Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Wolverine Weapon X #4Wolverine Weapon X #4
Marvel Comics
Aaron, Garney & Keith

Wolverine fights the toughest of the new twelve weapon x incarnations. This issue has some other elements to it, but for the most part it's a battle. The comic offers its own version of a Wolverine fight by serving up some humor in tension filled spots and some tiny surprises. This issue is a good effort in trying to do something out of the ordinary with something that can seen week in and week out in the Marvel Universe, which is Wolverine fighting someone.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe issue starts out as the CEO of Blackguard begins to get rid of his employees. This becomes a good lead for Maverick to gather information. There are a lot of elements to the first issues of this new series to like, but one is the inclusion of a supporting cast. Whether it's the reporter, Maverick or his contact, the comics seem to make use of some other voices other than just Wolverine. Also, you get the feeling that these characters might be around for a while as opposed to most other characters Wolverine encounters in his solo series. They all seem to get killed off.

As Maverick passes along his intel to Wolverine we learn that Wolverine is one step ahead of him. Sure, Wolverine can cut up a bunch of nobodies with his teeth grinding away, but this comic typically leaves the blood and slicing off panel and it cuts to the aftermath that usually ties things up with a decent one liner. It's these types of elements that make this series better than previous launches of Wolverine titles.

About midway through the comic Wolverine gets on the trail of the CEO and is confronted by the head of the twelve weapon x guys. They fight for basically the remainder of the comic. However, there are two parts to the fight that make it good instead of the same-old-same-old. There are a couple of very funny moments, like when they stop fighting as they realize they are front of a school bus full of kids. Also, the panel layout of the double page splash is brilliantly done as it uses twenty squares of fighting with an overlaid blow-up battle in the foreground. It's a nice way to show off some art and bring some uniqueness to a fight.

The artwork helps to keep this issue fresh. The battle isn't necessarily what makes the issue either. The comic is loaded with panels that have a lot going on in them. I definitely appreciate art that goes that extra mile to pack in some details and this is what we find in this comic.

The main problem with this issue is the lack of setup with the new alpha dog. We went from twelve angry individuals to one big bad dude. The problem is we have no reason to believe that this one is any different from the other eleven. We don't have a reason to think that Wolverine is really in danger. It also isn't helping that all along I was wondering what happened to all the others.

The comic is a solid effort for a solo Wolverine title. It seems to abandon all the plot elements with the newspaper and the government manipulation in favor of a big battle. I'm not sure that was the best thing to do in the penultimate chapter but it may play out great in the next issue. I liked the issue enough for it edge slightly above being only for the Wolverine completists. This was a fun comic to read through.

3.5 out of 5 geek goggles