DEATHBLOW & WOLVERINE #2 - February 1997

Credits: Aron Wiesenfeld (story & breakdowns), Richard Bennett (finishes), Mike Heisler (letters), Monica Bennett (colors)

Summary: The mysterious man transports Deathblow and Wolverine to a mystical library where they meet the Librarian, a figure from Chinese folklore. The robed figure explains that Sung Li is the descendant of a priestess who placed the souls of her tribe in an urn. Sung has reached maturity and now has the power to bring these Chinese warriors to life. Descendants of the tribe want Sung to revive the warriors and have brought the urn to Chinatown. Its presence is causing the residents to behave oddly. Wolverine and Deathblow return to San Francisco, where they locate the urn and rescue Sung. After saying goodbye to Deathblow, Wolverine reveals to Sung that he knows she’s the Librarian. Sung claims that she was never using Wolverine, but he chooses to leave anyway.

Review: Well, of course Sung Li couldn’t just be a normal girl. Characters with foreign backgrounds are legally required to have ties to whatever folklore might be associated with their homelands. If the first issue didn’t make it clear, it’s now obvious that this mini is essentially an “art book” and the story isn’t a major concern. It is a ‘90s Image comic, after all. Although a few pages are spent on detailing the plot, the majority of the issue is dedicated to dialogue-less fight scenes. The parallels with the original Claremont/Miller Wolverine miniseries are more obvious now, as an extended sequence gives us several shots of Wolverine fighting a horde of ninjas against a white background (Miller’s cover of the Wolverine trade paperback). Although the art isn’t as finely detailed as the first issue’s, this is a nice looking comic. Is the art enough to carry the thin story? Not exactly, although I think the story is bland more than it is terrible. (The only major issue would be the lack of resolution to the story of Deathblow’s missing friend. The plot thread isn’t even brought up, which is ridiculous since it’s the reason why Deathblow is involved in this story in the first place.) Two issues of extended ninja fight scenes are a little much, but I probably wouldn’t have minded if it was just a one-shot. It is curious that Image produced a Deathblow/Wolverine team-up that was essentially a Wolverine story guest-starring Deathblow. I wonder how Deathblow’s fans felt about this.