Page 45 Review by Stephen
"This is a story of wolves and bears. And animals…"
It really is. You won't meet a single human being during the first chapter other than Logan himself, now entirely feral following the events in WOLVERINE: ORIGIN.
Instead in a breath of fresh mountain air the initial cast consists of a wolf pack which has adopted Wolverine, its new litter holed up in a den on the snow-swept Canadian Rockies, a prowling lone wolf and a gigantic polar bear which has strayed far from its natural habitat, so finding itself at a predatory disadvantage.
"It seemed to believe that covering its nose would disguise it from prey. It didn't grasp fishing in the rivers, waiting for prey to emerge and being disappointed when it didn't…"
Fish, unlike seals, don't need to come up for air. Yes, it's a long way from home. A very long way. Don't you find that curious?
Image-driven, that first chapter was magnificent: sweeping landscapes, ferocious battles and some monumental, full-page flourishes all coloured to delicious perfection by… hold on - that isn't Isanove?! I can assure you that colour artist Frank Martin is every bit as good.
What follows marks Logan's first contact with the world he and we will come to know well: one in which man uses and abuses man, cages him and tortures him in the name of personal pleasure, medical research and military power. That polar bear itself was an experiment, the sinister Dr. Essex releasing a new alpha predator into the Canadian Rockies and in doing so snagging an even bigger one - Logan - who in turn attracts yet another: a lupine wildlife hunter called Creed who jealously guards his beautiful but disfigured companion Clara.
Memory plays an important part, Kubert's silent snap-shots flashing through Logan's mind like blood-stained daggers; but the more he experiences, the more he will want to forget and, as we all know, ultimately he does so.
One of the most pleasurable elements of the original ORIGIN was Paul Jenkins' slight of hand, leading you up the (secret) garden path when it came to Logan's true identity. Wickedly, Gillen has reflected this in his own game of powerplay and presumption, leaving it right until the epilogue to pull the rug from under you, but it all makes perfect sense, I promise.
Hahahahaha!
