Wolverine: Black, White, And Blood #3
Fans get three more great Wolverine stories in Wolverine: Black, White And Blood #3, by writers John Ridley, Donny Cates, Jed MacKay, artists Jorge Fornes, Chris Bachalo, and Jesus Saiz, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This one starts and ends with amazing stories, but the middle one doesn't match the others.
The first story, by Ridley and Fornes, tells the story of a battle between Wolverine and Silver Samurai. Silver Samurai has kidnapped Wolverine's foster daughter Amiko and Wolverine and his lover Mariko must fight their way through his thirty-two warriors, with the last being a huge shock to both of them. Fornes does an amazing job of art in this one. The action isn't exactly kinetic, but it doesn't need to be as Ridley's captions do a great job of describing what happened with the art setting the stage, letting the reader's imaginations do the work. The surprise of who the thirty-second warrior is and why they are fighting puts the icing on the whole thing.
The next story, by Cates and Bachalo, see's Wolverine out drinking when he smells someone familiar- Frank Castle. However, it's not the Punisher, but Cates' favorite son, Cosmic Ghost Rider. He tells Wolverine he's there to witness an epic battle Wolverine told him about. However, his very presence messes up the whole thing, as Juggernaut attacks and Wolverine needs his help to win. This story is fine, but Cates makes a mistake- Punisher says that he learned about the fight from one of the superhero poker games the Thing puts on, but no hero likes the Punisher enough to invite him. On top of that, this is mostly a Cosmic Ghost Rider story in a book that is supposed to be about Wolverine. It doesn't really fit. Bachalo's art is usually pretty good, but it's just not meant for black and white. Sometimes, it's very hard to know what's going on, and the action is pretty muddled throughout.
The third story, by MacKay and Saiz, sees Wolverine have Magik teleport him to Mars to deal with A.I.M. agents who have come to the red planet to use Gardener technology to strike at Earth. As Wolverine makes his move to attack them, he's surprised by their Death's Head assassin bot. It blinds him, and the A.I.M. agents revealed that it's perfectly stealth. Taking a beating, Wolverine is able to figure out a way to sense the robot and takes it down before ending A.I.M.'s threat to Earth. Saiz's art is amazing throughout this story. In fact, he may be even better in black and white than he is in color.
The first story is the strongest of the bunch, touching on Wolverine's past in Japan and telling a story that touches on his life's weariness and the things he sacrifices for being a hero. The third is a lot of fun and shows readers that Wolverine is as smart as he is tough. The second story is a huge disappointment on all counts. It barely belongs in this book, and Bachalo's art just doesn't translate well to black and white.