If Marvel has committed one egregious sin above all others, it’s been the establishment of Wolverine’s background. For years, Logan, aka Wolverine, was a character shrouded in mystery, and that mystery helped create who the character is, allowing fans to inject our own imagination into his history. Marvel decided to chip away at that with Origin, a four-part mini-series that detailed Logan’s early years, including the first time his bone claws saw the world. The series ended with Logan in Canada, way before any of his Weapon X experiences.
Now, over a decade later, Marvel returns with Origin II, the continued dissection of Logan’s background. Writer Kieron Gillen is at the helm this time, replacing Joe Quesada, Paul Jenkins and Bill Jemas. On pencils is Adam Kubert, stepping in for brother Andy. Since Origin, Wolverine’s past has become an open book, thanks largely to the events in House of M, and now Origin II will fill in even more of those gaps. Issue #1 is slick, a gorgeous amalgam of transparent covers, original sketches, and even a slice of the original Origin story. There’s so much packed into this, you almost forget there’s a new story here.
Part of that slip is that nothing happens here. The year is 1907, and Wolverine has decided to live with wolves. He hunts with them, hangs out with them in the cave, and essentially enjoys life as a wolf. Sure, there are threats, but not many. The lone wolf, who comes complete with red eyes, stalks the happy wolf family, but Logan isn’t worried, he has bone claws. During the winter, a polar bear that has developed a thirst for blood comes stalking through the frozen tundra. Wolverine attempts to help the creature, but the bear will have none of it.
Naturally, the angry bear returns and slaughters Wolverine’s wolf family. Overcome with grief, our hero goes all snikt snikt on the bear’s ass. He even manages to kill the lone wolf before deciding he can’t live as an animal anymore. That’s it, the issue ends there. The debut issue of the sequel to a huge event for Marvel Comics is essentially an episode of Wild Kingdom. I usually like Gillen’s writing, but here it amounts to very little. I’m assuming the power of the images was supposed to tell more of the tale, but it really doesn’t. The end of Origin II #1 brings about little more than “Oh, well, that happened.”
Adam Kubert’s art is solid, if a bit melodramatic. It’s not easy to pencil little more than a nature documentary and keep it interesting. It’s not Kubert’s fault that his images don’t hit more of an emotional core – he’s simply penciling the story he was given. The fight between the polar bear and Logan is the best section of the book. Kubert captures the pain in Logan’s face and gives a true primal vibe to the bloody battle.
Origin II needed to capture fans right out of the gate. It has failed to do so.
(3 Art, 2 Story)
