Broken Frontier

Wolverine is hot on the trail of Nitro, as are Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D. Will they find him together? Can they even work together?

In issue #42, before the Civil War actually began, Wolverine took it upon himself to find Nitro. He left many heroes perplexed. Which side would he choose if and when war broke out? Though the answer to that question is still a bit murky, one can make an educated guess. In #43, Wolverine’s quest to kill Nitro—and do not be mistaken, that is what it is—is interrupted by Iron Man who is looking for "help" in tracking down the same villain. After a reasonable facsimile of an agreement is made, the reader is graced with an almost ludicrous display of Nitro’s and Wolverine’s powers and the main event hasn’t even begun.

Marc Guggenheim is new to Wolverine, but he couldn’t have picked a better time to start writing. With the ramifications of Civil War running out of control in many Marvel books, including Wolverine, it is good to see a new writer take Wolverine in a new direction. Recently, the Canadian Berserker has lost much of the more touchy-feely aspects he gained in the late nineties, early oughts and is back to doing what he does best—kill bad guys. Nitro is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, at least sixty of them children. Right now, he is the baddest of the bad. Guggenheim gives Wolverine the one-track mind of a saint with the bloodlust of a serial killer. At one point Iron Man asks why he wants to kill Nitro so badly and Wolverine has no answer. I do though. He is the one who will do what others won’t, he is the one you call when the chips are down so low you can’t even see them anymore, he is also the one villains have nightmares about. He is the Wolverine and with Guggenheim writing him, he is back to his ruthless roots.

Humberto Ramos, on the other hand, adds a streak of newness to balance out the classic edge to the character. I was cynical at first; his graffiti influenced style seems more appropriately placed in a non-superhero comic. But he has won me over. Wolverine looks wild and monstrous and the shadow filled panels give the book a dark feel that would be hard to compete with. His work could never be considered realistic by any stretch of the imagination; however, that isn’t a bad thing. The larger than life, grotesquely mis-proportioned characters and jagged lines keep the comic from becoming too realistic, from hitting too close to home, balancing a script that can be a bit disturbing. Ramos keeps reminding us we are reading a comic book. With a story as serious as Civil War, it is good to have that knowledge in the back of your mind.

Wolverine’s vendetta against Nitro may seem like an add-on to the whole Civil War story, but this add-on should not be missed. Guggenheim writes Wolverine in classic form and Ramos draws him differently than he has ever been drawn before. Apparently that old play, The Odd Couple, had it all wrong; opposites do work well together.