Review: Wolverine #900

The Good

Zeb Wells and Paolo Rivera's story was definitely the best. Out of all the "waxing philosophic at a bar" shorts, this was the one that captured Wolverine's character the most genuinely and, surprisingly, the whole "buddy movie" dynamic with Spidey actually yields an applicable message. 
 
The Loeb/ McGuinness short - - which recreated Wolverine's first appearance in the Hulk - - was a fun romp. McGuinness' art is awesome, as always, and Loeb not only captures Wolverine's voice, but he offers a fun explanation as to why the character's been, well, out-of-character at times throughout his career.
 
The other two "Wolverine in a bar" stories are actually pretty good. I liked the "Worst There Is" more out of the two because Yocum devised a great foil for Wolverine in that precocious little girl looking for her Daddy. It was actually a lot of fun.

The Bad

The last story, a silent one, doesn't feel like a comic. It felt like sample pages from an artist's portfolio. Wolverine escapes from Weapon X, protects the Hudsons from wolves and then frightens them with his savagery. You've seen that a thousand times, with words, before.
 
I know that part of the appeal of these specials is to see characters like Wolverine in unusual scenarios, but "The Curse of the Yellow Claw" was too much of a diversion from the norm. It honestly read like a generic detective story that had been slightly re-worked to be about Wolverine. Scott's depiction of him even looks like Clive Owen with only a slight flourish to his hair.  Calmly collecting information and reflecting on it all so academically doesn't strike me as Wolverine's M.O. either.

The Verdict - 3/5

I'm still kind of puzzled as to what the reasoning is behind this issue's numbering. It's not a spoof of an anniversary specials like Deadpool's was. This was something that would once be an annual or a X-Men Unlimited issue. Either way, it's a mixed bag, like any anthology. There are some good ones and there are some not-so-good ones. There was notably a bit of redundancy in the plots - - at least three stories out of six or seven about Wolverine picking fights in bars. Be aware, too, that there are a few segments that are reprints of recent stories, so you might be double-dipping.