Wolverine: EOTS was written by Mark Millar (writer of Wanted, Kick-Ass and more) so that, along with the Canuckle Head himself, Wolverine, attracted me to this comic. This comic begins with the kidnapping of a young man in Japan. It's believed to be a mix-up, a poor kid snatched while being mistaken for a rich kid. The man's father can't afford the ransom, Ten Million U.S. Dollars, so he calls in Wolverine. Turns out the father is a cousin of Wolverine's deceased wife, so Wolvie comes to help save his boy. When Wolverine goes looking for the kid, he's quickly attacked, he destroys his attackers, but is attacked from behind by The Gorgon, a man who's look can turn people into stone. He slices through Wolverine with a blade that won't allow Logan to heal, before seemingly killing the man known as Wolverine. A month later we see Nick Fury and Elektra having a conversation when they hear that Wolverine has been found, badly injured. As Wolverine recuperates, he has voices in his head, one telling him to kill, the other telling him to ignore the violent voices. Next thing we know, Wolverine is gutting people ad trying to escape, when he's face to face with one of the most Lethal and dangerous people in the Marvel Universe... Elektra.
Oh, and that's just the FIRST ISSUE!!! Throughout this comic we find out that Wolverine was killed and Resurrected by The Hand, who have brainwashed him and are using him as the weapon he was intended to be. We see Wolverine face a who's who of Marvel characters, including Elektra, Daredevil, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men and more. This comic is not for the light-hearted as there's a ton of bloodshed and grisly deaths. And just when things couldn't get worse, The Hand even adds some new recruits! I won't say who and spoil it for those who haven't read but that was a definite bonus. This story spans twelve issues, that kept me on the edge of my seat, hooking me from the first issue. There's everything you could want from a Wolverine comic, fighting, a great story, X-Men, Sentinels, Betrayal, Murder, and of course even a few jokes are thrown in.
So, Wolverine, Elektra, Daredevil, The Hand, The Gorgon, S.H.I.E.L.D., The X-Men, Nick Fury, Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, with all those appearances it's gotta hurt the story right? Wrong. The writing was phenomenal, each fight made sense, it never looked like Wolverine has the edge just because it's his comic. I gained a new respect for Elektra and Daredevil. A good comic doesn't make just one guy look good, it makes everyone look good. When Wolverine was tense, I was tense. When he was sad or nervous so was I, and that's a damn good story. Would I recommend this to anyone? Damn right, even a non-Wolverine fan. This story had everything that you need for a good memorable comic book, and I can honestly say it's one of the best I've read. That being said I'll give Wolverine: Enemy of the State & Agent of Shield a solid 10/10 rating. So thanks for the recommendation Marc & X.
And now the results from last week's polls!
Poll Number One - Which is the Best Marvel Animated Series?
Last Place - The Incredible Hulk, Gamma Rays and Green Monsters don't make a good cartoon.
Second Place - Tie between Spider-Man: TAS and Spectacular Spider-man
Winner - X-Men: The Animated Series, The show that spawned the phrase "I'm The Juggernaut, Bitch!"
Poll Number Two - Which is the Best DC Animated Series?
Last Place - Tie Between Teen Titans & Superman: TAS, Man that's a shocker.
Second Place - Justice League, the Team of heroes is second best to...
Winner - Batman: The Animated Series, one hell of an amazing show.
So, with that over and done with, I wanna thank you guys for reading and don't forget to vote for this weeks new poll, I'm very interested in seeing how this one turns out. That's it for me, I'll be back next time for more Ratings and Rantings!
- Jason Todd
Well, I know we pretty much all want Cassandra and Ravager appearing in at least one team, but Titans isn't right for either of them now. Arsenal has no place in Titans at all, and is in alot right now anyway. Plus, Jason Todd has the most likely motivation, "working on the inside" to bring down Slade... Plus, you know, he shoots people dead good ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree Ravager isn't a good fit for the team with her Heroic views...I wont say the same for Cassandra because she seemed done with heroics after Bruce's "death." Arsenal seems like more of an Anti-Hero now and I could see him teaming with Slade's Titans and Cheshire is he has a good reason. And yeah, Jason is quit good at shooting people, I could see him and Deathstroke arguing with Jason either taking the team and turning on Deathstroke or the team turning on Jason who wants revenge.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you enjoyed Enemy of the State, JT! Millar has a great handle on a wide variety of characters, and I think in a lot of ways he's a huge proponent of what you said: "A good comic doesn't make just one guy look good, it makes everyone look good." He takes advantage of the "shared universe" concept in a way that very few others can do so successfully.
ReplyDeleteDid you have a favorite scene or moment in the book? The fight with the Human Torch was one of mine, but that's not to say I didn't like just about everything else a whole lot too!
I agree completely dude, and once again thanks for the recommendation, I really enjoyed this, and I don't read a lot of Wolverine so this was a pretty pleasant read. It's definitely one of my favorites, and the scene with the Sentinel's was amazing.
ReplyDeleteHonestly Marc I had quite a few, the Human Torch fight was one, the ending was another, and the big fight with Elektra. I also loved how they made that dude, I can't recall his name but the X-Man that Wolvie killed, a threat, that was good writing.
Oh, Northstar? Yeah I remember him getting killed was pretty controversial at the time. He's one of Marvel's few openly gay characters, so I can see why some people would be upset at Millar choosing him of all people to bite the bullet. Northstar's actually a pretty interesting character, from his time in Alpha Flight to his tenure as an X-Man in the early-2000s. Luckily, he's alive and well now (unless they killed him again without my knowing it!).
ReplyDeleteThe thing about a lot of Millar comics is that they're chockful of great moments, but at the same time it doesn't feel like those moments are the only thing he's put any effort into. There's actually some meat to the story, you know? That's why I liked Enemy of the State, and also why I liked Civil War better than any other Marvel event I've read.
And I'm always happy to recommend great comics. What do you have on your plate to read next?
Yeah Northstar, I loved seeing his change after being resurrected. And I looked him up afterward and I saw that he's back alive like you said, and he seems like a pretty interesting character.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I haven't read much Marvel stuff outside of Spidey, Deadpool, and Civil War and I enjoyed some parts of it but some of it I didn't, but I know what you mean about the whole story being full of good writing and not just certain parts.
Actually, about a month ago I was telling X how I'm on this game trading site where you can also trade books, movies, etc. and I traded a dude 3 nintendo DS games for the first 40 issues of Wolverine Origins, so.. looks like it's time for that lol.
Sounds like X and Marc have some damn good taste. This definitely sounded like a fantastic read. And it has my girl Elektra in it?! Can't go wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteAnd with that said, fantastic review JT. Love when you read something you enjoy you show your love for it through your reviews. Definitely a bonus if someone is looking for a good read. :) Nice work.
Thanks for the kind words babe :) I'll give ya the trade this Friday so you can check it out, and yeah Elektra was freaking awesome in this.
ReplyDeleteThat's the good thing, but if I hate it and review it watch out!!! Lol
Glad to hear you enjoyed this storyline JT. I'm also going to have to agree with Falisha and say that Marc and I do most definitely have some good taste! :P
ReplyDeleteBTW, since you enjoyed this story so much, maybe you'd want to check out the Old Man Logan storyline, which was written by Mark, and was pretty damn good IMHO. Prob not as good as Enemy of the State, but still worth a read.
Oh no problem at all JT. I'll be glad to take the trade when I come over this weekend. And Elektra is just awesome. I really need to find that dvd.
ReplyDeleteLol. Since you're so good at recommending things X, got any Elektra recommendations?
Lol I'll agree as well you dudes have good comic tastes, and have yet to lead me astray :P
ReplyDeleteI've heard of Old Man Logan, I'll add it to my list, but with all those Wolverine Origins I can't promise I'll get to it anytime soon :P lol
I may not be X, but that won't stop me from making a few Elektra recommendations...
ReplyDeleteThe first is Frank Miller's run on Daredevil. That's been collected in three softcovers, each about the size of Wolverine: Enemy of the State. Elektra was first introduced over the course of these issues, and the story is very much in line with the movie (although without all the parts that made the movie not so great).
The second recommendation is the Elektra Omnibus, which contains the Elektra: Assassin miniseries and other stuff that explains how she comes back from the dead. All very good stuff written in the 1970s and '80s.
I swear I started to say if X won't I'm sure Marc will! Marc I think I'm making you my de facto Marvel expert, don't tell X. And I may have used the term de facto wrong lol.
ReplyDeleteAww Marc you're more than welcome to recommend things. I do apologize for leaving you out :(.
ReplyDeleteAnd that sounds like some good reads. I'll definitely visit my local comic shop and see what I can gather from your recommendations.
Thanks again hun, you're a total sweetheart. :)
No problem at all. I just remembered that there was also an Elektra ongoing series in the early 2000s. I read some of it at the time but I didn't think it was very good...of course, that was almost 10 years ago now so I'm not sure whether that judgment is still accurate. I do remember the series had some very early Marvel work by Brian Bendis. I might have to take another look and get back to you on those issues.
ReplyDeleteAnd JT, you did use "de facto" correctly. Well, grammatically, at least, since I'm not sure I'd actually call myself a Marvel expert, haha. :)
Hey, that's right, did you start those Wolvie: Origins yet JT? And I'd totally second the Frank Miller DD run from the early/mid 80's that Marc mentioned. I know I have a few, I'll try to check it out later and get back to you on the trades and stuff... But remember, Frank is the same guy responsible for the Dark Knight Returns/Strikes Again books, so keep that in mind... And yes, those Elektra books from the early 2000's were pretty bad! Back in the day I'd collect ANYTHING Marvel, but I remember that series was one of the few times before I got into DC that I actually dropped a series before it ended. Oh, and JT, you wound me... :-(
ReplyDeleteWell I would Marc, you are now hereby and so forth the De facto Marvel expert, and not leaving X out, he is the De Facto DC expert, and I am the de facto KING OF THE WORLD!!!! Just so everyone knows, and Falisha's de facto queen. See what happens when I add new words to my vocab?
ReplyDeleteLol but really, seems like that second Elektra series was pretty bad if both of you though so? Ah... yeah, and I did not care for TDKR at all...
DKR is the most overrated comic book ever, in my opinion, and Frank Miller is the most overrated comic book creator. But Daredevil is the one thing he's done that I actually think lives up to the hype. Definitely a must-read at some point for any comics fan.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely agree with you Marc, that Artwork was horrible in TDKR, and the story wasn't entertaining to me at all, Even Year One wasn't all that good to me as I've read MUCH better Batman stuff, but I will give Miller his props for creating Elektra and some of his other work.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the artwork in DKR, I just think the story is based on a completely incorrect interpretation of Batman's character -- one that you'll really only find in Frank Miller's Batman work.
ReplyDeleteYear One is hurt by the fact that Batman Begins told the same story, except a hundred times better. That said, I think the artwork in Year One is excellent. It's by Dave Mazzuchelli, who also did a lot of work on Daredevil. When Frank Miller returned to the character for the six-issue Born Again story, Mazzuchelli was his artist.
I hated the Artwork in TDKR, it was justso ass backwards to me, with the text on top of the pictures and everything looks like a kid drew it, and yeah I agree the artwork in Year One was very nice, that's one of the few things I enjoyed about it. And I agree, Batman Begins took the Year One story and made it better so it kinda made Year One look bad by comparison.
ReplyDeleteI've got to completely agree with JT about the DKR artwork, it was horrid looking! You guys know I barely notice artwork, but that art was so bad I couldn't HELP but notice it! I can remember finishing off DKR and thinking to myself, "THIS was what so many people have been raving about???"
ReplyDeleteI had a problem with the art the first time I tried to read it, but I don't anymore. Miller has a really stylized approach, and I get why he draws that way and why he felt it was necessary to the story he was telling. I just think that story was a bad one, and since the art was specifically tailored to that story, it just contributed to bringing the whole thing down like a house of cards.
ReplyDeleteSo I guess what I'm saying is that I don't have a problem with Miller's style in principle. I thought the first Sin City book was okay (although it's highly overrated as well), and there are even some parts of DKR that look pretty good. I just don't like the statements that he frequently tries to make by drawing in the way that he does.