Comics / Comic Reviews / Marvel Comics

Wolverine #50

By Geoff Hoppe
February 6, 2007 - 19:10

Marvel's hyped it for ages now. Wolverine #50 is finally out, and there’s beer! sex! and more sharp objects and blood than a cross-eyed knifesmith’s workshop.  

 

The issue opens with a group of humanoid wolves fighting humanoid sabretooth tigers. Memory? Dream? Hallucination? Wolvie admits he doesn’t know. Meanwhile, I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that there’ll be a “Wolverine’s- an -alien” angle developed later in this story. Make no bones about the rest of the issue: it’s a Wolverine - Sabretooth brawl, as the cover suggests. Loeb handles Wolverine’s dialogue relatively well. It’s not as excellent as the voice he gives Bruce Wayne, or as cheesy as the voice he gives Clark Kent – it’s somewhere in between. Still, I’d kill to have Chris Claremont writing this…

 

Simone Bianchi, fresh off a horde of stunning Detective Comics covers, lends a dark realism to Wolverine and Sabretooth without making the characters gothic (neither is). The layout is wonderful, and the fight scene is well choreographed. Somehow, Bianchi can mix an attention to detail in depicting difficult subjects like clothing or flesh without sacrificing the immediacy messy pencillers normally claim as their singular virtue.

 

Why is this issue an extra dollar, you ask? Well, minus the fact that the House of Ideas needs new Siding of Ideas and a second Blender of Ideas, there’s a brief recounting of Hulk’s first meeting with Wolvie drawn by Ed McGuinness. It’s good, though it still doesn’t live up to the standard he set in the first arc of Superman/Batman. I’m still pulling for McGuinness’s regular assignment to be Thor. Fingers crossed, true believers.

 

Worth the money? Thus far, the story’s no great shakes. But Simone Bianchi has skill and style, and the unique atmosphere he crafts is worth the extra buck.  

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12