Wolverine: Infinity Watch #3
Matt Meyer
Recap
As if things couldn't get any weirder, earthman Hector has now been kidnapped by the Fraternity of Raptors in an attempt to retrieve the Time Gem from him. Wolverine and Loki board the latter's flying Viking longship and head into space, only to realize they need some assistance in finding them, and go to find a master tracker. Enter: Dr. Strange's ethereal basset hound, Bats.
Now that the pair has their requisite sarcastic talking animal sidekick, they launch back into space, and find the ship the Raptors are hiding Hector on, and begin their rescue attempt.
It's a very violent affair.
Review
Wolverine: Infinity Watch #3 is a very light-hearted affair (despite the space violence), which follows suit of this series pretty much perfectly. I don’t want to use the word dumb, because stories can be knowingly dumb but still fun, but this series tries to do that and just can’t quite gel in a satisfying way.
Clearly, the giant boot is indicative that they’re in Texas.
The best example of that problem is the inclusion of Bats the Ghost Basset Hound. I get the sense that writer Gerry Duggan is trying to replicate Jason Aaron’s Thori the Murder Dog over in Thor, in that now our heroes have a funny talking animal sidekick, and you are very amused by this, yes?, but whereas Thori is endearing because of how much Aaron leans into his extremely dog-like need to please his master and be a good boy, Bats is just sort of… there. The idea is that Loki needed a tracker to find the Raptors and where they’ve stashed Hector, so naturally he thought of a ghost dog… I guess? I find it hard to believe that for all his magical prowess Loki couldn’t have found a way to locate Hector, but things happening for no real good reason is pretty par for the course for this series so far.
That’s not to say it’s all bad. The fight between Logan and the mob of Raptors turns out to be fairly entertaining; I especially liked Wolverine’s idea for dispatching them into the vacuum of space and how that ultimately played out. And, to Duggan’s credit, I genuinely have no idea where he’s going with the events on the last page. Throughout the issue, Wolverine has a sort of lackadaisical bemusement with the whole proceedings, as if to say to the reader, Y’know bub, I can’t believe this is happening either. I’m not entirely certain that was Duggan’s intent, but that sort of wink-wink nudge-nudge tells me that yes, the author is aware of how ludicrous this comic is, and he’s just leaning into it as hard as he can and going along for the ride. Ultimately, it’s up to the reader if that’s the sort of thing he or she can do as well.
Final Thoughts
Although definitely not for everyone, Wolverine: Infinity Watch #3 is a sort of bubblegum-pop romp that leans pretty hard into its own inherent silliness. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and as long as the reader doesn't either, it's fun enough kill some time with.
Wolverine: Infinity Watch #3 (of 5) – Well, Now There’s a Ghost Dog Involved
- Writing - 6/106/10
- Storyline - 5/105/10
- Art - 6/106/10
- Color - 6/106/10
- Cover Art - 4/104/10
