Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Wolverine #1Wolverine #1
Marvel Comics
Cornell, Stegman, Morales & Curiel

Wolverine re-launches with a new direction on the character but the opening issue falls flat in informing new readers as to what's come before. On the other hand the direction of this series is made perfectly clear especially by issue's end. Generally the issue is an okay read but isn't anything that we haven't seen before. If you are already engaged in this story from the previous volume then I assume you will enjoy this more than the new reader. With that in mind, I'm not sure why it was re-launched.

The issue is very disjointed as it jumps around the timeline and the stories within the timeline. Essentially the base of the issue is Wolverine on a mission with a cast of characters that I'm not familiar with. Rather than getting that backstory we get the story about how Wolverine sort ended up with the mindset that leads into the cliffhanger at the end.

The aspect that works well is the setup as to why Wolverine is in armor, where he gets weapon and the basics of the mission. It's actually an intriguing issue in that regard.

What does not work, especially for the reader picking this up having not read the previous volume, is the side conversations and their meaning. Wolverine talks with Storm and some of those references are too vague when taken in the context of this issue. And that is just one example. With the way the comic jumps around it simply feels like every few pages I was reading a completely different story.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe artwork is a style that captures the super-hero aspect of the book well but also shows off the brutal features of Wolverine. The Wolverine look where he's a bit more hairy, more block-headed and shorter is a version that is fitting of the thuggish nature in this book. The pencils are detailed and the colors make the images pop. Overall the book is a very good visual story.

The new volume of Wolverine opens with an issue that is a direction shift for the character but tries to drag in all that came before in the previous volume. It seems to cater to the readers of the old volume which is perfectly fine. I'm not sure the curious reader is going to find this book as inviting as the #1 seems to imply. It's worth taking a look at.

3 out of 5 Geek Goggles