Claws come out as Larry Hama returns to writing Albert, the robot Wolverine, in a rip roaring adventure on Madripoor that officially ties into Iron Man 2020 but really couldn’t care less. Roland Boschi and Andres Mossa draw the first part of this duo of issues.
Vishal Gullapalli: Iron Man 2020’s in full swing, and everyone’s kind of forgotten that it existed. It turns out the real 2020 was a lot more dystopic than whatever Marvel cooked up in the 80s, and honestly Dan Slott wasn’t doing the most bang-up job with it to begin with. It’s absolutely ridiculous that this is going on at the same time as Empyre, though.
Zack Jenkins: Did I stop reading Slott and his army of fill-in writers on Iron Man by issue #3 on Unlimited?
Yes.
Am I willing to wade back into those waters for the good robot Albert?
Also yes.
I, Wolverine?
VG: Alright, as much as I hate to admit this, all the knowledge I was bringing into this book was on the Iron Man 2020 side. I have legitimately no clue who Albert and Elsie-Dee are. I’m honestly a little scared. Zack, care to fill me in?
ZJ: Albert is a cyborg clone of Wolverine who was built by Donald Pierce and the Reaver’s to distract Wolverine long enough that Elsie-Dee (a little girl cyborg with a lisp whose body was 75% C4) could explode and kill Wolverine. It was not a great plan to be honest.
He eventually went honest and just decided to be a good robot dad and not murder Logan. Last we saw he was in Hunt For Wolverine: Weapon Lost looking for dear Elsie with no real resolution. Series writer and industry titan Larry Hama created him and it’s a joy to see him back on these weird ass-characters.
VG: Choosing to not murder and instead be a good dad is very indicative of being a clone of Wolverine, honestly.
ZJ: How do you feel about his involvement from the 2020 side?
VG: Well on the 2020 side of things, robots are rebelling and Arno Stark is trying to quell a revolution of synthetic life. Neither Albert nor Larry Hama seem to care at all about any of this, though – there’s a very small reference to it and then they just drop it for the Elsie-Dee stuff, which honestly was the best way to take it. I am fine not being reminded of whatever the heck is going on in Iron Man 2020. Instead, I got to revel in the stupid fun of the first Larry Hama comic I’ve ever read.
ZJ: Here’s the dirty secret, Hama wrote Wolverine for most of the 90s and he always goes all out. Sometimes you get a very bad story about a Wolvie fighting a body stealing rat who has a smiley face on his back, sometimes you get a time travel epic where Wolverine and Puck fight alongside Ernest Hemmingway in the Spanish Civil War. Hama has never heard the phrase “half-measure”.
Madripoor!
VG: So Madripoor’s got a whole structure of crime bosses leading groups, and I’ll be honest as someone who’s read basically no Wolverine solo content between the original miniseries and Jason Aaron’s run I am really unaware of Madripoor as a concept. That being said, this issue did a pretty good job establishing the power structure going on. There’s the Yakuza, the Reavers, Tyger Tiger, the Triad, the Vladivostok Mafia, it’s just a veritable hive of scum and villainy. I’m not sure how much of this is new, but it’s pretty dang fun to read about.
ZJ: What I think is very interesting is how much Hama leans into the current canon. The Reavers here are the bio Reavers that killed Xavier back in X-Force #1. The relationship of Pierce and Homines Verendi from Marauders is here. Hama jumps head first into the new world order of X and I love that. It adds an illusion of depth the story didn’t need.
VG: I love the mental image of Larry Hama devotedly reading current x-books. I’m sure editorial had a hand in making sure everything lined up, but I get some real enjoyment out of the idea that influential and memorable creators read new stuff and think it’s dope. I definitely agree that it adds a level of depth I wasn’t expecting to the issue, this honestly feels more like an X-book than it does an Iron Man 2020 book. Hell, if you get rid of 2 speech balloons you wouldn’t even know this has to do with Arno Stark. I wonder if we’ll see any of the big players in the Madripoor scene in Marauders or any other X-books that deal with the country.
ZJ: Coming out of Tommy B’s office, I wouldn’t be shocked if this stays mostly contained to superficial references but that’s OK with me. Albert and Elise-Dee are reunited, and brother? They aren’t happy.
Best Served Steel Cold
ZJ: In a very Wolverine fashion, Albert is able to piss off four separate faction in Madripoor during his hunt to recover Elsie-Dee. They have all, independently, decided they need to murder the hell out of him. Frankly, this is great news for us because Albert will get to stab some folks and artist Roland Boschi is great at drawing stabs. How’d you like the action in this one Vishal?
VG: It was surprisingly (for me) really fun! It’s honestly fairly easy to just pretend this is a Wolverine story because Albert just acts like his source material and kills a bunch of goons in an angry quest to get his daughter figure to safety. Something important to know about me is that while I do love the X-Men, I also love robots. And a robot Wolverine stabbing a bunch of people in Madripoor is a very easy way into my heart. The only thing that reminded me that this wasn’t just a Wolverine story is when Albert finally rescues Elsie-Dee, who excitedly yells that her new look is very anime.
ZJ: There are some writers who I would roll my eyes at for going with this as a cheap joke. Not Hama though, too much respect and fear for that king.
I think the book really takes on new life with Elsie. She can be annoying cutsie and I am sure half our reading audience straight up hates her vocal tics. For me though? I think she adds the perfect amount of silly levity the book needs. It’s Hama reminding readers that this is a dumb, fun comic book adventure about clone robots and we all just need to go along for the ride.
VG: I don’t know if I like Elsie but I think she adds some very necessary ridiculous levity to Albert’s overly edgy existence. Wolverine’s dark and broody enough, turning him into a cyborg clone means Elsie needs to make Jubilee look like Kitty Pryde, and in this one issue I can definitely say Hama succeeds at that. The entire second issue appears to be more stabbing but with Elsie-Dee’s commentary running over it this time and that honestly sounds delightful.
ZJ: I’m a simple man. I know what I like. And this? This is what I like.
X-Traneous Thoughts
- Tyger Tiger orders who she assumes is Wolverine a single malt scotch and a mint and gin cocktail called a “Romeo & Juliet”. Is that what Logan craves?
- I love how everyone on Madripoor still calls him Patch. Just pretends it isn’t obvious who it is.
- It’s really funny how Albert just does what Wolverine does but also laughs at everyone’s reactions when they realize he’s a cyborg.
- Still can’t believe this is called 2020 iWolverine like it is 2008 or something.
- Bonebreaker cares about Pierce’s respiratory health, reminding all of us to wear a damn mask.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much.
