Customer Reviews

Wolverine (Marvel Essentials, Vol. 5) (v. 5)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The other reviewer gave the book only one star because of how dark the artwork is, but I didn't find it as distracting as he did. The artwork is very good and I really loved the style of the characters, especially the way faces were drawn. Yes, the artwork is dark, but I beleive that the volume is worth the amount I paid. The book is a black, white, and gray toned version of the original color comics. If you consider the fact that you are paying about a third of the price you would pay for the color version, I don't think it's too bad a trade-off.
For me, what made the volume so good was the writing. This volume deals with what happens to Wolverine after Magneto removes the adamantium from his bones. Turns out the adamantium was using up his healing factor and preventing him from mutating further. With it gone he begins to regress into a feral state. Logan's struggle with the animal inside of him is fascinating. He not only has to deal with the slow loss of his humanity, but also his fellow X-men's growing wariness of the animal he is becoming.
The only reason I didn't give the volume five stars is that it is a collection of a companion comic to the main stories in Uncanny X-men, so a few of the plotlines don't always feel quite fleshed out. You sometimes get a story that is Logan's reaction to some other event, and it feels like you are being thrown into the middle of a story (which you are). Still the first pages of every issue do a good job of summing up. Also, some stories just aren't quite as intersting as the rest (the Landau, Luckman, and Lake stuff for example.)
Still I loved the volume. I'm glad to have it as a part of my collection. No regrets!

This volume of Essential Wolverine collects some of my favorite comics from the 90's. The Quality of the collection is fantastic! there is a real charm to these black and white collections. And the more modern comics just seem that much more appealing in black and white. I remember reading these stories when they where first published in full color and this collection dose not take away from the stories. It is a fantastic collection and it is worth the money keep the Essentials coming!

This book is great if you wanna follow Wolverine's history - it even has his feral degradation storyline. Larry Hama continues good job, art is good.

What really makes me angry is that nobody even tried to remove shades of gray that were unpopular even in Essential Wolverine 4. Do they have Photoshop or something like that at Marvel? Or couldn't someone retrace it?

This fifth volume of Essential Wolverine is ruined by the dark grey and black dominated reprinting. You can't just make photo copies of color comics in black and white and expect them to be readable. Some good writing and original artwork just go to waste in this muddy, murky mess. Some of the reprints are so dominated by varying shades of dark and darker grey to the point that you can't even make out what is there. I thought Essential Wolverine vol.4 was pretty bad as far as muddy reprinting goes but this volume is the worst I've ever seen. Save your money and don't buy this product and you won't end up being disappointed like me.