I should admit my biases up front here: I don't understand why Wolverine still has a solo title, given how overexposed he is elsewhere, and it's become quite clear that Millar and I want very different things out of our superhero comics. That said, this is a solid enough opening issue, taking Wolverine back to the site of his strongest solo adventures (Japan), playing up his dangerous side rather than his superhero side and adding in a couple of surprising guest stars. Romita Jr. and Janson of course provide nice looking art, although Romita Jr.'s Wolverine looks an awful lot like his Punisher, and his tendency to "bulk-ify" his characters doesn't work so well for some of them in some panels. If you're a Wolverine fan, I'd imagine you're going to be pretty happy with this issue. If, like me, you're a fair-weather Wolverine fan who can love the occasional great story like the Claremont/Frank Miller miniseries or Barry Windsor-Smith's Weapon X, then you'll likely find it just okay.
Millar starts off this story with the tale of a Japanese salaryman whose child is kidnapped by an unfortunate twist of fate. It's an intriguing opener, and it puts Wolverine into the role of ruthless protector of the innocent that Greg Rucka had focused on during his run. However, there's a bit of misdirection as to what this story is really about, and some of the directions that Millar takes it into (notably the fate of the child, but also the revelation that it is all about Wolverine after all) seem to undercut the potential of that opener. It also makes Wolverine look a little powerless and emasculated, which is something Millar commonly does to his heroes, and something I really don't like in general.
However, after the story has taken this turn, and it becomes clear that the story is about something different, I became engaged by it once again. The relationship that Wolverine has had with Nick Fury has always been kind of interesting, given their shared spy background, and bringing in Elektra is an interesting touch as well. Mind you, I found Millar's Elektra to be quite off-character, as she played out more like an operative of SHIELD than the mysterious and dangerous femme fatale that she is generally portrayed as. If you can forgive him turning the character into someone who reads more like the Black Widow, though, her role in the story does promise to be interesting, and some of Romita's work on the character gives her a very lithe, Frank Miller-esque look.
To be honest, the biggest problem I have with this issue is that it's all very much the kind of thing we've seen before. Wolverine as dangerous loner, Wolverine brainwashed into becoming a weapon of the enemy, Wolverine engaged in brutal combat with a score of foes, there's nothing shockingly new here. The bad news is that this makes the book seem somewhat formulaic, the good news is that if you're a fan of Wolverine, you're probably a fan of the formula. Certainly the battle between Wolverine and a small army of foes in the graveyard is quintessential Wolverine stuff, and Romita Jr. and Janson turn in an amazing slugfest on those pages.
In addition, though I sometimes find that Millar includes too much narrative or dialogue, and doesn't let the art do the talking when it should (notably in the aforementioned graveyard fight), he does have some really snappy dialogue and sharp writing here. The establishing material in the first two pages really paints the picture of a desperate family who have lost their son and the hurt feelings of the SHIELD tech after her flirtation with Wolverine made for a priceless exchange. Those fans who aren't simply bored of Wolverine at this point (which, judging by sales, is 90% of the buying public) will probably find plenty to like here. It's just clearly not really for me. 6/10
