by Jason Aaron (writer), Ron Garney (art), Jason Keith (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)
The Story: The jungle cat-and-mouse game continues between Logan and Strikeforce X. Meanwhile, we meet the head of Blackguard and Maverick gets his hands dirty.
What’s Good: Despite my love of Jason Aaron, I almost dropped this series. It wasn’t because it’s a bad comic, in fact it’s been pretty solid, but only due to my “Wolverine fatigue.” Aaron seems to have been attempting to get around this through simplification, divorcing the character from the main Marvel Universe and boiling down the character to its bare essentials: he’s badass and he stabs people. Unfortunately, while fun, this doesn’t exactly get me excited enough to add another $3.99 comic to my pile.
Thankfully, I can say that this is the best Weapon X issue to date. Aaron has finally established a voice for this series, making it a much more engaging read. This month, with the introduction of Blackguard’s corporate head, military contracting politics, “men in black,” conspiracies, and political corruption, the series has become much more nuanced and finds itself becoming very much a “State of Play”-styled espionage/political thriller that nonetheless features a little furry guy stabbing people in the jungle. Either way, the series ends up feeling more intelligent and finally sucked me in. It finally carves out its genre of choice through focusing more on the bad guys, and I can honestly say that the comic is all the better for it.
Meanwhile, as was the case last month, I can say that Ron Garney is currently drawing my favourite Wolverine. Logan looks positively bestial, demonic even, despite Garney making his height very apparent. Logan actually LOOKS like a Wolverine: short, stalky, and feral. It really takes the action scenes to a new level.
What’s Not-So-Good: The reporter continues to fail to grab me as a character, despite Maverick’s badassery this month. She appears to merely be the means of achieving that “political thriller tone,” and lack any unique or defining characteristics. I just don’t find her to be a very strong character (as evidenced by my forgetting her name). All the more groan-worthy is Aaron’s need to make apparent her faith in Obama’s “change platform” and the new administration. It’s not a big deal, but honestly, at this point, any mention of Obama in my comics is like nails on a chalkboard.
Garney also appears to struggle a bit drawing her. Granted she’s dressed entirely differently, but in the two scenes we see her in, she appears to be two different people.
Also, some readers may not be that high on the main bad guy of the series, who may seem at the moment to be a little too clichéd (the unethical, power hungry CEO).
Conclusion: Well, I like this Wolverine comic better than any of the other offerings out there. Aaron has a clear love for the character and this title is finally coming into its own. The best praise I can give it is saying that it’ll be staying on my pull-list.
Grade: B+
-Alex Evans