Comic News And Reviews

Jason Aaron (writer), Renato Guedes & Michael Gaydos (pencillers)

The Story: The Devil continues to torture Wolverine’s soul in Hell in new and creative ways, using old foes such as Sabretooth and old friends such as Silver Samurai to push him closer and closer to the brink of defeat.  However, a small sliver of hope appears with Puck, dead Alpha Flight member.  Meanwhile, Mystique and Logan’s girlfriend, Marita, team up with the Ghost Riders and Hellstorm to hatch a rescue plan for everyone’s favorite canucklehead.

What’s Good: Aaron is beginning to ramp up his ‘Wolverine Goes to Hell’ storyline and the reading experience benefits greatly from the forward momentum found here.  From the solidifying of the rivalry between the Devil and Wolverine due to their battle of wills and how, according to Puck, that might be the key to Logan’s escape to Mystique’s motivations being (somewhat) illuminated, I’m finally feeling like we’re getting somewhere.  It’s also nice to see Melita get some character development and spotlight after months of being around in the periphery of the plot.  I’m hoping Aaron has some interesting plans about where to go with her relationship with Wolverine that doesn’t involve her dying or being driven away by his inner beast or some such.

There are lots of other bits and beats in the issue that pushed the story into solid territory for me:  Aaron favorites Hellstorm and the Ghost Riders’ appearance, the presence of Sabretooth (although mute) after years of absence, Spidey’s reaction to Melita’s phone call, and the revelation of just who is orchestrating this whole affair in a wonderfully drawn back-up by Gaydos.  I was also pleased to see, what I took as, a nice little homage to Uncanny X-Men issue #251’s amazing cover of Wolverine crucified, which still sticks with me to this day.

What’s Not So Good: Three months in and I’m still unconvinced that Guedes is the right artist for this assignment.  His style worked well some time ago on the Superman titles over at DC, but they’re just not dark or rough enough to fit the violent, dirty world of Wolverine.  He makes an effort, sure, but unfortunately it pales in comparison to a penciller like his predecessor Ron Garney, who seems to have been born to draw the pint-sized X-Man.  I’m also sorely unfazed by his depictions of Hell and the Devil.  It’s all too colorful for me, particularly the purple Satan, who looks more like a rubber-suited guy in a suit than anything to be afraid of.

Conclusion: The ramping up of events in this issue, along with plenty of pleasing moments and a back-up story drawn by the always-awesome Michael Gaydos equal a jump in enjoyment when it comes to reading this title for me.  While I’m not convinced of Guedes’ contributions, this chapter of the story was otherwise solid.

Grade: B-

-Joe Lopez Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Wolverine, Jason Aaron, Michael Gaydos, Comic Book Reviews, Renato Guedes, Weekly Comic Book Review, Sabretooth, Wolverine #3, Wolverine #3 review

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