Wolverine Max #1 Review

Cover by Jock

If one were to think of characters in the Marvel  Comics stable in need of a new solo title, the odds favor Wolverine being absolutely nowhere on that list. Yet, here we are with a brand new MAX adaptation of the character written by Jason Starr with art by Roland Boschi and Connor Willumsen.

At first glance, this seems to be like any old Wolverine comic, and except for a lack of X-Men references, that first glance would be pretty spot on. The general plot is pretty basic: Wolverine wakes up without memories, is intrigued by a mysterious Japanese woman, gets thrown around by Sabretooth (or "Victor"), and has vague memories about killing things. There is a twist near the end that I did not anticipate, but in general the first issue is a pretty by-the-numbers take on the clawed Canadian.

The writing is nothing special, but it isn't exactly bad either. Certain choices, like the decision to have Wolverine's internal monologue have a more stream-of-consciousness-like feel with sparse sentence fragments to describe his current mental state (he mainly talks about killing and curses at himself) are good, even if that monologue can be a touch cloying at times. In general, I disliked the book starting off with such well worn territory (Wolverine goes to Japan), though I can definitely see the logic behind starting off with a such an iconic part of the character's back-story.

In general, the art in this book did not appeal to me. The art of the scenes taking place in the present day are rather well done, it just never was able to grab me or felt like it fit the subject matter at hand. The main issue I had with the present-day scenes, drawn by Roland Boschi, is that Wolverine doesn't really look like himself. Logan is a character with a very iconic look, and I never truly got the impression I was looking at Wolverine in this issue (though this is not set the primary 616 universe). The flashback sequences drawn by Connor Willumsen are too stylized for the subject matter, in my opinion, and, while not exactly cartoony, takes away from the serious tone present in the rest of the volume. One aspect of this issue's art that I found to be routinely excellent is the coloring done by Dan Brown.

The only new element I can think of is this shark attack.

Wolverine Max is, at least for the first issue, just a mediocre read. The character is definitely suited for the MAX imprint (more so than anyone not named the Punisher), but it is difficult to justify this book's existence when so many current titles already feature the character and nothing new is really being done. Though, for a fan of the character, and, especially, his gruff loner roots, it may be worth picking up.

5/10

Additional Notes:

• The cover is a beautiful work of art, it's a shame the interior artwork doesn't match it.
• It seems strange that this book is $3.99, when it doesn't come with the code for the digital copy.