Customer Reviews

Wolverine: Enemy of the State, Vol. 1

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Probably the best Wolverine story that I've read in a long long time. This is basically a four hour action movie, as many reviewers have said, of Wolverine vs. the Marvel Universe. It's nothing deep or compelling, but it is exciting and a lot of fun to read. Mark Millar captures Wolverine's sarcastic voice and attitude perfectly well, and John Romita Jr's always available art is a pleasure to look at it. The coloring is absolutely gorgeous as well. A perfect weekend's worth of entertainment. A+

Greg Rucka's run on the relaunched solo Wolverine title had it's share of up's and down's, and upon his departure after signing an exclusive deal with DC, Marvel enlisted Ultimates scribe Mark Millar to take over the book and inject some life into it, and boy does he. Beginning with an investigation that leads to the discovery of an alliance between Hydra, the Hand, and an organization called the Dawn of the White Light. This alliance has a grand scheme, and Wolverine is in the center of it as he finds himself being captured and obeying the voice in his head: telling him to kill. Soon, Nick Fury, Elektra, and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. are on his trail in an attempt to bring him down as a brainwashed Wolverine sets his sights on taking down the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Elektra, and even his fellow X-Men. The surprisingly edgy storytelling by Millar is a welcome addition to the character, while the pencils by the great John Romita, Jr. with inks by Dark Knight Returns inker Klaus Janson give Enemy of the State an awesome look. If you missed out on the single issues and you're a Wolverine fan, definitely pick this up, and by the time you get to the last page, you'll be salivating to see what happens next.

If you ever asked yourself, "what would happen if Woverine were bad" then this book is for you. The Hand and Hydra team up and take over Logan using him as their ultimate killing machine. There are a lot of good cameos in here such as The X-Men, FF, Avengers, Shield, Daredevil and Electra, even the Slingers Hornet is in here, but I wont tell you exactly what his cameo is about.

I would go as far to say this is a Electra book as much as it is a Wolverine book. She is sent by Shield to take out Wolverine and does a lot of @$$ kicking in the process.

Mark Millar and John Romita JR. do a excellent job story telling, the only draw back to this book is the story doesn't finish at the end, I have to wait until vol. 2 comes out and who knows how long that will take. I like this book a lot but my advice to all who might consider buying this is you might want to wait until the come out with a "Enemy of the State" collected edition, because the end of the book really leaves you hanging.

Wolverine has long been regarded as one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe, and this storyline shows why. After he is captured and brainwashed by the Hand, a mysterious Ninja sect, Logan becomes an unstoppable killing machine, butchering his way across the Marvel superhuman community. Nick Fury and Elektra are the only ones who have even the slightest clue on how to stop the unstoppable machine that Logan's become.

After the past few Wolverine storylines- Brotherhood, Coyote Crossing, and Return of the Native- have all focused on non-costumed Logan stories that showcase the man, this storyline throws that to the side and reminds us why Wolverine is feared by all who oppose him.

Millar's script is a nice combination of brutality, inside jokes, and character development, while John Romita Jr. returns to a set of characters- Elektra, Wolverine, Daredevil, the X-Men, that he knows well and draws to perfection.

This is a comic collector must have! My highest recommendations.

"Wolverine: Enemy of the State" by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. is comparable to "Batman: Hush" by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee or "Marvel Knights Spider-Man" by Millar and Terry Dobson. It is a "greatest hits" styled comic run filled with fan-pleasing moments like Wolverine vs. The Hand, S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, X-Men and members of the "Disassembled" Avengers. We also get Wolverine teaming up with Elektra fighting more ninjas and a shark. Finally, we have a new villain in an expert swordsman called Gorgon and his fight with Wolverine is among the bloodiest ever!

The story is not terribly cerebral and neither is there much in the way of character-development. But there's really nothing wrong with that. Most comics today are a little too cerebral where every notion of a character has been minutely deconstructed. More often than not, we have books showing the lead character on endless quests to find/redeem himself presented as a "character piece". This story is simple, stupid fun like a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. And in that mold, it is done very, very well indeed with an irresistible dynamism and energy that gets to you.

Finally, "Enemy of the State" and the following work by Daniel Way ("Origins and Endings") return us to a Logan that is dangerous and edgy. He makes people uncomfortable and his presence in the Marvel Universe among other similarly colourfully-garbed characters is really tolerated rather than welcomed. For too long fans have been plagued with a Wolverine so cuddly that an irritating kid like Jubilee can climb all over him and call him all sorts of silly nicknames. Go back and read the original Chris Claremont and Frank Miller mini-series in the 1980s. There's a scene showing how rabid watchdogs shrink away from him because they sense that beneath his costumed-exterior, he's a more bestial predator. That is the element that has long been missing in Wolverine comics and we get it here in spades!

This book collects the 13 issue run Mark Millar did with John Romita Jnr on Wolverine a few years ago. Wolverine is captured and brainwashed by a terrorist organisation, part ninja, part Nazi, called Hydra led by an undying evil witch and a terrifying assassin called the Gorgon. With Wolverine on their side, they begin picking off heroes and villains to turn them to their cause of complete destruction of the world. It's not a spoiler to say Wolvey overcomes the brainwashing eventually and becomes a good guy once again and the second book has him squaring off against Hydra, the Gorgon, and a powerful hero turned evil.

The series is fast paced and exciting with Wolverine hunting down heroes, breaking into SHIELD HQ the Triskelion, and creating havoc wherever he goes. The Gorgon is a fantastically spooky villain. He looks manga-esque and is Japanese in origin though you don't find out exactly how he came to be until the second book. He's truly scary though and his final battle with Wolverine is very Greek mythology-like.

I like John Romita Jnr's artwork sometimes, here it's adequate but nothing that you're going to go crazy over. At times he makes the heroes look a bit too cartoonish which is a bit off-putting.

Millar's storytelling and hyper-violence are the stars of the show here. His writing makes reading the book that much better and interesting than the average comic book writer could manage.

The 13th issue, a standalone one-shot comic, has Wolverine as a POW in a WW2 concentration camp, driving Nazi officers to insanity with his healing factor. He has no dialogue but this was still a haunting issue that closes out a fantastic volume memorably.

I loved reading this book, both as a fan of Wolverine and as a fan of Mark Millar, and thought Millar and co. did a great job rendering a brilliant character in an epic story. Wonderful read, highly recommended to all fans of superhero comics.

I've been a Wolverine fan from the beginning, but after a couple decades of him being the berserker, the stories just got old because there was no depth to him after awhile, but no longer. With the run that Jason Aron and Mark Millar are having, Wolverine is again one of my favorite characters. I mean, take the Canadian version of the super soldier program being culminated in almost the complete antithesis of our own Captain America. There's just got to be more depth that was not explored for ooh so long.

I waited until the TPB came out so I could read the entire story in one sitting, and I've gotta say that I was completely satisfied and blown away by seeing Wolverine as he was always meant to be seen...ruthless, deadly, driven, and conflicted.

Wolverine: Enemy of the State is a massive book collecting a whole twelve issues. The plot line is very simple. When a mysterious new leader of Hydra and the Hand appears named the Gorgon (who kind of reminds me a little of Itachi from Naruto) appears he manages to brainwash Wolverine and make him work for him. The first half of the story is basically him fighting various heroes of the Marvel Universe (Elektra, Daredevil, Fantastic Four and X-Men) and the second half is him fighting the Gordon, Hydra, and Ninjas.

The art by John Romita Jr. is great and stylized making everyone look beautiful. It's a book that's impact is quickly retconned though and even though it's a good story its pretty much all action and no substance. Better then plenty of Mark Miller's other works and recommended for any Wolverine fans.

When Mark Millar began his year-long run on Wolverine, not many expected his run to become one of the absolute best Wolverine stories, well, maybe ever. Enemy of the State finds Wolverine kidnapped and brain washed by the newly formed alliance of the Hand, Hydra, and the demonic Gorgon; all of whom use Wolverine as their own bloodthirsty assassin. Things get even worse when they set him loose on S.H.I.E.L.D. and nearly all the major players in the Marvel universe, and things get even worse when Elektra becomes a pawn in their plans as well. Featuring a surprising amount of violent content, Enemy of the State details Wolverine's journey from hero to villain and back again, as well as a bloody final confrontation that is nothing short of epic. There's even a little snippet that would be carried over to the current Marvel mega-event Secret Invasion, appearances from the X-Men, Nick Fury, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and more, and the artwork by the great John Romita Jr. is wonderful as well. All in all, Enemy of the State is one of the best Wolverine stories you'll ever read and was an instant classic from day one, and if you missed out on it before, now's your chance to give it a well deserved look.

This book is the best since the x-men day. I didn't know you could draw Electra with so much detail. I never thought that Wolverine could get any better until he came back from the dead. It had to be one of the most brutal ones yet. I loved watching Wolverine beat up the Fantastic Four. I hate the Fantastic Four. I hate that the S.H.I.E.L.D is trying to kill Wolverine,they never will.