. There’s fun to be had, but it goes on long and gets a bit too ridiculous. Then we get the moody and violent “Wolverine Goes to Hell” saga, which basically consists of Logan’s soul fighting demons while his demon-possessed body attacks various X-Men. Rounding out the book is a coda to “Hell” where Logan, now only partially possessed, is contained by Cyclops, Emma Frost, and others. Fun but predictable. I like how Logan’s mind is visualized, with memory rooms and Nightcrawler and Jean Grey in there. That part with Emma encountering a certain room is hilarious.
A few standalone issues pop up in this collection, tying into the main narrative. The birthday issue is easily the best.
Aaron’s page to page writing remains strong, even if his storylines don’t really stand out in a big way. I can’t help but feel his run should be more epic and cohesive than it is. Still, this is above average Wolverine fare with some fresh ideas. Aaron has a great grasp on the character (and pretty much every other character he uses).
A few standalone issues pop up in this collection, tying into the main narrative. The birthday issue is easily the best.
Aaron’s page to page writing remains strong, even if his storylines don’t really stand out in a big way. I can’t help but feel his run should be more epic and cohesive than it is. Still, this is above average Wolverine fare with some fresh ideas. Aaron has a great grasp on the character (and pretty much every other character he uses).
September 15, 2025
There are two main storylines in this collection, and they're both dragged on for way too long.
The opening story has Wolverine and Spider-Man lost in time. They don't get along but they need each other to figure out how to survive and get back to their original time period. It's a cool one-issue conceit that seems to go on forever.
Likewise, the second arc: a group of previously unknown villains condemns Wolverine's soul to Hell while his body wanders the Earth to kill his friends, is also a cool one-issue conceit but it is much, much, much longer than the first arc. I've never cared about whoever was Wolverine's girlfriend at the time but this volume also made me not care about Mystique, Wraith, Yukio, Wolverine's adopted daughter, The Devil, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, really any X-Men, or any of the forty Ghost Riders. This was an absolute chore to read, which is a real shame because both stories had fantastic art.
If you're a die-hard Wolverine fan, this is certainly not as bad as the Frank Tieri or Larry Hama runs but I found it paled in comparison to the earlier Jason Aaron stories.
The opening story has Wolverine and Spider-Man lost in time. They don't get along but they need each other to figure out how to survive and get back to their original time period. It's a cool one-issue conceit that seems to go on forever.
Likewise, the second arc: a group of previously unknown villains condemns Wolverine's soul to Hell while his body wanders the Earth to kill his friends, is also a cool one-issue conceit but it is much, much, much longer than the first arc. I've never cared about whoever was Wolverine's girlfriend at the time but this volume also made me not care about Mystique, Wraith, Yukio, Wolverine's adopted daughter, The Devil, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, really any X-Men, or any of the forty Ghost Riders. This was an absolute chore to read, which is a real shame because both stories had fantastic art.
If you're a die-hard Wolverine fan, this is certainly not as bad as the Frank Tieri or Larry Hama runs but I found it paled in comparison to the earlier Jason Aaron stories.
February 14, 2017
Just finished reading the most depressing Marvel comics I have ever read. This collection includes Wolverine going to hell and being possessed by a demon. We spend a lot of time in Hell and it really is not very fun to read about. I think they "kill" Mystique for the fourth or fifth time, so it doesn't really matter. On the positive side, I really love anything drawn by Daniel Acuna and he illustrates about three issues of this sad collection.
January 18, 2016
A very enjoyable collection containing two storylines. The Spider-Man and Wolverine storyline is Jason Aaron at his wackiest. A very tongue-in-cheek, often goofy time travel story, these issues are confusing a times but in the end highly imaginative and entertaining. The Wolverine in Hell storyline takes up the rest of the book and while I've seen this type of story before, it's quite well done here, if it does seem to go on a bit too long. Throughout this volume Aaron's writing is solid, combining some wild ideas with great character insight and a terrific sense of humor. The art for several different creators perfectly fits each story arc as well. A very nice collection for Logan fans.
Want to read
January 3, 2017Notes towards a review, still reading the book:
Spider-man team-up by Adam Kubert was super awesome. Can't see this kind of material getting published under Disney. Reprinted yeah. But not original stuff.
Spider-man team-up by Adam Kubert was super awesome. Can't see this kind of material getting published under Disney. Reprinted yeah. But not original stuff.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews