Venom War: Wolverine #3 hits a rare trifecta of points that most tie-in comics fail to do: it fits within the confines of Venom War, it manages to be entertaining enough to stand on its own, and it gives you a look into what makes the character tick. Most tie-ins have trouble accomplishing one of these goals, let alone all three. But if you’ve read Local Man or any of their other work, you’ll know that Tim Seeley and Tony Fleecs aren’t most creators.
Picking up where Venom War: Wolverine #2 left off, Logan is about ready to bid goodbye to Emily Burke and her son Flynn – especially after he took down Emily’s Zombiote-infected husband Keene with the help of the X-Men. But Flynn kept Keene’s severed head…and the Zombiote has seized upon the chance for a new host. Logan races to save Flynn before the Zombiote can fully take over…but this will push him to his limits.
Seeley and Fleecs have nailed the trick of writing Wolverine. Logan is a compelling character because despite being brainwashed and experimented on to become a weapon, he wants to make his own way in life. Most people who write him off as a cash cow character or anyone who only sees him as “grr stab snikt” miss that, but the best Wolverine stories tap into that. Indeed, the struggle that Logan has with trying to save Flynn is reflected in Flynn’s struggles with to be “better” than his father in controlling the Zombiote. I also gotta give it to Seeley and Fleecs – they understand that Wolverine’s true superpower is taking wayward kids under his wing.
Marvel Comics
Venom War: Wolverine #3 also pushes its protagonist’s healing factor to the limit, courtesy of Kev Walker. Logan falls from a high height? His body smashes on the rocks and splits apart. When he has to fight a new swarm of Zombiotes, his claws send symbiote matter and decaying flesh flying across the page. But Walker saves the true horror for the new Zombiote that’s infected Flynn: it’s a twisting mass of symbiotic flesh and it’s only made more unsettling by having Keene’s severed head in the center of said mass. If this isn’t the biggest visual metaphor for how toxic masculinity can infect young men, I don’t know what is.
The color art from Java Tartaglia is also worth shouting out. Tartaglia mostly uses white for the snow-covered roads of Maine, but every once in a while shifts the scenery – we go from the inky black of a Zombiote to the icy blue of the oceans, and the bright yellow of Logan’s Wolverine costume. It’s bright, bold and in your face.
Venom War: Wolverine #3 should be a gold standard for a tie-in series, as it proves you can write a stand alone story with deep themes that still connects to the main story. However Venom War shakes out, I feel confident in recommending this to Wolverine fans – and I wouldn’t hate it if this creative team reunited for more Wolverine stories.
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