Reviewer: William Cooling
Story Title: So, This Priest Walks into a Bar
Written by: Greg Rucka
Pencilled by: Darick Robertson
Inked by: Tom Palmer
Coloured by: Studio F
Lettered by: Virtual Calligraphy’s Rus Wooton
Editor: Axel Alonso
Publisher: Marvel Comics
In the last arc we saw Wolverine avenge the death of his good…er…acquaintance Lucy Braddock by killing her killers (a cult called the Brothers), and that was about it. Well, except the introduction of Agent Cassie Lathrop who had met Wolverine whilst undercover (he was posing as an arms buyer). Sensing he was trouble, she decided to end her investigation and follow him. However, the Brothers (who kept women as sex salves) captured her. Of course she escaped and at the end of the issue had a tense confrontation with Wolverine before allowing the killer of 27 men to go free (as any cop would).
With this issue Rucka examines how Wolverine feels when the rage passes and he is left to look at the bloody aftermath of his actions. In a brilliant move, Rucka does this by having Wolverine talk it over with his long time drinking buddy Nightcrawler. The conversation the two have is a great piece of writing. One of the smartest things that Rucka does is not to immediately start with Wolverine’s big confessional to Nightcrawler; instead he starts it with a toast to Colossus and a cheeky little dig at the habit of X-Men to come back from the dead.
What’s great about the conversation is that it’s so natural, it reminds me of when Samuel L. Jackson said that what he liked about the dialogue in Pulp Fiction was how it wasn’t all plot driven, some of it was just the type of chit-chat two friends would have. This is true of the conversation contained in this issue. Because of this the subject of Wolverine’s guilt comes out of the conversation not the conversation coming out of Wolverine’s feelings guilt.
Rucka’s portrayal of Nightcrawler is brilliant and a real treat for any Nightcrawler fans. I’m currently reading the Essential X-Men volumes and Nightcrawler was often portrayed almost as a little brother to Wolverine; someone who would often crack jokes at Wolverine’s expense but still had a deep respect and admiration for him. Rucka stays true to this and throughout the issue we see Nightcrawler cracking quips at Wolverine, for example about how he smells and his drinking. Rucka also shows us the bond these share by having Nightcrawler immediately notice that something is wrong with Wolverine and guess half-correctly the cause.
Another great piece of writing is Rucka’s use of Nightcrawler’s position as a former priest. Rucka uses this to represent the forgiveness that Wolverine desires. Their discussion about the nature of forgiveness and evil is extremely thoughtful whilst staying true to the nature of the characters instead of using them as mouthpieces for Rucka’s views.
Rucka’s characterisation of Wolverine is slightly less successful. The foremost reason is that the characterisation is harmed by the fact that Rucka never fully fleshed out the relationship between Wolverine and Lucy and so never gave us a reason why Wolverine cared so much about Lucy. What’s more the question of Wolverine’s loose grasp of his humanity is being done to death as it’s currently a focus for both New and Ultimate X-Men. Don’t get me wrong Rucka writes Wolverine’s introspection well but it’s still something we’ve seen before and doesn’t compare to the revamp he’s recently gave Wonder Woman where he ushered in a radical change in focus and so revitalise the character.
Also Wolverine’s introspection begs the question; is this before or after the events of New X-Men #145? This is important as in New X-Men #145 Morrison seems to be suggesting that Wolverine found out something about himself that confirmed all the negative prejudices that he holds of himself. If it’s after then it adds that bit more to the introspection.
Where Rucka really screws up is in the two scenes involving Cassie Lathrop. The first scene involving her is nothing short of idiotic as it shows Lathrop unaware of who she faced last issue. Er, what? Lathrop saw Wolverine in all his glory; claws extended, etc and we’re meant to believe that she can’t recognise him? That she has never seen him on television (remember the X-Men no longer have secret identities)? That the FBI don’t have some sort of file on him? I’m sorry this is just lazy and stupid and so beneath Rucka
I also don’t care for Cassie’s erotic dream featuring Logan. It just seems sad that a writer that writes such brilliantly strong female characters as Wonder Woman, Queen and Country’s Tara Chace and Renee Montoya resorts to the tired cliché of the “chick cop†becoming obsessed with someone she comes across in the field of duty. What makes it worse is the disturbing possibility of a masochist sub-text as shown by the last panel of her dream sequence. Maybe I’m reading too much into it but it still jars. Plus Wolverine was painfully ugly in the last arc so God knows what she sees in him.
As for the art, well I’m a huge fan of Robertson (thanks to Transmetropolitan) and it was his involvement rather than Rucka’s that made me buy this. In many ways he reminds me of legendary Spanish artist Carlos Ezquerra in that whilst his art has a cartoon-esque character, it also has a gritty feel to it (also like Ezquerra, Robertson often cuts corners when it comes to detail). Robertson is on great form in this issue, especially with his portrayal of Nightcrawler. Primarily, Robertson has fun with the demonic aspects of Nightcrawler for example exaggerating his ears and giving him vampiric teeth. He also has lots of fun with his tail having it take a peanut or pour a drink. In addition Robertson makes Nightcrawler’s face extremely emotive which is perhaps his way of compensating for Nightcrawler’s lack of expressive eyes. If it is, it works extremely well especially when Nightcrawler reacts to Wolverine’s request for absolution.
The colouring is also better this issue. Earlier in Robertson’s run the colouring was way too bright and vivid and to be honest looked a bit garish. It’s a bit duller now and suits the art and story content better.
That said there is one glaring problem with the art and that is Robertson’s inconsistent portrayal of Wolverine. It’s not quite the problem that its been in previous issues of his run but there are still problems, for example in one panel Wolverine looks positively puffy faced yet in another his face looks lean. Tied in with that is the question of Wolverine’s height, in the early issues of the run Wolverine was (usually) portrayed as being short yet at the close of this issue he’s as tall as Nightcrawler who I’ve never seen as short.
While of course its good to see an artist experiment with getting the right image instead of going with the established profile (especially with such an iconic character) it does kinda make it look like Wolverine’s secondary mutation is shape-shifting. Also with Marvel going to such lengths to have arcs written with the trade in mind you’d think they’d insure the art was consistent as well. In many ways it’s a shame he’s leaving as you get the feeling that he’s so near to settling on an image of Wolverine that would be quite special, the last page in particular is excellent.
As a stand-alone story this was (excluding the Lathrop scenes) a great read. Since I started buying American singles about eight months ago (instead of whatever trades my local bookstore carried) I’ve became a huge fan of Rucka’s writing and this is some of the best I’ve seen from him. Add to this the fact that Robertson’s art is more consistent than previous issues and you have the best issue of the revamp so far and one of the best comics of the week.
However, this issue seems to be establishing the themes that will continue throughout the reminding 12 issues of Rucka’s run, namely Wolverine’s loose grasp of his humanity and his relationship with Lathrop and neither one really excites me. The title still seems hamstrung by Rucka’s unwillingness or inability to ruthlessly establish a new and exciting status quo for the character as he has done for his Wonder Woman revamp. Instead we seems to be getting the same old Wolverine clichés just told that with style.
Which quite frankly is beneath the writer of Gotham Central #10 and Queen and Country.
All feedback is appreciated.
