Logan # 1 Review
Author: Brian K. Vaughn
Artist: Eduardo Risso
Colorist: Dean White
When I heard the name Brian K. Vaughn being mentioned I immediately jumped on this series. My favorite character + a fantastic writer = money well spent. At least that was my formula when I bought the issue. I mean it’s got to make sense right? Nobody has done anything with the character’s past since he got his memories back. Now it’s the perfect time for BKV to show us what he is made of. I’ve always said a writer’s true test is if he can write a good X-men story.
For the first four pages Logan shows up at an old temple in Japan talking about how he has to take down this old adversary from the past. It hasn’t been revealed who yet, but the rest of the issue is a flashback to 1941 and WW2. Logan and a guy named Warren are POWs that were captured by some Japanese troops. At this time Logan was a member of some Canadian Special Forces Unit and was sent to Burma to blow up a bridge and that’s all he can remember. They end up escaping and run into a beautiful Japanese woman named Atsuko on a bridge (maybe this is why Logan had such a fascination with Mariko). Warren wants to put her down, but Logan stops him and tells him to take a hike. She takes him back to her place, they play a little Marvin Gay, and get it on. Alright everything is true, but the Marvin Gay part. It is revealed though that he is in Hiroshima and thinks can’t look good by the end of the third issue.
While the beginning of the issue felt stereotypical of introducing a new baddie to the Wolverine mythos, you don’t really appreciate it till the ending. There really wasn’t any tension or plot build up and there, but the revelation of his location made me go back and reread the book and it just kept getting better and better each time I read it. Sure, there are some silly things like finding some random easy chick in Japan and knocking boots within minutes, but BKV’s dialogue is so good he makes it seem like it really could happen. He nails the attitude and dialogue for the character, both in terms of the modern narration and his WWII era dialogue.
I have been a fan of Risso since his Hundred Bullet days and his art in this series is fantastic. It has a nice mix of his own contemporary style thrown in with a little Mike Mignola, and Frank Miller. It really works well for a story like this and it reminded me of the classic Claremont and Miller mini. I just felt like there really to be a little more meat in the first issue and I’m sure Atsuko would agree with me. It’s a shame that the book has $3.99 price tag, which seems expensive because of the small plot. But you know if you are a fan of Wolverine or BKV you are still going to pay for it. I really cannot wait to see what happens next and hopefully we’ll get lots more out of issue two. B+
