Review: Get Your Motor Runnin’ And Head On Down To Miami With ‘Wolverine: Paradise’ #1
by Olly MacNamee
Summary
The heat of Miami lures Wolverine away from the tragedy of Jean Grey’s death, but if he thinks he’s going to get some peace and quiet, he’s very much mistaken. ‘Wolverine: Paradise’ #1 evokes the best of the Seventies in so many different ways: from the fashion to the movies to the guys who starred in such films and the amazing hip Marvel comics of that era, too. Dan Panosian captures it while setting up another violent caper only Wolvie could get caught up in!
Overall
10/10Jean Grey is dead, and to put some distance between himself and the situation, Wolverine heads to Miami, where he gets into a few scrapes and meets up with Dazzler in Wolverine: Paradise #1 by Dan Panosian. A creator who has not hidden his love of Logan and who spills that love out onto each page of this Seventies-styled series that places Wolverine in a part of America one doesn’t equate with this rugged outdoors type. But it works.
Panosian’s art is always on point, but here he revels in the aesthetics of both the era and Miami. Wolvie — all dressed to impress in a leather vest, seventies shades and bootcut jeans — looks cool as anything already. But on a chopper, he could give Peter Ford’s Easy Rider a run for his money in the cool stakes. Add in the sunshine colour palette, frequently used throughout this debut issue, and you have a Wolverine story that’s unlike any other in recent memory because the locale is so off-brand for Wolverine. But then, as a man who’s been around since the 1800s, Wolverine can fit into any situation. And if he doesn’t … well, there’s always those Adamantium claws of his to fall back on. And you just know he’s using them before the end of this issue.
As well as the intricate detail of Panosian’s art, his use of Letratone adds further texture and depth. Wolvie may be rocking the bad-ass vibe, but there are scenes in this first issue that remind us of the hero he always has been beneath the beast. This Wolverine harkens back to the type of kitchen-sink film heroes of that era. – James Caan, Harrison Ford, and the aforementioned Peter Fonda, with a liberal dose of Frank Frazetta thrown in for good measure. Indeed, Panosian told me himself that the placing of the film is “like a late ’70s movie”. Before the advent of the summer blockbuster, these gritty, realistic films showing the underbelly of America were de rigueur. And Panosian does an expert job of not only pacing it as such a film, but the whole mise-en-scène is evocative of both this era of filmmaking and this era of X-Men too.
If you enjoy Wolverine’s solo adventures, you dig this. Even more so if you love your ‘70s films. Evocative, stylish and a whole tone of fun with a sharp script and sun-soaked art.
Wolverine: Paradise #1 is out now from Marvel.
Catch my interview with Dan Panosian here.
