Review: ‘Spider-Man & Wolverine’ #1 Has A Lot Of Fun But Has A Big Issue
by Tony Thornley
There’s a lot of iconic superhero pairings in comics. Frankly, Marvel doesn’t have any as big as Spider-Man & Wolverine, and it’s surprising that they haven’t starred in an ongoing series until today…
Marc Guggenheim, Kaare Andrews, Brian Reber and Travis Lanham bring the two Marvel greats together.
A key intelligence dossier has been leaked. A lot of very bad people will now be after the information that will compromise dozens of secret agents across the world. The only man suited to protect it is Wolverine, but Logan can’t do it alone. When he recruits Peter Parker though, both men will find themselves contending with revelations they can’t handle…
Generally speaking, I really liked this issue. Wolverine’s black ops background is always a good source for stories, and Guggenheim has a lot of fun setting up a genuine threat to Logan, while tying it subtly and logically into Peter as well. The entire interaction between Peter and his girlfriend Shay was also fantastic. The action is very fun, even if Guggenheim picked the wrong Spider-Man villains to be involved (Kraven wouldn’t really be interested here, but Chameleon, Hobgoblin or Doc Ock would be perfect).
Art wise, Andrews isn’t totally my cup of tea, but he does a good job. The art is extremely high energy. Wolverine first appears tearing apart Hydra androids and Spidey gets a McFarlane-esque splash of swinging over rooftops. In the hallucination sequence, Andrews goes nuts putting Logan in Peter’s most iconic moments and vice versa, making for one of the best parts of the issue. Reber’s color art gives it a great spark too, adding depth to the pages in an even more engaging way.
The issue though is in the twist that ends the issue.
SPOILERS AHEAD
In trying to secure the dossier, Peter gets curious. He breaks into his parents’ file. And he discovers…
Wolverine killed Richard and Mary Parker.
Now, let’s set aside that this is an identical twist to Captain America: Civil War, fabricating drama between the two heroes. It frustrated me because it’s a cliche to the point that this reveal is lazy. I can acknowledge that it’s highly likely that there’s more to this reveal than we saw here- maybe the footage was manipulated, maybe instead of acting as an assassin Logan was a bodyguard, maybe Mysterio’s illusions are still affecting Peter- but regardless going here in an issue is just a lazy way forward. I hope Guggenheim has an out or explanation that redeems this twist, but here it just doesn’t work, and retroactively drags the entire issue down.
Spider-Man & Wolverine #1 is available now from Marvel Cmmics.
Overview
It’s 90% of a promising start that just lost me at the end. It’s promising enough that I’ll give it a chance again next issue though.
