Wolverine Weapon X 1: Adamantium Men [Anglais] [Broché]

In comics, it's hard to get a new character off the ground consistently; and by "new", people generally mean anyone who was created later than 1969. Wolverine, at a sprightly 45 years old, is the youngest of the comics' true megastar characters; indeed, over the last few decades he has reached the point where only Spider-Man rivals him in popularity. He's had his own title for over 20 years, and multiple titles and team memberships for much of the same. By 2009, it's difficult to say anything new about Wolverine, as his 100+ years of life have been crowded with an enormous number of adventures ("Wolverine: Origins" has been bogged down for years in its giant Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory). Difficult, but Jason Aaron, a rising star thanks to his Vertigo crime drama "Scalped", knows the way. His "Get Mystique" storyline in the main Wolverine title showed a proper back-to-basics approach to the character, and now given his own ongoing (meant as a movie tie-in), he continues that here. This trade paperback collects issues 1-5 of the ongoing, as well as Aaron's story from "Wolverine" #73-74. Some spoilers follow.

The main story opens with Wolverine being informed via his old comrade Maverick that the technology of the Weapon X program, including the ability to mix adamantium, has fallen into the hands of Blackguard, a private security corporation owned by Roxxon (for decades Marvel's default Evil Corporation). The result is a squad of soldiers with healing factors, enhanced senses, energy claws, and absolutely no morals, ruthlessly eliminating opponents of Roxxon at the behest of their corporate masters; and a lot of other buyers would very much like to get their hands on this technology. Wolverine can't abide that, and heads out to do some killing in the name. Meanwhile, a reporter Wolverine earlier encountered, Melita Garner, is also investigating the Blackguard case. This is, as stated earlier, a fairly basic Wolverine story, told exceptionally well. After years trapped in Daniel Way's conspiracy drivel, which has only conspired to weigh him down with unwieldy and implausible backstory, Aaron's craftsmanship is just what he needs. He takes Wolverine seriously (the monologue as he resolves the situation with one of Blackguard's hitmen, for example, is haunting), but with the right amount of black humour about him (see his method of stopping a mugging). Melita, Logan's new potential love interest (oh dear, those never end well for him), is a nicely-done take on the by-now familiar Lois Lane intrepid reporter. Ron Garney, who worked with Aaron on "Get Mystique", returns as well, delivering solid art.

The second story is an interesting one. It starts off as a cute semi-parody of Wolverine's extensive appearances throughout the Marvel universe (I'd wager he hasn't appeared in less than a dozen comics a month for quite a while now) by depicting a typical week in Logan's life in little panels. Each panel, superbly rendered by Andy Kubert, offers us a little window into a standard Wolverine adventure, as he works with the X-Men, X-Force, and the New Avengers, teams up with Spider-Man, Deadpool, and others, and, whenever he can, finds a bit of time to relax. It's very low-key funny. The second part turns toward a more serious tone as Spider-Man attempts to understand why he operates on such a frenetic schedule, and Aaron offers a bit of characterization as meta-explanation. Aaron understands how write a man burdened by his own past.

Recommended (it's a pleasure to see one of the great Marvel characters finally get some real stories again).

It doesn't look like this new series will be as relevant to the marvel universe as Wolverine Origins is. It actually reminded me of the kind of stories that were told in Wolverine's solo series back in the 80's. Technically this book takes place after X-Men Manifest Destiny and before X-Men Utopia, and during Dark Reign. If you're a Wolverine fan this is definitely worth getting as the story is classic Wolverine and we get the return of Maverick. If you're just a fan of the main X-Men or Avengers storylines, this book is pretty much a stand alone and you won't be missing much by skipping it.

Been a while since I read a solo Wolverine title and this is a good one to jump on board with. Very entertaining story telling from Aaron and pitch perfect artwork from the uber professional workhorse Ron Garney (who I think is a bit under appreciated). Also includes a needed backup story with art from one of the Kubert boys which addresses the exhausting pace and multiple team memberships of Wolverine these days. The story's got a couple of *gasp* moments and a couple of tugging on the heartstrings as well. Solid work and Recommended for new and old Wolverine fans. Tho, it's a bit bloody for younger readers.