Wolverine Omnibus, Vol. 2

Wolverine Omnibus

by Walter Simonson, Louise Simonson, Archie Goodwin

The best there is, by some of comics’ greatest talents! Wolverine and Havok are drawn into a web of espionage in Russia! On the cutthroat island of Madripoor, Wolverine and Jessica Drew take on an evil cult who plans to raise an ancient demon! An old friend’s death leads Logan to Nick Fury…but what is the surprising secret under the new Scorpio’s mask? Wolverine battles an unexpected foe in the jungles of the Savage Land — but when he follows a trail of tainted cocaine to Central America, can a young revolutionary help a sick and infected Logan survive against Tiger Shark? Plus, Wolverine crosses paths with Spider-Man, Hulk, Ghost Rider and more!

COLLECTING: Wolverine (1988) 11-30, Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown (1988) 1-4, Wolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection (1989) 1, Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure (1990) 1, Wolverine: Bloodlust (1990) 1, material from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) 38-71

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Superheroes, Adventure, Science Fiction

1248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 22, 1991

About the author

Walt Simonson is an American comic book writer and artist, best known for a run on Marvel Comics' Thor from 1983 to 1987, during which he created the character Beta Ray Bill. He is also known for the creator-owned work Star Slammers, which he inaugurated in 1972 as a Rhode Island School of Design thesis. He has also worked on other Marvel titles such as X-Factor and Fantastic Four, on DC Comics books including Detective Comics, Manhunter, Metal Men and Orion, and on licensed properties such as Star Wars, Alien, Battlestar Galactica and Robocop vs. Terminator.

He is married to comics writer Louise Simonson, with whom he collaborated as penciller on X-Factor from 1988 to 1989, and with whom he made a cameo appearance in the 2011 Thor feature film.

Reviews

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wolverine Omnibus, Vol. 2, Hardcover edition is an absolutely gorgeous collection of Marvel Comics' Wolverine stories. Beginning with the cover, drawn by Jim Lee, thick, glossy stock pages, variant covers by John Byrne, and Barry Windsor Smith, the interior art has a number of Marvel all-star artists including John J. Muth, Howard Chaykin, John Buscema, Mike Mignola, Gene Colan and frankly way too many to mention.

I'm not saying that every artist is an all-star: God forgive me, but Rob Liefeld has zero understanding of anatomy and perspective. The writers are pretty darn good too: Walt and Louise Simonson, Archie Goodwin, Marv Wolfman, and Peter David. You get the picture.

The stories range from one-shot graphic novel stories like from Wolverine / Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection (1989), Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure (1990), and Wolverine: Bloodlust (1990). There is also the Havok and Wolverine: Meltdown (1988) complete miniseries included in all its painted goodness.

Other stories are curated from the Wolverine (1988) comic book, issues #11 - 30, and the feature stories from Marvel Comics Presents (1988) issues #38 - 71. You get incredible espionage stories, as well as Wolverine's time in Madripoor as the enigmatic Patch.

If you love the character, this is the perfect collection for you. I'm not a Wolverine fanboy, and even I loved this collection. I think the character is intriguing. The stories are not all perfect, but there are actual attempts at cohesion. There are hiccups in the stories and art: Rob Liefeld, ugh! Yet, this is the second Wolverine Omnibus, and I fully intend to read the third. Again, I prefer Batman, Spider-man, and a host of others before this guy, but Wolverine is friggin fascinating.

[OmniBen · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 3.5/5
I can't help but feel ever so slightly disappointed about this collection. Despite me giving it a very respectable score. Despite it collecting material from the greatest decade in comics. Despite it containing the greatest single issue Wolverine story I've yet read. And despite it being a more grounded representation of the character, rather than his occasional superhero-esque histrionics with the X-Men... Like I said, I can't help but feel disappointed with the yo-yoing level of quality contained within. My expectations aside, there is more than enough here of worth to keep even the most discerning Wolverine fan happy. Though perhaps, just temper those expectations a tad more than I did. 3.5/5


OmniBen.

[Lance Grabmiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects Wolverine (Vol. 2) #11-30 (September 1989-September 1990), Havok and Wolverine: Meltdown #1-4 (December 1988-January 1989), Wolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection (August 1989), Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure (February 1990), Wolverine: Bloodlust (December 1990), all the Wolverine stories from Marvel Comics Presents #38-71 (December 1989 - March 1991) and lots of supplemental material.

The first 200 pages of the book are the Havok and Wolverine miniseries and the rating is mostly for that. If it had been that material alone, the rating would have been even higher as the artwork is out of this world amazing. That makes the rest of the book all the more disappointing. The solo Wolverine title still isn't winning me over, though I like the long story arcs it has moved into and it seems to be moving away from the silly "Patch" persona. The Marvel Comics Presents stuff is pure pulp and really the worst of this giant tome so I wish there was much less of it.

These Omnibuses, especially when dealing with an ongoing series in which another omnibus is possible, really should be capped at about 800 pages. These 1100+ page monstrosities are an unpleasant thing to try to read, being literally a painful workout just holding or carrying the volume.

[Shazne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Vol contains some amazing stories, some mid to underwhelming stories. Same goes for the art, yet it didn't feel like a grind. The amazing stories really made up for the lackluster parts of the book to push it to a 4 star. That's how incredible most of it was for me.

[Rob Marney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is highly uneven, combining really fun, artistic minis and one-shots with turgid C-list action in Marvel Comics Presents while the main title treads water. Don't read it straight through, just read the bits where the art catches your eye.

[Gary Rhodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving this four stars because of the inclusion of some really great stories such as Wolverine/Havok: Meltdown, The Jungle Adventure and the Gehenna Stone Affair issues of Wolvie's own series. This is a solid collection, and if you're a collector it's one you'll want on your shelf. In fact you don't need myself or anyone else to tell you that. However if you're only a casual Wolverine fan I think you might want to consider just how much of this you'll want to read. Personally, the stories listed above are worth the price of admission, but just after just completing the final story in this book, I would say that you could skip over most of the Marvel Comics Presents content. Those issues start off promising with a couple of interesting story arcs, but get pretty silly and sloppily written as they progress. I'm still very glad that I have this on my shelf and I had a blast reading through it, but I can tell you that when I revisit it in the future I won't feel the need to consume everything in it's pages again, but rather just a handful of the stories that really do stick out as some of the best solo Wolverine tales I've read thus far.

[Jameson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This volume basically sucks ass because the few good issues are drowned out by complete and utter dreck. I’m talking bottom-of-the-barrel, Marvel Comics Presents dreck. What a shitty, shitty book that was, 99% of the time. Dear God, some of the art and writing in that needs to be seen to be believed.

Other than that, and the various crappy to meh fill-in issues of the ongoing Wolverine series, there’s a whole slew of Wolverine one-shots. And, don’t worry, they too range from crappy to meh. The best issues here are definitely the handful by Peter David, and the Havok/Wolverine limited series (sometimes I read this and like it, sometimes I read this and hate it.) Really, this is a skippable volume and only worth owning if you “need” it to sit on your shelf between volumes one and three.

[Davide Pappalardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the uneven quality of the first collection, things start getting better. Different miniseries, different writers, even different ongoings, exploring Wolverine’s present (at the time) and hints of his past. The patch silliness is still there for most part of it, but it is handled a little better with self-awerness from the script and characters. Some great stories, some less great and aged not so well (the Lazarus Project is the real stinker as it makes no sense whatsoever), but any Wolverine fan will find here classic moments. The art is good and sometimes stellar. All in all the start of the path toward Wolverine’s best stories. Please, consider the rating as 3 and a half.

[TheMadReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yawn.

If you’re a Wolverine diehard, this is cool for your collection. I bought all three of these volumes so I figured I’d read them. None of the shit stuck with me or made me feel any sort of way, it was probably great during the 80’s and 90’s, but the Wolverine run seems second tier to the annuals.

Ehhhhhhhh, nice art though.

[Zachary Bemrose · Rating 5 out of 5]

SNIKT!

You’re gonna like this one, BUB.

Logan is presumed dead and takes on a new identity, Patch. As always, trouble seems to find him. Wolverine dawns the iconic brown suit in his solo adventures. He crosses paths with many we’ll know characters such as Spidy, Nick Furry, The Hulk, Ghost Rider, and more.

Lots of fun 🤓

Excelsior!

Z

[Etienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a collector object than anything. I'm glad to have it in my library, but to be honest it isn't that much a comics collection. They are very dated and most of them haven't aged that well. For the hardcore Wolverine fans/collectors.

[Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meltdown had mostly good art, Scorpio Affair too.
Stories weren't for me.

Gehenna affair was interesting having Sienkievich inks over Buscrma. Part 4 was the only issue I liked.

Jungle adventure