What’s Covered?
Wolverine # 76 - 84 (Dec ' 93 - Aug '94)
Wolverine is Clawless (no Adamantium) as he faces off against Lady Deathstrike, Cyber, and the Hunter of Darkness.
Synopsis
Wolverine # 76 - 79: the Rogues Gallery
Writer - Larry Hama
Pencils - Tom Coker (76), Adam Kubert (77 - 79)
In the aftermath of losing his adamantium skeleton during Fatal Attractions, it turns out that Wolverine's healing power is either gone or severely diminished. Wolverine goes back to his roots and connects with Heather and Puck in Canada, before being attacked by Lady Deathstrike. I rather like him going up against his old Rogue's gallery, this time without adamantium claws. Wolverine and Deathstrike fight it out, but when she realizes that he no longer has the adamantium, she recedes. Apparently her goal was to get revenge on him due to having the adamantium, but now that it's gone he's no longer worth her skill.
Meanwhile, Cylla (the former pilot turned Reaver Cyborg) has teamed up with Bloodscream (one of the two enforcer's from Madripoor that W ran into often in the early Claremont run) to find Wolverine. We learn that Bloodscream is an immortal energy vampire and was told that he will be returned to normal once he feasts on the blood of another immortal. He belives W to be that person, which is why he's hunting him. Remember how I mentioned that he's an energy vampire, well he turns on Cylla and kills her to feast on her life energy. I looked it up and she appears to be dead dead. For some reason it's satisfying when there are real deaths.
Wolverine # 80 - 81: Cyber Warfare
Writer - Larry Hama
Pencils - Ian Churchill
Cyber shows up for the first time in this series (He had previously only shown up in Marvel Comics Presents and X-Factor) to continue the theme of W fighting his Rogue's gallery. Where's Sabretooth? Cyber actually smashes Wolverine's bone claws on one hand. This actually shocked me until it is mentioned an issue later that they will eventually grow back. At first my mind was racing, assuming that his bones were broke forever and that some of his claws must be grafted onto nothing.
Wolverine ends up spending a large part of this arc hallucinating due to the poison on Cyber's finger claws. Wolverine finds his way to Muir Island and hangs with Excalibur for a while. Eventually Kitty lures him into a jail cell and then phases out, leaving him trapped.
Wolverine # 82: Japan
Writer - Larry Hama
Pencils - Adam Kubert/ Bob McLeod
Wolverine travels to Japan to pay his respects to Mariko one year after her death. Wolverine is ambushed by the hand and is clearly outmatched without his healing power and adamantium. All looks lost until Yukio shows up and tells the hand this isn't Wolverine, which they believe since he isn't healing and doesn't have adamantium.
Meanwhile, Bloodscream meets up with Elsie Dee and Albert, who are safe considering they are androids and can't have their blood drained. Apparently they have been laying underground inert since they were sent back in time during the Mojo/Citadel at the end of time story, but now that they have been plugged back in, they are working again.
Logan checks back in with his ward, Amiko, who had been at an orphanage since Mariko died. He trades the Yashida family sword to the Silver Samurai in exchange for protection for Amiko. Yukio also agrees to raise the girl.
Wolverine # 83 - 84: The Hunter of Darkness.
Writer - Larry Hama
Pencils - John Nadeau
I need to be honest, I got really bored and started skimming. Something is going on with a pack of "Hunters of Darkness" and Wolverine gets in a giant suit of armor to fight them off. Or something. Did I mentioned I got bored?
My Connections
Well, well, well. Here I am again, blogging about the Wolverine solo comic after vowing to be done reading it. Yea, I lied. I really meant it when I said that I wasn't enjoying the book and planned on leaving. But...Wolverine actually left the team and I was wondering how he's doing without his adamantium. And then I remembered that I actually bought these next batch of comics (before I decided to give it up), so maybe I'll give it one more read.
I still feel the same. The comic is average at best and I find myself skimming it for the most part. But since I did read them, I'll blog about them. For now.
One fun thing about reading this is that it reminded me of playing a video game where you have multiple lives, but then all of a sudden you're down to your last one and realize that if you die, you won't be able to start over. A feeling that this time things are different and you need to be more careful sets in. That's how I felt the whole time while reading this. "Ahhh the Hand is surrounding him. If they get him, he's dead for real this time!"
I really liked seeing Wolverine check back in with Amiko, as it was a big moment in # 181 when Wolverine vowed to take care of her, so I'm glad that wasn't forgotten. Also, I get that Wolverine can't raise her himself, but pretty crummy that he keeps asking these other woman in his life to raise her for them.
My Rating - 3/10
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