Wolverine Epic Collection: Back To Basics

Collecting Wolverine #17-30, Wolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection And Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure.

Wolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection is written by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Howard Chaykin. Wolverine and Nick Fury team-up to take on Scorpio. Nick Fury has very personal reasons for wanting to keep Scorpio alive, so sparks are guaranteed to fly when it turns out Wolverine wants him dead.

Scorpio's story is pretty convoluted. The first Scorpio was Nick Fury's brother. Then he died and Nick Fury ended up impersonating him. Then there were umpteen different Life Model Decoys pretending to be Scorpio. This Scorpio is Fury's illegitimate son, so it's obvious why he wants this Scorpio alive. Wolverine wants Scorpion dead because a friend of his was among a bunch of SHIELD agents that Scorpio killed. I'm not usually a fan of Howard Chaykin's work, too sketchy for my liking, but I quite liked is artwork here. Maybe it's down to the higher production values in this one-shot.

Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure is written by Walter Simonson and illustrated by Mike Mignola. Wolverine is lured to the Savage Land after being attacked by a cyborg that looks just like him. Wolverine defends a group of natives from a dinosaur but is surprised to find that it is a robot as well. Wolverine investigates where the robot came from to find the one behind it all: Apocalypse!

I was confused when Apocalypse started cracking jokes. It seemed completely out-of-character for him. I needn't worry though because it turns out that this Apocalypse is a robot as well. The real Apocalypse lured Wolverine to take care of the impostor. Most of this story is about Wolverine hanging out with a tribe of natives and hunting dinosaurs. I'm not complaining, Walter Simonson is one of my favourite comic book creators and Mike Mignola's art is always welcome. Wolverine ends up discovering an adamantium skull in Apocalypse's lair which suggests that Apocalypse had something to do with giving Wolverine his adamantium skeleton, but nothing more ever comes of it.

Archie Goodwin starts a run as writer with Wolverine #17 and John Byrne starts a run on art. There is a new crime lord in town, the cyborg Geist. Geist has brought with him a lethal new kind of cocaine and has kidnapped Wolverine's old enemy Roughouse to test it.

I was looking forward to this run of issues because John Byrne is the artist and I always love to see his work. Unfortunately, Klaus Janson is the inker and his inks make Byrne's pencils look ever so rough. It's funny, I never had any trouble with Janson on pencils, but it's only his inking that I don't like. I also have to take fault with the depiction of Roughouse. In Roughouse's earliest appearances he talked all fancy like Thor does (it was hinted that he was secretly a Frost Giant). Now he is talking like a common thug.

In Wolverine #18, Geist reveals that he plans to turn Roughouse into a drug-fuelled super-soldier. Wolverine must find a way to save his old enemy before he gets torn to pieces in a drug induced rage.

This Geist fellow has an odd fixation with shaving people. The first thing he did before torturing Roughouse was give him a shave. We find out why Roughouse keeps his beard and his hair long, his body is covered with scars. Geist is working for the current president of Tierra Verde, Felix Guillermo Caridad. Caridad is obsessed with creating a superhero that will be a symbol of pride for Tierra Verde and sent Geist to get to work on super-soldier serums and such. The new strain of cocaine was a by-product of that process.

In Wolverine #19, Wolverine makes his way to war torn Tierra Verde only to find himself caught in the middle of a battle between revolutionary La Bandera and the super-villain Tiger Shark.

This issue is a tie-in to the Acts of Vengeance crossover. Tiger Shark wasn't sent to take out Wolverine, he was after La Bandera. La Bandera is in Tierra Verde to put a stop to the drug trafficking that destroyed her family. In the process she became a symbol of hope for the downtrodden masses of Tierra Verde. Her mutant power allows her to draw on the faith of the people following her to give herself great strength. The Kingpin sent Tiger Shark to stop La Bandera because she was his endangering trafficking ring in Miami.

In Wolverine #20, Wolverine's fight with Tiger Shark continues as Sister Salvation lays her healing hands on the ailing Roughouse, completing another part of Geist's evil plan.

Sister Salvation is a nun who seemingly has a healing touch. She just so happens to be President Caridad's ex-wife. Naturally, she wants no part of her husband's drug business. Caridad needs her to curb his miracle drug's more destructive side effects. We also find out that La Bandera's mutant inspiration has a power has a draw back. She will end up powerless if she leads her followers to their deaths and a bunch of them get gunned down by Caridad's goons. It's a good thing that Wolverine is there to start stabbing folks.

In Wolverine #21, hopped up on tainted cocaine, Wolverine's healing factor is pushed to its limits fighting the drug's hallucinations.

The covers of these issues have been a bit boring and generic. The cover for Wolverine #17 was just a shot of Wolverine with his claws out. This issue's cover is a close-up of his face. At least the last two covers had him fighting Tiger Shark. Geist continues his odd fixation with shaving people as he is seen shaving Adolf Hitler. Although, it is part of one of Wolverine's hallucinations so it may not count. Another one of Wolverine's hallucinations involves a deviant creation called Spore that was used to fight the Eternals until it was destroyed by one of the Celestials in the field where Caridad's special cocaine is now being grown.

In Wolverine #22, the truth behind Geist's new drug is revealed. It is actually Spore, an ancient Deviant bio-weapon. Wolverine must race against the clock to stop Geist from releasing Spore upon the world.

This issue's cover is pretty rad. It shows Wolverine getting smothered by Spore. It looks pretty gross. Any way, Sister Salvation ends up betraying Wolverine and leads Caridad and his goons right to their hiding place. Caridad is forcing his ex-wife to work with him because he is supposedly holding her son hostage. Caridad injects his son with the Spore drug, knowing that Sister Salvation will have to use her healing power to keep him under control. Wolverine escapes just as Geist is about to finish administering the drug to Caridad's son and the darts end up in Caridad himself, turning him into Spore.

In Wolverine #23, Wolverine enlists the help of Sister Salvation to put an end to Spore's rampage.

Another issue, another generic cover. This time it's a close-up of Wolverine holding up his claws. Geist gets away in the end, but we do see him get his comeuppance in an epilogue. Somebody anonymously tipped-off Magneto to his presence and their encounter goes just as well for Geist as you would expect. La Bandera won't be seen again as the next time we hear of her in an issue of Captain America, she has been killed off-screen by some Scourge wannabe called Zeitgeist.

Wolverine #24 is written by Peter David and illustrated by Gene Colan. A Madripoor street punk steals a briefcase, unaware that it is loaded with explosives. Wolverine must track the kid down before the bomb goes off.

A fill-in before Jo Duffy begins her short run. At this moment of time Wolverine had no regular writer. A writer would stay for one story arc before leaving and letting another take over. Peter David's Gehenna Stone Affair was a fun romp and Archie Goodwin's story with Geist and the funny cocaine was pretty rad as well. Time will tell if Jo Duffy's run is any good. Until then Peter David returns for this one-off issue. The boring generic covers are gone now and instead we get a cool cover by Jim Lee of an angry Wolverine standing in front of a pretty Madripoor background. The issue itself was fine. It was about Wolverine tracking down a street kid that stole an assassin's briefcase that had a bomb inside it. The assassin, the Snow Queen has the ability to scramble people's senses, so you can imagine how difficult fighting her would be for somebody like Wolverine.

Jo Duffy begins a run as writer with Wolverine #25. John Buscema is on art. A gangster from Wolverine's past calls in a debt. The gangster is about to go after a rival but fears that his son will become a target. Wolverine's job is to protect the son and he ends up telling the boy a bedtime story. Unfortunately, it isn't long until the other gangsters come looking for the kid.

The bedtime story that Logan tells the kid seems like it was taken from his own past. It begins with a young Logan being cast out by his people for being a coward and he comes across a pack of wolverines. Things go a bit Jungle Book when the wolverines take the boy in. Some fur trappers go after the wolverines but end up capturing Logan. Logan escapes and feeds the trappers to the wolverines, so everybody lives happily ever after. This story is a lot more fun than the official origin we eventually get for Wolverine. John Buscema's art is always welcome, so it's a pity he doesn't stick around.

Klaus Janson is on art for Wolverine #26. An old friend of Logan's is murdered and he won't rest until the killers are brought to justice and a family heirloom is returned.

Another standalone story before Jo Duffy starts her Lazarus Project story arc. The story is all about a friend from Wolverine's past that we haven't seen before. The friend was part of a Japanese family living in Madripoor that adopted an American son. The son got tired of waiting for his inheritance so he bumped off his parents. Naturally, Wolverine isn't happy when he finds out and it is soon time for the stabbing to start. The story itself is fine but it doesn't bring anything particularly new to Wolverine's character or the larger X-Men universe.

John Buscema is on art for Wolverine #27. A mysterious Broker meets with General Coy to complete the nefarious Lazarus Project. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Jessica Drew discover a new threat brewing underneath Prince Baran's palace.

The Lazarus Project gets off to a promising start with John Buscema back on art. Unfortunately, he will be gone again after this and different artists will take over. It was good to see Karma again. Shan hasn't been seen much she quit the New Mutants to find her missing brother and sister. Now he's working for her criminal uncle. General Coy is making Shan work for him in exchange for using his underworld connections to find the kids, but nothing further comes of that for a long time. Maybe the other writers just forgot that Shan has missing siblings.

Barry Kitson is on art for Wolverine #28. Wolverine washes up on the shores of Madripoor's sister island Rumika with no memory and no idea how he got there. What he does know is that he doesn't take kindly to armed mercenaries gunning down the local villagers as they search for the Master Form.

Wolverine ended up in Rumika because he got his butt kicked by a robot called Pinocchio and covered with amnesia potion. The villagers were supposed to be guarding the Master Form or something. We never actually find out what the Master Form is and why the bad guys need it for Project Lazarus. It seems like whenever Wolverine finds peace, something tragic always happens to get him to start stabbing folks again. This story is no different. Logan found peace with the people of Rumika, but returned to his old ways when they were all killed by mercenaries.

Barry Kitson is on art for Wolverine #29. Wolverine recounts how he lost his memory while Karma and the mercenary Target reveal their previous encounters with the Master Form.

Target joins in with the good guys because his group was supposed to be protecting the Master Form but it turned out his boss, Captain Merrick, was working with the bad guys all along. Karma is there because she heard her uncle, Prince Baran and the mysterious Broker discussing using the Master Form for themselves. Target also came into contact with the Master Form when he was a young boy. His father was a scientist tasked with protecting the Master Form. Both Target's parents were killed when armed men came for the Master Form. Target and his cousin Ricky were taken in by Captain Merrick who trained them so they could protect the Master Form too.

Bill Jaaska is on art for Wolverine #30. Wolverine returns to Madripoor as the secret of the Lazarus Project is finally revealed.

The heroes leave the Master Form in Rumika when the return to Madripoor. The bad guys don't try to grab the Master Form again because they are more concerned about escaping blame for the slaughter of the island's people. So the whole search for the thing proved to be entirely pointless. It is also revealed that Target's cousin is the cyborg Pinocchio that kicked Wolverine's butt at the beginning of the story. The reason why everybody wants the Master Form is never made all that clear. It seems to have something to do with upgrading the cyborg Pinocchio. If anything, at least Karma decides to stop working with her criminal uncle. Her sense of family stops Wolverine from hurting him, but she is done working for him. The plot line about Shan's missing siblings won't be resolved for several years yet.

That was a pretty neat collection of stories. The story arc with the cocaine that turned people into monsters was probably the highlight. The Wolverine/Nick Fury and the Savage Land one-shots were quite fun as well. The Lazarus Project was a bit of a letdown though. Larry Hama begins his run in the next issue, but before that I'm going to go back and read the original Wolverine limited series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller.

My rating: 3.5 stars.

Next time: Superman- The Man of Steel Vol. 2