Comics / Comic Reviews / Marvel Comics

Wolverine #57

By Jason Mott
October 4, 2007 - 10:05

Wolverine #57

If you’re one to believe advertisers, Wolverine #57 marks the beginning of the “Death of Wolverine” storyline. While, I’m sure no one out there really believes that Wolverine is going to die. Or, at least, if he does die, we all know it’ll only be a temporary vacation for the character designed to boost the already high sales the character draws. Still, the “Death of Wolverine” story arc begins with Wolverine and some Atlantean woman (who, very suddenly, Wolvie is in love with) being manipulated and led astray by some unknown villain who is faster and more capable than everyone’s favorite Canadian mutant. The mysterious villain, whose identity remains shrouded throughout the issue, then proceeds to feed Wolverine a grenade and blow him apart from the inside out. Now, anyone who knows Wolverine knows that he’s survived such devastation before and, so long as he’s got the ol’ healing factor, he’ll be fine. However, hours later, Wolverine lies physically healed but, according to the implication, brain dead.

Marc Guggenheim seems to want to hit the ground running with this new story arc of his. The only problem is that he’s in such a hurry that the reader, very quickly, gets left behind. From the opening of the issue he throws us into the mix with an unknown companion for Wolverine who, predictably, dies and, naturally, the reader never really gets a chance to care in the least about the death. Then begins the “cloak and dagger” writing in which yet another mysterious character shows up to cause trouble. Coming fresh on the heels of Jeph Loeb’s long, confusing, arduous Wolverine storyline in which strangers show up, causing trouble and rewriting character history, having Guggenheim throw in yet another new “mysterious” character who, presumably, is going to rewrite some current character logistics in order to “kill” Wolverine is just too much too soon. It seems that, lately, Marvel Comics is more interested in developing the Wolverine mythos than they are in developing the Wolverine character. Not a good idea I’m afraid.

On pencils, Chaykin continues to stumble with his portrayal of the old Canuckle Head. On a most basic level, Chaykin simply doesn’t seem to have a very strong grasp on what Wolverine looks like. While I’m willing to concede that each artist brings his or her own inspiration to the visage of whatever character they’re working on, I still believe that there are certain basics of character that have to be adhered to. In the case of Chaykin and Wolverine, Chaykin paints the face of Logan too wide, the chin over-developed. In many ways the character comes away reminding me of Nick Fury or some other old school war horse. In terms of basic visual narrative, Chaykin’s style is a bit choppy at times. Lots of things happen very suddenly and it begins to feel as thought the most important moments of the narrative are happening in the gutter between the panels. Finally, Chaykin’s not the strongest I’ve seen with facial expressions and has trouble conveying emotion.

Overall: 2 out of 5. Lackluster times for the Wolverine franchise.

Last Updated: November 29, 2025 - 16:51