Wolverine Vol. 1: The Brotherhood [Paperback]

Greg Rucka (Author), Darick Robertson (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2004 | Series: Wolverine (Mass)

The world's deadliest mutant Wolverine embarks on a dangerous mission of revenge, seeking justice for a young neighbor who was murdered in her sleep. Logan must use all of his lethal skills to take on a mysterious organization hell-bent on keeping its dark secrets hidden from the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wolverine, a brutish, surly loner, is the most interesting X-Man. Lucy, the teenaged waitress in the diner he frequents, nicknames him "Mean Man," but because she senses Wolverine is more sympathetic than he looks, suspects he has superhuman powers and knows she needs protection from the gun-toting, macho cult that's chasing her, she tentatively approaches him for help. After Lucy is murdered, Wolverine pursues the killers into backwoods Oregon. This is basically a revenge-driven, tough-guy detective story, except that this vengeance-seeker's body repairs itself after terrible wounds and extrudes enormous claws before hand-to-hand combat. Wolverine's investigation parallels the work of ATF agent Cass Lathrop, who's also on the trail of the cult for firearms violations, and she can accomplish some things that he can't. But Wolverine (and readers) know that no authority can be trusted; besides, Wolverine's ability to slash a bad guy to bits is more satisfying to observe than Lathrop's professional approach. In the first few stories, Robertson and Palmer's artwork emphasizes Wolverine's taciturn, Neanderthal nature. In the last chapter, however, they depict Wolverine letting his guard down in a bar full of other mutants, as he ponders what he's done and whether he's really human or just a talented, somewhat evolved beast. Rucka nicely scripts this discussion. In the same chapter, Lathrop has a dream that reveals her uncertainty as to whether she wants to arrest Wolverine or sleep with him. It's this ambivalent attitude by other people and by Wolverine himself that makes him so fascinating, and this book effectively maintains the tension.
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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Comics (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785111360
• ISBN-13: 978-0785111368
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #963,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Darick Robertson is an American artist best known for his work as a comic book illustrator. Highly prolific, Robertson has illustrated hundreds of comics in his twenty plus years in the industry. His body of work ranges from science fiction characters of his own creation to headlining on renowned classic characters from Marvel and DC Comics. Robertson is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of the biting satires TRANSMETROPOLITAN and THE BOYS.

In January of 2010 he wrote and illustrated CONAN: THE WEIGHT OF THE CROWN for Dark Horse Comics.

Darick currently lives in California with his wife and two children. When he's not drawing comics, which is almost all the time, he creates custom action figures, writes music, sings and plays guitar.

Original art for sale can be found at tinyurl.com/DarickR

* Special thanks to Joey and Sara at ComicVine for the interview video contained in this profile.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Babe and berserker, not that there's anything wrong w/ that., January 28, 2004

By 

John Clendenin (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wolverine Vol. 1: The Brotherhood (Paperback)

As a fan of Greg Rucka's novels and comics, I've come to expect a few things: 1) lean, punchy writing; 2) attention to operational detail in depicting assorted spies, assassins, bodyguards, etc.; and 3) Women.

In most of the books I can think of, Rucka prominently features not just females, but larger-than-life Amazons who are often tougher than their male counterparts. Wolverine:The Brotherhood is no exception, giving the reader a rootin'-tootin', suspect-slappin', stereotype-bustin' female ATF agent who could probably eat nails and [...] tacks.

While this obsessive commitment to feminist ideals can be off-putting, it's mostly counterbalanced by the quality stories Rucka consistently spins. He skillfully references aspects of Wolverine's character, such as his black ops background and feral tendencies, weaving them into the story without a lot of clunky exposition. Rucka crafts an oppressively gritty setting, filled with the kind of twisted villains a character like Wolverine was born to fight.

Someone once said that art could be defined as the selective interpretation of reality according to the artist's values. Judging from his characters, it seems that Rucka has a fairly large sexual axe to grind.

Taken individually, his characters are quirky and engaging. However, after the third or fourth story, a pattern becomes apparent, and I begin to feel like what I'm reading is a well-disguised sermon or morality tale.

As good as Wolverine: The Brotherhood is, I find myself looking fondly back on the writing of Chris Claremont. In his classic and definitive X-men run, he introduced me at a very early age to strong female characters, such as Storm and Callisto. Without a whiff of preachiness, he made them both likable and believable. Their actions and attitudes arose naturally from character and situation, and never seemed to be part of some program on Claremont's part.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for established fans and newcomers alike, March 27, 2005

By 

Madelyn Pryor "Goblyn Queen" (Mesa, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wolverine Vol. 1: The Brotherhood (Paperback)

Those of us that have been reading Wolverine for a while know very few things for certain about everyone's favorite Canadian X-Man, but two things we know for sure are 1. He hates cults, nazis, and bullies and 2. He has a soft spot for girls in trouble. These two elements clash in this graphic novel.

When Lucy Braddock, the waitress at Logan's favorite café and his neighbor is murdered after asking for Logan's protection, he will not rest until he finds her killers. Tracking down the culprits with little more information than what kind of gun he was shot with, Logan proceeds to prove he is still the best there is at what he does, and what he does often is bloody.

My favorite chapter is the last. After the blood bath of the previous issues, after Logan has to deal with physical pain, he meets Nightcrawler in a bar for a little soul searching. For long time fans, this issue was touching, harkening back to Claremont's run on X-Men, but with Greg Rucka's unique style.

Speaking of style, Rucka's writing and Robertson's art provide a unique, gritty style. Both use a highly stylized approach that is still somehow very pleasant and not overdone.

There's enough references to previous plot points in Wolverine's past to make established fans rejoice, cheer, and flinch, but a newcomer can easily pick this up and understand everything without having to spend extra on more books.

Highest recommendations!

4.0 out of 5 stars Wolverine and Cults, July 3, 2011

By 

Sean (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wolverine Vol. 1: The Brotherhood (Paperback)

One of the first few books I fully read solely about Wolverine and I enjoyed it. The story itself might not be for everyone. It's dark, very gritty and some of the renderings of Wolverine makes it seem like he is an animal. The story in itself is almost like a detective story. The majority of the story has Wolverine going around asking questions to find answers on who he should target to kill. I wouldn't necessary recommend this book to most readers out there. Its a must buy for Wolverine fans though but for others who want superhero versus villains type storylines, this isn't the book for y'all.