Wolverine | Comic Reviews by Walt

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 18

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Walt

I’m pretty sure that for the longest time, the X-Cutioner’s Song card was the primary information that I had on the story; same for the Infinity War. I have yet to actually read the Spirits of Venom story, nor the Hulk vs. Leader (though I’ve snagged a couple copies of the issue referenced from bargain bins, for the shiny cover!)

These ‘Famous Battles’ cards continue to be some of the more substantive cards of the set, as well as being interesting reference points looking back…to me, most notably the Wolverine vs. Cyber card, and realizing how relatively “young” that conflict was at the time and even leading up to what happened with Cyber in the run-up to Wolverine #100 shortly after the Age of Apocalypse stuff.

Not a whole lot of worthwhile thoughts to say about these beyond that…

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Filed under: Marvel Series IV Revisited, The '90s Revisited | Tagged: 1993, Blackout, Captain America, Crossbones, Cyber, Dormammu, Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, hulk, Infinity War, Leader, MARVEL, Marvel Trading Cards, Marvel Universe, Marvel Universe 1993, Marvel Universe Series 4, Marvel Universe Series IV, Sinister Six, Skybox, Spider-Man, Spirits of Venom, trading cards, Wolverine, X-Cutioner's Song | Leave a comment »

Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 17

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Walt

There’s not really a whole lot to say about these cards, except that they were among some of the most informative cards of the set, for me, detailing the various conflicts, which included background on some of the characters and their relations to one another.

I think of these nine, my favorite cards are the Spider-Man vs. Carnage, Cable vs. Stryve, Wolverine vs. Sabretooth, and Spider-Man vs. Venom.

Additionally, the War Machine card reminds me that I have yet to read the issue and “experience” Iron Man of this period rather than being aware of Iron Man of this period.

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Filed under: Marvel Series IV Revisited, The '90s Revisited | Tagged: 1993, cable, Carnage, Ghost Rider, Lilith, Loki, MARVEL, Marvel Trading Cards, Marvel Universe, Marvel Universe 1993, Marvel Universe Series 4, Marvel Universe Series IV, Morg, Punisher, Sabretooth, Silver Surfer, Skybox, Spider-Man, Stryfe, thor, Thorn, trading cards, Venom, War Machine, Wolverine | 4 Comments »

Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 13

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Walt

This is EASILY my favorite “page” of the entire set. Between the comics and the animated series, I’m quite familiar with all nine of these characters.

It’s kind of amazing to consider how far they’ve all come in the past 20 years; through multiple solo titles and mini-series, and their various developments in the “main” X-Men titles.

Storm’s card is probably the only one I’m not particularly thrilled with here; all the others look quite good to me individually as well as put together for the single image. Archangel benefits the most, I think, from the larger whole of the cards put together…and Magneto’s card looks fantastic even taken by itself…that energy burst blocks out most of the context of the image for his part, making it work especially well taken on its own. Wolverine’s also works well, with the bottom border being the main thing really indicating it’s even part of a larger image.

Because of the X-Men cartoon, I know I would have been quite aware of these characters from that alone, and with these costumes. I may not have been as familiar with Archangel at the time, though even he had appeared in a couple episodes of the cartoon by the time this card set was out.

While the X-Men “posing” doesn’t make much sense with Magneto (then an arch-nemesis) powered-up behind them doesn’t make much sense, on the whole I would absolutely QUITE enjoy having a poster of this image.

Perhaps it’s that I like these characters, at this time so much, but I think this is also some of my favorite artwork in this entire set, as well as the page makeup on its own.

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Filed under: Marvel Series IV Revisited, The '90s Revisited | Tagged: 1993, Archangel, Beast, Bishop, Cyclops, Gambit, magneto, MARVEL, Marvel Trading Cards, Marvel Universe, Marvel Universe 1993, Marvel Universe Series 4, Marvel Universe Series IV, Rogue, Skybox, Storm, trading cards, Wolverine | Leave a comment »

X-Men: Battle of the Atom [Checklist]

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Walt

SEPTEMBER 2013
X-Men Battle of the Atom # 1
All-New X-Men # 16
X-Men # 5
Uncanny X-Men # 12
Wolverine & the X-Men # 36

OCTOBER 2013
All-New X-Men # 17
X-Men # 6
Uncanny X-Men # 13
Wolverine & the X-Men # 37
X-Men Battle of the Atom # 2

source: promotional postcard (pictured above)

Filed under: Checklists, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: All New X-Men, Battle for the Atom, Battle of the Atom, Marvel Comics, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, Wolverine and the X-Men, x-men, X-Men Battle of the Atom | 1 Comment »

The ’90s Revisited: Hulk #8

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Walt

Death Match

Writer: Erik Larsen
Pencils: Ron Garney
Inks: Sal Buscema
Letters: John Workman
Colors: Steve Buccellato
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Published by: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $1.99
Cover Date: November, 1999

It’s been quite awhile since I last read any Hulk comics. I think the last story I actually read all the way through was Planet Hulk, and that was probably 4-5 years ago now. But there was a time that I read Hulk on a regular basis–back in the late 1990s when Marvel rebooted most of its titles and I got in on the “ground floor” with a lot of them.

I pulled this copy of the issue from a 25-cent bin. Truthfully, it was Wolverine on the cover that grabbed my attention. While I don’t entirely care for the faces on the cover, the coloring really got me: the orange background and its contrast to the green Hulk, and the coloring of the Logo, and even the “Wolverine vs.” banner across the top, making this look like a one-shot/special.

The interior art is good stuff, with Garney and Buscema on pencils/inks. No real complaints there overall. The visuals slid right by, not distracting me from the story.

The writing by Larsen is so-so: I wasn’t blown away, but I wasn’t entirely turned off, either. Seems kinda fitting that Larsen brought Wolverine into the issue–I’d have to check to be sure, but I’m pretty sure he was the writer on the main Wolverine title at the time. We also get some hints at things that were brewing in the X-Men corner of Marvel at the time–such as the new Death, Horseman of Apocalypse.

Though it’s been a good 14 years now since being reunited with his adamantium-laced skeleton…this issue is from shortly before that: this is bone-claw Wolverine taking on the Hulk, and it was interesting to see this take on the character again, after having re-acclimated to the more contemporary Wolverine whose continuity doesn’t seem to even have any reference to the “bone-claws” era.

While I don’t much care for any of the issue’s subplots, hardly remember the context leading to this and remember nothing of what came after before Jenkins took over and the book added “Incredible” to its title again, I certainly got my 25-cents’ worth out of this. I wanted to see a Wolverine/Hulk fight, and that’s what I got, for much of the issue. At 1/16th the cost of a contemporary Marvel issue, and 1/8 the cost of this issue’s original price…25 cents very well spent.

Filed under: The '90s Revisited | Tagged: Death Match, Erik Larsen, hulk, John Workman, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Ron Garney, Sal Buscema, Steve Buccellato, Tom Brevoort, Wolverine | Leave a comment »

The ’90s Revisited: Wolverine #79

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Walt

Cyber! Cyber! Burning Bright!

Script: Larry Hama
Penciler: Adam Kubert
Inkers: Mark Farmer and Mike Sellers
Lettering: Pat Brosseau
Coloring: Steve Buccellato
Editor: Bob Harras
Published by: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $1.75
Cover Date: March, 1994

I was introduced to the X-Men in 1992 or so–though I have a vague memory of a 1989ish viewing of the one-shot “pilot” Pryde of the X-men. My clearest memory of early discovery of the X-Men is a re-viewing of that episode along with the initial premiere of the 1990s X-Men cartoon. And of course, Wolverine was quite a stand-out character. But it was barely a year after I was introduced t othe character that he lost his adamantium in the Fatal Attractions crossover…it would be about six years and another 70-odd issues of “bone-claw Wolverine.”

Which makes this issue that much more significant to its time: now that his claws are “just” bone, an interesting question was answered as we learned that yes, indeed, his claws could now be broken.

And just as the cover focuses on the agonized broken-claw Wolverine, the issue itself isn’t all that memorable other than the fact that Wolverine’s claws are broken. Musing at recent events, Wolverine finds himself having to face Cyber, yet another villain after him for his adamantium…only to have the villain realize that Wolvie no longer has the famed metal, and is far more susceptible to a sound beating. During their scrap, Cyber sees an opening and takes it–stomping the exposed claws and breaking them off, a whole new experience for either character.

So, not a whole lot to the story itself, but definitely an extremely key moment in Wolverine’s history…the first time his claws had ever been broken. And the question also set out would be: do they regenerate? And how would this affect the character moving forward?

Visually, I quite enjoyed this revisitation of Kubert‘s take on Wolverine. As this is from very early in my experience reading the Wolverine solo title, this really IS “my” Wolverine. I’d forgotten all the double-page “tall” layouts, though…something I never really cared for. Takes me out of the story a bit having to physically re-manipulate the way I’m holding the issue and re-orient visually.

Overall, definitely a “dated” issue–between Cyber himself, and the bone-claw Wolverine, and given how common it became for the claws to get broken and grow back (I believe Kitty Pryde at one point was shown to use old broken claws as weapons herself?). And as a piece of “history,” not a bad issue to snag for a one-off read; though I’m sure I appreciated this more having read it before, as well as surrounding issues before and after, and remembering this “era” rather fondly.

Filed under: The '90s Revisited | Tagged: Adam Kubert, Adamantium, Bob Harras, Bone Claws, Cyber, Larry Hama, Mark Farmer, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Mike Sellters, Pat Brosseau, Steve Buccellato, Wolverine | Leave a comment »

The Trouble (for me) with Marvel’s Digital Comics

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Walt

I saw on Comixology last week that the premiere “issue” of the weekly Wolverine “Infinite Comic” was now available–having read about its upcoming release awhile back. I naturally “assumed” it was 99 cents, but didn’t feel like even paying that much at the time. A few days later–newest non-rent paycheck in my bank account, I thought to splurge and go ahead and give it a try, drawn back by a guilty “interest” in Batman ’66 #2…but was dismayed to see the price as $2.99.

Granted, this thing’s listed as having about 79 “pages,” but as an “infinite comic” designed for the Guided View technology, that reads as “79 screens” to me–where the only difference in one “page” might be a word balloon or caption box, not an actual, unique story-page in the sense I think of for a comic, so that $2.99 might–for all I know–be the equivalent of a 10-12 page story in a standard print comic.

So Marvel–and Comixology–lose out on my sale for this, given the price-point.

Additionally, I’ve several times found myself halfway interested in a new-ish Marvel comic that I maybe passed on at the comic shop(s) or otherwise would be likely to impulse-buy digitally, just to read because I’m in the mood “at the moment.” However, the digital comics being the same as the print comics for $2.99 issues, I’d just as soon have the print edition to read.

And for the $3.99 books…knowing that if I buy the print edition, I then–IN ADDITION for my same $3.99–also get access to a digital copy, I’m not ABOUT to spend $3.99 for a digital-only edition with no access to the print counterpart, so those “sales” are lost on me.

I just wind up sticking with the 99-cent sales, or half-off collected-volume sales where I may pay $3.99 but am getting at least as much if not significantly more content than I would paying $3.99 for a print Marvel comic (such as recent Star Trek volumes and Doctor Who volumes Comixology‘s offered for “special sales.”

DC–with their New 52–had dropped the price of the digital editions after a month (though sometime in the last year or so they bumped that two TWO months’ lag-time), whereas a look last night through some Marvel Now stuff (we’re what? 10 months into the Now age?) didn’t yield anything that I saw for under print editions’ cover pricing.

I look forward to the Monday and Friday “sales” specifically for the chance to get digital comics (when they’re ones I’m actually interested in) for the 99-cent price point…but I am not willing to–as a matter of course–spend “full print-edition cover-price” for a digital comic.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: 99 cent sales, comics pricing, comixology, Guided View, Infinite Comics, Japan's Most Wanted, MARVEL, Wolverine | Leave a comment »

Age of Ultron [Checklist]

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Walt

Edit: when I originally transcribed the promo postcard, I took the ‘AU’ designation to be a ‘given’ but it’s been brought to my attention that the ‘AU’ matters. I’ve also (2/15) added the postcard itself.

MARCH 2013
Age of Ultron #1
Age of Ultron #2
Fantastic Four #5AU
Age of Ultron #3
Superior Spider-Man #6AU