Volume 26: Wolverine: Origin

Wolverine: Origin

Authors: Paul Jenkins / Bill Jemas / Joe Quesada  |  Illustrator: Andy Kubert

"There's cruelty in his eyes now, make no mistake. When I catch him looking up at my window, it frightens me."

We've already had the story in which Wolverine got his adamantium skeleton (Volume 12: Wolverine: Weapon X), but this one takes place before that. Like the title says, it's the character's origin story, not his transformation story. It lifts the veil from Logan's past by following him from early childhood, through adolescence and into maturity.

I was hesitant about reading it because the mystery of the character was a large part of his allure. Filling in the blanks was a bold move by Marvel, one that could've sent ripples of derision and disappointment through the fanbase. But, in my opinion, it really paid off. The series is by far one of the best that the House of (regurgitated) Ideas ever commissioned; at least, of the ones that I've experienced to date, which is a small percentage of the publisher's output, to be fair.

Part of the reason it stands head and shoulders above many of the others is because it dares to break free from the typical comic book format. It draws from other sources, primarily classic women's literature. It's Wolvie's story but it unfolds through the eyes of a young girl, who is herself moving from adolescence into maturity.

As the girl sits atop a symbolic hill, her diary entries record her thoughts; they strip Wolverine metaphorically naked, enabling the reader to forget the assumptions and biases formed by his chronologically subsequent exploits. Her observations show him instead as a troubled youth being shaped by a world of divided social class; a world that isn't a happy one for either of them.

The art was coloured straight from Andy Kubert's pencils by Richard Isanove, leaving out the inker completely. The rich candlelit oranges and earthy browns contrasted by dark bluish nights and the cold grey of winter give the book an organic, less rigid appearance that's incredibly complementary to the historical setting. Also, the volume of textless panels versus ones of exposition is balanced expertly, allowing the story's strengths to rise to the surface early on.

The book collects together Wolverine: Origin #1–6.

Verdict:

Volume 25: Spider-Man: Blue

Spider-Man: Blue

Author: Jeph Loeb  |  Illustrator: Tim Sale

"[M]aybe by chance, or maybe God has a sense of humour and we're all part of the joke."

Blue is the story of how Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy fell in love, and of how Peter's life seems to him a pendulum that swings repeatedly from good times to bad times. He tries to rationalise the situation by seeing the bad as being a necessary precursor to the good.

It's split into two distinct time periods that work in tandem.

The first is a confessional memoir narrated by Peter in what I'm going to call the present. It mostly takes the form of text boxes (captions) that sit inside the frame and act like a v/o in a film. They're spoken by a Peter that's endured hardship - a Peter that's developed a deeper understanding of his purpose and the dangers inherent in it.

The second time period is a visual retelling of past events. The art and speech bubbles that make up the majority of the frame depict what happened or was said in the past. They show a Peter early in his career as Spider-Man; he's less mature and therefore less acutely aware of how tragedy can shape and scar an individual.

The past and the present exist as one within the same frame and together they tell the full story.

Even though the pictures fill the majority of the page, it's the captions that carry most of the weight and the reason the story works so well. If they were absent it wouldn't need to be retold. Jeph Loeb tinkers with the original very slightly but there's no major retcon happening. I'm willing to bet that, by the end, more people than not will be glad that he did what he did, particularly if you can relate emotionally.

My belief that the art is respectfully subordinate to the text doesn't mean the art is weak. On the contrary, Tim Sale's style is a perfect match for Loeb's words. His colour-blindness doesn't seem to be a handicap at all. His lines are bold and his blacks are striking.

He seems to have a filmmaker's eye. If his frames were taken verbatim to a screen they would make dynamic eye-candy; most likely even better than any of the live-action Spider-Man films that exist at time of writing.

The book collects together Spider-Man: Blue #1–6.
The events that Blue reference can be found in The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #43-48 and 63.

Verdict:

Volume 24: New X-Men: Imperial

New X-Men: Imperial

Author: Grant Morrison  |  Illustrators: Frank Quitely / Ethan Van Sciver / Igor Kordey

"Hey, it's those pesky X-Men."

Now they ask the obvious questions~. I'm not sure if that redeems them or further highlights how blinkered they were before.

Imperial continues the story that began in Volume 23. It's a much bigger book, containing over twice as many issues as before. But like a guy with small feet might say, size is no indication of quality. In fact, Imperial is even less enjoyable than the previous book.

A lesson that has been well-learned countless times before is given another airing: that when you make yourself a target (or someone else makes you one), there's no shortage of people willing to take up arms and cast their stones in your general direction.

As the story grows more and more chaotic it seems as if Morrison was respectfully acknowledging an old way of plotting, but at the same time giving it a new skin to live in. The wild comic book fantasies exist alongside real world concerns, the latter functioning as occasional much-needed grounding to the former.

The Nuff Said! event that I first mentioned in the Volume 22: The Amazing Spider-Man: Revelations and Until the Stars Turn Cold post hit New X-Men at issue #121, which is included. It's interesting.

I fear my eventual scoring will overshadow the books strongest aspect; i.e. the art. I want to draw particular attention to Ethan Van Sciver's backgrounds, all of which are detailed and beautiful.

If Sturgeon's Revelation (aka Sturgeon's Law) is accepted and ninety percent of everything is crap, then statistically team-based adventures make up a sizeable potion of Marvel's ninety percent.

The book collects together New X-Men #118-126.

Verdict:

Volume 23: New X-Men: E is for Extinction

New X-Men: E is for Extinction

Author: Grant Morrison  |  Illustrator: Frank Quitely / Ethan Van Sciver

"...[G]allows humor is currently the only thing keeping us sane."

Both Morrison and Quitely are fully deserving of inclusion in the collection, together they've produced some excellent work — DC's All-Star Superman is a good example — but E for Extinction is neither man's best work; in fact, it's probably some of their worst.

The book's cover neglects to mention that artist Ethan Van Sciver also contributed; he illustrated a full one quarter of the content. I'm not familiar with his work elsewhere, but here his art is detailed and dynamic, and his version of Beast in his current form is excellent.

It's a thin volume, just four issues, but should really have been only three because it's a three-part story. The fourth issue does keep continuity but feels like it doesn't belong, like it should've been moved to the next volume in order to preserve the completeness of this one. I suspect it was added to boost the page count, which, as you'll see, is something that Volume 24 had plenty of already.

The ongoing series having the word 'New' added to its title wasn't the only new thing to happen: it was Grant Morrison's first issue; Professor X got a new sci-fi toy to play with; it was almost the beginning of a new school term; and the team got a new member, which feels rushed and is accepted all too quickly by the remainder of the group, namely Cyclops, Jean, Wolverine, and Beast.

A similar criticism can be applied across the board, with many of the major events hurried and failing to make the impact they deserve.

One example is when a lot of people die; because the build-up was lacking, I'd no connection to them whatsoever and didn't feel anything when they were snuffed out. It was like crossing items off a list.

I had just as many problems with the relationship side of things. Wolverine and Cyclops cooped up together in a small space had the kind of strained atmosphere you'd expect, but elsewhere a few people were doing things that felt unnatural and forced.

One of the major scenes involves such an action, but the others accepted it when in reality they should've been almost enraged. As it is, they felt false and it pushed me even further away from caring about the plight of those affected. I'm all for changing the X-Men formula because I consider them a boring bunch a lot of the time, but I just wasn't able to connect with what we got.

The book collects together New X-Men #114-117.

Verdict:

Volume 22: The Amazing Spider-Man: Revelations and Until the Stars Turn Cold

The Amazing Spider-Man: Revelations and Until the Stars Turn Cold

Author: J. Michael Straczynski  |  Illustrator: John Romita, Jr.

"You can't beat this by hitting it. It's not that easy. But that doesn't mean you don't try."

The previous Spider-Man story, collected in Volume 21: Coming Home, ended with something that Revelations addresses. It couldn't not, such was the gravity of the situation, but it does it in such a way that the telling of it is as memorable as the reveal itself.

There's a small amount of suited, web-swinging action, but the majority of it is a people story, a quiet but powerful confessional that significantly alters the life and feelings of those involved.

It's the kind of situation that J. Michael Straczynski is really good at. He uses conversational scenes as multifaceted tools, enabling his action scenes to be justifiably interpreted as tests of character as revealed in the personal moments, working as a commentary that's a much better reason for action than is action for its own sake.

Outside of that, Peter is still settling into his new job as a teacher at a high-school. He's attentive to the kids' moods even when they aren't attentive to his lectures. His teaching is more than academic.

Volume 22 also contains Spider-Man's entry in the 'Nuff Said! event that had all of Marvel's major titles for December be without dialogue or exposition. There is some written word in the Spider-Man tale, but none of it is spoken. It highlights the essential role that pacing and spacing have in a story, and it forced people who may overlook such things to sit up and take notice, hopefully in a lasting way.

The second part of the book, the ...Stars Turn Cold part, is less interesting to me than the Revelations part. It returns to the Villain vs Hero format, something that was maybe considered long overdue by some readers who had to wait four weeks between issues.

I know my own mind well-enough to conclude that I'd likely have been less receptive to the change than I actually was if not for the comparative balancing I mentioned previously. In short, the immediate situation needing a resolution meant less time was available for introspection. And while it's true that the two parts collected as they are could be perceived as giving a reader the best of both worlds, the Revelations part is the main reason I'll be keeping the book when the time comes to choose what stays and what goes.

The book collects together The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol 2) #37-45.

Verdict:

Volume 21: The Amazing Spider-Man: Coming Home

The Amazing Spider-Man: Coming Home

Author: J. Michael Straczynski  |  Illustrator: John Romita, Jr.

"We tell stories, put on masks, build statues and say prayers to a memory."

Have I mentioned elsewhere that the books were released to shops out of order? I'm not sure. But they were. Volume 21 was the first issue, the one that started TUGNC and set a benchmark for the entire series. It was a hell of a good start! J. M. Straczynski nailed it.

It's about the adult Peter Parker, not the wise-cracking teen. He's separated from his wife, and living in a small apartment. It's a temporary, transitional period, but anyone who's been in that same situation knows that the weeks can become months, even years. If Peter is to bounce back, then he'll need to adjust to a new routine.

When not in the suit, Peter has time on his hands to think. JMS uses the time to explore the character's origins: who Peter is, why he is, why he feels like he does, and how he fits into a world that he tries to shape. It's a scenario I can very much relate to; when your own life is shit you sometimes find situations that enable you to improve the life of others, hoping to achieve a kind of universal balance in order to reinforce the belief that the world is worth saving from itself.

In a way, it reworks the character from the ground up, turning the familiar into something new and equally wonderful. It's not a disrespectful approach. The event that changed Peter Parker is exactly the same, but we view it differently, we're given a new plateau upon which to stand and have the benefit of onlooker-hindsight.

That's all I'm willing to say about the story. It's best if you go into it without expectations; not because it won't meet them, but because the story is structured to work upon a reader that way. It's so well-written that I suspect even folks who are unwilling to accept the philosophical side of things will be unable to forget it completely.

As is often the case with J. M. Straczynski's best works, the dilemmas and resolutions have a power that lingers even after the book is closed (or the TV episode ends); the questions and concepts are revisited on a more personal level during the small hours. One such conclusion is that to progress through life it's necessary to use all our available strengths in precise, calculated ways that are tailored to meet each new challenge - but even a perceived weakness can become its own opposite in a time of crisis.

The book collects together The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #30-35.

Verdict:

Volume 20: Ultimate Spider-Man: Power and Responsibility

Ultimate Spider-Man: Power and Responsibility

Author: Brian Michael Bendis | Illustrator: Mark Bagley

'I was selfish. So selfish — and you paid the price.'

Marvel were in financial difficulty back in the late 90's. The ULTIMATE line was a make or break concept that saw them reboot some of their most popular franchises for a potential new audience. It was a complete wiping clean of the slate, resetting characters back to day one. They didn't abandon the existing books; the new ones ran concurrently with a separate continuity that kept the core values but left behind all the baggage.
In the case of Spider-Man they made him 15 again; he's an adolescent in an adult world, on the verge of learning real responsibility for his actions. It was the most daring, freshest thing to happen to the character in many, many years. And luckily for Marvel it was instrumental in saving their ass financially.
More titles followed, including Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and an Avengers style team-up called The Ultimates.

Click the drop-down box above for some brief information about the Ultimate line of superheroes and how they fit into the existing Marvel world. It's not essential to what follows, so you can ignore it if you’re not interested or if you already know.

There's no flaffing around in Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man. It introduces the teenage Peter Parker, his friends and family, sets up the relationship he has with each of them and gives a glimpse of the world in which they all exist, then BANG! The spider bite, the transformation, and the crux of the story takes hold.

Comics are often filled with narrative boxes that document what a character is feeling; it gives a reader an insight into the head-space of the hero, but an over-reliance on them can be a crutch. Bendis makes use of them, it's difficult not to, but he keeps them at a minimum in the early stages. What he does instead is revert to a 'show don’t tell' attitude that gives the story a real vibrancy and immediacy; it filled me with a desire to get to the next page as hurriedly as possible, which is the opposite of what I normally do because I like to take in all aspects of the work (construction, style, art, etc).

Artist Mark Bagley understood the approach and fills his panels with everything necessary to communicate the unspoken parts. In just a few pages writer and artist show Peter's isolation, Mary Jane's compassion, Harry Osborn's arrogance, Uncle Ben's paternal longing, and Aunt May's stern but sensitive role-play.

I know Bendis has his haters, but I would argue that when he didn't dilute himself across multiple titles he was damn good at what he did.

If you want a Spider-Man origin story that closely resembles the Sam Raimi film version, and you want a great comic that starts strong and keeps on giving, then Ultimate Spidey is highly recommended.

The book collects together Ultimate Spider-Man #1–7.

Verdict: