Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Wolverine #18
Marvel Comics
Aaron, Garney & Keith
Jason Aaron continues a very light-hearted story that is throwing so many odd components into one book you can't help but enjoy the ride. The second part of the "Goodbye, Chinatown" arc has the irrelevant Regenesis banner on the cover but the book is really a continuation of a previous mini-series from a few years ago that had to do with the Manifest Destiny crossover. This book is supposed to be Wolverine cleaning up loose ends in San Francisco but Wolverine gets sidetracked and teams up with a bizarre mix of characters. The book has action, good dialogue, it's funny and it contains a surprise or two. I'm not sure I am looking for much more in a comic book.
The book opens with Wolverine, Master Po, Yuen Yee and Gorilla-Man fighting Razorfist, Soul Striker, Darkstrider and Buddha somewhere in the center of the Earth. The joy of these fight scenes is the dialogue. Whether it's Gorilla-Man and Wolverine getting on each other, Master Po or Gorilla-Man talking trash against of the villains or their reactions to the dragons they fight. The whole sequence is vibrant and entertaining.
Eventually Wolverine and company get split up and we learn about the main villain: Jade Claw. While these scenes aren't as outright comical as the fight scenes, they do have some dark humor. Specifically the dinner assortment and Jade Claw's nighttime rituals stuck out as quite funny.
The book ends when Wolverine and Gorilla-Man find a third member for their act: Fat Cobra. The three set out to achieve their goals, which range from finding friends to locating something to eat.
The book definitely covers a wide spread. It has its moments of violence, but it relies heavily on the character interactions to keep the plot moving along. Essentially, this issue is the roadblock in between Wolverine and his end goal. You could make the case that a lot of the dialogue and snarky remarks are interchangeable but if it helps to keep the book entertaining then I would think it's a minor point.
The artwork shows excellent range. The details in the scenes with the dragons are breathtaking and grand. However, Garney keeps that rough look from previous books when dealing with Wolverine and the fight scenes. Overall, I found the book to bring a new definition to Garney's "look" and it made the issue stand out a bit more than normal.
Wolverine is a character that simply covers way too many bases. When dealing with Kung-Fu you could make the case that this is completely pushing the envelope much too much. However, this book works because Aaron knows how to take something absurd and poke fun at it himself as he tells his twist on the story. I am enjoying this arc and I definitely recommend picking this up if you aren't into having your Wolverine all serious all the time.
4 out of 5 Geek Goggles
