Essential Wolverine, Vol. 2

Essential Wolverine #2

by Larry Hama, Jo Duffy

Collects Wolverine vol. 2, #24-47

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

528 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1997

About the author

Larry Hama is an American writer, artist, actor and musician who has worked in the fields of entertainment and publishing since the 1960s.

During the 1970s, he was seen in minor roles on the TV shows M*A*S*H and Saturday Night Live, and appeared on Broadway in two roles in the original 1976 production of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures.

He is best known to American comic book readers as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, where he wrote the licensed comic book series G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero, based on the Hasbro action figures. He has also written for the series Wolverine, Nth Man: the Ultimate Ninja, and Elektra. He created the character Bucky O'Hare, which was developed into a comic book, a toy line and television cartoon.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection opens with Jo Duffy's solid Lazarus Project and a Yakuza tale… and then along comes interwoven plots and great art work with Marc Silvestri and Larry Hama, including the classic Puck & Wolverine tale set in the Spanish Civil War; the Hunter in the Darkness and then the great work around Elsie Dee & Alfie, which includes battles against Lady Deathstrike and Sabretooth. Alongside the fellow X-books of the day, suddenly we are in another great age of comic book scripting? Collects Wolverine #24 to #47. Three Star read.

2015 and 2010 read

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The downside with this volume is that it isn't all Larry Hama. The upside is that when Larry Hama does take over writing duties, it's pure gold. He pulls Wolverine out of Madripoor, which is kind of a dead-end location story-wise, and brings him back where he belongs: the Canadian wilderness. I'm not so much a fan of Samurai Wolverine, or Gritty 80s Badass Wolverine, or Angsty Style Wolverine. I like the avuncular Wolverine who sits around naked in the snowy forests of Alberta, catching fish with his bare hands in an icy mountain stream.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5.

This volume doesn't do anything particularly wild or revolutionary with the character, but it is solid adventures for Wolverine to be in. We finally get away from Madripoor, and this volume introduces Elsie Dee, and Albert, the Terminator Wolverine. Fun.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, if your tastes run toward hyper-masculine meat-heads who run around with swords sprung from their fists (but never really ever seem to cut any one) - this book is for you.
Or, if your tastes run toward constantly changing back-stories that are never consistent from anything printed about eight months back - this book is for you.
When Wolverine was first introduced in the 1970s he was an interesting footnote for Marvel. After he was popped into the X-Men, he quickly became a fan favorite. Sadly, in the years after the inauguration of his own title, the character has gone steadily downhill. There are some good stories in this collection, but also was really awful ones as well.

[Nadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went back and read the Hama run for Jubilee and damn it starts out strong. It's a shame a lot of people have an aversion to Wolverine comics these days cause I think this is kind of some of the best stuff the puffy muscles 90s have to offer. He was (is!) popular for a reason.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Logging for issues 45-47 since I wasn’t able to get this though my library and the two epic collections that make up this Essential volume stopped on issue 44.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book finishes up with Madripoor and then starts shifting into Wolverine looking into his past. It also marks Larry Hama's beginning to write this title, and Marc Silvestri coming onboard for art duties.

Larry Hama tries to beef up the testosterone, which was so not necessary. Every now and then he drops a line, or writes a sequence that is just silly stupid in its attempt to machoize Wolverine. But he does finally get Logan to start looking into his past, which is probably Hama's biggest legacy on this title. It will come much more in to focus in the next essential if I am remembering everything correctly.

Mostly this book is just a transitional piece, as Hama steers away from Madripoor and into Wolverine's unknown backstory. Madripoor doesn't get good closure, and then there's a story that involves Logan and Puck hanging out with Hemmingway in 1937 Spain and being chased by Lady Deathstrike... Umm, yeah... Then there's a long drawn out story where Hama pulls in a bunch of disparate characters all hunting or helping Wolverine.

As for art, John Buscema starts out this essential, but does his own inking, which is kinda boring compared to when other people do his inking... There's some bad to mediocre in-between artists and then Marc Silvestri comes over from doing Uncanny. His art here is good. It is a bit more refined from his Uncanny stuff, but not necessarily better for it. It is good, consistent stuff, but it doesn't necessarily excite me.

[Roberto Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Round 2 of Wolverine, and it's...


OK. This is when 90`s X-Men Creep in in this title. I like the Wolverines stories in the first volume as it were, a fresh start for the berserker mutant post the "death" of the X-Men. But this volume is where we get the great team up of Larry Hama and Marc Silvestri, with some great standalone tales, and some involvement of Lady Deathstrike, Sabertooth, Cable on full new mutants recent fame, and some other artists filling in the bi-montly schedule of the time. Sometimes I really felt the changing of pace from self-contained, more small scale and grounded adventures, to the bombastic, stories late in the volume, but that's part of the fallout of the popularity of the line, and the rising talent wanting to draw that kind of stuff.

Still, very good for what it is.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good! So this continues from Vol 1, from issue 24 to 47, and for the most part it was entertaining, and if you don't already know the artwork is all black and white. So as you can imagine this collects at least 5-6 Wolverine stories, the stories overall are good but nothing spectacular, however since these are before the 2000s the stories can get crazy, so crazy that a stories of today would never do. My favorite story was probably the Lady Deathstrike story, the ones before were good but the ones after kinda sucked. But overall a pretty nice volume and a good read!

[Melissa Kidd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had more of the hero/villain actions that I was expecting from the series. Perhaps it was just because a lot of it was set outside of Japan. The artwork seems to be improving. I suppose it just depends on who the artist is of each issue. I liked this artwork more than the artwork in the first volume of these Essentials. I don’t mind the black and white that they go for. I’m used to my graphic novels and comics being black and white. I am looking forward to more Wolverine.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't find the second volume of the marvel comics limited series Wolverine collection. So I just picked a Wolverine comic book. :( Whoops oh well. I really enjoyed this one also! I love Wolverine so much.

4 stars!

[bluetyson]

isbn,original

[Tony Laplume · Rating 3 out of 5]

The highlight of this collection would be the writing of Jo Duffy and the art of Marc Silvestri They do not work on the same issues.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Larry Hama finally gave this character some adamantium balls. And that, my friend, was a good thing.