Still in in the wild, Wolverine experiences more blasts from the past as he has to evade both Department H and Wendigo! But this new Wendigo isn’t all that he seems in Wolverine #2 written by Salad Ahmed, drawn by MartĂźn CĂłccolo, colors by Bryan Valenza, and letters by Cory Petit!
From the ashes, a new beginning!
Thatâs what the covers of all the new X-Men related issues have proclaimed since the new era launched in July.
âNew beginningâ is one of those things that can be quibbled with semantically. Technically, by being new volumes that begin with a book showcasing a nice fat (Marvel-beloved) #1 issue, all of the books are a new beginning. That shiny (not really) hashtag (pound sign to us Olds) with a number gets the publisher all shivery because itâs meant to bring in new or lapsed readers (or at least drive speculators to goose sales)
When it came to the latest Wolverine #1, well, if you ever read any Wolverine comic, periodâŠthen you mostly read Wolverine #1.
What did it have? Well, by golly, Iâm glad you asked. It had more classic “hits” than you could shake a fist at!
Wolverine going feral in the wilderness? Check!
Wolverine having decided heâs done with the X-Men (for five seconds)? Check!
Some old (literally and figuratively) foe returning from character-limbo for revenge? Check, check!
Nightcrawler trying to convince his bestest friend of something? Checkity check!
Some random new mysterious adamantium related threat for Wolverine to face off with? Check so big you canât even see it, because itâs a cliffhanger!
Ahmed dropped so many checks in just one issue there wasnât even room for ninjas or a Nick Fury cameo or some ill-fated new love interest. Couldnât burn through all the clichĂ©s in just one regular sized issue. Naturally, with the Wendigo on the cover of Wolverine #2, there must be more of that nostalgia bingo check-listing happening. Right?
Well, yes, and no.
All of the above was laid out to show how different, yet similar, the issues happen to be. Right away, the inclusion of the Wendigo and Department H are Wolverine nostalgia red flags. Quick ways to point at something like the Leonardo DiCaprio Once Upon A Time in Hollywood meme, boosted by a lot of captions from Logan pointing to things from the past, explaining these all too common Loganisms to the reader.
Yet, the idea behind a reluctant Wendigo (a young teenager who was lost and hungry with his friend) asking for help, putting Logan in a tight spot, is some new energy. In that light, the inclusion of Department H (part of the law of the land) and references to Loganâs past should seem less egregious or targeted. Unfortunately, the first issueâs quintupling down on nostalgia with the overall vibe of the series leaning that way chips away at any such sentiments.
Again, itâs fine.
If this were a one-off story, even a two-parter, in the vein of how stories used to regularly be in most books, it would work even better. Instead, itâs a muddled chapter in the middle of an arc, where much of the first issue (including the mystery villain introduced therein) plays very little of a role – instead, the action changes to fit in the Wendigo points.
Artistically, itâs also fine.
Artist MartĂźn CĂłccolo has a solid style brings life to things. Itâs a bit static at times, but mostly works. Itâs a better fit for Logan than some of the styles we’ve seen in the past, but also still feels a bit too shiny and picturesque for the character and his darker/harder world. Colorist Brian Valenza does a good job of bridging those tonal gaps with the color palette, adding to the shiny smooth nature of the art, for good or ill.
Jumping back up to that checklist and the noted things that are missing in Wolverine #2. My Wolvie-sense is tingling, and that one Department H member who gets highlighted as âgood at her jobâ has “ill-fated Logan love-interest” written all over her. I hope Iâm wrong, but when it comes to Wolverine-related clichĂ©s, itâs hard to be wrong.
Something about this character just seems to scream nostalgia, as creators have been chasing the highs of his earliest solo runs for decades now. More often than not, this stuff falls into the category of âitâs just fineâ more often than âburn it, burn it with fire!,â so thatâs something at least.
âI bet the nostalgia will die down some,â someone out there might be saying to themselves right now.
Exhibit A, the solicit for the very next issue:
DEPARTMENT H GOES HUNTING! Canada’s DEPARTMENT H has their sights trained once more on WOLVERINE! Years ago, they played a role in WEAPON X and LOGAN’s first assignment, but what else are they hunting now that mutants are hated and feared more than ever? Meanwhile, Wolverine’s UNLIKELY ALLY may have just killed an innocent… and OLD ENEMIES of Wolverine’s gather as more sinister machinations unfurl… A key issue, as the ALL-NEW villain moving against Wolverine comes into sharper focus…
Good thing this is like a nostalgia bingo game and not a drinking game, because anyone playing a drinking game would have hit the floor with issue #1. If not, the rest of the arc is ready with more nostalgia, which even gets baked into the solicits!
New beginnings never looked so old.
Scott Redmond
Scott Redmond is a freelance writer and educator fueled by coffee, sarcasm, his love for comic books and more "geeky" things than you can shake a lightsaber at. Probably seen around social media and remembered as "Oh yeah, that guy." An avid gamer, reader, photographer, amateur cook and solid human being.
