Wolverine Classic, Vol. 4

Wolverine Classic #4

by Archie Goodwin, John Byrne (Illustrator)

Enemies like Roughouse are hard to find, as Wolverine learns when his favorite Asgardian sparring partner gets abducted. The trail leads to more menace in the form of a Nazi cyborg, an amphibious evildoer and a giant germ of the gods. Featuring the X-Men, the Avengers and Daredevil, this title collects 'Wolverine', numbered 17-23.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Comic Book, X Men, Fiction, Collections

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Archie Goodwin was an American comic book writer, editor, and artist. He worked on a number of comic strips in addition to comic books, and is best known for his Warren and Marvel Comics work. For Warren he was chief writer and editor of landmark horror anthology titles Creepy and Eerie, and for Marvel he set up the creator-owned Epic Comics as well as adapting Star Wars into both comics and newspaper strips. He is regularly cited as the "best-loved comic book editor, ever."

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wolverine goes after Roughhouse when he's kidnapped. Roughhouse ends up a guinea pig for a Nazi cyborg called Geist who uses him to test some tainted cocaine. Eventually, Logan ends up fighting Tiger Shark and a banana republic. (Tierra Verde for those of you reading Benjamin Percy's X-Force.) Eventually Wolverine has to fight sentient Celestial cocaine. Yeah, it gets goofy in places. I'm not a fan of how Goodwin had Logan abandon the Patch identity in Madripoor. This is also a loose Acts of Violence tie-in. John Byrne's art is rougher in the first few issues as Klaus Janson does the finishes on the first half of the story.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wolverine gets the smell of a large shipment of cocaine and decides to track it. He catches up to it and sees it being loaded up along with a subdued Roughhouse. He also notices a new player with some metal parts to his skin. Upon following them, we learn of The President of Tierra Verde and the metal guy, Geist, have this scheme. The cocaine isn’t just regular, it alters people. The President of this country wants to use it to make a super soldier/hero like Captain America or Nuke for his country.

The first half of this book didn’t have that pop, that wow factor like what Peter David brought in the last volume. Here, while the story is moving along with some nice ideas and action, Goodwin’s writing comes off bland. Luckily in the second half of the book where we learn of the cocaines back story, the book gets a tad better. We learn that there something in the ground that’s making the drug have the crazy affects. This was pretty cool.

The story had a nice wrap up and the art was solid throughout. Not the best book but not the worst either.

[Wes Benchoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a run of issues about space god cocaine featuring a cyborg Nazi villain it's not terribly exciting. Byrne is not at his best on pencils and it looks like a rush job. The last three issues are better than the first half. Bold but inconsistent.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Archie Goodwin takes the reins in this volume and delivers a decent action packed plot if a bit too verbose at times. Good characters too and I liked Roughouse arc here.

John Byrne is paired with Klaus Janson for most of the book, a marriage not made in heaven. Even if I do like Janson’s inks he is clearly not suited for Byrne who needs a much slicker inking.

[Beelzefuzz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic celestial cocaine creature caper.
Though a bit drawn out in order to get a punchin' fight to feature in each issue.

The Acts of Vengeance tie-in is maybe the greatest tie-in ever. In one panel, Kingpin (who has nothing to do with the story) receives a call from this story's villain, then in the next panel he walks into a room of supervillains and says "Gentlemen, eager for further Acts of Vengeance I see." That's it. That's the whole tie-in.

[TK · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Archie Goodwin's writing on this. For me, it's a huge step from the story line of Peter David's run. At the same time, the story here is something that can only be told in a comic book (spore monsters and cocaine and celestials, oh my.) Still, the storytelling is strong and quickly moves.

[Ramón S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad one if you like Byrne and Archie Goodwin. The last issues. Entertaining, that's all

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume delivers the goods. With John Byrne handling the art and Archie Goodwin delivering some fun stories, Wolverine's solo adventures became a more enjoyable comic than the Uncanny X-Men comic was at the same time. This story picks up some loose threads from earlier issues of Wolverine but really does only focus on new territory, while also reestablishing that the character is firmly part of the Marvel Universe. The creators also, thankfully, dispose of the silly "Patch" secret identity. Which Peter David had already established hadn't been likely to fool anyone who actually knew Logan.
This an entertaining, fast-paced read. Much more enjoyable than two volumes of Wolverine Classic.

[Du4 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marginal improvement with Archie Goodwin's GONZO story about tainted cocaine that turns people into mad crazy superheroes, and oh BTW, that cocaine is really THE EXCREMENT OF CELESTIALS. Plus, Byrne's art is a WELCOME improvement over Buscema. Still, not quite where WOLVERINE prospered with the onset of Silvestri's art.

[Jostalady · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am reading these out of order, but it doesn't seem to matter that much. I am finding the Wolverine Classic series less amazing than other lines, but I did get wrapped up in the story and the art didn't bother me this time. I love the character and each one of the stories reminds me why I am drawn to Wolverine.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories were little weak. However, Byrne breathes life to Wolverine.