This is a review of part one of the comic adaptation of the podcast Wolverine: The Long Night.
I’m reviewing this without first listening to the podcast audio play so as not to color my impressions of the comic. That being so the first thing that comes across is that this is not so much an X-Men story and barely a Wolverine story. This tale straddles the line between the X-Files and a crime drama. That’s not a bad thing mind you but it was unexpected when you’re reviewing a book about a popular superhero, fortunately Wolverine is the sort of character who can work in a far more mundane context than most of his spandex clad peers.
The have been a series of violent and unexplained deaths in Burns, Alaska that appear to be akin to a bear mauling. Special Agents Sally Pierce and Tad Marshall are on the case. In the context of the Marvel Universe Wolverine has been dead but he is of course a well known superhuman and this is a world where the supposedly dead metahumans have been known to frequently return from the grave given enough time. So the agents in question have enough evidence to suspect that this is the case and that their mission seems to be to at least confirm the return of Wolverine. Oddly though they never once use his codename much like in the first issue of The Immortal Hulk an entire conversation was being held about the Hulk without ever naming him. Its not an effective means of building mystery and suspence if we all already know who is being spoken of and it just comes across as unnecessary. Perhaps this technique worked better in the audio drama.
There are a few hiccups story-wise along the way for me. Wolverine has apparently killed a boat full of drug runners and we see the gory aftermath of ripped open bodies at the morgue and the scene of the crime but in the morgue we learn that several of the victims died of blunt force trauma. I can’t help but wonder why, it’s an odd detail in a story where Logan isn’t bothering to hide his identity in the assault. The men and boat are covered in claw marks so why would anyone just beat beaten to death? We are also treated to a flashback where Logan saves a man who became tangled in a crab trap by cutting off his arm. Again, why? Wolverine had the experience and expertise to save the man without maiming him. It just feels like a rather clumsy red herring pointing to Logan as the potential killer of a couple of innocent women in the story. The last page even treats us to an image of the agent closing in on the cabin Logan has rented which is surrounded by gutted deer carcasses and tanning hides. The hides are logical but at least four deer are hanging on the property in an excessive display of gore. Again this seems to be for no other reason than to through some shade on Wolverine’s behavior when any fan of the character would know he is never one to senselessly slaughter animals when one deer for food would be sufficient. Not to mention that such a display would draw in every predator for miles around.
ART
The art is fitting for this story, definitely not classic Marvel style and clearly geared for a gritty crime thriller. Its purposefully rough with somber colors and they is some particularly good “acting”“ done by the characters in this story.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall though the story is pretty good. The interactions between the feds and the locals are quite nice and the characters feel very human and fleshed out. The author does a nice job of capturing the perspective of the native Alaskans and the agents. It just seems that this story is for people who have never heard of Wolverine before, otherwise the it doesn’t work as intended. 4 out of 5 stars!
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Marcio Takara
Colorist: Matt Milla
Editor: Annalise Bissa
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