Death of Wolverine #1

 
Writer: Charles Soule
Artists: Steve McNiven, Jay Leisten, Justin Ponsor
Cover: Steve McNiven, Jay Leisten, Justin Ponsor
Publisher: Marvel  
There are those that have been waiting for Wolverine to die for a long time now, and there are those (read: myself) who are trying really hard to ignore that this is the reality of the situation. Wolverine was the guy who was never going to die. I had learned to accept death within the X-Men, as a matter of fact you get used to it, but this is one death I am not prepared for. Wolverine somehow ended up becoming the heart of the X-Men, and worming himself into the lives of nearly every Marvel character—and call it clichéd but the short little man with an even shorter temper and secretly cared in an extremely roundabout way had charm, and just when his life was sort of getting on track, the only natural path for him to take next is one he’s never, not really, taken before.
 
Charles Soule and Steve McNiven are absolute perfect choices to take both the readers and Wolverine himself on this journey. McNiven who is familiar with Wolverine, having worked on Old Man Logan, brings a similar brevity to his pencils, only this time instead of looking at Logan fifty years in the future, he takes a lot of time to look at his past. For any fan of Wolverine, it’s extremely touching to read—and Soule covers it well, proving himself incredibly capable of bringing the appropriate amount of emotion surrounding Logan and his inevitable predicament.
 
The creative team’s plan to witness Wolverine as he lived as he reminisces over his life is a brilliant move, earning the audience’s sympathy as they cover every aspect of Wolverine so that by the time they reach the finale, it’s going to truly make an impact. Of course, for certain readers (read: once again, myself) it’s not going to take until the end to get attached to the short tempered wild Canadian—there’s a moment where Logan is looking at his options with Reed Richards, and even for a man who has had little connection with Logan, he talks about how important Logan is to everyone, that the world needs him. And it kinds of hits home, yeah, one of the biggest characters is about to check out.
 
Killing Wolverine seems gimmicky, but Marvel played their cards well with a strong creative team. Soule has created a story that is very nearly oversaturated with Wolverine’s very essence.  Oddly enough, the story so far kind of reads like Wolverine: Origins (Daniel Way, Steve Dillon), with certain characters hunting him down. Soule has also been smart in choosing characters that are strongly tied to Wolverine’s story and his development as a character.
Death of Wolverine so far proves to be multi-faceted and is certainly created in honour of the character with a lot of respect going into the creation of his character’s final series. It no doubt will be emotional and fans of Wolverine will appreciate it for what it will deliver.




...well I wasn't totally wrong.