Loeb’s run continues to fail to impress The Revolution. I am just not buying into this entire Lupine plotline. I honestly don’t know if there is anyway that Loeb can get me excited about this current story arc. Maybe Wolverine #53 will stem the tide and get me interested in what Loeb is trying to do on this title. Let’s hit this review.
Creative Team
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Artist: Simone Bianchi
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10.
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10.
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10.
Synopsis: We begin with a flashback scene to The Roman Colosseum in the days of Ancient Rome with two men in armor who look like Logan and Sabertooth battling some tigers. Logan takes down the tigers and Sabertooth. The large armored leader from last issue’s flashback is also in this scene. Logan thinks how the same man could still be alive for thousands of years. The big man gives the thumbs down motion and Logan chops off Sabertooth’s head.
We then cut back to the present with Logan in a laboratory with Storm and Black Panther. Black Panther tells Logan that archaeological dig has given Wakandan scientists evidence that there was an evolutionary split between Homo Sapiens and Lupus Sapiens.
Back Panther notes that the many mutations that have a Lupine component like Wolfsbane, Feral and Thornn. Logan gets angry and says he is a man and not a dog and that this conversation is over.
We cut to Wolverine visiting Sabertooth in a specially designed jail cell designed to keep Sabertooth neutralized. Wolverine asks Sabertooth what he meant when he said “Quod Sum Eris” “I am what you will be.” Sabertooth says that he is much older than Wolverine. And that Wolverine will end up looking like Sabertooth. Wolverine exclaims that he is nothing like Sabertooth. Sabertooth tells Wolverine that he can’t run from his nature.
Wolverine asks Sabertooth who is “Romulus?” Sabertooth refuses to tell Logan anything about him.
We cut to Logan unable to sleep that night. Logan goes to get a beer. On his way, Logan discovers that Sabertooth escaped from his prison and killed the Wakandan guards in the process. Wolverine proceeds to follow Sabertooth’s trail. Suddenly, Wolverine is attacked by a mysterious figure with claws. It is Wild Child. Wild Child totally kicks Wolverine’s butt.
Wolverine thinks how Wild Child was never this good. That there is no way he just got his ass handed to him by Wild Child. Wolverine stands up to follow Wild Child and then passes out. Wild Child had tipped his claws with poison.
Logan flashes back to the scene in feudal Japan where he was hunting whoever was killing the prostitutes and stumbled across Saberooth’s path and cut of Saberooth’s hand. We see Sabertooth putting his hand back on. Wolverine proceeds to gut and take down Sabertooth.
Suddenly, a mysterious person comes up from behind Wolverine and takes down Wolverine. The mysterious person tells Logan to stay out of this matter.
We cut to Wolverine waking up in his bed with Storm and Black Panther at his side. They tell Logan that he has been passed out for two days and that Sabertooth has escaped. Logan immediately shouts that he has to find Wild Child.
Logan then notices that there are other people in his room. We see Sasquatch, Wolfsbane, Thornn and Feral standing in front in front of Logan’s bed. Sasquatch says that they have to find Wild Child and that means going back into the heart of Weapon X.
Comments
The Good: Wolverine #53 was a slightly better than average read. Loeb is at least getting this story arc moving in a productive direction after a couple of issues that felt aimless and meandering.
Loeb provides the reader with plenty of action. That has certainly not been a problem with Loeb’s run up to this point on Wolverine. We get to see Wolverine slice and dice in several different eras in history. The amount of action that we have gotten over the first several issues of Loeb’s run on this title satisfies the action freaks and also keeps the reader distracted from the snail’s pace of Loeb’s story.
If you are digging this Lupine Sapiens storyline then you will certainly enjoy Wolverine #53. The issues itself is technically well done. Wolverine #53 is certainly the best paced and plotted issue up to this point of Loeb’s run on Wolverine. Loeb is beginning to give the reader a few answers as well as plenty of questions. The reader’s intrigue in this story arc starts to increase as we finally gain some purpose and direction to this story arc. The foundation of this story arc is firmly in place and we are in store for what should be a rather wild ride.
Loeb supplies Wolverine #53 with solid dialogue. I like how Loeb handles Wolverine’s character. Wolverine has the proper external voice and he acts and reacts in the standard fashion that his character should. Loeb definitely has a better feel for Logan’s personality than Daniel Way over in Wolverine: Origins.
Loeb finally gives the reader some answers after several issues of vague and cryptic hints over the past several issues. We now know that there is another species of humans: Lupine Sapiens. And, evidently, Wolverine is not Homo Superior, but rather Lupine Sapiens. And it appears that every wolf-ish mutant on Earth are also Lupine Sapiens. That is quite a departure and a rather bold step that Loeb has taken with Wolverine’s character.
We also learn that Sabertooth is much older than Wolverine and that eventually Wolverine will look like Sabertooth. Evidently, as Lupine Sapiens age then look more and more beast-like.
We also get teased with the continual appearance of a rather large Lupine Sapiens named Romulus. Loeb is having a little fun here by making a play on the two Roman mythical characters Romulus and Remus who were nursed by a wolf after they were abandoned. The two brothers founded Rome and then fought each other for the right to rule Rome. Romulus slew Remus and, therefore, Romulus became the first King of Rome.
Could the large Lupine Sapiens that Wolverine keeps seeing in flashbacks from various eras in history be the king of all Lupine Sapiens? Is he some sort of wolf-god? Who knows. Loeb certainly does a good job creating interest in the reader about this mysterious character.
The scene with Wild Child kicking Wolverine’s ass was hilarious. I love how Logan cannot believe that a total loser like Wild Child just took him out so easily. Clearly, Wild Child has had a serious increase in his power levels. Just how Wild Child got this increase in power is an interesting question.
Loeb delivers a dramatic enough ending with the appearance of other wolf-ish mutants who are evidently not Homo Superior at all, but rather they are Lupine Sapiens. This includes Wolfsbane, Feral, Sasquatch and Thornn.
And to crank up the drama even more, Sasquatch reveals that their quest to find Wild Child will take them to the very heart of Weapon X. That is definitely a great hook ending that should pull the reader back for the next issue to see what happens next.
Simone Bianchi’s artwork is as pleasant as always. I like Bianchi’s heavy painted style. It gives Wolverine a distinctive look and really boosts Loeb’s story. Bianchi draws a great Wolverine and really plays up his feral side.
The Bad: This Lupine Sapiens storyline just isn’t working for me. How many species of humans does Marvel have running around the 616 Universe at this point? It seems like every time I turn around another new species of humans pops up. So now we have Lupine Sapiens and Wolverine is basically a dog-man. Yay. You know, the more back-story that Marvel gives Wolverine, the less cool he gets in my eyes.
Originally, Wolverine was this intriguing feral man who raged with the beast inside of him. His past was shrouded in mystery. All we knew is that he had been alive for a very long time. His mind was a chaotic mess with huge chunks of missing memories. But, it was this mystery that made him so compelling and attractive. Wolverine’s past could be whatever the reader wanted to imagine.
And honestly, Wolverine’s past was irrelevant. Just about every Marvel hero has an origin and back-story. Not Wolverine. And that is what made him so unique. I always found it wild and bold that Marvel never gave Wolverine a real name or an origin. And that is what made Wolverine so special and cool.
Now, Marvel has done a complete 180. We have gone from absolutely no information on Wolverine’s past to an absolute overload. Wolverine has a son over on Wolverine: Origins. Not to be outdone, Loeb makes Wolverine a Lupine Sapiens. It is just too much for me. Wolverine’s past and origin gets more and more outlandish and ridiculous by the minute.
This entire Lupine Sapiens storyline is just too cheesy for me. It has a lame Sci-Fi Channel feel to it. I guess I just like things when they are a bit more simple. To me, Loeb is unnecessarily muddling up Wolverine’s origin by making it more complex and outrageous that it needs to be. I honestly believe that less is more.
I guess my biggest complain is that the Lupine Sapiens does nothing to evolve Wolverine as a person nor does it make him a more interesting character. Whenever a writer decides to perform a serious change to a character, I think that the proposed change must fulfill one of the two aforementioned purposes.
Overall: Wolverine #53 was an average read. This issue is technically well done and certainly combines plenty of action with some interesting drama. If you dig the Lupine Sapiens storyline then you will certainly enjoy this issue.
4 thoughts on “Comic Book Review: Wolverine #53”
Comments are closed.
I would go so far as to call Jeph Loeb the definitive Batman writer (even above Miller, especially because the art on Loeb’s Batman stories doesn’t make my eyes bleed like DKR and too a lesser extent Y1 do), but this Wolverine story is just a disaster; it’s incredibly repetitive, and this whole Lupine thing (apart from recalling both Chuck Austen’s “Dominant Species” X-Men story and that Alex Ross idea from “Earth X”; and there’s two writers you wouldn’t think of seeing in the same sentence) just doesn’t make sense.
It’s particularly worth noting that, if the arrival of other “Lupines” is to be taken at face value, that’s a colossal continuity/logic problem, because two of them lost their powers on M-Day, and Sasquatch’s powers are magical (deriving from the Great Beasts), not mutant.
The art’s very nice, though.
what the hell is Wildchild wearing?!?
I think Logan should be a merman. It’s stupid sure, but only slightly more so than what we have here, and I like fish people. Feral and Thornn are suppossed to be cat people I think, sasquach seems more monkey like, so the only entry fee in this is that you have to be a little hairy, in which case, why not work Beast in and get a good guest star out of it. Still, it could be worse, at least they did;nt make him a summers brother.
PS Island Liberal. I chosse to block out Dominant Species and indeed all of Chuck Austen and pretend it simply never was. Won’t you join me, its good here.
To me, Loeb has always worked better in his own little corner of both comic universes. Put this guy anywhere near continuity and you’re just begging for trouble. I like to think Mark Waid has a secret desire to beat the holy Hades out of this guy.
We’re already three or four issues deep into this arc, and I still couldn’t tell you what the heck is going on.
Talk about decompressed storytelling. Loeb and Bendis need to get together and see if they can combine like Voltron, and possibly, maybe, put out a done-in-one, just to see if they can do it.
At least there’s no danger of Onslaught Reborn having any lasting effects…