Wolverines #1

 
Writer: Charles Soule
Artists: Nick Bradshaw, Alisson Borges, Walden Wong, & Fco Plascencia
Cover: Bradshaw & Plascencia
Publisher: Marvel  
 
The idea of having a sort of legacy book carrying on the title of ‘Wolverine’ isn’t terrible, in fact it’s almost good, the biggest problem that this series seems to carry is it’s timing and execution in terms of publishing. With all the hype that came before The Death of Wolverine, as well as the actual event itself not to mention the many other titles coming out immediately after. Albeit, many of the titles lead into this particular series but Marvel is so completely saturated with the word ‘Wolverine’ at this point it’s nearly lost in it’s meaning and a story needs to stand out spectacularly in order to be worth a reader’s time.
 
Of course Soule and Bradshaw are some of the best names to have on a Wolverine title so Wolverines certainly has that going for it. It’s an interesting premise, those who have quite the history with Logan (especially in relation to his mutation, weapon x, genetics, or otherwise) reluctantly aid those whom Logan last saved, undergoing a new Weapon X type of program. It’s cliché in the best way possible, those whom Logan have had an impact on some way or another going back to his place of death in a recovery mission. The twist (there’s always a twist) is that this new team of lost weapons has leverage over the old group of familiar characters.
 
The direction that the story goes in is a decent one, well paced, great art, Bradshaw has a unique cartoonish style that lends itself well to drawing mutants for some reason (and I’m still laughing every time I see both Daken and Sabretooth wearing the same classic brown Wolverine costume) and the villain reveal is the least surprising villain to have shown up in which said villain wasn’t not at all expected but as soon as villain was revealed it literally could not have gone any other way, not surprising but satisfying.
 
The biggest hurdle seems to be the group of so called ‘lost weapons’, they’re nowhere near as enticing as their counterparts. It’s true we’ve had years to get to know the other characters, but the new characters have made no outstanding actions to even hint that they might prove to be just as equally great.  One guy looks like Red Hood (and also equipped with ninja powers) and another guy has animal traits, another one addicted to violence and the sole female experienced some morphing changes so she could have a heart to heart with Mystique. The best moments that occur in this issue easily stem from the other group, ‘Wolverine’s associates’, especially some tender sibling-ish interactions between Daken and X-23. Sabretooth also ends up being the funniest guy around, mostly because there’s no one else to give him a run for his money.
 
Wolverines could be good, but it has a whole lot of potential to be a lot better too, especially with the creative team it has. Either the new group steps up, or they step out, but for right now it isn’t working.