Wolverine: Evilution

Story by AnnNocenti
Art by Mark Texeira, John Royle, Phillip Moy& Andrew Pepoy

Ann Nocenti, previous writer of Daredevil, and ex-wordsmith of the much lamented (by me, and that's about it) Kid Eternity, returns to the world of super-heroes with this, a 48-page graphic novel featuring Wolverine and Boom Boom, and proving that with good enough writing, almost any character can transcend its history. Not that this is news to Wolverine, who's last GN outing was scripted by Vertigo favourite John Ney Rieber and drawn by one-time Sandman artist Kent Williams.

So, what's it all about? Shamanism, technology, Adamantium skeletons, tribalism, the Spear of Destiny and nuclear power, in a word or twelve. The sleepy town of Prescott is powered by twin Nuclear Reactors, and quite happily so, when the leader of the local teenage rebellion, the Devos, finds a voice in his head which agrees with his feelings on the evils of technology, and provides him with detailed instructions as to what to do about it. At the same time, Wolverine has a dream that calls him to there, with the message "Man dies, his metal lives on", and Boom Boom revisits Prescott, her old stomping ground. The story of what happens is both mysterious and clear at the same time, a wonderful double level of meaning due to Ann Nocenti's tremendous writing. Between the dreams, the dialogue and the captions, her words spin a web of wonder over the whole affair, without which it'd be just another Superhero book.

Andrew
These reviews are copyright the authors
If you want to copy them, see here for details