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Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #27AU

By | April 19th, 2013
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

“Wolverine and the X-Men” #27AU is an unfortunate type of event tie-in. Taking place between pages of this week’s “Age of Ultron” #6, writer Matt Kindt is forced to tell a story within a story, one that expands on the event, without giving away any information or plot threads that would make it “required reading.” The result is a fun trip down memory lane for old-school Marvel fans, but an entirely passable read in general.

Written by Matt Kindt
Illustrated by Paco Medina

• An AGE OF ULTRON tie-in (make sure you read #6 first!)
• Wolverine and the Invisible Woman find themselves in the Avengers’ past!

As mentioned, this issue takes place in the time between Wolverine and Sue Storm stealing Nick Fury’s hover car and their arrival in New York (that’s pages 5 and 8, respectively, of “Age of Ultron” #6, for those playing along at home). You may wonder what noteworthy event could interrupt their journey. An army of Ultron soldiers? One of the Marvel Universe’s numerous time traveling fiends? No, the villain of this story is shoddy automobile craftsmanship. They just don’t make them like they used to. In order to get their hover car up and running, Logan and Sue break into an off-the-grid S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker to look for replacement parts.

Kindt portrays Logan and Sue through fairly predictable internal monologues. Logan is the tough guy, ready to make the hard decisions for the greater good, while Sue fears that Logan will go too far, crossing a moral line and endangering all of space/time. Going their separate ways within the compound, both characters run into situations that cause them to question their original attitudes, resulting in a sort of mutual understanding between the themselves. While the duo attempts to keep their “time footprint” to a minimum, the effects of their actions should have major repercussions in the future of the Marvel Universe. Of course, that all depends on how Bendis decides to wrap up “Age of Ultron.”

An odd mix of Alan Davis and Ryan Stegman, Paco Medina’s clean, exaggerated pencil work isn’t particularly groundbreaking, but makes for a rather good looking book. The scene of Logan and Sue zipping through farmland, the wind from their hover car blowing the tall grass, is particularly striking. The scenes with Logan in the S.H.I.E.L.D base are suitably disturbing, and will likely conjure images of a certain sci-fi/horror film. Taking advantage of the era visited, panels from Jack Kirby’s “Fantastic Four” and John Buscema’s “Avengers” are featured heavily. These panels work well as fan service and set dressing, but also play a key role in the actions of one of the book’s characters. It’s a nice touch that pays homage to what has come before, while re-purposing it for the story at hand.

“Wolverine and the X-Men” #27AU is one of the most intriguing “Age of Ultron” tie-ins thus far. Unfortunately, that bar isn’t very high to begin with. Like most of these tie-in issues, the impact on the overall story is minimal at best, and hardly worth your $3.99.

Final Verdict: 4.3 – Browse if you’re reading the main series, Pass otherwise.


Zach Wilkerson

Zach Wilkerson, part of the DC3 trinity, still writes about comics sometimes. He would probably rather be reading manga or thinking about Kingdom Hearts. For more on those things, follow him on Twitter @TheWilkofZ

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