Written by Charlie Huston
Illustrated by Juan Jose RypWhen Wolverine faces a problem of the villainous kind there’s a good chance that he’ll use his Adamantium claws to whip up a lethal solution to it. What happens, though, when he faces an opponent who becomes a much bigger problem if he’s killed? Enter: Contagion, a bold new addition to Wolverine’s rogue’s gallery. But first, Logan must contend with Contagion’s defenders, the aptly named crew known as the Unkillables.
There was once a time, not too long ago when everyone everywhere was pooing their pants for Wolverine. As such, there seemed to be a new Wolverine book every month, until eventually three ongoing series and innumerable mini-series and guest appearances were the name of the game. This kind of pandering became excessive, and it was tough to even admit you were a Wolverine fan to begin with. Then came the wondrous day when Marvel decided they had had enough (or Deadpool became more profitable, who knows) and streamlined Wolverine’s corner of the Marvel Universe into three, distinct series, staring three distinct characters with three distinct identities. Then came Wolverine: The Best There is, the first new Wolverine ongoing since the restructuring a few months back. Check out my thoughts after the (no pun intended) cut.
I’m going to be blatantly honest: I didn’t like this book. And to be honest even further: I didn’t like it as soon as I heard it was an ongoing. Charlie Huston working with Juan Jose Ryp seemed exciting, but there was absolutely no need for this book now that Jason Aaron, Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu got Team Claws into as good a working order as they had. So admittedly, I’m a little biased…but that doesn’t make things work any better.
To be blunt, this whole thing seemed tacky as all hell (bleeding panels…seriously?) and largely out of character for the more mature, humanistic Logan we’ve seen over the last year or so. Would this book have made sense in the 90s? Yes. And I don’t mean that in a good way. The overly violent, throwaway opening scene added very little to the proceedings other than Wolverine killing some semi-smart rednecks and is never mentioned again other than with Wolverine’s atrocious clothing (tuxedo t-shirts stopped being funny around 2004.) Following that we get a contrived, barely understandable introduction to the new villain of the book, who supposedly can’t be killed because he’s infectious or something (the book is really unclear…I base my read of it on solicitations for future issues) and stereotypical club scene where Logan seems to forget he is in a committed relationship and ends up…I kid you not, cutting women’s hair with his claws. Yes, because what Wolverine fans really want is to see one the Marvel Universe’s supreme badasses cutting women’s hair in a sleeveless tuxedo t-shirt. Following this, we get a somehow delirious Wolverine stumbling out of the club and stabbing himself in the stomach, for a reason to be revealed. Needless to say, Huston needs to do a LOT more selling to make me think this story is anything but a crap sandwich.
(I honestly can’t believe I wrote any of that…)
Much like Huston’s work was out of character, so too were Ryp’s inconsistent pencils. The well defined, sharp line-work from books like Black Summer and No Hero was nowhere to be found, leaving only sloppily composed characters and blurry at best backgrounds. On top of that, Logan’s claws were completely disproportionate, much like they were years ago before artists really understood how they were supposed to logically jut out from between a human being’s knuckles. On top of that, his visual storytelling was atrocious, often times to the point that I had no idea what was supposed to be going on. Plus, all of his women looked emaciated…and longtime readers of my work know how much of a no-no that is.
Can I think of anything that could have made this book better? Not really. Maybe if its uber-violent nature were allowed to run a little more free as a MAX title, then at least the book would have had more of a discernable identity as “the actually violent but unnecessary Wolverine book” rather than the “tacky and neutered unnecessary Wolverine book.” Perhaps if the main, Aaron-penned title wasn’t as good as it is, this one would look better in comparison…but as it stands, I really can’t find much to like here. “What happens when Wolverine CAN’T KILL AN OPPONENT” stopped being an interesting plotline fifteen years ago. If you like mindless, contrived, barely readable, sloppily drawn, irredeemably violent comic books…by all means, go grab this up. Then slap yourself.
Final Verdict: 2.5 — Burn After Reading
