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pmileham's review
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I sure enjoyed John Buscema's art.
jesse_post's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This starts off as a solid enough Chris Claremont-written story starring one of his most interesting characters, though he doesn’t do much with it. The first half of the book is all very low stakes, Wolverine helping rival crime lords for some reason, almost like he falls into the adventures by accident. To be fair, Claremont said classic adventure serials like Conan were his inspiration for this and that’s very much what happens here: Wolverine sits drinking in a bar when an unrelated problem falls into the place and he picks the most moral side of the conflict to help, rinse and repeat. OK, I guess? But the book takes a horrendous turn for the worse when Peter David takes over halfway through, clearly not taking any of this seriously, making Wolverine more like Deadpool, quipping about himself and almost breaking the fourth wall with smug self awareness. David’s Wolverine operates with a Randall-from-Clerks “I wasn’t even supposed to BE here today” whine throughout, and, perhaps representing the author’s feelings about the assignment, can’t be bothered to care about half of what he’s asked to do. I can’t overstate how weird it is to read a story where the protagonist has nothing at stake, has no desire to fulfill, and will turn out the same no matter what happens — the exact opposite of every 101 writing course out there. It truly, truly sucks and I forced my way through it just to say I finished the book. I reserve two stars for books that tried and failed but if it only collected David’s half it would get a rare 1 star, reserved for books that don’t even try. I would say this is for completists only and even those may be disappointed.
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