I know what you're thinking. "Another Wolverine review? What's the point? We know you hate the book and the character, Don." True, Logan is far from one of my favorite figures in comics, but this issue is billed as the beginning of a "bold new direction" for the title. And for the most part, it lives up to the claim. I would imagine some of the credit is due to editor Axel Alonso, who's helped to breathe new life into such other Marvel titles as Amazing Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk and X-Force (now running under the title of X-Statix). Here, Tieri sets aside the super-hero/espionage aspect of the book and focuses on the title character's rougher but more down-to-earth edges.
So a mutant walks into a bar... and sits down and starts scarfing down the booze. Something's on his mind, something bothersome. At a nearby table, three men with admitted connections to the underworld sit around and tell some stories of violence. Logan has a story that can top them all, though, and after buying a round, tells a tale of a desperate man who's problems land his daughter in a mess of trouble.
With Tom Palmer on the inks, Chen's artwork takes on a much clearer, less rushed look. There's still a grittiness to the art that suits the title character, but it's not sketchy. We see this unfriendly urban landscape for what it is, and we see that although he's unhappy to be in it, Logan fits in all too easily. There are a couple of moments when a strong (and welcome) Kevin Nowlan influence turns up in the artwork as well.
This new "street vigilante" take on Wolverine is a promising new direction. I'm reminded of that 1980s television show, The Equalizer, but instead of Edward Woodward as the refined muscle, we have a rough-and-tumble Hugh Jackman. Logan is able to deal with the situation here not because he's a hero, but because he's more like the criminals and can tap into resources that a white-hat-clad paragon of justice can't. It's like watching Mel Gibson in Payback. He'll play as dirty as the bad guys will... even dirtier, really.
In other words, the creators have retooled the title character to have a greater edge, but they stop short of their goal. The three gangsters in the bar talk as though they're characters in The A-Team, not The Sopranos. In other words, the new "edge" has been dulled a bit in order to keep the younger readership around. At least, it certainly seems that way. Marvel has shown it's willing to let the profanity and adult themes fly under its current regime, but they stop short of letting it happen here. It strikes me as more of a mareting decision as opposed to a creative one, so one can't take the writer to task for the PG-rated dialogue. But it does sap the book of some of its new appeal.
