Return of Wolverine #2
Ross Hutchinson
Recap
The newly awakened Wolverine and former canteen worker Ana pursue Soteira who have taken Ana's Son Perren, in a boat across the ocean in the hopes of catching up with them in order to free the boy from their clutches. While the chase is on Wolverine asks Ana more about Soteira and Persephone having her own city. The conversation distracts wolverine from watching their quarry which is long enough for Soteira to put two kill squad members into the water to ambush them.
The Soteira super soldiers who are sporting very familiar looks and personal weaponry in the form of death tendrils ala Omega Red, as well as claws, do just that and a confrontation ensues which sees Ana proving shes pretty useful in a fight taking the Omega Red soldier out with a speargun leaving Wolverine to face off against the remaining faceless clawed soldier.
It wouldn't be a Wolverine comic without a violent and bloody fight which reveals that the second masked Soteira soldier appears to be Daken which Logan recognizes on an unconscious level but does not consciously as the "Heroic" Wolverine persona fights to keep the berserker contained in the "cage" in his subconscious. We also see the "Hot" claws in action and actually heat up for the first time which ends up helping Wolverine dispatch his adversary in a rather novel way despite his inability to actually control the heat factor of
the claws.
The immediate threat dealt with and a brief romantic moment later ( Wolverine's animal magnetism seems to be very much intact with his latest incarnation.) they come upon Persephone's island city. Meanwhile in New York at the Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach, a certain female red-headed mutant calls Kitty Pryde down to Cerebro...The X-Men have located Logan...
Review
Issue #1 I felt was quite a cerebral affair in my opinion with as much going on psychologically in Logan’s mind and subconscious as in actual reality this issue is way more linear and much less complex… and to be honest it is to its detriment. This feels like one giant filler piece that does very little to move the story along which after such a solid start is disappointing.
With regard to art, Declan Shelvey is a great artist but the change from Steve McNiven’s BWS channeling highly detailed style to his more economic line style is such a large jump that it feels like a rushed change that is jarring and doesn’t feel like Shelvey’s best work which may be purely psychological on my part but I doubt it. Still, the fight scene is well executed, the paneling is good in my opinion and the comic book is easy to read and follow. Laura Martin’s colors are solid as is the lettering from VC’s Joe Sabino.
Charles Soule’s an excellent writer but ultimately this issue offers nothing in the way of major insight into what is actually going on but instead offers more questions than answers. Logan is clueless as to why the claws heat up except that they seem to be linked to his psychological state, specifically the berserker it seems.
There’s a funny moment pre-combat with Wolverine making a remark about the number of claws only to have his adversary show him up which made me chuckle but all said and done the only part of the story this issue that got me even remotely excited was the fact that the X-Men now know Wolverine is alive and hopefully that and the consequences of him being back in the land of living mutants gets explored along with what is actually going on with Persephone and Soteira in the next issue. I almost want this all to be one large psychodrama happening in Logan’s head at this point because that would at least make how flat this part two was a bit more easy to digest.
Final Thoughts
The issue is actually titled Limbo and it is an apt name cause that's where I felt the issue left me. It drops at least two gears from the opening issue and ends up being a 26-page filler that only asks more questions, offers no solid answers, a decent fight scene thrown in for good measure and the introduction of the actual X-Men into the mix. I am hoping for much better from issue #3
Return of Wolverine #2 : In Pursuit and Not Much Else
- Writing - 5/105/10
- Storyline - 4/104/10
- Art - 6/106/10
- Color - 7/107/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10
