Comic Book Review: Dark Wolverine #80
Written By: khal 
27. Nov, 2009 
2 Comments
If there’s one Marvel character I have to say is my favorite (outside of Deapdool, of course), it’s undeniably Wolverine. He was, to myself and many other comic heads, the motherfucking SHIT! Total bad-ass, from the way he talked to anyone (including his X-Men family) to the way he merked his foes. I hadn’t seen any of the X-Men films, but I went to (and ultimately fell asleep watching) X-Men Origins: Wolverine. When I got back into comics a few months ago, and found out that Logan had a gay/bi-sexual son who heads up the Dark Avengers by the name of Daken, I was intrigued. I used to cop a buttload of Wolverine comics, and found a good bit of his backstory, so I definitely wanted to pick up the latest Wolverine comics, which are now called Dark Wolverine, and feature Daken’s rise in the Dark Reign series. Allow me to never make that mistake again…
See, the thing about Dark Reign and these other Osborn-centric comics, they end up not being so much about the character, but about feeding the beast that is Dark Reign (luckily, with the Siege coming soon, we can get out of some of the funks these comics have been in). Daken is essentially Wolverine-lite: he is pissed off, moody, cunning and what not, but without all of the Weapon X mystique and genuine bad-assedness. This issue is an Osborn cover-up job; he tries to clean up his and Daken’s image in the media by staging a rescue/explosion that will make him look great on TV. While they get the shot(s) they desire, Daken still screws the pooch, and nothing really gets solved. You’ll be amazed at how quickly they plod through the angle to get towards the inevitable end.
Oddly enough, Daniel Way is a principle writer on this issue, and his work on Deadpool is fucking brilliant. This? I guess you can’t win ‘em all. Dialogue is corny, the story is inconsistent and predictable, but the comic is saved by some slick art. Only reason to check for this one IMO.
End of the day, I give this one a D for being as pointless as it really is. If you want a Wolverine comic, grab the Wolverine: Weapon X series, which just put out #7 and is a great throwback to the Wolvie rags of old.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Amazing Spider-Man #613
Hulk #17
Classic Deadpool Vol. 3
loading...
ConvoTrack
In fairness, I picked up the Dark Wolverine HC the other week, and it’s pretty damn good. Sounds like they’re hitting filler spots with this one though.
loading...
finally, somebody else that likes Daken… i can’t remember how many reviewers i read that want him to croak during SIEGE. i was never certain i liked any of his appearances before Dark Wolverine, but i can tell you i certainly loathed the Dark Avengers apps.
the way Way and Liu treat Daken now in the main Wolverine title is probably how the fans of Ares, Marvel Boy, Moonstone, Sentry, Venom want their favorite characters treated; you know: badass, morally ambiguous with a lean toward evil, independent…
looking at Greg Land’s cover of #80, though, you might think Daken’d zap the baby. hmmm, oh, i guess i didn’t read your entire article before responding.
oh well.
i think some readers will look at the second story arc (beginning with #78) and think “filler”, but Daken manipulating and double-crossing everyone through his Osborn-doctored media coverage is genius;
the fact that we can’t exactly tell who narrates the story in one ish (we think it’s Daken) is due to the writers and their ability to confuse and shuffle the facts around for the reader is also pretty cool. it seems that Way and Liu also intended to “stick” the reader to follow the stories to their end.
i found the issues entertaining and somewhat unpredictable.
seriously, i like this treatment of Dark Wolverine more than i like the way Marvel is currently handling og Wolverine.
loading...