James Howlett. Logan. Patch. Wolverine. No matter the name, he is the best there is at what he does. And what he does — is show up in a whole lot of books.
In addition to his solo book and his role with the X-Men, he is also appearing in Ultimate Wolverine, Spider-Man and Wolverine, the upcoming Wolverine: Weapons of Armageddon, and now he is trying out the black and white motif with Logan: Black, White, and Blood. They are going to use a ton of red ink in this thing, are they not?
“Arms Race” by Tom Waltz and Alex Lins
This story, set during the Korean War, finds Logan waking up to find his entire battalion of Canadian soldiers slaughtered, and himself healing from wounds that would have killed anyone else. Tracking the culprits, he finds a group of Russian soldiers, as well as several individuals with various cyborg parts. Too bad for them, Logan is the best there is at what he does — and they are about to find out exactly what that means.
No short story is going to be full of life-changing substance. There is only so much you can do in nine pages, after all. But this is an enjoyable tale, letting Logan be himself without any of the baggage of the X-Men or Weapon X or anything like that. Just one man — with claws and a healing factor — against some bad guys that deserve what they get. There is nothing wrong with a tale like that once in a while.
The writing here is very solid, with the internal narration of Logan driving the plot forward while giving neophytes a solid feel for his character. It is possible that there is someone out there who still does not know a thing about Wolverine — not likely, but possible. The art works well for this tale. Perhaps it is because of the black and white coloring, but it reminds me of the artwork in the old Queen and Country comics of Greg Rucka — cartoony, but not too much so, just enough to counterbalance the violence. The use of red is restrained in this tale, with it mostly being used for blood or the view through a sniper scope, until Logan enters a Berserker Rage; then, the color red takes over and becomes the dominant tone on the page. All in all, this is a well-done tale.
Score: 7 out of 10
"Time Square Red” by Saladin Ahmed and Adam Kubert
Set in the 1970s, this tale finds Logan in New York City on assignment for whichever shadowy organization he was working for at the time. The story does not specify, and there were so many that it is hard to keep track. He has a favorite watering hole that he likes to stop into whenever he is in town, but this time when he does so, he soon finds himself on the hunt for a serial killer. An ordinary killer against the best there is at what he does? No wonder this story is only nine pages long.
This was really solid. Logan got to showcase his investigative and tracking skills, which was a nice change from all the stories where he just mindlessly cuts up everything that moves with his claws. An ordinary human serial killer was never going to be a threat to him, but that was not what the story was about. The story was about showing how — even when he is there to do bad things — Logan still cannot help but try to do some good as well.
The writing in this one is really good; the voice of Logan is strong and the other few characters with speaking parts are interesting in their limited roles. The art by Adam Kubert is, of course, fantastic, but after all, he and Logan are old friends. The use of the color red in this story is very interesting. Since there is so much neon and so many lights in New York, the backgrounds are largely rendered in red, plus of course the buckets of blood that Logan spills during the course of his investigation. It is all very striking, visually. Well done.
Score: 8 out of 10
“Red Claw” by Larry Hama and Dave Wachter
This last story takes place in the days after Logan escaped from Weapon X, while he was wandering the wilderness as more of a beast than a man. It is a simple tale of him encountering a group of hunters and his efforts to protect the wolf pack that they are targeting — and perhaps trying to find some pants, too.
There is not much substance to this story at all, to be honest. It really does just boil down to "wild Logan faces off with some hunters," and not much else. There is hardly any dialogue, and Logan is naked the whole time. The story shows how — even when his bestial side has taken over — there is still a good man inside of Logan. Just sometimes you have to spill some blood in order to do right.
“The Man” when it comes to Logan, Larry Hama himself, writes this story. Again, there’s not a lot to it, but it is a quintessential Wolverine tale at its core. The artwork by Dave Wachter is very detailed, and combined with the black & white coloring, actually has a manga feel. The use of red is a little more sparing in this one, containing it mostly to blood and entrails, which makes their appearance even more striking on the white snow.
Score: 7 out of 10
The Best There Is
Three stories, and all three were very solid. Again, none of them set the world on fire or anything, but they were only nine pages each. What each of them was, was a good encapsulation of Logan and his character, showing why the character is so popular and has persevered for so long. The black and white coloring, plus the various uses of the color red, gives everything a unique look that is more than a little reminiscent of manga. There are far worse things to be compared to visually.
All in all, these stories add up to three solid hits with no misses. That is a really good result for an anthology book, which is generally a mixed bag. But like Logan himself, these creative teams are the best there are at what they do — only in this case, what they do is make some fine comic books.