Wolverine #1

Marvel Comics

Writer: Ben Percy

Artists: Adam Kubert, Viktor Bogdanović

After being featured in the early issues of Marauders and serving as one of the central characters of X-Force, Wolverine finally has a solo book in the Dawn of X, aptly titled – wait for it – Wolverine! Ben Percy – the writer of the current X-Force – is in charge of the book, and artists Adam Kubert and Viktor Bogdanović are here to help him with this massive, over-sized issue.

Kubert and Bogadnović take care of their respective parts of the book. One part is about drugs and Krakoa pollen. The other is about vampires and frankly, I like that second part way more. But let’s dial back a bit.

So, the first part of the book is about Jean, Wolverine and the rest of the X-Force looking into the occasional disappearance of the mutant meds. This leads our heroes to cross paths with some Russians and CIA and all of that fun stuff. I’m not gonna get too much into it, don’t wanna spoil it too much because it’s not a bad story. However, I do have some gripes with it. The first one is that the story starts with Wolverine *gasp!* seemingly killing all of his friends! Shocking, indeed.

I don’t know if he really killed his friends or if it’s a drug-induced hallucination, but I do know that Ben Percy has been playing quite a bit with death in the last couple of months. He’s been using the resurrection plot-device quite liberally. It’s still too early, but it could get overplayed really fast.

The second gripe I have with it is some inconsistency, mainly with the design of Domino. Domino’s role is little more than a background character. Since both her and Omega Kid are on the X-Force, it’s safe to say that the book takes place after Domino’s design “upgrade” in the X-Force book. But here, she looks like her old self. Now, I can only assume that this slip up happened due to Adam Kubert not being properly informed. But it’s still a slip-up and it ruins the magic a bit. 

But make no mistake, Kubert’s art is fantastic through and through.

The second story is about vampires and, as I said, I like it way better than the first one. There are some jumps between locations and the timeline might leave you a bit confused,, but it’s an overall really good story. Greg Capul.. I mean, Viktor Bogdanović does a great job with the artwork which fits the overall story really well, and Matthew Wilson’s fantastic coloring gives it that extra flair. It’s obviously a set up for a future story and I’m honestly looking forward to it.

So, there you have it. Wolverine’s first issue might have its share of problems and it definitely isn’t the best book around, but it’s still great-looking and fun read. Give it a shot!