Rob Williams Proves Daken Is In Better Hands
Rob Williams takes the reins of Dark Wolverine with this Point One issue and succeeds in some ways where Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu consistently failed with the character of Daken.
As a reader of Way's early Wolverine work, I was there for Daken's debut. It was like a textbook example of how not to create and introduce a new character. Way's treatment of Daken was so awful it actually changed my belief system. It forced me to reconsider some things, and suddenly, I became a fan of X-23. Over the years, I would give Daken a try several more times. When Way teamed with Liu to launch Dark Wolverine, I checked out the series a few times throughout its run. I can honestly say these issues were among the worst comics I have read in the past decade. It was like bad fanfiction, where writers try to make you like their main character so hard and do it by diminishing all the characters around the main character. Daken seemed to exist in this separate version of the Marvel Universe where everyone was incompetent and inferior to him. There was this uncomfortable clueless aspect to the writing, where you could tell that the writers honestly believed they were making Daken look good instead of just making every other character bad.
Williams' issue is largely free of such poor handling of all the characters involved. It does build from the previous story where Daken has somehow singlehandedly taken over Madripoor, but it tones down the ridiculousness of that to a large degree. This is more of an introspective issue about Daken deciding to make a change in his life after succeeding in Madripoor. Williams wisely does not go for the hard sell on Daken's character. He establishes that Daken is dangerous but restrains himself from going overboard. The scene where Daken successfully infiltrates Avengers Tower does push it slightly, but the interaction between father and son that this scene allows makes it forgivable.
Ron Garney does some strong work on art in this issue. That makes the Avengers appearance especially nice, since the art in their own series has not been as good as this. The only thing the art is rather weak on is Daken's costume, mostly due to the design being a bit awkward with all of its random white wrappings.
As a Point One issue, this issue doesn't really do its job. It does work as an excellent jumping on point, setting up Daken's transition from Madripoor to Los Angeles well. But if you come into this completely unfamiliar with Daken, Williams doesn't offer you a helping hand. You will have to read the recap page to really get any information about who Daken is and where he comes from.
This issue is a very good sign that Daken under Rob Williams will be a better character, and it is worth checking out if you are someone who wants to like Daken or is at all interested in Daken but have been turned off by his previous stories. If you are someone who simply doesn't like the character, this issue isn't going to change your mind. It presents a more refined take on the character, but it is still the same character.
