WOLVERINE #58
Writer: Mark Guggenheim
Artist: Howard Chaykin
Marvel Comics
This is Part Two of the Logan is Dead storyline and you can find the first part reviewed by me here. Last issue, a terrorist group called Scimtar, put a bomb down Wolverine’s throat, leaving him brain dead. There’s also a backup story about Wolverine during WWI that will be continued and is clearly somehow tied to the main plot, due to its continued presence at the start of this issue.
In this issue, Doctor Strange retrieves Logan’s body and travels to purgatory to explain why Logan hasn’t revived himself fully this time. First the good in this issue: Doctor Strange is against superhero registration, so his interactions with Iron Man are both fun and interesting. Next the bad, and for that, I’m going to spoil this book because it’s terrible and I don’t want to put you through reading it to get to this new, wholly unnecessary piece of the Wolverine mythos.
Okay, you were warned, here’s the spoiler: Whenever Wolverine is nearly dead he comes back because he beat Azrael, the ANGEL OF DEATH, in a fight during the first World War. That’s right, it isn’t the healing factor that saves him. It’s that he beat the ANGEL OF F’N DEATH. Whenever he’s near death now, as his body heals, his soul goes to purgatory where he continually beats up the immortal, wholly supernatural ANGEL OF DEATH.
So, a character with the most complicated backstory in comics, with tons of brainwashing and confusion about his past, has had the complexity added to. The simple concept of a man who could heal and has claws, thematically a Man’s nature vs. the beast within concept, has been taken from a straightforward important concept to include a meeting and defeating of the ANGEL OF DEATH making one of the more overpowered characters in comics suddenly immortal so long as he maintains his will to live.
Wolverine is a flawed character at this point. Wolverine is overpowered due to writers constantly adding to his healing factor. This makes him more overpowered by making him entirely immortal. Wolverine is overcomplicated due to writers constantly adding layers to his history. This makes him even more overcomplicated by adding an element of mysticism to his already convoluted past. Wolverine is about a man doing right against his baser instincts. This adds magic and the unreal to the characters simple thematic core and the basis for his appeal. He is entirely unbeatable now. His determination is greater than death and his skill allows him to defeat the ANGEL OF DEATH. The thematic base of his willpower to overwhelm his animal nature is gone. The simple drama of him being defeated is gone. He’s immortal and unbeatable. I’m done with this. Avoid this book and hope it’s retconned out of existence or at least a convoluted excuse to take away a ton of his power, which can from here on out be ignored. This was off to a good start and has no ruined the character.
