Wolverine #301 Review
Wolverine vs Sabretooth vs the Hand vs Yakuza vs the new Silver Samurai. Aren’t fights fun? Today I will be reviewing Wolverine #301. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think.
Wolverine #301
So let’s talk about the book. The battle is on. Everyone is fighting each other and there is plenty of death being dealt all around. Wolverine manages to dispatch Sabretooth for a minute and goes to save Amiko. Too bad the new Silver Samurai is also trying to save her and the two protectors battle each other. Wolvie takes a beating but nothing the Samurai can do is enough to stop the hairy super healer from knocking down the Silver Samirai and rescuing Amiko. Too bad that is exactly what Azuma Goda wants as he kidnaps the Samurai and teleports away with him to the Hand’s secret hideout. There he begins to torture the Samurai in order to get him to turn over the reigns of the Yashida empire over to Goda which the Samurai inherited from his father, the original Silver Samurai. After some convincing from Amiko, Wolverine seeks out an old ninja friend and learns the location of the Hand. Arming himself for battle along with Yukio, the two head into the Hand’s underground lair. Amiko manages to sneak along with them. Also waiting, ready and fully aware of their arrival, is Sabretooth, Mystique and a pack of mind ninjas. And that’s the book.
So let’s talk opinions. Now this was another great issue for me. I loved the non-stop action. The entire first half of the book was violence and battles. Silver Samurpunk really gave his all in trying to stop Wolverine but the hairy canucklehead was just too much for him to take down. I also really enjoyed the way Wolverine just cut loose against Sabretooth. Where he might have held back and tried not to kill him in the past, here he has no such qualms. Aaron is really letting Wolverine accept the fact that Sabretooth is much better dead than alive and might even let Wolvie send him back to hell. I think Sabretooth gets that as well and got the hell out of dodge the first chance he could. Was this a deep character growth issue? Hell no! Aaron wasted all of his growing energy on the first year and a half of of crappy Wolverine tales that almost ruined the series completely. Now that he’s stopped trying to get Wolverine to deal with his pain and suffering, and started having him dish out pain and suffering, now he’s writing the Wolverine we want to see. (Or at least I want to see) I loved seeing Wolverine’s healing factor in action. I loved his pathetic concerned father routine with Amiko. (That man has more failures with his children than I can count on both hands) I hope he doesn’t get another notch by having something happen to Amiko. The villains are great. I like that there are plenty of enemies to dispatch and that Wolverine has the odds stacked against him. Makes you root for him and cheer in glee when he overcomes those odds once again. Another great think in this issue were the visuals. Once again we are blessed with clear, stunning artwork. Great action layouts and nice battle scenes. What really got me was the flesh eating beetle torture sequence. That was really sick to see, but ultimately quite cool and memorable. Top that off with that amazing feudal style cover. Wolverine looks incredible flanked by those awesome armored Samurai. A really memorable image. All in all, I love the return to action and classic Wolverine enemies direction that Aaron is raking this book. I can’t wait to see the next round of this battle. This is the best Wolverine story I’ve read in over two years.
That’s my opinion folks. Take it or leave it.
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATING
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| more awesome action. more ninja excitement. nice art | one note story, but who cares as the action is back |
| Rating |
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6 Comments
I hate this book. I bought the 300th issue because of Kubert’s involvement and the good review I read on here and I was just so disappointed.
Why is Yukio in a wheel chair now? And that cheap come on line she did? She’s always been not for Wolverine, but she just wouldn’t act like that. Yuck.
I thumbed through this, but I’m just not getting suckered again. Aaron is hit and miss for me. I love his work on his Hulk book (exception being the 1st issue), but I can’t stand his Wolverine.
Thanks for the comment Tommy. I’m sorry you feel that way. I’m actually loving this arc. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Aaron butchered the first 16 issues of this series and this new arc is the complete opposite of the crap that we had to suffer through before. Maybe its beer goggle love. (Though I must disagree on the Hulk story because so far it has been very one note.. except for Issue #5. Doom baby.) Yukio is in a wheelchair because Demonrine crippled her during the crappy Wolverine goes to hell story arc that no one read or cared about. And she has always been making cheap come-ons to Wolvie because she wants him, even as far back as the Frank Miller Wolverine limited series. This was nothing new, for me. I hope it does turn around for you and you like this series again. I’m slowly starting to get my love back.
RE: Yukio
Yeah, she was always making the cheap come-ons, but they were actually intimate when she was doing it. She would open her mouth and Logan would follow suite. Jason Aaron has ruined her character and she’s a big part of Logan’s history.
“been hot for Wolverine”
Off topic here..i’m a noob and Jason Aaron is a writer that i’ve started with his new Hulk line which i’m liking…what about his Punisher comics compared to the one’s by Garth Ennis? (sorry to jump on a Wolverine thread here).
To be perfectly honest, James, Punisher MAX was one of if not the best Punisher stories I have ever read. Unfortunately, it didn’t do so hot with sales so they cancelled it. But, if you really want a great Punisher read, go get that series. You will love the simple gritty violence and action. It shows some of Marvel’s classic characters in totally new light. You can read my Punisher MAX reviews on this site and get a general idea of the awesomeness. If you do get the series, please let me know what you think. Thanks.