Wolverine #16
Wolverine faces off against Solem and Sevyr Blackmore In Wolverine #16, by writer Benjamin Percy, artist Adam Kubert, colorists Espen Grundetjern and Frank Martin, and letterer Cory Petit. This issue is good, but it feels lacking in a way.
This issue is pretty much just a giant double and triple cross. Wolverine and Solem agree to work together against Sevyr, but Solem leaves instead of helping Wolverine. Wolverine is still able to take down Sevyr and back on Krakoa. He gives Emma Frost Sevyr’s pirate ship to make up for the loss of the Marauder. With Black Tom’s help, he tracks Solem to the Arakkon Point, and the two have words before he leaves Emma to deal with Solem. Back in the Summers House, he contemplates the two swords and thinks about the Hell Bride of the Hand, who is almost certainly coming for him.
While this issue is entertaining, it does highlight a problem that Percy has had on both this book and X-Force. Percy tells quick, open-ended stories, and while they work as entertainment value, they can often leave one feeling a bit wanting. This story is a prime example of that. Solem has been built up as the next big Wolverine villain, and yet he’s mostly just an annoyance to Wolverine. They don’t really fight, except a battle of wills, and while it’s entertaining, it’s not exactly the best thing. Readers have been sold Solem as some amazing fighter and bad guy, and yet beyond him being able to outsmart everyone, we don’t really see the amazing fighter part.
This issue ends with Solem still around, so maybe there will be a chance to see him go up against Wolverine. In fact, if this issue is good for anything than it’s for learning more about him. He’s a hedonist, which makes sense for someone like him, raised in wartorn Arakko and enslaved by Sevyr for so long. He’s still an interesting character, but that’s really it. The action sequence in the middle of the book is a lot of fun, and the ending is cool, if a little out of left field. This is the first time the Hell Bride has been brought up since the X Of Swords tie-in issues, so her just suddenly being important again is quite strange and adds to the feel that readers missed something.
Kubert’s art is sensational, as always. He’s this book’s saving grace because everything looks so good. He’s only gotten better over the years, and this issue is yet another example of that. Throughout the book, there are all kinds of great little scenes that stand out, from Wolverine having drinks with Solem to the fight scenes to the ending. Even if the story doesn’t always deliver, the art does.
Wolverine #16 is an entertaining comic, but it feels like there’s stuff missing. Percy does a good job of letting readers know who Solem is, but he doesn’t give them the big Solem/Wolverine fight that this story seemed to be building towards. Kubert is at the top of his game again, which is pretty much what he’s been doing the entire time on this book. It’s not a bad comic; it’s just strange.