You Don’t Get Much Without Giving – Review Of Wolverine #309

A couple of weeks ago, I sat through a handful of Marvel panels at SDCC and learned…not very much. Well, at least not a lot about anything related to the assorted members of the Avengers or X-Men – which was weird, what with the whole panel dedicated to them and their “summer blockbuster” event (yes, those were the, somewhat paraphrased, words of Marvel EIC Axel Alonso). At the AVX panel, much of the time was dedicated to cheerleading, with only modest time devoted to characters and titles. Most of those titles discussed ended up being related to books that will be released post AVX (Marvel NOW!). If Alonso sees the culmination of each year’s storylines as leading into a big summer time event, you’d think he might take a cue from the the actual “blockbusters” (hint – they’re often in Hall H or Ballroom 20 and you have to line up for them the day before…not waltz into them 10 minutes before they start.). Maybe have a panel that is balanced with more writers and artists on it than editorial. Talk about some of the individual books, both team and solo, of characters involved in your “summer blockbuster” in the here and now, rather than in, ahem, Marvel NOW. I’m sure it wouldn’t have killed Arune Singh to maybe take some time out from saying “How many of you love {insert event or movie}?” and get one of the architects on speaker phone, the way he did for the Amazing Spider-Man And Other Stuff That Was Marginally Related To Spider-Man panel we attended the next day. But, who knows? Rumor has it the entire staff of Marvel has to share a single bathroom in their building. Maybe they make him pay for his own long distance?

But what does this actually have to do with Wolverine #309? You’ll find out, with spoilers.

“Yeah, boyeeeeee!” (Photoshopped for your pleasure.)

This brings me to what little information I gleaned about fan support for the leaders of the opposing forces in AVX. While Singh was doing his best impression of Flava Flav at the top of the panel (“Who’s rooting for the Avengers?!?!?!?” *crowd yells positive things* “Who’s rooting for the X-Men?” *crowd also yells positive things* Yay, everybody loves everybody!), fan support seemed split evenly for the two factions. However, when you drill down a little into individual characters, there was a noticeable lack of love for Cyclops. Now, Cyclops’s general unlikeable qualities have been obvious to me since, well, forever, even before he got juiced up with zealotry and Phoenix Force. It was nice to see I wasn’t alone in my dislike for Mr. Stick-Up-His-Ass (I think that’s his Indian name). What was surprising was that many fans also were disliking Wolverine’s character in how events have been playing out.

Wolverine and Cyclops fell out in the Schism storyline/arc/event/whatever last summer. I guess, some folks don’t find his lack of support for his fellow X-Men as something that sits well with them. So, Wolverine actually joining the Avengers’ cause when sides were drawn in AVX just exacerbated those feelings for those fans. Ok, point taken. Personally, Wolverine’s choice to stay strong in his beliefs – kids shouldn’t have to grow up learning how to be soldiers and should get to be kids, worked for me. The idea of the man formerly known as Weapon X taking time to learn how to nurture students through education rather than defense training appealed as a storyline and its been working for me.

Also, Cyclops is a dick.

Which is why I enjoyed Wolverine #309. It’s a one and done written by Ivan Brandon in which Wolverine takes some time to reflect on his former X-Force teammate, a young student named Elixir. The story takes place before Elixir eventually loses control of his powers and leaves the team, but Wolverine sees Elixir’s loss as a reflection on himself as a leader and role model. Wolverine is approached by the boy while he is out drinking because Elixir, whose mutant power is healing, is trying to make sense of Wolverine, who he sees as his diametrical opposite. It could be a teachable moment, but Wolverine isn’t there to guide him, just put whiskey down his head and chase tail. Chasing tail leads to the introduction of Eva, who wants help for her mutant community in dealing with a strange sickness that cannot be cured. Elixir tags along with Wolverine when he goes to look into the situation. The boy demonstrates, over the course of events, that he can not only heal with his touch, but also take away life although it goes against the principles in which he believes. He is willing to do harm to others in defense of his teammate, Wolverine. Wolverine realizes that the choices Elixir has made in his defense are problematic:

Never sat right.

To help me out, he had to hurt someone else. Wasn’t natural to him, but everything gets easier.

Brandon has done a nice job in this story of exploring a pocket that falls in the spaces where Wolverine and Uncanny X-Force meet. It serves to flesh out why Wolverine is a more compelling choice as a leader than Cyclops. There are around 200 mutants left on planet Earth; many of them are children. Wolverine has learned that you lead by example, not just words, especially with kids.

Rafael Albuquerque and Jason Latour share pencilling duties on this book. Fans who are familiar with Albuquerque’s work on American Vampire will find much to like here. His Wolverine is gritty, as well worn and grim as the bar Elixir in which finds him as the story opens.

Latour’s work is somewhat more stylized and abstract, which helps to highlight the noir quality the story takes on after the introduction of Eva and the shifting tone of the narrative, as we move out of a situation in which Wolverine is an island unto himself (Albuquerque’s sort of “Man With No Name” styling) and into a place where he realizes that he is dealing with a boy who needs help and guidance, mutant powers or not.

The book is a neat, self contained story that provides further insight into what makes Wolverine tick. If someone was willing to explore Scott Summers in as much detail, maybe I’d find Cyclops a more compelling and sympathetic character. However, until then, Wolverine will remain the better choice to lead the X-Men (hopefully, eventually), particularly with a character exploration like this one.