Wolverine by Claremont and Miller

Collects Wolverine #1-4, written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by Frank Miller.

In Wolverine #1, Wolverine travels to Japan to see the love of his life, Mariko Yashida. However, Mariko's father has arranged for her to marry another man. To prove his love for Mariko, Wolverine must fight Lord Shingen to the death.

The legend is that Chris Claremont wanted to put Wolverine's runaway popularity in check, so he teamed-up with Frank Miller to to take him away from much of the things that made him so popular. As it turned out, having him fight ninjas in Japan only served to make him even more popular. Nowadays, Wolverine fighting ninjas seems like a cliche.

In Wolverine #2, Wolverine has been left for dead after his defeat at the hands of Lord Shingen. He is rescued by a woman named Yukio, but she is secretly working for Shingen and she has orders to finish the job of killing Wolverine.

Shingen married off Mariko to a crime boss to settle a debt. Wolverine's berserker fighting style is no match for Shingen's sword skills. He is saved by the assassin Yukio, who will go on to become a recurring character and also have some rather unsubtle subtext with Storm when she next appears in Uncanny X-Men. Which isn't all that surprising when you take in to account the fact that it was written by Chris Claremont and everybody seems to fall for Storm in his comics.

In Wolverine #3, Wolverine horrifies Yukio by letting his berseker side loose. A distraught Wolverine then seeks solace in Yukio's arms, only to learn the truth about her link to Shingen.

Wolverine's struggle to use the way of the samurai to keep his berseker side in check will go on to be a recurring theme when he gets his own ongoing series. He has more adventures in the seedy underbelly of an Asian city, but the ongoing series will move the action to the fictional island of Madripoor instead.

In Wolverine #4, Shingen sends the Hand to take care of Wolverine as Mariko finds herself torn between loyalty to her family and the man she loves.

Wolverine is finally able to keep his berseker side in check to defeat Shingen and win Mariko's hand in marriage. Like most things in Wolverine's life, his relationship with Mariko is doomed to tragedy. That is still quite some time in the future, so let's enjoy the good times for now.

Remember when Frank Miller was a respected comic book creator? Yes, this mini-series is from the good old days before he went mental. Personally, I prefer to concentrate on the good times and not let nonsense like All-Star Batman and Robin spoil it for me. I do have some issues with Chris Claremont's work as well, but thankfully none of his pet characters are involved in this mini-series. I daresay I shall have something to say about that when I get to his X-Men issues. 

Long story short, fine some fine work from two creators at the top of their game. Of course, your enjoyment will depend on your tolerance for Wolverine in the first place. Those of you that think he has been overexposed will find little to enjoy in this mini-series. Personally, I think these issues are just fine.

My rating: 3 stars.

Next time: Justice Society of America- A Celebration of 75 Years