WOLVERINE #144 - November 1999

First Cut!

Credits: Erik Larsen & Eric Stephenson (writers), Mike Miller (penciler), Vince Russell (inker), Marie Javins & Joe Rosas (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Wolverine dons his costume for the first time to go on a trial mission for Department H. He’s suddenly kidnapped during the test by the Leader, who’s also abducted Hercules and Karkas. Leader explains his plan to use them against the Hulk, not counting on Wolverine to sneak out of his bonds. Wolverine, Hercules, and Karkas defeat the Leader, and after Wolverine eventually returns to Canada, he’s eager to accept his first official mission -- stopping the Hulk. In the present day, Dum Dum Dugan sends Wolverine on yet another mission against the Hulk.

Continuity Notes:

· The Leader’s appearance in this flashback is set shortly after Marvel Feature #11.

· Unlike the Guts and Glory one-shot, this story understands that Wolverine’s first mission in costume was his battle against the Hulk and Wendigo, detailed in Incredible Hulk #180-181. The story has to label that fight his first “official” mission in order for these events to fit, however.

· Wolverine comments that Alpha Flight was behaving oddly during his previous encounter with them, and that he might need to investigate in the future. This was likely a line thrown in to give Larsen/Stephenson some room for a few retcons following complaints about the previous arc.

Review: I think this issue comes the closest to capturing the Bronze Age feel Larsen tried to bring to Wolverine during his brief stint. It’s fun to read, not only because the story pits Wolverine against an unlikely opponent with even more unlikely allies, but also because the character’s voice feels more natural, and the art isn’t cluttered or rushed. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t consider Mike Miller a welcome replacement for Leinil Francis Yu, but it’s obvious he understands how to choreograph complicated fight scenes in a way Yu can’t grasp. He also isn’t inconsistently lavishing great detail on a few characters while leaving sketchy stick figures in the background; every page of the comic is well-constructed and all of the figures look appropriately fleshed out. Is there a point to doing a prequel to Wolverine’s first fight with the Hulk? Not really, unless you count a mini-crossover with Hulk #8 enough justification for another Wolverine flashback story, but it is honestly entertaining.

WOLVERINE #143 - October 1999

Rebirth

Credits: Erik Larsen & Eric Stephenson (writers), Leinil Francis Yu (penciler), Dexter Vines (inker), Marie Javins (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Wolverine helps Vindicator and his duplicate escape, while Kane is sent to stop them. Wolverine battles Kane as Vindicator frees the rest of Alpha Flight. During their escape, they discover that AIM has Snowbird’s body in suspended animation. With the help of Vindicator’s duplicate, AIM is chased away. Unfortunately, the battle suit Vindicator’s duplicate stole from AIM during the battle is severely damaged. The ensuing explosion kills the duplicate.

Continuity Notes: Snowbird’s resurrection was controversial at the time, apparently because Sasquatch was living in her old body by the end of Alpha Flight. Her teammates somehow forget this throughout the story.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority: Heather Hudson’s revealing costume is toned down again, as her exposed flesh is colored gray throughout the issue.

Review: Larsen and Stephenson’s ham-fisted revival of the original Alpha Flight continues, as the teenage Vindicator from Steven Seagal’s run is killed, Snowbird’s previous continuity is ignored in favor of a quickie resurrection, and the team is reunited to face once again the shadowy elements of Department H. I think the only people really invested in this would be hardcore Alpha Flight fans, and as I mentioned earlier, they all seemed to hate this arc. Wolverine has rarely interacted with Alpha Flight since the early ‘80s, so the only element of the story that might interest X-fans of this era would be the appearance by Kane. Instead of carrying on Nicieza’s characterization of the reluctant soldier, Larsen and Stephenson present him as a mindless drone for AIM. And Leinil Francis Yu has seen fit to give him a spiky ponytail. It’s obvious the story is hinting that he’s been brainwashed, but no confirmation is given and he simply disappears when it’s time for the fighting to be over. So, more “MYSTERY!” instead of an actual plot.

Loose Ends

Credits: Eric Stephenson (writer), Rob Jensen (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Gina Going (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Alpha Flight studies the reanimated body of Snowbird. Sasquatch theorizes that Snowbird’s mystic body has a healing factor similar to Wolverine’s. Vindicator suddenly realizes why AIM was so interested in Snowbird; he suggests they’re exploiting her as the connection between science and the supernatural.

Review: This is a backup story designed to fit in all of the exposition that couldn’t be worked into the main story, which was mainly concerned with poorly choreographed fight scenes. I was a bit relieved to see Jensen take over as artist for a few pages; there’s nothing flashy about his work, but his figures are well-constructed and his storytelling is clear. The story is just there to hint at horrible things this faction of AIM is supposedly up to, and I’m going to take a shot in the dark and guess that none of these hints are paid off before Larsen/Stephenson leave the book.

WOLVERINE #142 - September 1999

Reunion!

Credits: Erik Larsen & Eric Stephenson (writers), Lenil Francis Yu (penciler), Dexter Vines & Scott Kiblish (inkers), Glynis Oliver (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Wolverine teams with Alpha Flight to rescue Mac Hudson and his synthoid duplicate from AIM. Wolverine escapes as the team is gassed, and soon locates Mac and his duplicate in a lab. MODOK refuses to send more AIM agents after Wolverine; instead he calls upon the current Weapon X, Kane.

Continuity Notes: Inexplicably, Alpha Flight now consists of the original team. A throwaway explanation reveals that the previous incarnation of Alpha Flight has been downgraded to the training team Beta Flight. Heather Hudson also reveals that her relationship with Puck is now over, although they remain friends.

Creative Differences: Notice that the colorist has given Heather Hudson a more modest costume on the cover.

“Huh?” Moments: Wolverine uses “Crikey!” as an exclamation. Slightly more defensible is his use of “Criminey!” later in the issue, but that’s bizarre, too. MODOK also has this dialogue in his opening appearance: “Leadin’ them…that is the mutant Wolverine, is it not?” Since when does MODOK drop “G”s?

Review: Erik Larsen was pretty open about how much he hated almost everything Marvel did in the ‘90s, so it’s not a big surprise that he’s revived the original lineup of Alpha Flight (more famously, he wanted to reveal that the ‘90s Elektra had been a Skrull in a throwaway gag in Nova). Going about it in such an indolent manner is a mistake though, considering that a lot of continuity work would be required to fix all of the ridiculous changes forced upon the original cast. In this issue, we’re just supposed to accept the new-old team, which makes about as much sense as the X-Men suddenly reappearing in their 1963 forms next month. And even if you’re a hardcore Alpha Flight fan and don’t care how exactly the original members have returned, I doubt you’re too thrilled with the formerly demure Heather Hudson prancing around in an outfit straight out of a Penthouse cover. The only redeeming factors in the issue are Lenil Francis Yu’s intricate renditions of AIM technology and the striking new outfits he’s designed for AIM’s soldiers. Unfortunately, he doesn’t give the fight scenes the same attention, so many of them are poorly choreographed and hard to follow.

WOLVERINE #141 - August 1999

Broken Dreams

Credits: Erik Larsen & Eric Stephenson (writers), Lenil Francis Yu (penciler), Dexter Vines (inker), Marie Javins (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: At Xavier’s behest, Wolverine performs a computer test at Gen X’s school. Gateway materializes and abruptly teleports Wolverine and Jubilee to the Swiss Alps. They find sanctuary inside Cable’s chalet, unaware that it’s now occupied by Donald Pierce, who’s used Cable’s technology and database to build a suit of adamantium armor. Wolverine attacks, but their battle is interrupted by the mysterious Khyber. Khyber targets Pierce, destroying Cable’s chalet during their fight. He emerges with Pierce’s body and teleports away. Wolverine and Jubilee are left in the cold, waiting for Gateway to create another portal.

Continuity Notes:

· Pierce discovered Cable’s Swiss hideout after Sebastian Shaw left him for dead in Cable #53. He claims that he stumbled upon Cable’s abandoned sky cycle, which carried him to the chalet.

· Synch leads Generation X (sans Jubilee) in an impromptu attack on Wolverine. Synch claims it was merely a training exercise, but Jubilee has a suspicion that something else was going on. I have no idea if this was ever resolved, but it’s quickly forgotten this issue.

Review: Larsen’s entered a pattern of one-issue action stories that pair Wolverine with members of the various X-teams. This could work, but it runs the danger of quickly turning the book into a series of disposable Wolverine Team-Up stories, which is what this issue mostly feels like. Of course there’s nothing wrong with pitting Wolverine and Jubilee against Donald Pierce, especially if another book has already gone though the effort of reviving him. As this issue points out, he’s the villain Wolverine and Jubilee fought against during their first meeting, so using him as the antagonist elicits emotions that, say, a Sauron fight probably wouldn’t produce. And, while I’m not sure who exactly is responsible for writing the first-person captions, I’ll give them credit for doing a nice job with Jubilee’s narration. Her boredom with high school life and desire to return to the X-Men was dropped ages ago in Generation X¸ but I’m glad someone thought to revive it.

The problem is that this is yet another issue that has Wolverine randomly running into trouble with another X-character, trouble that somehow involves a mysterious figure sneaking away with no explanation. Khyber is…apparently a cyborg that maybe looks like Wolverine…I guess? (Yu’s art isn’t very clear.) He’s also wearing a costume reminiscent of the one Wolverine will be wearing a few months from now when he’s brainwashing into becoming Death…so is that significant? Who knows. All we know is that he hates Donald Pierce, which conveniently leads to him finishing Wolverine’s fight and then teleporting away. Add this to the pointless Gen X fight in the issue’s opening, which the story goes out of its way to point out as odd, and you’re left with a comic that seems to be killing pages and lazily concluding stories with no explanation outside of “MYSTERY!” Although the dialogue is much less painful, this is far too reminiscent of the stunts Howard Mackie was pulling on X-Factor during that series’ nadir.

WOLVERINE #136 - March 1999

Trust

Credits: Erik Larsen (story), Erik Larsen & Eric Stephenson (script), Jeff Matsuda (penciler), Jonathan Sibal (inker), Jason Wright (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Aria is knocked unconscious and sent back to her cell, where an Ovoid returns her consciousness to her body. Torgo escorts Wolverine to his cell, un-handcuffed, hoping that he’ll see the nobility of the Collector’s plans. His fellow captives attack Wolverine, until they realize that he’s an X-Man and not in league with Torgo. Meanwhile, the Collector receives frightening news from space. The Starjammers have also learned information that’s forced them to side against Wolverine.

Review: More aliens, more pointless fight scenes, and more subpar Jeff Matsuda art. We’ve reached our first Star Wars reference, though, which is amazing when you consider that this is the fourth chapter of the story. It is fun to see characters like Torgo (an alien robot from Fantastic Four #91, as a footnote and flashback helpfully inform us) in a Wolverine story, plus Larsen gets continuity points for bringing back one of the asparagus people killed by Dark Phoenix, and for using an Ovoid to transfer Aria back to her proper body. The Marvel Cosmic material isn’t a bad change of pace, but this plot is still extremely thin, and Jeff Matsuda doesn’t seem too interested in drawing it sometimes. The hints about a vague cosmic threat do add some intrigue to the tired story, but it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out who it’s going to be. And as much as the online fans already hated this story at the time, the final two chapters with the big purple menace just sent them over the edge.

YOUNGBLOOD #10 - December 1994

Credits: Rob Liefeld (story & art), Eric Stephenson (script & edits), Danny Miki & Jonathan Sibal (inks), Christian Lichtner, Kiko Taganashi, & Extreme Color (colors), Kurt Hathaway (letters)

Summary: Chapel demands that Spawn reveal how he cheated death, or more of his friends will die. Spawn explains his deal with a devil, which emboldens Chapel. Confident that death won’t stop him either, he puts a gun to his head and commits suicide. Meanwhile, Youngblood finishes its battle with Maddock. Their telepath, Psilence, senses the coming of a great darkness, as Chapel arrives in Hell.

Todd Rob Talk: Rob Liefeld has a column called “Robservations.” Why didn’t I know about this sooner? He speaks about the holiday season in the past tense, even though this issue is cover-dated for December, and promises announcements about new television and movie projects soon. He also announces this is the last issue of Youngblood for a while, as he’s begun work on a Badrock solo series.

Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority: The word “ass” is censored, even though it was used in the first chapter of this storyline. Aside from the excessive amount of decapitations during Youngblood’s fight, there’s also a gruesome two-page spread dedicated to Chapel’s face getting blown off. Liefeld thanks Stephen Platt for the “layout assistance and inspiration” for the spread.

Review: In case you’re wondering, issue #9 was the Image-X issue (a Badrock solo story by Jim Valentino, which ignored the cliffhanger Badrock was involved with in the previous issue). After what was likely a wait of several months, the Chapel/Spawn is finally finished. “Fight” probably isn’t the most accurate word, since they have no physical contact with one another during either issue. Oh, well. A lot of homeless people died, so at least the kids got some violence. Chapel’s death scene is utterly ridiculous, but there’s something I like about it. If any of Al Simmons’ friends knew he was alive, of course they would want to know how he cheated death. Chapel, apparently, has always been a psychopath, so having him commit suicide in the delusion he can get the same deal Spawn got makes a perverse amount of sense. He doesn’t even want to wait for death…he’s going to make that deal now! It’s so flagrantly dumb, I can’t help but to admire it.

YOUNGBLOOD #8 - September 1994

Credits: Rob Liefeld (story & art), Eric Stephenson (script & edits), Danny Miki & Jonathan Sibal (inks), Kiko Taganashi, Donald Skinner, & Andre Khromov (colors), Kurt Hathaway (letters)

Summary: As Youngblood faces the evil Maddock, former member Chapel stalks the alleys of New York. He shoots Spawn’s friend Bobby in the head during his killing spree of the homeless. Chapel confronts Spawn, taunting him to use his powers in a fight, or to heal his friends.

Spawntinuity: Bobby is usually spelled "Bobbie" in Spawn. Chapel claims he’s killed several of Spawn’s friends, although Bobby and new (unseen) character “Chas” are the only ones listed by name.

Review: So it’s come to this…Youngblood. I have no intention of reviewing all of Spawn’s guest appearances from Image’s early days (this site has a comprehensive list if you’re interested), but this storyline directly crosses over into the Spawn series, so I thought I’d give it a look for completism’s sake. What else would you expect to find in Youngblood? It’s insanely violent, various cast members are blatant clones of Marvel characters (did you know there’s an Image knockoff of Sabretooth called “Warwolf”?), everyone has too many teeth and veins around their necks, and all of the heroes and villains are oozing either blood or saliva during the fight scenes. As unappealing as all of this is, I could see how an adolescent might be interested in it. The issue opens with Youngblood avenging the deaths of three members, which isn’t something Avengers would probably give you (and it’s one way to take advantage of Liefeld’s propensity to create a dozen characters at a time, although I doubt all of the characters were allowed to die). And as tough and nasty as Wolverine might be, he isn’t going to go on a killing spree of the homeless just to get the attention of an old rival he hasn’t seen in a while.

I’m amazed that this is Youngblood volume one, and it’s only on issue number eight. Spawn started a few months after Youngblood and was in its mid-twenties by this point. I realize Liefeld diverted his focus to numerous other titles (the Extreme Checklist in this issue has seven additional series being released this month), but I didn’t know Youngblood shipped so rarely in the early days. A spinoff, Team Youngblood, is already on issue eleven! How did a spinoff reach a higher issue count than the original series?

X-FORCE/YOUNGBLOOD #1 - August 1996

Credits: Eric Stephenson & Robert Napton (writers), Stephen Platt, Dan Fraga, Richard Horie, Ching Lau, Michael Linchang, Mark Pajarillo, & Andy Park (pencilers), Marlo Alquiza, Eric Cannon, Robert Lacko, Sean Parsons, Norm Rapmund, & Lary Stucker (inkers), Kurt Hathaway (letters), Dan Shadian, Extreme Color, & Quantum Color (colors)

Summary: X-Force rejoins Ricochet Rita in the fight against Mojo. Mojo enlists the aid of Youngblood’s enemies, the Four, to squelch the rebellion. Meanwhile, Youngblood member Sentinel develops a transdimensional accelerator that enables the team to return to Mojoworld. With Youngblood’s help, X-Force defeats the Four. The heroes are shocked when Dazzler emerges from Youngblood’s craft. She takes Shaft and Shatterstar to Mojo’s dungeon to release Longshot, as the united teams confront Mojo. Outmatched, Mojo triggers an explosion. Badrock and Caliban protect their teammates from the debris, but Mojo escapes.

Continuity Notes: Dazzler reveals that she was actually Mojo’s servant, the Agent, from the first chapter of the crossover. After Mojo’s nexus in the Extreme Universe was destroyed, his magic wore off and she returned to normal. She hid out in Youngblood’s ship and emerged when they reached Mojoworld.

Gimmicks: There’s an alternate cover by Rob Liefeld that manages to get the title mixed up.

I Love the ‘90s: Badrock calls breaking through a wall his impression of the sitcom Home Improvement.

Review: Okay, this one is the mess you were probably expecting. I’ll start with the art. Apparently, each individual pouch on a character’s costume required its own artist, so approximately nine thousand people were brought in to draw this thing. The issue opens with Stephen Platt doing his standard McFarlane/Adams impersonation:

It ain’t pretty, but you at least have the impression that some effort went into this. As the story progresses, the amount of detail lines drop, and the composition somehow manages to get even worse:

By the time you reach the final pages, the art looks like a napkin sketch that was blown up to standard comic size:

Why, it’s almost as if the book was thrown together at the last minute to meet a deadline.

The first chapter of the crossover was at least coherent and enjoyable on its own terms. This just reads like a generic team-up of generic ‘90s heroes fighting generically ugly ‘90s villains. The wit of Stephenson’s first script is gone, as the characters are now incredibly stiff and barely anyone shows signs of a personality. Not only is the plot an awkward fit with the first chapter (Ricochet Rita is given a lot of attention in the opening, while Mojo II, a fairly prominent character in the first chapter, has just disappeared in-between issues…plus, the idea that Badrock would be a “savior” to Mojoworld is forgotten), but it also introduces ideas seemingly at random that are never resolved.

After the issue opens with a lengthy monologue by Ricochet Rita, lamenting Dazzler’s death, Rita disappears without explanation. Dazzler’s “death” is resolved, but Longshot is thrown into the story for no real reason. He’s freed during the final pages, as Mojo escapes the fight, and has literally nothing to do. There’s also an abortive plot thread about Shatterstar, Siryn, and Warpath abandoning Cable during the fight with Mojo’s minions because they feel he’s wasting time. Shatterstar perks up when he hears Longshot’s name, reviving the long-forgotten hint that he’s Shatterstar’s father, but it’s another idea that isn’t addressed by the story’s end. Another abandoned idea is the concept that the X-Force and Youngblood team-up is actually helping Mojo, since it boosts his ratings. There’s no resolution, as the issue just ends with a big explosion and another hint that a sequel is on the way. The story isn’t as much of a mess as the art, but it’s close. It’s a shame, since the first installment proved that these comics don’t have to suck.

YOUNGBLOOD/X-FORCE #1 - July 1996

Smokin’ Mojo

Credits: Eric Stephenson (writer), Roger Cruz (penciler), Lary Stucker (inker), Steve Dutro & Kurt Hathaway (letters), Dan Shadian & Extreme Color (colors)

Summary: A representative of Mojo, the Agent, tricks the members of Youngblood into signing contracts that take them to Mojoworld. Youngblood’s leader, Shaft, escapes through a portal that takes him to the Marvel Universe. He lands in the Danger Room, where he’s confronted by the X-Men and X-Force. Professor Xavier confirms that he isn’t a threat, and Cable declares that X-Force will aid Shaft. Meanwhile, Major Domo informs Mojo that Youngblood will be Mojoworld’s new ratings champions, and that their world is ripe for exploitation. Ricochet Rita and Mojo II offer to aid Youngblood, as X-Force arrives with Shaft. The united teams split up to destroy Mojo’s teleportation nexuses in Mojoworld and Youngblood’s reality. With the aid of the Extreme Universe’s heroes, they succeed. X-Force disappears back into their reality, as Badrock ponders if he should go back and overthrow Mojo. Elsewhere, Mojo is ecstatic with his ratings and plans a sequel with more Extreme heroes.

Continuity Notes: The members of Youngblood are Shaft, Vogue, Riptide, Badrock, Diehard, and Knightsabre. The story takes place right before the Onslaught crossover, so X-Force consists of Cable, Domino, Sunspot, Meldown, Shatterstar, Caliban, Siryn, and Warpath. Shatterstar’s past with Mojo is used as Cable’s justification for X-Force taking on the mission. When freeing the Extreme Universe heroes from prison, Cable runs into someone from his past. His name is Bravo, and he’s an exact duplicate of Cable. I don’t know if this is an actual Extreme character, or a parody of the dozens of Extreme characters who look like Cable.

I Love the ‘90s: Beast laments that he’s never able to watch “Regis and Kathy Lee” when Shaft arrives.

Review: This is another Image crossover, made possible by Marvel’s “Heroes Reborn” deal with Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. Liefeld didn’t finish “Heroes Reborn,” and he left Image during this time, but that didn’t stop a collection of Extreme/Marvel Universe crossovers from being released (including one I only recently discovered…Cable/Prophet). First of all, I will say that this is not a terrible-looking comic. I realize that’s extremely faint praise, but the idea of a 1996 Youngblood/X-Force crossover is probably going to evoke images of a horrid Liefeld-clone setting a world’s record for the highest number of clinched teeth in a comic. The art comes from Roger Cruz, still in his Joe Mad fan club days. It seems like he only provided rough pencils and the inker simply didn’t flesh them out. There’s barely any shading throughout the comic, and it occasionally seems as if the lines connecting the figures are barely meeting. At the same time, this prevents any of the ugly, excessive crosshatching of the ‘90s. So, not terrible, but rushed. Visually, the only aspect that’s truly ugly is some of the lettering. Random pages of the book go from traditional hand lettering to an amateurish attempt at computer lettering and the result is a mess.

The story parallels the art. Not as bad as you probably expected, but it’s not exactly setting a new standard for inter-company crossovers. I’ve only read a few Eric Stephenson comics, but I do know he has his fans and tends to be viewed as one of the few talented writers to be working at Image in the early days. Some aspects of the plot don’t work at all if you dwell on them (Why would Mojo’s portal take Shaft directly to the Danger Room? How exactly does X-Force reach Mojoworld?), but the majority of the story works as standard superheroics. Stephenson seems to have a grasp on all of the characters, and he even uses Shatterstar’s long-forgotten original motivation to justify X-Force’s role in the story. I get the impression that I would have more fun with this if I had any investment in the Extreme Universe, but Stephenson does at least give most of Youngblood’s members a tiny bit of personality. Connecting Youngblood, the media stars of their world, to Mojoworld’s “ratings equal power” gimmick makes sense and it works as a natural segue into the X-Universe.

Stephenson throws in a lot of meta-commentary, which even makes the often-tedious Mojoworld slightly more amusing (at least the members of Youngblood get annoyed with the constant media references). At one point, Mojo declares Youngblood the solution to disinterest in the X-Men, who aren’t the ratings champs they once were. I’m surprised Marvel let this one slip through, since it’s not exactly a hidden swipe at the line. Besides, it’s not even true. The X-books were still dominant in 1996, and any hopes that the new breed of Image heroes would replace Marvel and DC were pretty much gone by this point. At any rate, this was more enjoyable than I would’ve expected, and I’m actually curious about how the other crossovers turned out.