Wolverine: Origins #1 Synopsis [Spoilers]

[Arkady Rossovich]

Here's an overview of what goes on:

Wolverine's in the classic costume on the cliff with the Muramasa Blade.

The Secretary of the U.S. gives Dugan flak for the Wolverine-on-the-loose-with-his-memories situation. Dugan blows her off, but realizes he'll be the scapegoat "if this whole thing goes to hell in a handbasket, which it damn near already has."

A red alert sounds as White House comms are down all across the board. We see a shadow of Wolverine with some severed electrical lines (the White House security is flimsy enough that you can cut one wire to stop it?).

The Secret Service starts to escort the President out of the building, but pushes the secretary to the side telling her to "move!" unceremoniously.

Dugan's squad detects a missile heading straight for the White House. And it's already too late to stop it. But then on the next page, the missile apparently malfunctions and crashes into the front lawn of the White House. When Dugan's squad cheers, he tells them to "shut the @$%# up!"

Dugan realizes that all S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel are moving in toward the missile, leaving the White House unguarded. "Son of a.....he got us again."

Wolverine walks in on the Secretary. Shift scene; we then see the missile opening up as Dugan declares "it was a decoy." But he's not convinced Wolverine would do that. As he declares "there could be other players..." the missile opens and a shiny silver leg steps out.

Wolverine smashes the secretary of state(?)'s head into the wall, commanding her to tell him who she takes orders from. When she replies, "the president of the--", Logan SNIKTs her and puts the claws in her face.

A big crash. The secretary claims that "they" saw this coming and she's not helpless. A Shiva busts through the wall. Wolverine draws his blade and the secretary orders the Shiva to kill him. But he locks onto her face and takes her out instead. Logan: "Whoever sent the Shiva knew I was comin' for her. So they silenced her. Permanently." He then proceeds to slice the Shiva in two with the Muramasa.

Wolvie smahes through a wall into a hidden door and manages to slip away. A general gives Dugan crap about the whole thing and says "he played you guys like a fiddle, and you know that. No offense, old friend, but we're going to be taking matters into our own hands."

U.S. Embassy. Santiago, Chile. Two U.S. officials enter a laboratory. They are talking to someone. "We need you--your country needs you."

"Gotta.....get our boys outta there..."

"Will you take the assignment?"

"Gimme a red." We see that it's Nuke.

================================================== =

Yeah, that's all that happened. Does it have possibilities? Sure. Is it making me care right now? Not at all. Don't keep feeding us little scraps of b.s. and expect us to think of it as prolific--either tell the origin or don't. It could have been much worse -- I mean the dialogue was pretty good, and the art, while a little simplistic, worked fine. It's just that I expect a #1 to pull me in. And it doesn't help that the "big reveal" (Nuke) was spoiled ever since we saw the cover to issue 2. It wouldn't have been a bad reveal either.

[Ryan K]

This was basically just a continuation of the last arc in the regular Wolverine book. And I've hated the pacing in that, so I'm still unimpressed.

How long can they drag this out for? Did this really need an ongoing series. I could care less about there being a second Wolverine ongoing. I think there's enough stories with him that he could support two books. But 1 solely focused on his origins when Marvel is intent on leaking out as little as possible bit by bit. It's obvious to me the formula for this is going to similar to TV's Lost where nothing's going to be answered, just more questions given. Which is basically what Marvel's been doing for the past 15 years anyway. Plus, I have little doubt EVERYTHING is going to be made up as it goes along. I don't know how long I'm going to stick with this, its just going to piss me off more every month.

Dillon's art was nice though.

[Young Avenger]

I was disappointed with this issue. Nothing of Wolverine's origin is revealed in this issue. We don't even get a hint. I'm giving this book until the end of the arc to impress. If it doesn't then I will drop the book until Daniel Way is no longer writer. Though Dillion art is great he is the wrong guy for this book.

[Badger Boy]

I'm glad this series was created. It got Way removed from the Wolverine regular series, and this is a great thing :D .

[Doom Hammer]

Wolverine: Origins - plenty a' Wolverine, not so much with the origins.

[Beast]

I'm glad I'm not reading it. Since even die-hard Wolverine fans seem to loathe it.

Could this be the sign of the Apocalypse, a Wolverine book that bombs and is cancelled? :D

[Harlock]

Could this be the sign of the Apocalypse, a Wolverine book that bombs and is cancelled? :D
Perhaps more a sign that fanboys really are becoming fanmen (pardon the sexism inherent in our langauge).

[Madrox84]

This issue was alright, but it didn't really grab me and make me want to read more... I may give it a chance i'm not sure...

[Sean Whitmore]

Could this be the sign of the Apocalypse, a Wolverine book that bombs and is cancelled? :D


Hopefully it'll be a lesson to Marvel about the dangers of devaluing the X-Franchise by spreading the characters too thin.

Hmm...no, that doesn't seem very likely, now does it?

But at the very least, maybe a lesson that it's the readers' job to decide that a writer is "top ten", and not theirs.


SEAN

[Nick Kal]

I was extremely dissapointed. This is like the crappiest thing I've read in a while... I know they have an explanation and all.. but Wolverine with a sword is just dumb to me... he has SIX adamantium claws... who cares what power it holds... also... the costume is ugly.... Quesada's cover was great though. They really hsould have picked a better writer/ direction for this whole thing.

[Sabrinaset]

Well, if this book proved anything to me, it's that we need one more book in which Condoleeza Rice gets lampooned...or revealed as a tool and then killed, in this case. I'm still trying to figure out if Hudlin did it better in Black Panther, though. I guess Marvel had to move on after the Secretary of Defense was really the Red Skull.

Someone tell me how many times Madeline Albright got killed during the Clinton years...?

I don't really feel like subsidizing this book with my money after reading that. But if Marvel wants to do it, more power to 'em.

[Linguini]

it wudn't that bad

[leg end]

[QUOTE=Arkady Rossovich] Logan: "Whoever sent the Shiva knew I was comin' for her. So they silenced her. Permanently." FONT]"

Ok- haven't read this, doubt I will but I gotta ask- does he actually say this or think this? Talk about dumbing down a lot. Thanks for that Logan, couldn't have figured out that for ourselves. :D

[kingdom2000]

Well, if this book proved anything to me, it's that we need one more book in which Condoleeza Rice gets lampooned...or revealed as a tool and then killed, in this case. I'm still trying to figure out if Hudlin did it better in Black Panther, though. I guess Marvel had to move on after the Secretary of Defense was really the Red Skull.

Someone tell me how many times Madeline Albright got killed during the Clinton years...?

I don't really feel like subsidizing this book with my money after reading that. But if Marvel wants to do it, more power to 'em.

You are really making a habit of projecting your conservative "martyrdom" into too many things. Not everything is an attack. I don't even like Rice and it didn't even dawn on me that the woman in Wolverine was Rice. It was just some women in the white house getting killed for mysterious reasons. You are starting to remind me of teenagers that find sex jokes in everything someone says or does, only in your case its "they attacking my precious Bush and co.!!! You bastards!" But whatever floats the boat I guess.

[Nick Kal]

[QUOTE=Arkady Rossovich] Logan: "Whoever sent the Shiva knew I was comin' for her. So they silenced her. Permanently." FONT]"

Ok- haven't read this, doubt I will but I gotta ask- does he actually say this or think this? Talk about dumbing down a lot. Thanks for that Logan, couldn't have figured out that for ourselves. :D

Yeah... also, I like reading books that don't make me feel like I'm a 1st grader.

[leg end]

Yeah... also, I like reading books that don't make me feel like I'm a 1st grader.


When they start explaining snikt then start to worry:



Wolverine's inner monologue: i decided to pop my claws

SNIKT

Wolverine's inner monologue: I heard the sound and knew my claws were out. Now I can hurt people cos they are sharp.

[Sean Whitmore]

Wolverine's inner monologue: i decided to pop my claws

SNIKT

Wolverine's inner monologue: I heard the sound and knew my claws were out. Now I can hurt people cos they are sharp.



lol, I bet if we dug through enough Claremont back issues we'd find some dialogue eerily similar to that.


SEAN

[FieryBalrog]

You are really making a habit of projecting your conservative "martyrdom" into too many things. Not everything is an attack. I don't even like Rice and it didn't even dawn on me that the woman in Wolverine was Rice. It was just some women in the white house getting killed for mysterious reasons. You are starting to remind me of teenagers that find sex jokes in everything someone says or does, only in your case its "they attacking my precious Bush and co.!!! You bastards!" But whatever floats the boat I guess.
he has a point. Hudlin was particularly bad in this respect. And by this point its neither intelligent nor interesting.

[ReaderX]

Wolverine is in serious need of a "Nuff Said" issue, and oddly, with how much is being revealed in Origins 2.0, it'd fit in perfectly. Page 1: 20 shield agents walking in the sewers looking around feverishly. Page 2&3: Wolverine dismembers half of them stealthlike with his sword. Page 4&5: SPLASH PAGE Wolverine goes berzerk on remaining 10. No narration, no voice bubbles, just frames with a splash page or 3 thrown in for good measure. No secrets revealed, and end it with Wolverine having a surprised look on his face, just to piss everyone off.

[Sentinel K]

This was really boring. And the art was cack.

[Sabrinaset]

You are really making a habit of projecting your conservative "martyrdom" into too many things. Not everything is an attack. I don't even like Rice and it didn't even dawn on me that the woman in Wolverine was Rice. It was just some women in the white house getting killed for mysterious reasons...

1) I guess it became a habit on my part when it became a habit of Marvel...and DC...of doing the attacking. Since you don't like Bush, you wouldn't see what is happening as an "attack"...although I see it as a cheap shot more than anything...but I'm pretty sure that had an entire company spent years "attacking" the Bill Clinton Administration and Massage Parlor, you'd be screaming pretty loud about that.

2) I love this quote..."and it didn't even dawn on me that the woman in Wolverine was Rice. " Yeah, Kingdom, because, y'know, there must be a hundred or so black women who are identified in the comic as the Secretary of State running about the White House, so I guess it *could* have been someone else they were lampooning.

Nah, it doesn't float my boat. I'm just resigned to the fact that Marvel is fairly one-sided in this respect...and as far as I'm concerned, this is one book I won't buy because of it. In a larger sense, if Marvel wants to marginalize a considerable amount of fans by printing this, I say, let 'em...but don't be surprised when a considerable amount of people stop buying what they're selling. One crack at Condi? Yeah, I can take it...but I think I've had too many of 'em now to take.

[Sean Whitmore]

Viva Paul O'Brien (http://www.thexaxis.com/origins/origins1.htm), for putting it better than I could:


There's nothing here, or in the previous arc, to give any real reason for confidence in Way's master plan, if indeed there is one. He's not telling stories with any emotional impact at all. It's just "Here's something cryptic, it might or might not lead to a revelation down the line which you might or might not care about." He's coasting on the hope that people care sufficiently about minor Wolverine continuity to stick with him in the hope of revelations, even though he isn't actually telling us a story of any sort.

And besides, why would we care about yet another story from Wolverine's past? Despite what the creators seem to think, it's all been explored to death. Just take a look at the Official Handbook entry on Wolverine. It takes six pages of small print just to go through the existing stories which have covered Wolverine's background. There is no mystery! It's all been done! There are no particularly interesting questions left to ask.

[R Krippler]

It seems Way is setting us up for something but he never delivers it. It is constantly building up but there is hardly any resolve of anything.

[streator]

i also passed on picking this title up and it doesn't sound like i missed out on anything.

[kingdom2000]

1) I guess it became a habit on my part when it became a habit of Marvel...and DC...of doing the attacking. Since you don't like Bush, you wouldn't see what is happening as an "attack"...although I see it as a cheap shot more than anything...but I'm pretty sure that had an entire company spent years "attacking" the Bill Clinton Administration and Massage Parlor, you'd be screaming pretty loud about that.


Considering that all 8 years of the Clinton years was attack attack attack, Marvel and DC might have and it got lost in the noise. All this talk about poor Bush and you forget what those years where really like. Bush hasn't even got one/tenth of one percent of what the press could do if they wanted. And no, I really didn't see rice in that issue. I read comics books. I enjoy the story of the comic book. I don't make any effort whatsoever to read the "real world" in comics books.

I seriously made no comparison because I am not trying to. Unlike you, I am simply not looking for it, so not seeing it. Again back to the teenagers and everything being about sex. They are looking for it so they see it in everything while those that are not think they are nuts. Same here. You are looking for attacks so of course you see it.

[kingdom2000]

It seems Way is setting us up for something but he never delivers it. It is constantly building up but there is hardly any resolve of anything.

Yeah thats a worry of mine. On bright side, it got me to drop Wolverine. If this series tanks, the last X book i collect will be gone.

[Will.S]

While I could have used less of the Dugan & S.H.I.E.L.D./Secretary parts of the book, once Wolverine came in and started to kick ass I enjoyed it much more.

I enjoyed the parts with the Shiva Robot and Wolverine's use of the sword. The robot brings a bit of nostalgia towards the whole Weapon X project and acts as yet another reminder of his days of questioning his memories due to the implants. The reason why Wolverine carries the sword is to be both prepared for anything that comes his way as well as keeping it out of the wrong hands since it's the only weapon known to be able to get past his healing factor and kill him.

The only part that should have had more impact was the end reveal of Nuke. I think Marvel is to blame for this since they released the solicitation images so in advance that Nuke's appearance holds no resonance other than questioning how he survived after Born Again. This series, if anything, as well as connecting to various other events that affected Logan is also going to further expand upon the Nuke character since the preview pages seen in Joe Fridays show a possibly young Nuke being torchered by Wolverine seen here:

http://www.newsarama.com/JoeFridays/JF47art/WOLORIG002005_col1.jpg

http://www.newsarama.com/JoeFridays/JF47art/WOLORIG002011_col.jpg

I also think Daniel Way is following up on Morrison's ideas based on the Weapon Plus project and it's attempts to re-create a supersoldier on par with Captain America and Wolverine to which Nuke was involved in according to New X-Men #145. Come the next few issues, hopefully more memories such as those will be revealed and how Wolverine ties to Nuke.

[Linguini]

The art was horrible in this issue. One of the worst artists ive seen in my life. But i really like Way's writing.

[Mineralogy]

When they start explaining snikt then start to worry:

Wolverine's inner monologue: i decided to pop my claws

SNIKT

Wolverine's inner monologue: I heard the sound and knew my claws were out. Now I can hurt people cos they are sharp.Is it a bad sign that reading this was much more entertaining to me than either of the actual Wolverine titles?

[Vegetarian Goat]

I didn't think it was THAT bad.. it was a quick read, but i really enjoyed the art, and the return of my fave Wolverine costume. I like that Way is using more characters from Wolverine's past.. (When was the last time we saw Shiva?)... I'm thinking this book will be more like Wolverine's book was in the 80's. Does it have room for improvement? Heck, yes. But i don't think it was as horrible as everyone is saying. Although, if i'm the only one who kinda liked it, then i'm the one who's probably wrong.

[WolverinesSon]

Marvel has problems with making whole series off of ideas. Hence "The House of Ideas". They could've kept this story in the regular series. If anything make this a limited series like the original Origins story. The artwork was decent and I hope I'm not gonna be subjected to seeing friggin Dugan in every issue. I picked up both covers to number one and I'm gonna get number two, but if the story doesn't start getting good I'ma have to drop it like it's hot.

[Sean Whitmore]

Although, if i'm the only one who kinda liked it, then i'm the one who's probably wrong.


Nah, just means we're looking for different things. :)

I find Wolverine's (and Gambit's, and Cable's) origins to be completely mined for all they're worth already, and have no interest in revisiting them. Especially if the caliber of revelations we receive is "Bucky killed Logan's Indian wife once".


SEAN

[mandog]

yeah enough with the origins stuff already. Wolverines mystery factor is one of the things that made him so cool. I also agree the art didnt fit the book. It worked great for the Punisher but here it seems out of place.