Written by Jason Aaron
Illustrated by Ron GarneySTART READING HERE! Spinning out of the landmark events of X-MEN SCHISM! It’s a new day for Wolverine, but first he has one last bit of old business to deal with… in Chinatown. That is, unless Gorilla Man gets there first.
The first time Jason Aaron got to tell a story about Wolverine beyond the scope of an issue, he used four issues to make Wolverine the Kingpin of Chinatown during Manifest Destiny. Now, three years later, that part of the story comes back.
Find out after the cut if the Gorilla Man/Wolverine team-up is everything you’ve ever wanted it to be.
It stands as noteworthy that Jason Aaron is probably the best Wolverine writer I’ve ever read. I can’t remember the last time I was so actively engaged in the adventures of the character as I am right now, and I can’t see that changing anytime soon as long as Aaron is, in some way, writing Wolverine.
That being said, Wolverine: Manifest Destiny was probably my least favorite thing he’s written for the character. I read it after Wolverine: Weapon X had already started, and found it to be fairly dull, simply existing instead of really doing anything worth paying attention to. I look at it kind of like this: Jonathan Hickman wrote Dark Reign: Fantastic Four before taking on the main title, and that informed my decision to buy his run on Fantastic Four (it was so damn good). If I had read Wolverine: Manifest Destiny before I read anything else Aaron did with the character, I probably wouldn’t have even bought Wolverine: Weapon X. (As a note just for reference, I read “A Day In The Life”, which was what convinced me to try out Weapon X.)
It’s not that Manifest Destiny was particularly bad in any inherent way. It was a good enough Wolverine story all things considered. It was just rather uninspired when compared to the rest of Aaron’s work with the character, which is decidedly more vibrant and enthused with character work. To put it bluntly, Manifest Destiny was Jason Aaron writing a tribute to Enter The Dragon; it was fun for a read, but I’d rather go back to some of his other stories than revisit that.
That element aside, let it not be said that Aaron is absolutely wonderful at telling a fully rounded-out Wolverine story between the span of three different titles without dragging his feet or losing the interest of the reader (aka me). The adjectiveless main title of Wolverine was the secret prelude to Schism, with Wolverine killing his illegitimate children and suddenly developing a much stronger appreciation for the life and role of children/their education. This was quickly followed by the Schism between he and Cyclops which was fueled by Cyclops’ decision to use children as warriors, a big no-no in Wolverine’s book now. Given that Wolverine’s Red Right Hand/child murdering arc ran at the same time as Schism, it might’ve been a bit difficult for some to connect the dots there, but with the endings dovetailing into one another, things are adding up quite a bit for Wolverine.
Now we have Wolverine moving back to New York in Wolverine and The X-Men, but the dots haven’t fully connected for his story yet. Aaron’s whole mantra with Wolverine is creating a personal and relatable story with the character who is rather impersonal and unrelatable, and part of that is seeing Wolverine take care of his personal life before just winding up in Westchester because. Hence: this arc. “Goodbye, Chinatown” seeks to be the in-between arc that ties Schism to Wolverine and the X-Men in a more linear fashion with Aaron’s character arc in mind, using the banner of Regenesis to somewhat “place” this in that timeline. So Wolverine returns to Chinatown, finds out there’s a new gang in town that deals drugs, and says, “Ok, I’ll take care of this.” Simple enough.
Right off the bat, though, the first issue of the arc isn’t effectively impressive. It isn’t bad by any means, but after several stories one after the other with strong twists and turns, mind boggling moments of plot and moving character moments, we’re given a pretty big leap between the final point of issue #16 (“Logan, everything’s going to be great, we all love you”) and where this picks up (“Logan, pack your bags, we’re done here and you have to break up with Melita”). Without reading Schism or even Fear Itself (which is referenced as having already happened in the issue), it just seems a tad bit awkward, and without a knowledge of Manifest Destiny (which I would guess most people have, at least by now with the release of the Jason Aaron Wolverine omnibus) the story is a bit hollow. It’s just an excuse to have Wolverine go kill some punks, which is good in the short term but leaves me anxious for the long.
Continued belowTo put it simply, Aaron as the head writer of Wolverine has been so impressive from a reader standpoint because each arc has always felt like there was a future purpose in its story. Wolverine in Hell began with a mystery that played out for three separate arcs, and it began with a question the reader was forced to try and ask; Wolverine back in Chinatown feels like a filler story for who knows what. It’s generally an issue when even the characters of the story (i.e. Melita, the intrepid reporter) are questioning what’s going on.
Again, this isn’t to say the issue is ostensibly bad; it’s just not good enough yet. Aaron has set a high standard for his work, and it’s safe to say you can generally genuinely expect greatness from him. Up through the last issue, every issue of Wolverine’s book has been worth a buy, no questions asked from me. I am willing to put the benefit of the doubt in Aaron for this current arc if only because history favors his whims, and it stands to reason that the Kingpin of Chinatown story does need some form of resolution.
The execution isn’t necessarily bad either. Aaron’s voice for Wolverine is still strong here, and the dialogue between Gorilla Man and Wolverine (while somewhat overly referential) is rather amusing. Plus, bringing Ron Garney back to the Wolverine book is a rather inspired move. Garney’s work on Wolverine: Weapon X was nothing short of astounding, and some of the action sequences from that title remain some of my favorite. While there are no grandiose or stand-out panels or pages in this scene (Ok, fine, there was that totally boss twin dragon spread, but outside of that!), I am highly looking forward to what else Garney is going to do in the book. The two are a “critically acclaimed duo” for a reason, after all.
This story is something that somewhat needs to be told in a “let’s make sure everything makes sense” kind of way, but all things considered it seems to be the same sort of run-of-the-mill Wolverine story that Manifest Destiny was after one issue. The last time Wolverine was in Chinatown, it wasn’t particularly exciting but just decent enough to squeak by; I’d put money down that this arc will probably be somewhat similar, and is — if nothing else? — a chance for Aaron and Garney to play together again with some fun toys. However, when you have Aaron and Garney on the same title, it is rather safe to say that run-of-the-mill for them is still miles beyond your average Big Two superhero title anyway, so I’m willing to sit through a filler arc for now while Aaron and Chris Bachalo go kick some ass in that other Wolverine book Aaron is writing.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.
