Wolverine: Origins & Endings Review

Writer: Daniel Way
Artists: Javier Saltares & Mark Texeira

I've been trying to get through as many of my graphic novels, and comics series as I can, reviewing them along the way, whilst also reading the Marvel events that fall in between. I also plan on reading the series at the same time, reading each story that falls in line (e.g. a Spider-Man story followed by an Avengers, followed by something else, then back to Spider-Man). I've finally come to start re-reading my Wolverine collection, with this being my sixth review from it.

Plot

After the events of House of M, Wolverine has finally regained all his memories, and begins a mission to try and right some of the wrongs in his life.

Review

This was a good story, and although it wasn't without it's flaws, overall it was very good, and interesting. Daniel Way is a writer that I've had mixed feelings about in the past, as he's done such amazing work, with stuff like Wolverine: Origins, and Deadpool having tremendous stories, but for all the good stories he produces there's at least one poor one to match it. Anyway Way did a great job on this story, and although it wasn't phenomenal, it was a great way to follow with Wolverine regaining his memories, and the perfect prelude to his Wolverine: Origins series, which would see Wolverine try and rectify his past wrongs. Although I've been a fan of Wolverine for many years, I feel that Way has done a good job at introdcuing readers to the character with this story, as although there are many better stories for new readers to try, if you're looking for a modern story that introduces there's only really one other story like that I feels better than this, and that's Origin. The story itself was exciting, and interesting, as well as having some brilliant appearances, as well as giving plenty of insight into what would happen in the Wolverine: Origins series. In saying that, this story still wasn't without it's faults, as there were times that it felt a little too slow. Another negative thing was that whenever it built up to something interesting it'd sometimes trail of into a different part of the story, and by the time it returned the situation would have defused itself, going from something possibly exciting to something slightly disappointing.

The art in this story was once again great, and Javier Saltares, and Mark Texeira once again did a good job, but it just didn't feel quite as good as it was in House of M: World of M Featuring Wolverine. There's two main reasons that I believe is the reason for their art not being quite as good, with the first being that I don't feel that Jonathan D. Smith's colours suit their artwork, and although normally I'd love this type of colouring, due to it not suiting the pencils it just didn't feel right. Besides that I also didn't feel that Saltares, and Texeira did as good a job at drawing Wolverine himself, as although I felt their art was perfect for Wolverine when he was out of the blue and yellow spandex, it didn't really suit him when he was in it. There was however still positives to their art, as it wasn't terrible, and the overall detail was just as good as it was in House of M: World of M Featuring Wolverine. I also loved the layout (which I believe Saltares was responsible for), as it added a lot of drama, and depth to the story, making it feel more alive, and vibrant. The action was also handled very well, as although there were certain panels that looked a bit motionless, and unrealistic, the rest was pure brilliance, and really gave a lot of excitement to the story, as well as giving the violence this sort of story needs.

During House of M Wolverine regained all his memories, something that he's been trying to get since Weapon X experimented on him, and this story shows how he deals with them. What I found most interesting about Wolverine regaining his memories was that after all these years of wanting them, that now he does, he wished he didn't. It's kind of a natural reaction though, as if you don't know something you have the natural urge to know it, especially if it's something personal like this, but due to the nature of these memories, and how they now haunt him it's also natural to no longer want them. The best thing however about regaining his memories was that we got Wolverine: Origins to follow, and although that series was far from perfect, it did have it's good moments, like the introduction of Daken.

The first real appearance in this story was from the Silver Samurai, a person that knows Wolverine very well. I always love it when Silver Samurai makes an appearance in stories, especially when they're Wolverine stories, but at the same times he's made some terrible appearances, which makes me sceptical when seeing him. Now this wasn't the best appearance from Silver Samurai, but at the same time far from the worst, as the interaction between him and Wolverine was awesome, and the fighting was also brilliant.

The New Avengers, who Wolverine's a member of make an appearance in this issue, working with S.H.I.E.L.D. to get Wolverine back, or prevent him from doing further damage. To be fair the New Avengers did next to nothing in this story, and all of them besides Captain America could have easily been left out. At the same time that doesn't mean that the appearance wasn't nice, it's just that it wasn't any thing special, and removing them from the story wouldn't do much difference. I also found the way Iron Man was drawn, and more importantly coloured to be very weird, and didn't really like it.

The reason I said that Cap kind of needed to be involved, and you could involve Iron Man for the same reason, is that Cap's former sidekick Bucky Barnes who's now the Winter Soldier appears in this story, and has an interesting run in with Wolverine. Although due to Bucky only re-emerging recently there hasn't been a lot of interaction between him, and Wolverine unless in stories set during World War II, but for anyone who follows Wolverine will know that since his re-emergence they've had history. Now I won't spoil it for anyone who doesn't know, as this is the story that reveals why, but I will say that it was very interesting finding out, and reading when it occurred, and the aftermath from this would be interesting, even if it never reached it's full potential (the aftermath that is).

This story also revealed how the Muramasa Blades were created, something that I'd always wanted to read prior to this. When I started collecting Wolverine comics it was during the time of Wolverine: Origins, and the Muramasa Blades were frequently used during that, as well as in other Wolverine related series'/stories, so to read the actual origin of the blades was interesting. Now again I won't spoil anything, even though it's pretty obvious, but I will say that the sequences that lead up to this were exciting, and interesting, even if they were a bit sudden.

Final Verdict

This was a very interesting, and entertaining story, and although it's not the best Wolverine story ever (far from it), and also isn't without it's flaws, it's still very interesting, and a great way for newer readers to understand Wolverine in a modern story. It was also the perfect prelude to Way's Wolverine: Origins series, and although there's many Wolverine stories I'd recommend over this story, I'd still recommend giving this one a try, as it's worth the read.

Rating: 4/5

The next Wolverine book I'll be reviewing will be Wolverine: Civil War.

Before that however I'll be reviewing Civil War itself.

House of M: World of M Featuring Wolverine Review

NOTE: This review is just for the Wolverine issues (#33-35).

Writer: Daniel Way

Artists: Javier Saltares & Mark Texeira

I've been trying to get through as many of my graphic novels, and comics series as I can, reviewing them along the way, whilst also reading the Marvel events that fall in between. I also plan on reading the series at the same time, reading each story that falls in line (e.g. a Spider-Man story followed by an Avengers, followed by something else, then back to Spider-Man). I've finally come to start re-reading my Wolverine collection, with this being my fifth review from it.

Plot

In a world where humans are the oppressed minority, and mutants rule Wolverine work's for S.H.I.E.L.D. who's commanded by Director Sebastian Shaw. After Wolverine disappeared after a mission Director Shaw questions Wolverine's partner, Mystique about the events, and what caused Wolverine to go AWOL.

Review

This was both a good, and poor story, and to be honest I wasn't sure if overall it was good or bad. Daniel Way did a decent job of the writing, and in many ways it was good, but like usual with Way there's always something about his work that lets it down. That's the thing that disappoints me with Way's writing, as he did good stories whilst working on Wolverine: Origins, Daken: Dark Wolverine, and Deadpool, but they were all surrounded by poor stories as well, and stories that had promise, but overall didn't quite work, like this story. Now don't get me wrong, as I said this wasn't a terrible story, as the way it ties in with House of M, and the whole mutants ruling the world interested me, especially with Shaw ruining S.H.I.E.L.D. and Wolverine working for Shaw, but the problem was that there wasn't enough Wolverine throughout. Another thing I liked was how the story was told through Shaw questioning Mystique, as this was quite interesting, and unique, but again the lack of Wolverine spoiled this, and overall it didn't really matter how good this story was, the fact that Wolverine didn't appear as much as he could have just spoiled it completely.

The art in this story was amazing, and although it's not startling, or phenomenal, it was still brilliant, and perfect for a Wolverine story, and Javier Saltares, and Mark Texeira did a good job, with Saltares doing the layout/breakdowns, and Texeira doing the finishing art. Now I've never fully understood who's done the main bit of art when it comes to this, abut I believe that the layout/breakdown artist draws the rough image, and the finishing artist does all the detailed art. Either way it was brilliant artwork, and although as I said it isn't anywhere near the quality of the very best artists, it's still far above the worse artists. What I really liked was that the art was very gritty, which really suits Wolverine, but at the same time it was also looks very smooth, and realistic, which is nice. The layout of the art was brilliant, and if I'm correct in thinking how the art is distributed Saltares' has done an excellent job, and it really adds drama, and depth to the story, which really needs it. I also loved how all the characters were drawn, and especially Mystique, and Wolverine himself, as the looked perfect. I also loved these new S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms, and whoever designed them did a fantastic job, as they look very unique, and different from the normal S.H.I.E.L.D. attire, whilst also looking very sleek, smart, and dynamic.

It's bee a while since I actually read House of M, and I've only read it once at that, so I can't remember everything that happened in the main story besides the basics, but from that I can say that how these changes have affected Wolverine is interesting. Now this story could have also really been done in a side, mini-series, and would probably work better like that, but I liked how it came into the main series, as it makes everything feel like it's in unison, and continuity. Besides that the changes themselves were brilliant, and very interesting, and to be honest I'm surprised that they didn't do this before, the whole House M thing that is, as mutants ruling the world, with humans being the oppressed is just brilliant.

With Wolverine working for S.H.I.E.L.D., which is now run by mutants (naturally), he's partnered up with Mystique, also appearing to have a romantic relationship with her. Now the history between Wolverine, and Mystique is very long, and complicated, with them being friends in the past, as well as enemies, so it was natural for a world ruled by mutants to have them together, as to be fair the changes a mutant ruled world would cause to their lifestyles would also change their personalities to a certain extent. Besides that their relationship was very interesting, and the chemistry between the two was magical, and Way really did a good job of this, even if the story itself was slightly disappointing.

As I said S.H.I.E.L.D. is now in the hands of mutants, and on top of that it's run by Sebastian Shaw. Like Mystique, and Wolverine working together, Shaw is the perfect mutant to run S.H.I.E.L.D., as although he's evil like all X-Men villains, he's probably the most professional out of them, and with him also having lead the Hellfire Club in the past, he's the perfect leader candidate. The way he lead his mutant agents was also very interesting, and overall this felt exactly like it should have been, a slightly different S.H.I.E.L.D., and yet again Way did a good job with this, which made the fact that the story didn't live up to potential even more disappointing.

With the mutants running the world, and S.H.I.E.L.D. there needs to be some form of human involvement in this story, and that's were former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury steps in. Fury appears to have been the one that caused the attack in Mexico, which caused Wolverine to go AWOL, but Shaw was sceptical about this. I won't go into any more detail about Fury's involvement as to avoid spoilers, but I will say how I felt about it. The fact Fury was involved really gave more depth to this story, and the flashbacks of his time training the Red Guard's was really entertaining, and interesting, giving more drama, and variety to the story. The way Fury's involvement would shape this story was also very interesting, and this along with the other good points is what made this story a good read, even though it didn't live to it's potential.

Final Verdict

Overall this wasn't a terrible story, and it did have it's moments, it's just that it had so much more potential, and although the story was unique, and interesting, the fact that Wolverine didn't feature as frequently as often was a let down. It did however also have the odd bit of action, as well as suspense, and drama, but unfortunately that was overshadowed by the negatives. I would probably recommend this, especially if you get it at a decent price, as it's worth the read, especially if you have House of M (although it's not essential), as it was worth the read, but at the same time if you're new to Wolverine I'd recommend trying some of the better, or more well known stories first.

Rating: 3/5

The next Wolverine book I'll be reviewing will be Wolverine: Origins & Endings.