TITLE: Wolverine MAX #1
AUTHOR: Jason Starr
PENCILLER: Roland Boschi, Connor Willumsen
PUBLISHER: Marvel
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE DATE: October 24, 2012

By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder

***CAUTION: NAUGHTY WORDS AND SHARK GUTS AHEAD***

The latest from Marvel’s MAX imprint sees Wolverine (not the regular Wolverine, but an alternate universe F-word saying Wolverine), wash ashore in Japan after a terrible plane crash that apparently claimed the lives of everyone aboard except him. Our hero has no memory of the crash, or how it occurred. But when people start getting suspicious about Wolvie’s healing abilities, and begin to suspect a terrorist attack, all eyes are on everybody’s favorite claw-wielding Canadian rage monster.

I’ve never really been high on any of this Marvel MAX stuff. At the end of the day, the biggest selling point for this kind of stuff is the added cussing and gore. That’s never really been a draw for me. If it happens to be part of a good story, then that’s fine. Have at it. But you can’t sell me a book on gore alone, and that’s really what Marvel seems to be doing here, especially considering the rather bland and inconsistent story we’re given.

We spend the first six pages in the water with Wolverine, who has lost both his legs at the knee,  and an unnamed unconscious woman. Wolvie’s inner monologue is spouting off grunts, F-words and sentence fragments, which clumsily indicate that he’s in pain. Plane crash equals big owies in legs. Got it. Then, drawn to the blood spewing from our hero, a shark suddenly gobbles up this mystery woman, only to have Wolverine slash open its belly, spilling its intestines into the water. Seafood, anyone?

Then we get to the surface and we realize Logan has amnesia. Yet he seems to remember that he speaks Japanese, because he successfully tells the Japanese paramedics that he doesn’t remember his name or who he is. He also doesn’t seem to bat an eye at the fact that he has claws popping out of his hands, or that his severed legs magically grew back. So it’s…selective amnesia, then?

On the plus side, Roland Boschi and Connor Willumsen divide up the artistic duties, and their contrasting styles make for an interesting presentation. The texture of Willumsen’s work in particular adds an interesting feel to things when we flashback to Logan’s history in Japan. But it’s just not enough to make me stick around. There are things far more interesting and better executed than this on the stands right now.

Images from badhaven.com.
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