For those of you who think playing Assassin’s Creed doesn’t quite give you a balanced view of history, I give you Wolverine, a guy whose healing factor let him live almost as long as Methuselah.
Frank Cho kick-started this title a while ago with a fun Canucklehead adventure in the Savage Land involving Sheena the She-Devil, the Hulk and Amadeus Cho (Savage Wolverine, Vol. 1: Kill Island). Fast forward over a dozen issues and now the book is an anthology series – different writers, different artists, mixed results and cancelled.
1) 11/22/63 or near about – Wolverine stands up for some protesting migrant workers, and then the what if (?) comparison can be drawn between him and Lee Harvey Oswald…wtf! The ugly art just makes this even worse of a read. If you’ve seen Logan defend the underdog once, you’ve seen it a thousand times.
2) Gail Simone makes me care about one of my least favorite X-Men – Jubilee, as she and Wolverine are captured by A.I.M. agents bent on creating a tasty, artificial watermelon flavor using Logan’s healing factor.
3) Wolverine was there at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and Sabretooth kills the first of about 37 of Logan’s paramours. History comes alive!
4) It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, Bub! - Wolverine is a Doughboy commando who fights the Huns in the Great War. Hilarity ensues.
5) Wolverine embraces his feral side again and runs with the wolves. Again. I’ve read so many comics in my lifetime and this has the damning ring of familiarity. Berzerker rage FTW, bitches!
Bottom Line: What the hell does the pretty pink cover have to do with the contents of this book?
Savage Wolverine, a title that only made sense in the first book because Wolverine was in the Savage Land, is now the book that’s basically a collection of “Wolverine stories set in the past because everyone in the present is pretending he’s dead”.
I didn’t like the book very much but that cover of Logan kneeling and looking up at the cherry blossom tree is so pretty...
Stories-wise, these are Wolverine comics alright! Wolverine fights American racists in 1963, protects Jubilee from AIM scientists, fights Al Capone in prohibition-era Chicago, fights German soldiers in WW1, and fights faceless bounty hunters alongside wolves in snowy mountains.
It’s not that they’re badly written (they’re also not well-written either) more like they just didn’t interest me at all. It’s all stuff we’ve seen Wolverine do too many times before and, invariably, it comes down to him popping his claws and going to town on whoever’s stupid enough to think they stand a chance against him. Despite the historical backdrops, they’re unimaginative tales.
One line (one!) stood out for me. It’s in Gail Simone’s Wolverine/Jubilee story where a worn-out Wolverine looks up, he’s imprisoned in yet another lab being tortured physically and mentally, Jean having kissed him briefly before fading away into his memories, and he says: “Nothing good is real.” That sums up the character pretty well, encapsulating his hard life and brutal experiences in a single panel. But regardless he keeps going, saves Jubilee and that’s why he’s a hero.
Like the writers, the artists switch from issue to issue (except for the John Arcudi/Joe Quinones WW1 two-parter) but none of the art jumped out at me as anything special. Did I mention the beautiful cherry blossoms cover already? Oh…
Savage Wolverine continues to be another sub-par Wolverine series though this one seems even more directionless and pointless than usual. “The Best There Is”? Nope, not even close! The search for a great Wolverine comic not written by Jason Aaron, Mark Millar, or Daniel Way continues!
This title has transitioned from a Frank Cho showcase to more socially relevant and introspective stories set in Wolverine's pre-Weapon X past. This collection is a set of shorter stories that surprised this reader on how good it is. The the Kennedy assassination link in the first chapter came out of nowhere and is a wonderful surprise. The other stories are of similar caliber; like how Wolverine found his honor in the World War I battlefield. It's an eclectic mix of stories that a reader doesn't usually associate with Wolverine but somehow worked.
Some early adventures of Wolverine, The Best There Is does a decent job fleshing out his lost years. No mind blowing storytelling or artwork, just some fun tales, mostly for the diehard fan.
We see a story set in 1963 at the time of the Kennedy Assassination. The story makes an attempt to be socially relevant but it was too short to get very deep.
Next we see a story featuring Wolverine and Jubilee. Okay, but nothing special.
Next we have a story tying Wolverine and Sabretooth into the St. Valentines Day Massacre along with Al Capone.
Then we have Wolverine fighting in WWI.
We close the story out with a touching tale of Wolverine being pursued by bounty hunters and getting some help from a true lone wolf.
Overall an enjoyable volume with good art, but nothing that really stands out.
This is the last volume of Savage Wolverine, and unfortunately it's even more mediocre than the previous ones. Most of these comics wrapped up their story in a single issue, which was just too brief for them to deliver the emotional punch it seemed like they were aiming for.
The nineteenth issue which featured Jubilee was something I'd purchased and read years ago, it's definitely more meaningful than the rest and leaves me with a sort of warm glow whenever I remember it since it showed Logan's tender side and ended on an encouraging note instead of a depressing yet shallow one like many of the other issues here.
Since this series wasn't amazing to begin with and went even further downhill as it continued, this final volume feels insipid and unmemorable. Due to how few issues there were I don't feel my time has been wasted, but if you're hoping to read something of quality these comics will most likely let you down.
Ostatni tom z serii Savage Wolverine jest takim miksem różnych sałatek. Mamy tu bowiem kilka opowiadań, jakie ukazują nam Logana na przestrzeni różnych dekad i za wyjątkiem głównej persony żadna z tych historii się ze sobą nie łączy.
Na początku mamy historię z lat 60. XX wieku (od Jen van Meter), gdzie Logan pomaga rozwiązać lokalne niesnaski gdzieś w Ameryce przy budowie torów kolejowych. Cieszy dbałość o detale powiązane z historią powszechną, bowiem mamy tu zabójstwo Kennedy'iego w tle. Widok Logana jako członka gangu motocyklowego cieszy i bawi. Kreska Rucha Ellisa daje radę, choć miejscami czułem w niej taki kreskówkowy posmak. Potem mamy Logana, który jest już na etapie współpracy z X-men i widzimy go w nieciekawej sytuacji, bo w łapach wroga (za całość zabrała się sama Gail Simone).
Szkopuł w tym, iż razem z nim w łapska wrażej organizacji trafiła też niejaka Jubilee, więc Logan poza standardowym tłuczeniem, będzie musiał się podjąć akcji ratowniczej. W tle programy imitujące marzenia senne, ale akurat ta historia podobała mi się najmniej z całego tomu. A szkoda, bo z taką autorką spodziewałem się tutaj znacznie więcej, niż zwykłej sztampy. Z kolei dzień św. Walentego jest świetny, choć to też motyw znany z życiorysu Logana.
Bowiem mamy schyłek lat 20. XX wieku i Logan buja się tu i tam z jakąś ładną dziewoją. Tyle, że ktoś ją morduje i wszystko wskazuje, iż za zamachem stoi sam Al Capone. Tak, ten Capone. Sprawa ma jednak drugie dno i jest tutaj zaskakująco... krwawo. Niemniej zeszyt, za który rysunkowo odpowiadał Felix Ruiz kreską podobał mi się tutaj chyba najmocniej. Ciężki klimat i lata prohibicji. Dla mnie miód.
Przed ostatnie opowiadanie w wykonaniu Johna Arcudi'iego średnio mi się podobało. Trafiamy do Francji pod koniec I wojny światowej, gdzie Logan ochoczo nabija na swoje jeszcze nie metalowe szpony Niemców. Autor stosuje tu jakiś słaby mind trick, czemu towarzyszy poprawna kreska Joe Quinonesa i tylko tyle. Fajnie widzieć Wolverine ze starym karabinem maszynowym w dłoniach, ale całość mi nie imponowała.
Miałem też problem z ostatnią historią z scenariuszem od Davida Morrella, czemu towarzyszy kreska Jonathana Marksa. O ile wizualnie wygląda to świetnie, tak opowieść o kolejnym pościgu za Loganem jest dla mnie wtórna. Da się zobaczyć, zwłaszcza gdy do gry dołączają wilki, co stanowi ładne nawiązanie do innego tytułu o Rosomaku (bodajże Origin II, ale nie oddam za to głowy). Z sentymentu można, ale nic więcej.
Koniec końców cały zbiór zasługuje raczej na pozytywną notę, gdyż naprawdę świetnym opowiadaniom towarzyszą treści mocno przewidywalne i wtórne, jednak żadna z nich nie jest tragiczna. Co więcej, na tyle stylów jakich tu użyto, praktycznie każdy w jakim stopniu przypadł mi do gustu. Nic tylko powinszować. No i taki lekki plusik za nie krycie się z bardziej krwistymi momentami. 3.5/5
A collection of terrible and canonically unimportant short Wolverine tales by a mix of writers. I didn't connect with any of them.
I think the Gail Simone story is probably her worst-ever comic. It throws you in the middle of a Jubilee story involving mind control. It doesn't make sense, it has no emotional weight to it, and it wastes an opportunity to say something cool about the early friendship between Wolverine and Jubilee.
It's followed by Frank Tieri, who is one of my least favorite Marvel writers, but his story in this volume is fine. It's not important or very interesting but it's more coherent and less misogynist than his usual fare.
The rest of the collection just put me to sleep. The many artists who who worked on this all put in some hard work for some stories that didn't live up to their visuals.
You should definitely not waste your time on this. It's not offensive enough to be One Of The Worst X-Books Ever, it's just a giant, unimportant yawn.
Wolverine Without Everything that Makes Him Wolverine... OVERALL RATING: 0.5 stars Art: 3 stars Prose: 0 stars Plot: 0 stars Pacing: 0 stars Character Development: 0 stars World Building: 0 stars Wow where to start here??? This series of somewhat stand alone stories was anything but savage. All these issues are so uninspired and boring. Can see how the run was cancelled right here. Not even Wolverine's name alone could save it. Scored for the art only...
Some of the story in this book are not bad like the story about Logan joining the great war and when he is into the mob business with Creed becoming a mob working for capone (His mob costume is very cool IMO) and the others i didn't think they are as interesting as this two stories.
Overall it's a mixed bag but i still enjoyed it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This collection of random stories is mostly subpar. I enjoyed the WWI story but that's about it. None were original though. This series started with the idea of top creators telling isolated tales. The creators got less and less "top" and the tales were rarely interesting. The art here was average but serviceable. Overall, a uninspired read.
Some stories set in World War I with Logan in the Canadian army fighting in France, and some in the distant past in general, some in the 30s with him working for the Mafia. All tying up nicely with known enemies and friends and some excellent artwork to go with it.
Haven't read all of it yet because I'm going chronologically, but will re-review once I'm done with catching up
For years, I've been convinced from the cover of the TPB that this would be a Death of Wolverine tie-in. It wasn't. I like the Latino labor strike story because it's not a story often told in comics or even about the many tumults of the civil rights era. I don't remember any of the rest.
Odd because pre-weapon X, Wolverine shouldn't have METAL CLAWS? But this massive continuity error seems to not have been picked up by anyone. The Sabertooth encounter was pretty nice though.
Unlike previous volumes of Savage Wolverine, this volume is not just two story arcs, but five separate stories. Most of them are bad and don't deserve any mention. However, there is one two-issue story featuring Wolverine fighting Germans during World War 1 that is very good. The art is great and the story is fun. Probably the best story arc I have read from this title. Are these two issues justification for buying this book? No, not really.
Unfortunately this is yet another mediocre Wolverine book with 5 stand alone stories: The first story is Wolverine crashes on his motorcycle in the fog and ends up in the middle of some kind of Pachuco Zoot Suit Riots and then President Kennedy dies! THE END! Seriously...that's the story. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all.
The second story is unfortunately not much better and it's one of those stories that messes with your head and jumps around so much that you don't know what's real and what's in Wolvie's mind. All I know is that Jubilee, Jean Grey, Charles Xavier, Cyclops, and Blob are in it....but are they really? That's the existential question!
The third story...*sigh*...isn't any better and though it has a lot of potential it just never really lives up to it! It's sort of like the writers were trying to make Wolverine a Highlander and have him at different important historical events like the St. Valentines Day massacre! The fourth story takes place during WWI and is a bit better but still tends to go south right as it gets to the second part.
The last story has wolves in it...lots and lots of wolves!
You're not missing anything if you skip this book! *SNIKT!
The concept of this comic is a solid one. Short individual stories taking place at different points during Wolverine's long life. Why then have the results been so poor? Most stories can be summed up in a sentence and shed little to no light on Wolverine, the era involved, or the MU in general. Wolverine gets involved in Mexican-American civil rights in 1963, Wolverine runs afoul of Al Capone, Wolverine teams up with a telepath during WWI, all of these play out with no surprises and nothing new to say. The de rigeur is Wolverine more man or beast story is gorgeous looking and well executed, but it has been done so very many times that every panel was pure tedium.
Wolverine as a Canadian soldier in the First World War! His lieutenant is a crippled telepath, and they have to take a German bridge. Logan's at his most badass when he's actually trying to limit the bloodshed and carnage that follows him around.
The story with Jubilee was okay, too. And there was another one set in the prohibition era, this time by Frank Tieri. And Logan as a motorcycling drifter who saves protesting latinos from a riot on the day JFK was assassinated.