Wolverine By Claremont & Miller TPB (Wolverine (Marvel) (Quality Paper)) [Paperback]

I've been an X-Men (and especially a Wolverine) fan since the late 80's. Unfortunately, I was never able to find the now classic "Wolverine" mini-series. Not until this book came along. This is really the first comic where the authors explore the human side of the man called Logan. Always considered an animal which thinks with his claws instead of his head, now we see the popular X-man beaten in battle, have his heart broken - only to come back triumphant. This book is a must for all Wolverine fans but I recommend it to those who want to find out what makes this little Canadian tick.

`Wolverine' collects issues #1 - 4 of Wolverine and issues #172 - 173 of the Uncanny X-Men.

In the first story Wolverine travels to Japan to reunite with his lover Mariko Yashida, who has mysteriously not responded to his letters and phone calls. Upon arriving Wolverine finds himself battling against Japanese crime factions and assassins in order to liberate Mariko from the clutches of her villainous father Shingen. Wolverine's two love interests Mariko and Yukio are a great inclusion to the story. While Mariko represents Wolverine's human side, Yukio represents his animalistic side. Wolverine knows that in order to be with Mariko he must attempt to change, whereas Yukio accepts his seemingly true animalistic nature. This causes immense inner turmoil within Wolverine as he struggles to choose between embracing the beast within or attempting to retain some remnants of his humanity. It is very hard not to feel sympathetic for Wolverine as he is a man who loses control of his temper at ill-timed moments but who is afraid to change ultimately for fear of failure and rejection.

The two Uncanny X-Men issues follow directly on from the previous Wolverine story. In this story the X-Men travel to Japan to assist Wolverine in taking care of some final business. These two issues also give a brief look at some of the X-Men's own problems they were dealing with at the time. Cyclops was struggling to cope with the loss of Jean Grey and Storm was having trouble controlling her powers. Storm's story is undeniably interesting but ultimately appears to be simply an excuse to give Storm a new outfit and haircut. Cyclops' story gives a brief but startling glimpse into how obsessive he really was after Jean Grey died, even going as far as dating Madelyne Pryor; a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Jean Grey (no pun intended). Unfortunately we only get a brief glimpse into the X-Men's lives, which is a shame because the stories are genuinely interesting. However this TPB is primarily a Wolverine tale and Wolverine's story continues and concludes well in these two X-Men issues.

During fight sequences backgrounds often consist solely of bold primary colours that divert attention away from the background and focus attention on the characters on page, in order to keep the sequence simple to follow. I find that many contemporary comics sometimes have too much detail during action sequences which can make it difficult to focus on what is going on. The Wolverine TPB performs the opposite and strips the fight scenes down to its bare essentials making continuous movements and actions much easier to follow. Text is short and snappy during action sequences, highlighting the increased pace and thought process of Wolverine as he slices and dices his foes.

The layout and size of each panel is also very well crafted and accommodates what is occurring on page very well. The opening panel for example, which shows Wolverine hanging off the edge of a cliff, has a narrow width and long length that showcases the height of the cliff. Text is laid out on the page so that the eyes are forced to scan down the whole page while reading, allowing the eyes to take in the entire image.

Overall, `Wolverine' by Claremont and Miller is a superbly crafted comic book with an excellent story that provides greater insight into Wolverine's character, showing his human side as well as his animalistic nature. I found Wolverine's own story to be the more interesting of the two stories and it definitely gives a lot more depth to Wolverine's character, showing that he is not simply a device to provide X-Men comics with action but can also be the centre piece of his own story. The two X-Men issues were also a good inclusion into the TPB as they allow Wolverine to seamlessly blend back into the traditional X-Men comics, which keeps the pace moving and allows the Wolverine's storyline to conclude and the next storyline to begin without interruption. For anyone looking to dig deeper into Wolverine's character this comic is a must-buy.

This book along with the dark phoenix saga, is a must for any Marvel comic fan.

The art work is rich and the arch of the story is compelling.

I believe that this book, should be rated as highly as Return of the Dark Knight by Frank Miller.

For those who are interested in learning more about what catapulted Wolverine into a genre defining character look no further than this graphic novel.