Wolverine #1: Here We Go Again

The latest volume of Wolverine starts here, post-Krakoa, From the Ashes (if you will). Story-wise, it’s not off to a great start, though: yet again, Wolverine is regressed to running with wolves in the Canadian wilderness, denying his humanity, hiding from the world. If you think you’ve read this before, it’s because it’s one of the most well-worn tropes ol’ Logan has going for him. But just when you think writer Saladin Ahmed is done going back to the well of already-thought-of ideas, there’s more, because an old foe (Cyber, who looks phenomenal considering he got eaten by bugs once) is running around killing people in a not-too-complex effort to royally piss off our hero. Why? Beyond revenge, Ahmed doesn’t bother to ascribe any real motives to his villain; he’s just there to be fought. Ho-hum. Ahmed also glosses over just how Nightcrawler – who bamfs his way in midway through the issue – is even able to find Logan in the first place amid all that wilderness. He just does, because the story requires it.

There’s been a pull toward familiarity throughout From the Ashes thus far, a kind of back-to-basics approach that at once has eschewed the high-concept Krakoan era in favor of comfort food. And it’s worked, mostly: under editor Tom Brevoort’s supervision, the X-Men feel like they’re in their natural milieu again, new reader friendly yet with enough nods to their recent history so as to not feel like Krakoa is being swept under the rug. It’s been a natural progression, in other words. With Wolverine #1, though, Ahmed is going too far back to basics. Other than oblique references to how dangerous a place the world is for mutants now (though when wasn’t it?), this issue of Wolverine could have been published three or even four decades ago and not skipped a beat. That’s bad because, quite simply, it means it isn’t bothering to say anything new about its lead character. It’s playing with safe story beats alone, and in that regard, Wolverine #1 utterly fails to deliver a compelling story. The cliffhanger at the end is… interesting, and could herald a positive turn for this series moving forward, but isn’t enough in its own right to salvage the issue as a whole.

Where it doesn’t fail, though, is the art. Martin Coccolo – fresh off his stint on Immortal Thor – delivers some incredibly beautiful pages. Along with colorist Bryan Valenza, readers can feel the whipping Canadian wind blowing the snow around; smell the blood of Cyber’s twisted victims; taste the snowflakes on the air amid the fir trees. Coccolo has a great eye for detail without overdoing it, in other words. Everything is lush and natural, and his figures are full-realized. It’s unfortunate that he’s straddled with such a pedestrian story, as he’s clearly doing the bulk of the creative heavy lifting.