Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Wolverine #73
Marvel Comics
Aaron, Way, Kubert & Edwards
In a strange move not often seen, Marvel released issue #73 prior to issue #72. The stories don’t take place in the same time periods so it doesn’t seem to really matter except that it looks ridiculous. On the surface it would seem that issue #73 and #74 are simply being used as filler so that Wolverine’s son can take over the book with issue #75. One issue of filler is okay, but with Old Man Logan running so late that it needs its own one shot to complete the story outside of the Wolverine title it ends up forcing this to be a two-part filler. I liked the issue which strengthens that filler is fine for one issue. We’ll deal with issue #74 when it’s released.
Basically what we have here is two eleven page stories each with their own creative teams. The first story, by Aaron and Kubert, is rather interesting because of the technique used. It shows a series of one panel scenes each representing a day of the week. Its purpose is to show just how many teams and missions Wolverine is involved in on a day to day basis. The story is good because it’s poking fun at the overexposure that Wolverine has become known for over the years.
All of the stereotypes are in here. He plays cards, drinks, fights along with the X-Men, gets killed, finds a woman, gets killed, prays like a samurai, gets killed and on and on. Some of the scenes are hysterical, such as the red Hulk punching his face off, literally. Or when the X-Men battle Mystique and Cyclops remarks that Logan had told him he’d killed her already. This story has a theme but not a story. It has some fun artwork and some funny moments. However, ultimately it’s a throwaway.
The second story by Way and Edwards has more irony to it. Basically Wolverine finds some of his old motorcycle buddies and while he’s visiting them one of them gets the group caught in a bind. Wolverine’s buddy, Horrorshow, has a renegade son that joined up with a rival gang. He’s caused some trouble and Horrorshow’s cronies want the kid dead. Wolverine steps in to help.
It’s an interesting story but it’s tough to see Wolverine helping out these bikers. It’s also a little difficult to understand just how both sides could like each other enough to hang out with one another. It sounds strange but this story reminded me of an episode of the Hulk TV show or Highway to Heaven where the do-gooder wanders into another town to help some locals out with a difficult problem. It just didn’t feel very Wolverine-like. The artwork was very gritty and had a fit perfect for this story.
This two part comic is most likely for the completists. It’s helped that two of the main writers are placed in here but you’d have to wonder if the material in these two issues was their throwaway material from their primary titles. I liked the comic but it’s not something I can say is a can’t miss story.
3 out of 5 geek goggles
