Wolverine is a book that I’m not sure needs to exist. It’s a book about one of the most prolific mutants who has had far too many stories told about him, in an era that’s particularly ill-fitted for solo stories. It’s a book that many would argue only exists because comic shops will order a lot of it. It’s a book that I wasn’t reading six months ago, and is now one of my favorite books of the era.
Logan is a character that I have historically enjoyed more on teams, despite being written as more of a loner. The first X-Men comic that I loved was Wolverine and the X-Men, which put him at the front and center of mutants in general, and made great use of his character development across decades. In some ways, the current Wolverine book feels like a reversion. Everyone relied on Logan, he no longer could live for himself alone, his every choice affected everyone around him: now, Logan hops on a ship to fight a leviathan.
Marvel Comics
I miss the Logan of Wolverine and the X-Men — it was a good take on the character. Percy’s Logan, though, is perfect for the Krakoan era, both because he uses Logan to talk about being an individual in a nation, but also because Krakoa shows us a Logan who is allowed to fully be himself, and still be everything he was before.
This volume takes Logan on a pirate adventure in Madripoor first, has him save and protect his CIA homie from his ex-army homie second, and brings it all home with some whale hunting. The pirate adventure is one of my favorite arcs of the series yet, with great action by Kubert and the return of Solem, my favorite boyfriend of Logan (sorry Scott, please go get back with Emma). The whole adventure highlights everything fun about Wolverine, from his ways of investigating, to his love of swords despite having knives in his skeleton. Just pure fun end-to-end.
Marvel Comics
The series equally excels at character introspection, though, and plenty of it happens in this volume, particularly in the last issue. Logan is a character particularly suited for one-shots, both because of his loner nature and because of the general tone of his stories. This is one of my favorite Logan stories I’ve read.
Marvel Comics
This issue is about Logan questioning his place in Krakoa, its purpose, and its effects on mutants in general. It’s about one man standing against something vast and unknowingly large, an impossible obstacle faced only for challenge’s sake.
This issue (and really this volume) is about Logan’s view of the utopia that is Krakoa, how he fits there, and why it exists. It’s about how he sees his violence as both an aberration, but also as a necessity, to keep the gears of the nation oiled. It’s about one (small) man and his place in the collective. None of this is new, or deep.
Nothing that is said in Wolverine Vol. 3 is unique, either to Wolverine comics or to action stories in general. Really, much of it is incredibly generic; it just has the sheen of the new status quo. This magic trickery is a huge part of my fondness for the series. None of it is new—it doesn’t even feel new, really—but the execution is so perfect that it doesn’t matter. Logan can ask himself if he belongs in paradise, or he gets magnetized to the floor, or he goes on a quest for a sword, and I bark like the good seal that I am because Logan is a cool guy who loves his friends and needs to protect them. In the current context, it looks a little different than it did before is all.
The surface-level, smooth-brainness of Wolverine is its greatest asset. It doesn’t have to be deep to be good; hell, it doesn’t have to be deep to be deep. It states obvious truths, but that doesn’t make them less true. Wolverine wears everything that it is on its sleeve, and it’s that much more enjoyable for doing so.
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