Venom War: Wolverine #2 opens with what feels like a simple story of a man taking his son fishing. But things soon take a dark turn as the man threatens to throw someone overboard for stealing from him, and when the son intervenes his father forces him to grab the man. It’s in this moment that the book shifts from being part of a massive Venom storyline to a lesson on how toxic masculinity can lead to destructive actions, and how important it is to escape that.
Tim Seeley, Tony Fleecs, and Kev Walker continue that thread throughout Venom War: Wolverine #2. Having found refuge in one of his old haunts after being possesed by a symbiote last issue, Logan reconnects with his old friend Emily Burke and her son Flynn, who he saved years ago from abuse at the hands of Emily’s husband Keene. But little does Logan know that Keene has encountered a group of Zombiotes that listen to him…and he’s hell bent on getting his family back.
A Wolverine comic is the absolute last place you’d expect to find discussions on healthy masculinity, especially since Logan is mostly known to resolve his problems through stabbing. But Seeley and Fleecs understand that the best Wolverine stories have always been about Logan fighting to be better than what he is, not to mention his serving as a mentor to younger figures. It’s that element they lean into in their script. with Logan giving some wise advice to Flynn. “If even a guy like me can have friends…make himself some kinda family, then anyone can,” he says.
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When it’s time for the fighting, Walker does not hold back on the horror factor. The Zombiotes are shown to be utterly terrifying beings, symbiotic matter wrapping around their cold, dead flesh. Java Tartaglia leans heavily on the black hues for this issue, creating two different shades: a bluish-black for the night sky, which is peppered by white snow, and the inky black of the Zombiotes. Red also gets used a lot, as Logan starts carving and chopping.
There’s even a surprise or two in the back half that definitely ups the stakes, and makes me wish that this was at least a four issue miniseries. But for what it’s worth, the creative team have stepped above and beyond the demands of a tie-in miniseries to a comic book event – and that’s the best thing about Venom War: Wolverine #2.
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