WOLVERINE #170
"Stay Alive, Part 1 of 3"
Not Recommended (1/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Frank Tieri
Pencils: Sean Chen
Inks: Norm Rapmund
Colors: Avalon Studios
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Mike Marts
Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN |
Once again, Tieri has some nice little ideas, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. He starts things off with a satire of reality TV shows, but it degenerates into a cookie-cutter plot that doesn't even make sense at times. It doesn't help that Chen's and Rapmund's do not seem well suited to one another.
Ty Stone, rival to Tony Stark, owns a television network, and his foray into the reality-TV genre -- a race through the Canadian Arctic -- isn't faring well in the ratings. That is, not until Mauvais shows up and cannibalizes the cast on live television. Wolverine witnesses the atrocity on television while in Canada and rushes off to face his old enemy.
OK, Mauvais had been hiding in New York -- a city rife with superhuman heroes -- feeding off the homeless in secrecy, only to head up to Canada to commit murder on live television? Does this make any sense to anyone? Had the villain simply killed some folks, you know, off camera, his plan would have proceeded unopposed. And if these murders were committed on live network TV, why is Wolverine the only person to respond? This is sloppy storytelling.
Tieri continues to try and give this title character an edge he's lacked in recent years. He tears through a trio of polar bears during the course of this story, and I think Marvel's making a mistake putting this book in the same category (Marvel PG) as other, less intense books. Some parents might not react so well. If Marvel's going to impose its own rating system, they should be more careful about it. The violence is gratuitous and adds nothing to the story.
I loved Sean Chen's clean style on such books as X-O Manowar and Iron Man, but the clarity and sleekness of his work is lost in this book. Rapmund's sketchier inking style doesn't mesh well with Chen's pencils at all.
Tieri's version of a French accent is far from genuine. That's just one example of some of the clunky scripting to be found in this issue. Another problem is character development. There are only one-dimensional characters. The villains do bad things simply because they boast cliched "mwoo-ha-ha" personalities.
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