Wolverine: Origins continues to fail to impress the Revolution. Our complete run of Wolverine comics is the only thing that is keeping this title on our pull list. Personally, I find Way to be an average at best writer. Dillon, while talented, simply doesn’t have the right style of art for this title. Will Wolverine: Origins #6 reverse the trend and deliver a quality read? Let’s find out.
Creative Team
Writer: Daniel Way
Artist: Steve Dillon
Art Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: We start this issue with Wolverine a stowaway aboard a ship bound for the United States. The wound from the Muramasa Blade still has not healed. Something about the blade’s mystical abilities is slowing down Wolverine’s healing factor. This wound reminds Wolverine of an old memory.
And we flash back to 1963 when Wolverine is locked in a room by his government superiors. Wolverine is instructed to take a pill that is slipped under his door. It is Carbonadium. It has the ability to interfere with mutant regenerative powers. Suddenly, a group of soldiers enters the room and machine guns Wolverine. Wolverine lies on the floor blasted to pieces as a government scientist says that Subject X is dead.
We cut back to the present. The ship that Wolverine is hidden on has been stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard. Wolverine sneaks off the ship and swims over to the Coast Guard ship. Wolverine then steals the Coast Guard ship and takes off for the shore.
We shift to Dum Dum Dugan researching for clues concerning Wolverine’s whereabouts. Dum Dum notices reports of the stolen Coast Guard ship and sees that it was found in Puget Sound near Seattle. No fingerprints or other clues were found at the scene. Dum Dum then contacts the Seattle S.H.I.E.L.D. Field Office.
We slip over to Wolverine at a truck stop in Washington. Wolverine threatens to cut a truck driver’s balls off if he doesn’t take him to Queens, New York. (Why doesn’t Wolverine just steal a truck?) As Wolverine gets into the truck, he notices a familiar scent.
We cut to Wolverine arriving in Queens, New York. Wolverine enters a clandestine facility for mutants. Wolverine is looking for one of his old Team X partners: Christopher Nord a.k.a. Maverick. As Wolverine is about to approach Maverick, Jubilee suddenly pops up from around the corner and runs to hug Wolverine. Wolverine tells Jubilee to get down. He smells that familiar scent again. We see the wall explode and Omega Red makes his grand entrance. Omega Red asks Maverick to give him what is his. End of issue.
Comments
The Good: The Revolution’s Rule of Positivity mandates that I say something positive about Wolverine: Origins #6. I like the fact that the Muramasa Blade has strong enough mojo to interfere with Wolverine’s healing factor. Lately, Wolverine’s power levels have been amped up to insanely high levels with Wolverine having survived Nitro’s nuclear blast and regenerating himself from a skeleton. It is cool to see something that can actually hurt Wolverine that he can’t immediately bounce back from.
The Bad: Wolverine: Origins #6 continues the tradition of unimpressive issues. Way delivers a flat and boring story. There is no electricity or “pop” with this issue. The pacing is rather slow and plodding. Almost nothing of interest happens in this issue. Wolverine hides aboard a ship to America, steals a Coast Guard ship to get to shore, then threatens a truck driver to take him to New York. He then goes to meet up with Maverick and runs into Jubilee and then Omega Red makes his grand appearance. That is a very uninspired story. Absolutely nothing happens until the final two pages where we see Maverick, Jubilee, and Omega Red. Just a completely uneventful and pedestrian story.
I still don’t enjoy how Way writes Wolverine. Way’s Wolverine comes across as very one-dimensional and hackneyed. Way doesn’t seem to understand Wolverine’s personality at all. It shows in the small details or lack thereof. For example, Wolverine would have just stolen a motorcycle or a truck and driven himself from Washington to New York. Way having Wolverine threaten to cut the balls off a truck driver unless he took him to New York was odd and didn’t seem in character. Overall, Way’s Wolverine is certainly the least interesting version of Wolverine that I have ever read.
I can’t say I really care much about any of the three characters that Way has chosen to bring into this storyline. Maverick has always been a generic Rob Liefeld-style character that has never interested me. Jubilee is a character that I have always found insipid and annoying. Omega Red is an okay villain. I never got into his character as much as other X-Fans. So, unfortunately, none of these additions to the storyline do anything at all to boost my interest in the current story arc.
The flashback scene didn’t do anything to boost my curiosity or interest in Wolverine’s past. So the government gave Wolverine a pill and shot him full of bullets just to see if his healing factor could overcome the Carbonadium. So what? Honestly, we have seen so many scenes of Wolverine’s past where he has been subjected to such incredibly brutal tests by either the American or Canadian government that this scene was a bit of a yawner for me. It just feels like Way is recycling themes for the reader. Oh wait, was I supposed to be “shocked” by Way’s signature “hardcore” scene?
And that leads me to a larger issue. Do we really need a Wolverine: Origins title? Do we really need a comic based on finding out more stories from Wolverine’s past? No. I don’t think so. Because all we are getting with these “new” stories about Wolverine’s past is just more of the same. We are going to be treated with “new” stories about how Wolverine was a tool of the government. How Wolverine was tested, dissected, and rebuilt by the government. All of this we have seen before. Do I need more of the same?
With each issue, this title seems more and more pointless. All of the flashback scenes in these first six issues have been extremely predictable. Nothing has been much of a surprise. None of these flashback scenes have made Wolverine a more interesting character. If anything, Wolverine: Origins have made Wolverine’s character seem more cliché and predictable than ever. It was much more fun just now knowing about his pasts and only getting little hints here and there.
As always, Way’s dialogue is stiff and clichéd. There is an overall lack of creativity in the chemistry of the characters and the flow of the dialogue.
Dillon’s artwork still does nothing for me on this title. Wolverine is just not the right title for Dillon’s style of art.
Overall: Wolverine: Origins #6 continues to fail to deliver a quality product. Way has done nothing to change my opinion concerning him being a less-than-average writer. Dillon is wasting his time on a title that does not suit his style of art. However, Wolverine: Origins will be a top 10 title each month and make plenty of money. That is a testament to the marketing power of Wolverine’s character. I certainly would not recommend this title to anyone other than a die-hard Wolverine fan or a die-hard fan of Daniel Way.