Vol 1: Contagion
Written by Charlie Huston
Art by Juan Jose Ryp
2011
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
Vol 2: Broken Quarantine
Written by Charlie Huston
Art by Juan Jose Ryp
2012
Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/
So - as silly as it might sound - I feel like I owe this series an apology.
Wolverine: The Best There Is? I'm sorry. And I mean that. Really.
The first time we meet I took one look at you and decided that you were a mean, nasty, horrible little thing that was only really there to appeal to the type of person who thought that stuff like Hostel, Wolf Creek and A Serbian Film was fun entertainment [1]. I wrote some stuff back then and said some hurtful things about you [2] that basically kinda got you all wrong. What can I say? I guess I just wasn't feeling that receptive to your charms - and I acted in a knee-jerk kinda way and basically announced to the whole Comic Forum "whatever you do - don't read this book. It's awful. And can only be enjoyed by the worst and most depraved comic fans out there." [4]. There's a line in the first book that goes "here we are in an empty and senseless universe where we can do whatever we want and none of it matters." and I just kinda assumed that was the philosophy of the whole thing: the kind of nihilism that most of us tend to grow out of by the time we're twenty (or so).
I mean - it starts with blood dripped off a chain-link fence and Wolverine naked and on all fours with a spiked collar around his neck: so it's not exactly setting itself up as anything - well - particularly refined. Instead - there's this kinda dingy, stinky basement atmosphere that reminded me of the club at the start of Gaspar Noé's Irréversible [5] or something: you know what I mean - the type of place where they would play lots of Nine Inch Nails songs really loudly. And then there's a whole crowd of people cheering this stuff on and - well - it's kinda hard to tell if the comic is mocking them or cheering along besides them (I mean - the first time I read it - my best guess was that it was cheering along: but now - well - it's not like I'm totally sure that it's actually the opposite but the water's are a lot more murky - which (you know) is a good thing).
Then there's all the slicing and dicing and lots of gratuitous violence (and that's gratuitous like even for a superhero comic - so - yeah: that's pretty damn gratuitous - you know?) and well - I became convinced that all you wanted was showing messed up nasty things in a messed up nasty way.
But then: I dunno. Once I finished the first book (back then I didn't know it was a series - just a one-off) I had no intention of ever picking it up again - but then when the second volume landed in our library - well: I thought - it doesn't take that long to read a comic does it...?
And reading it through the second time - there was this moment when I guess I kinda of realised that maybe it was the kinda dunderheaded [6] thing that I thought it was I think that maybe it was actually aspiring to something a little higher like (as silly as this sounds maybe when talking about something as low class as - you know - a Wolverine comic) there's this hint of the same kinda thing that Alan Moore did with the Anatomy Lesson (one of his first Swamp Thing stories for those you that don't know): talking Mr Logan apart and trying to work out exactly what makes him tick and how exactly these powers of his actually work ("Is your healing a mutation? Or is it a spiritual endowment?"). Of course the way it decides to do this isn't as quite as austere and delicate as the Alan Moore method (=lots of pretty talking) instead it goes for ever escalating degrees of "Man - that's so messed up"ness.
And then - by the time that I hit the second book I had completed by arc from naysayer to true believer. So much so - that I think that I can honestly say (hand on heart) - that this might just be one of my favourite superhero comics currently out there. With a succession of bizarre and fantastical images (luminous giant robot spider being one of the many highlights) and a firm hold on that all-important X-Man banter that I'm imagine would leave even Joss Whedon himself nodding his approval at ("Yes. Banter is generally considered one of my main two powers.") - it's all well developed, well thought out and well executed. Like cotton candy wrapped around barbed wire - it's a perfect mix of sweet and dangerous. Yeah - I don't agree with it's approach and where it's coming from - because (like I said) it does have that kinda torture-porn vibe. But - hey - that's not just what it is - as (somehow) it kinda manages to make something that transcends the (I mean - what I imagine to be: maybe they hate all that crazy horror stuff - I dunno) predilections of it's authors...
And reading it through the second time - there was this moment when I guess I kinda of realised that maybe it was the kinda dunderheaded [6] thing that I thought it was I think that maybe it was actually aspiring to something a little higher like (as silly as this sounds maybe when talking about something as low class as - you know - a Wolverine comic) there's this hint of the same kinda thing that Alan Moore did with the Anatomy Lesson (one of his first Swamp Thing stories for those you that don't know): talking Mr Logan apart and trying to work out exactly what makes him tick and how exactly these powers of his actually work ("Is your healing a mutation? Or is it a spiritual endowment?"). Of course the way it decides to do this isn't as quite as austere and delicate as the Alan Moore method (=lots of pretty talking) instead it goes for ever escalating degrees of "Man - that's so messed up"ness.
And then - by the time that I hit the second book I had completed by arc from naysayer to true believer. So much so - that I think that I can honestly say (hand on heart) - that this might just be one of my favourite superhero comics currently out there. With a succession of bizarre and fantastical images (luminous giant robot spider being one of the many highlights) and a firm hold on that all-important X-Man banter that I'm imagine would leave even Joss Whedon himself nodding his approval at ("Yes. Banter is generally considered one of my main two powers.") - it's all well developed, well thought out and well executed. Like cotton candy wrapped around barbed wire - it's a perfect mix of sweet and dangerous. Yeah - I don't agree with it's approach and where it's coming from - because (like I said) it does have that kinda torture-porn vibe. But - hey - that's not just what it is - as (somehow) it kinda manages to make something that transcends the (I mean - what I imagine to be: maybe they hate all that crazy horror stuff - I dunno) predilections of it's authors...
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[1] You know: that whole "torture-porn" thing (of those films the only one I've seen is Wolf Creek - and that was enough to put me off the entire genre for life: blah blah blah - I guess I just don't like films that have nothing more on their minds than showing you in graphic detail all the messed up things that humans can do to each other - unless (you know) we're talking about Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows and Crossed - but that's another story...).
[2] Quote: "Juan Jose Ryp I know from the stuff he's done with Warren Ellis - Black Summer and No Hero - both of which were massively violent in a gory-horror-movie-sorta-way with lots of human inside bits being riped out into the outside. But - hey - that was with Warren Ellis and as graphic as lots of it got (and there were bits of it - especially in No Hero - that even gave me cause to balk) it was all done in service to a story that made it seem worthwhile. Yeah it was full of messed up stuff - but it was messed up stuff that was kinda intelligent and was making a point (ok yeah - a point about the nature of heroes and stuff - but still: it was still tangentially connected to what-it-means-to-be-human kinda things). This tho - this is different. This is a Wolverine comic. And - as such - it's more concerned in making Wolverine do cool stuff rather than make any sorts of insights (not that it necessarily has to be that way - but still - this very much is). I read a thing on a website [3] the other day where people were talking about the Spider-Man reboot (see: here) and there was this amazing quote from a producer (that almost feels some sorta parody): “You don’t want people to go and say, ‘Ugh! Saw that already!' ... You have to reinvent and give them a different tone. For example, The Wolverine [directed by Knight and Day's James Mangold] will be an altogether different tone [than 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was directed by Gavin Hood]. And so you’re not going to see Wolverine fight with his claws in any way that you’ve seen him before.” Which sorta sums up the approach of this book: it's Wolverine with a different tone. Namely: something way more graphic and violent and nasty than you've ever seen before and - hey - you're going to see Wolverine fight with his claws in a way you've never seen before (yay). And so what we get is a Wolverine comic that just left me feeling a little sick. And a little bit - I dunno -violated? And I'm sure that's what the people making this set out to do ("dude - wouldn't it be so messed up if...?"): but - and this is from someone that really loves Garth Ennis' Crossed - it all just left me feeling a little bit empty inside.
[3] For those of you that are interested It was a Vulture article called: Spider-Man and the Half-Life of the Movie Reboot (you can read it: here): "This July, The Amazing Spider-Man will set a new land speed record for rebooting: Just five years after Spider-Man 3, with the image of Tobey Maguire still dancing in moviegoers' minds."
[4] Which caused one of our teenage readers to reach out and grab it with both hands. But then - that's teenagers for you. Always ignoring the wise words of their elders...
[5] A film which sits comfortably at the top of the list marked: "Really well made films that once you're seen you never want to see again." If I tell you that the club at the start is called "The Rectum" then you should maybe get a (small) inkling of what I'm talking about...
[6] Dunderhead. Now that's a cool word to say. According to the best guess on the internet it's probably from the Dutch word donder (which means thunder and is akin to the Old High German word: thonar). First Known Use: circa 1625. There you go. And you thought you were just here to hear about Wolverine comics huh?
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Links: Unreal City Review: “Snikts a Living” – The Tao of Wolverine: The Best There Is, Multiversity Review.
Further reading: Black Summer, No Hero, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, Crossed, Kick-Ass, Wolverine: Wolverine vs The Marvel Universe, Marvel Zombies.
All comments welcome.
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