Customer Reviews

Wolverine: Origins, Vol. 1: Born in Blood (v. 1)

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

 

 

I was really very surprised to read the two reader reviews preceding mine. Revealing Wolverine's past was probably the most risky initiative of the Joe Quesada reign, but to say that it hasn't been handled with the utmost care and respect for the character is completely false. The arc collected here (continuing the one began in Origins & Endings) returns the character to the role that originally made the character worthwhile - he's a hero that doesn't believe he's a hero. Daniel Way illustrates this idea as cleverly and as artistically as Claremont and Miller did on the original Wolverine mini-series over 20 years ago and Steve Dillon's art which "makes it look like the characters are playing dress-up" only heightens this story as anything BUT a cliche superhero drama. The real battle here isn't between the external forces of good and evil but the internal ones. Is the past an indicator of Wolverine's future? Has the life he has acheived since attoned for those sins? These are questions that demand a series of its own to answer.

I love the idea of Wolverine paying for the crimes of a past that has only just recently been revealed to him. The idea of the tortured hero and failed samurai have been lost in recent years, especially in the X-Men titles. Even Astonishing X-Men and New Avengers, though admitedly fine reads, only portrays Mervel's arguably best character as little more that a hot-headed comic relief who is never actually involved in the story. In Origins, we see the same tortured soul envisioned by his best writers so long ago with the capacity to fit in the gruesome scenes of violence Marvel was censored from exploring in those days. (If you need any proof, just take a gander at his issue long slugfest with Captain America.) In short, the character needed the direction paved here by Daniel Way more than anything, and the only people that disagree with that are the ones who wish to stunt the growth of a character who has been largely ignored.

When I first heard about this series I thought it was a great idea. Wolverine is a character whse past is shrouded in mystery but they can only keep teasing it out so long before they deliver something of substance. This first story 'Born in Blood' is not it. Writer Daniel Wray uses shock tactics and character guest appearances in place of plot and still manages to stretch what could have been two issues into a five issue "arc". In the end we're left even more confused then when we began.

Artist Steve Dillon is also ill suited for this series. He did a good job on 'Preacher' with Garth Ennis but as a super hero artist he is an utter disaster. All of the characters appear to be playing dress up, because his realistic style strips all the super hero pizazz out of them. Also every single one of his male and famale characters has the exact same face.

In short one should give this Wolverine story a definate pass.

everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so, this is in no way hostile to other reviewers. I used to read comics as a kid, especially wolverine, and now i'm in my 30's and back into them big time. i stumbled into the best comic store in richmond, va and was blown away by the art and the intellegent story lines of todays comics. Since then i have gotten a lot of the newer wolverine graphic novels. i was really not into anything about these origins books or the art, to be honest..for some reason i thought it looked like cheap and generic or something. Then i found that i really like the artwork 'dillon' does for the current jason aaron punisher run, which made me more interested in checking out daniel way's origins. i finally got origins 1 and now i'm hooked. Reviews do help when looking to find something worth while, but, in the end, everybody has their own taste and opinion so don't look over something to quick that you might like.

I have always kind of liked Wolverine and so when I found this on a shelf, I had to pick it up. This story seems to be an offshoot of a previous story as it starts with text giving you a short synopsis of his tortured life. Not much detail but it tells you he has remembered what happened and he is pissed off.

Switch to a cliff, you find him practicing with the Murmasa blade which if you haven't followed his series, you know you are missing something. However, it get's explained later.

Logan is pissed and wants to revenge those how did him wrong. This trail leads him from the wilderness, to the Whitehouse, to Viet Nam. Along the way you will see tidbits of his past and fall all he has suffered; he is not innocent.

Add in the X-Men, Captain America and Nuke and you have a fun fight.

Artwork was good overall.

On to the next edition.

I have been a long time fan of Wolverine so reading about his past is most enthralling to me. Its been hard to get at first because so much is going on but its a good read! I read the whole seris in a week :)

Okay, I'll try to keep this review brief for those trying to decide about this buy. First off, this book is definitely a good grab for any Wolverine or X-men fan. While it may seem sacreligious to delve into his past more than shown previously the author does a good job with excellent artwork. Its a style that is nicely detailed but lets you stay with the story. That being said, without giving any spoilers this first book in is needed for any future reads however pushes in a tad fast and really good benefit from at least a summary of "how" Wolverine regained these memories for those who haven't read the prior X-men "House of M" series or are just getting into the thought of actually buying comics. Also as a warning its a tad fast, but can be thought of as the crucial first 5 minutes of a movie.

As for the book itself as a book, don't hold off the 4-5 dollars to get a soft back edition of the book. The hardbound is worth it for nothing else even but the feel of the book, especially for new collectors. You won't regret it! Wolverine may be "overused" at times, only because many authors can't make good characters on their own and try to have him make their works more interesting.

To truly enjoy this though, one really needs to buy the first three volumes at once. Try to look through the sellers all together - I found all mine either new or like new with shipping for about 30 dollars. Otherwise you'll feel very incomplete, even for having read an on-going comic!

Simply put, I really enjoyed this. Especially seeing the 'not-so-nice' aspects of Wolverine's past and persona. Finding out the cruel irony that just as he was made a monster, he also directly created one. Seeing an entire government going on red alert out of sheer fear and helplessness at the situation: Wolverine has his memories back. What, does he remember? What is his agenda? How much damage and destruction is going to occur? And finally, a good ol' fashion throwdown between the Canuckle head and non other than Captain America. The title Born in Blood also has a more symbolic and poetic meaning, especially when you get to the last pages.

when i first heard that wolverines past is now going to be revealed i had mixed feelings, its an easy thing to really mess up if not done correctly, with care and by someone that completely understands the character. That being said, this series is anything but any of those, Daniel Way has been really hit or miss in my eyes, after origins and endings disappointing me, this one has followed suit, the flashbacks seem kindof random and completely uninteresting and really just seem to make wolverine as an uncharacterized bond henchmen. The the big reveal at the end is just more loose ends left untied, throwing them in like you should have known about these plot points all along, and its also contradicting previous storylines.When the plot points that are started in here get tied up you just feel even more empty about it, there are also many random character cameos just for the hell of it it seems. All in all, i hope they get someone on writing duty who understands the character and has some kind of idea where they are going with this and can add more to the series than "wolverine used to be a bad person".

Do we really need another Wolverine series? Does Marvel's most over-used character need another ongoing series, really? What he started with the regular Wolverine series, writer Daniel Way attempts to slowly reveal elements of Wolverine's past with this first volume of Wolverine: Origins, in which we start to gradually learn hidden facets of Logan's past, or something to that effect. Way's storytelling does little to give anymore insight to Wolverine's reluctant hero nature, and instead only attempts to throw in some lame flashback-style storytelling elements, all of which mixes together for a very confusing beginning tale. Wolvie even goes at it with Captain America, for no apparent reason whatsoever. Preacher co-creator Steve Dillon (Way's partner for the excellent Supreme Power: Nighthawk mini-series) supplies the artwork here, and while I've always been a fan of Dillon's work, as a previous reviewer said, his realistic style isn't suited for superhero material. All in all, Wolverine: Origins does very little to reveal really much of anything about Wolverine that we don't already know, and even for the most die hard of Wolverine fans, this book is better left on the shelf.

Aside from Steve Dillon doing a great job on this series everything else is nothing short of a travesty. Wolverine has been reduced to a whimpering, sobbing fool who is nothing short of a mass murderer of the most evil and shrill ever introduced. But hey, he was just mind controlled, drugged and duped! So what if he is torturing and murdering as casually as one would buy a soda, it was the government! Ugh. Who thinks up this rubbish? Wolverine always had a redeemable quality to him and now hes a guy who is responsible for probably half of the evil known to mankind but its OK because someone else was controlling him? Now mutants are 100's of years old? Now Wolverine has been around about as long as Jesus Christ? Sound like a good comic to you? The writer of this garbage should be locked up with the woman from Misery and be forced to rewrite a tale that takes it all back. I just cant recall a character being ruined more so than in this comic.