Wolverine Paperback – January 1, 2009

Collects Wolverine 1-4, Uncanny X-Men 172-173After enjoying Hugh Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine in the X-Men films, I was looking forward to reading his first solo appearance in comics. Wolverine is an enjoyable and memorable story of romance and action that leaves a lasting impression.The story follows Wolverine's return to Japan to visit his old flame, and what follows is a story that breaks Wolverine down and builds him back up again in a way that will make you unable to resist audibly cheering for him as he fights to regain his honor and discover his own humanity. This comic feels like a perfect blend between old and new styles of the medium: the pencils by the talented (not yet legendary when this was first published) Frank Miller evoke a modern sensibility, while the colors are old-fashioned, but still have a coherent palate. Claremont uses plenty of internal monologue to convey Wolvie's thoughts and feelings as the story progresses, and it works quite well. One can't help but wonder if Frank Miller picked up on this style and later used it to great effect in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One. The art and writing converge to near perfection near the end of the third issue, including what might be one of my favorite pages in all of comics, and perhaps the one page that would define who Wolverine is more than any other. You'll know it when you read it: it's good stuff.The two issues from Uncanny X-Men are nice to have from a value standpoint, but ultimately unnecessary and less serious than the limited series that precedes it in the trade. They focus on the aftermath of the events in Wolverine on the X-Men and are ultimately forgettable on their own. If you are a fan of the X-Men you may get more mileage out of these. Frank Miller is NOT the artist on these issues, which is unfortunate because his pencils were quite good on Wolverine. Still, you can't complain about added extras when they don't detract from the main event.Wolverine is a fascinating and exciting read that I would recommend to anyone who has an interest in the character. It was an excellent starting point for me personally, having no prior knowledge about Wolvie from comic books, only from the movies. It is a story that you will want to read again after finishing it. It's just that good.Read it if you like: Hugh Jackman's portrayal, Japanese culture, Good Sequential Art and StorytellingDon't read it if you dislike: Added bloat in the form of extra issues (although I don't believe that they take away from the actual story, and I'll take all the value I can get)

This is a perfect book for me as I read it way back when I was a lot younger and after losing my copy I found myself becoming reacquainted once more as I have ordered myself another copy and have no regrets about that whatsoever thank you!!!

I must admit I had my doubts. I've never been a huge fan of Wolverine (or the X-Men in general) and was afraid so short a story (4 issues) would be unsatifsying. I'd never heard of Chris Claremont but am a HUGE fan of Frank Miller so I was willing to take a gamble. I'm glad I did!Much like his runs on Daredevil and Batman, Miller changed the way Wolverine was portrayed. While the book claims Claremont wrote the script I can't help but think Frank helped out quite a bit. The tone doesn't sound like the other Claremont stories in this collection...it sounds exactly like Miller's style. But whoever wrote it: it's good!Wolverine is transformed from his original incarnation as a psychotic killer into a...more sensative psychotic killer. The plot seems a little rushed in places but it's worth the few minutes it might take to grasp why everone is doing what they're doing (and once you get it, it's actually quite elaborate for such a short story). The fight scenes are awesome and the emotional/dramatic scenes play just as well.The "extra" two issues in the back lack the depth of the first four. The art (not by Miller) is much weaker and even the writing looses the beauty and the character depth (but it's supposed to be the same author??).Bottom line: I really enjoyed it and if you like Wolverine, Miller, or Japaneese culture...I think you will too!

This is a great story by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. Anyone who is familiar with Frank Miller's work only from things like Sin City, 300 and later will be shocked when they see this Miller art. It's really fantastic. It was pretty much Dark Knight Returns which started him in the direction he is going now. Before that it was less stylized and more realistic. In these Wolverine issues you can really see his incredible skill as an artist.Interestingly, I own a regular Kindle and this was a Kindle Deal of the Day. I was curious if comics worked on just a regular Kindle and this was only a couple bucks, so I tried it. I look forward to the day that I can read it in full color, but to be honest, I was pretty impressed with the way it worked on the regular Kindle screen. It is small and black and white, but with just a pair of reading glasses, I had absolutely no problem following it just scrolling through the book. The only time it got a little difficult was with long thin panels. In order for some of them to fit on the screen they end up pretty small and its harder to read words. But for a couple buck, who cares? It worked fine.

He’s the best there is at what he does…and what he does best isn’t very nice! Something from before he was mainstream, something that laid the groundwork for his immense appeal.

As a wolverine fan It's essential to have this in your collection.

Ja,was soll man dazu noch sagen? Es war damals der erste Solo-Run Wolverines.In 4 Teilen erzählt. Wolverine geht nach Japan, und das aus Gründen der Liebe!Es kommt natürlich zu Komplikationen, pi pa po. Ihr wisst ja, Wolverine regeltdas schon, aber auf spannende Weise ;-)Eigentlich ist mir die Story nur 4 Sterne wert.Wieso vergebe ich aber nun einen zusätzlichen Stern? Es ist der Fakt,dass dieser Sammelband noch zusätzlich Uncanny X-Men Teile 172 und 173 enthält.Diese beiden Teile finde ich tatsächlich noch spannender von der Geschichte herals den Wolverine Solo-Lauf!Ein paar der X-Men kommen nach Japan, wo sich Wolverine noch aufhält. Dort geratensie natürlich in Schwierigkeiten. Es ist auch das erste Mal, dass Wolverine Rogue als eineder X-Men kennenlernt, und ihr natürlich erstmal total skeptisch begegnet.Ich will gar nicht ins Detail gehen. Lest es einfach selbst!

This was the mini series that solidified my love for Wolverine. Epic tale.I have the original individual issues and this makes for an awesome compliment to my digital collection.

História sensacional! Todos deveriam lê-la, até para entender um pouco do Wolverine!Material muito bom, páginas boas e lombada quadrada. Traz um belo e interessante prefácio não só sobre o personagem, mas a construção dele pelos autores e suas reflexões!