In the end of ‘Wolverine’ #1, we’ve seen Logan not only become a petty thug of a criminal but also murder what appeared to be an innocent man in cold blood. It’s a Logan that continues to go against the grain of everything we’ve seen so far of how he’s evolved over the past few years. I have my theories on where this is going but for the time being, let’s check out the issue at hand.
This issue took place somewhere between prior to this story arc occurring and where it is now. The past was the more interesting part as Wolverine spent most of it talking to the Superior Spider-Man (Still Dock Ock in Peter’s body) to try and get perspective on his life. It was actually quite fitting because he got to bring up the changes he has noticed in Spidey in a way that reminded us that everyone knows he’s been different but still fit into the story line. It was the first piece of a hint that actually felt like Wolverine could make the change that he has here. Unfortunately, it was far too little and still has me convinced that this is all an act leading towards some end game he is set to play out between Sabertooth and himself. They finally dropped some hints that Victor Creed really is what is motivating Wolverine, even though he is denying it.
The present day story line focuses on Logan’s new “boss” that has plans to merge his organization with Sabertooth’s and eventually land himself in control of it all. Right now, it appears that organized crime is either run by the Green Goblin or Sabertooth. That seems a bit off when compared to the Spidey storyline having the Goblin just in New York, but at least it sounds good on paper when you are dealing with a Spider-Man crossover.
Clearly Logan and Creed are on a collision course and as Wolverine is still involved with the X-Men as a teacher, I suspect we’re going to see things work out in his favor. In fact, by the time this story arc ends, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it all have been a plot and he’s still working with either the X-Men or The Avengers to bring Victor down. While it’s always good to see Wolverine come out on top, it would be a lesson in humility that he has to count on his friends which is something he refused to do in the last run and almost got him killed.
Unlike the last issue, there isn’t much action going on so expect a lot of dialogue and most of it not as entertaining as it should be. As painful as this is to get to the meat of the story (which I hope is coming in one of the next issues), we at least get Stegman illustrating an absolutely beautiful comic. He’s one of those artists I wish they’d clone so he could work on multiple titles for the company. I must say that it’s also fitting that he had a chance to draw a Spider-Man crossover issue. Still the issue overall isn’t strong enough to carry over the fact that Wolverine is now ‘killable’ and hopefully we’ll be seeing the action kick up a notch soon.
WOLVERINE #2
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Ryan Stegman
