Marvel Comics
Greg Rucka, writer
Darick Robertson and Leandro Fernandez, artists
Wolverine is quite possibly Marvel's most over-exposed character. Since his debut in Incredible Hulk No. 180, he has appeared in his own solo titles and too many incarnations and permutations of X-Men groups to count. At various times, he's been a member of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, and he's guest starred in a number of other characters' solo titles, even if he wasn't the headliner of a given issue. Sometimes, he's even been featured in all of these places at once along with starring in more feature films than any other Marvel character to date. He's a popular little Canadian.
Greg Rucka launched a new solo title for the character in 2003 and stayed on board to write three story arcs or 19 issues, all of which are collected in this volume, before handing the reins of the series over to Mark Millar. I haven't read that many Wolverine solo comics; I've tended to catch him more as one of a group. I don't dislike the character; I just don't care for him as much as I do some others. But Wolverine and the Punisher were always the favorites of my brother, Shawn. I always think of my brother whenever I read a Wolverine or Punisher story I really enjoy. I think how he would have liked said story, too, and how sad it is that he will never get to read it. But that's another story.
Back to these Wolverine stories, I've read them all before -- all except for one. And I liked these stories. Enough that I wanted to hold onto them despite my efforts to scale down my collection before my wife decides to do it herself and just starts a huge bonfire. So I was happy to find all of these issues collected in a single trade. Trades can more easily be stored on a bookshelf, thus freeing up space for something else in the finite number of comic book boxes I've allowed myself to keep.
One of the things that stands out for me about these issues by Rucka is that Wolverine really doesn't appear in them at all -- at least, not if you are looking for the smallish brawler mutant in the familiar yellow and blue or yellow and brown spandex superhero suit. Instead, this collection would more correctly be titled "Logan." He still has his mutant healing ability and those nasty, razor-sharp claws, but the superhero suit doesn't appear once in any of the issues I'd read previously. There are no super-villains to be dispatched. There is just a man, albeit a special man, trying to do the right thing in a world filled with gray areas that blur the absolute right and wrong most of us try to live by.
In the first story arc, Logan lives across the hall from a waitress who works at a diner he frequents. They are not friends. They barely speak to each other at all. But the waitress senses something different about Logan and decides to confide in him one day just a little bit about herself. She's in hiding, and she fears the people she's hiding from will soon find her. When she disappears in a hail of bullets and mysterious nighttime intruders, Logan feels compelled to search for her.
The second arc follows the first, with Logan on a road trip. Stopping for gas, he stumbles across a heinous crime which takes him across the border into Mexico and presents him with a moral dilemma he can find no easy answers to. And the third arc, the closest of the bunch to a traditional superhero tale, sends Logan off to save an old friend he'd forgotten he knew and places him at odds with Sabertooth, the evil mutant who shares many of the same abilities.
These stories are more along the lines of a typical action movie plot or maybe even a spaghetti western starring Clint Eastwood than usual superhero fare. The one issue that differs, the one I hadn't read previously, is sandwiched between the second and third arcs and takes place almost exclusively in Logan's subconscious mind. He's sleeping during much of the issue, and we are given a glimpse into his dreams. This is the only place where costumes and other superhero tropes appear, and yet what troubles Logan's dreams are the events from the first two story arcs and questions Logan has about his own nature.
Especially if you've never read a Wolverine story in your life but enjoy a good, dramatic action movie, then this is the collection for you. Give it a try!
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