Title: Hunt For Wolverine #1
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Charles Soule
Art: David Marquez
Release: Apr 25
Price: $5.99
“Just as the X-Men have finally come to terms with Logan’s death, they learn a terrible secret. Old wounds will be re-opened, truths questioned, and an epic quest begun. The earliest clues to the mystery of Wolverine’s return are laid down here… who will solve it first?”
If you were looking for any sort of answers regarding the return of Wolverine you won’t find it inside the long book. In fact, you won’t find much of anything other than the revelation the Wolverine is no longer dead; Which, you know, duh. But if you are looking for a book filled with flashbacks in mostly dialogue only, you may enjoy this really slow start for a series.
The funny thing is that for such a major book (the death of Wolverine was a big deal in the Marvel comic universe) not much of it has to do directly with Wolverine. Because of this everything just comes off as flat and lifeless, no joke intended.
I don’t know a lot about how Wolverine died, only the basics, but If I had been following along and patiently waiting since 2014 for his return, this book would leave me with a bad taste in my mouth, especially for a huge book that runs you $5.99. It blows my mind how big the book is while doing or saying very little.
The Hunt For Wolverine #1 is nothing but a setup for some massive crossover event, but even then it doesn’t do a good job of getting fans excited for much of anything. The more troubling thing is that Charles Soule, the writer that killed off Wolverine, is back on writing duties with this title but does very little. And while Wolverine’s death may have been something special, this new story is a slog.
There were far too many times where I turned the page hoping that the book would end only to find out there is just kept going and going. This isn’t because the book itself is terrible, but because it’s so paint-by-numbers that it hurts. You already know everything that is going to happen before it happens. There is no surprise or mystery to anything that is going on. Hell, the mystery behind the return of Wolverine lacks much punch when we see him, apparently alive and in action somewhere.
The real problem with Hunt For Wolverine #1 is the long amount of time between Wolverine’s death (2014) and his apparent return (2018). All things have a shelf-life and I feel that this story suffers from that. Does anyone really care about Wolverine at this point? Do general comic audiences even still remember he’s dead? So much of this book would have had much more impact several years ago.
The story itself is bogged down with so many non-threats that the X-Men have to deal with. The Reavers have come to steal the body of Wolverine that has been left on display secretly for heroes to come pay their respects to, because reasons. It’s a monument to the hero that feels really out of place and even a little garish. The Reavers, that are set up as the main threat, aren’t a threat in the slightest against the A-list X-Men team come to protect Wolverine’s monument.
The real bulk of the book surrounds Kitty Pryde and her breaking down events among some weird flashbacks of Wolverine’s history. It’s all very disjointed and long-winded, but at least the question of how Wolverine gets out of that adamantium tomb is answered.
Fans are going to be bored and wanting more answers, while new readers are going to be lost with few details on just what is going on. Funnily enough, the backup story has Kitty Pryde searching out heroes that were connected with Wolverine in an attempt to find out where he went to, and is the strongest part of the book because stuff actually happens.
There is nothing here to justify the high asking price and would have been far better suited as a standard sized comic book focused on the second half of the story. The art here is great, but other than that, Hunt For Wolverine #1 does very little to get anyone excited about what’s to come.
How is it possible that less than one book into the return of Wolverine and I’ve already soured on him.
“Wolverine was probably better off dead.”
Final Score:
2/5
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