Spider-Man/Wolverine #2

 Posted: 2004
 Staff: Peter Kroon (E-Mail)

Background

An unmasked Peter Parker is being questioned extensively by an unkown agency along with a beaten and bruised Wolverine. The line of questioning seeks to uncover the events of the last thirty-six hours. Those events? Well, so far Peter was picked up by Nick Fury and dropped on a Japanese island to rescue Wolverine. But how did Wolverine get there?

Story Details

Wolverine gives a short version of what happened. He was looking for evidence to put Takeshi Kishimoto away. While doing so, he first ran into the daughter and later into the forces of the named warlord.

Back to the questioning. Peter is not amused by what Logan tells. The interogator gets them back on track, by asking what happened after the rescue.

Spider-Man witnesses how Wolverine can heal very fast. Bullets are pushed out of his body and the wound heals immediately. Then a helicopter enters the scene. Takeshi is on board and a machine gun is fired. Wolverine asks Spider-Man to shoot some webbing at the aircraft. He then uses the line to climb up, leaving Spider-Man behind.

Later, Spider-Man investigates the site where Wolverine was held captive. He finds something interesting when Wolverine gets back. It's a piece of a transmitter. Not only was the torture filmed, it was relayed as well. To where? Takeshi can't tell them, for he is dead.

Back to the questioning. Peter tells how they made their way out of the jungle to a place where there was a phone. There, he makes a call to Reed Richards who tells the signal was bounced via satellite to an address in Paris. Because wearing a custome makes him stand out, Spider-Man unmaskes and says his name is Peter. Wolverine says you can call me Logan.

Then the interogator asks them about Paris, and wants them to be brief. Logan answers with just one word, crap.

General Comments

Well, a lot seems to happen in this issue. The keyword here is "seems". For a lot is implied. Wolverine does what he does best and it's not a nice thing. Yeah, right. If you know who (and what) he is, you know what it is what he does. But if you do not, well, you'll miss part of the story.

Peter and Logan are bickering all the time. Which was funny the first time I read the book. But then I read it again to write the review and thought is was annoying. So, you won't see me reading the book a third time.

The atmosphere of the book is great, but I'd like to have seen a bit more actual action in stead of splash pages. Why not show the story, meaning what really happened in stead of having the characters tell what happened. To me, it's just a cheap trick to avoid difficult scenes.

And the unmasking of Spider-Man. Why did he have to say his name was Peter? Logan and Peter met, remember, way back in the 1987 Spider-Man versus Wolverine one-shot. They know each other, this was a very silly scene.

Overall Rating

I know, it's a harsh verdict. Below 3 for several reasons. I'd like to have seen the action. Meaning in pictures, not words. The artist does a great job, he truly does. But right now, I've had enough of his close ups and splash pages. Please, next issue, show the actual action. And the bickering, man, that has got to stop, I can't take anymore.

 Posted: 2004
 Staff: Peter Kroon (E-Mail)