Funny Ending
Although this series didn't have the best start I've ever seen for a series, it has been amazing since, being one of the best Wolverine stories that I've read since Old Man Logan, and Frank Cho has really surpassed himself. With that said it will be a shame to see Cho leave the series, but hopefully Zeb Wells, and Joe Madureira will do just as good a job.
Plot
After Hulk's arrival on the Savage Land, Wolverine, Shanna, and Amadeus Cho have to prevent the Dark Walker from becoming free.
Review
This was unfortunately a disappointing issue, and although it wasn't terrible, I expected so much more. Frank Cho has done such a good job with this story, and although it has an average start, it's been amazing since, but this issue had to be the worst in the series. It's hard to tell what Cho was thinking when he wrote this issue, as besides some decent action, and witty humour it was a dull issue, that felt more like a beginning than an ending. This was annoying, as it felt half finished, and with Cho no longer working on the series (I don't know if he will return), and the next story by Zeb Wells taking a completely different direction, I question if the story will get finished, or if it was just a waste of time. Even Cho's dialogue was far from brilliant, as although Wolverine seemed like his usual self, the Hulk seemed way out of character, and Shanna didn't really do much, with Amadeus not doing much more. With all the negative's, and positives about the writing out of the way, I'll now talk about the best thing that Cho did for this issue, the artwork. It very rarely matters if the story's good or not with Cho, as his art always delivers, and although it's always nice to have a good story to go along with his art, I could easily enjoy his art on it's own. Although Cho didn't handle Hulk well in his writing, he didn't half do a good job of drawing him, making the big green monster look the intimidating creature that he's meant to be. Cho also once again did a fabulous job of drawing the rest of the character's, and especially Wolverine, and Shanna, as they both looked amazing. Besides that Cho also did perfect job of showing the character emotions, as you could easily tell what they were feeling, whether it was seriousness on Wolverine's part, or anger, shock, and awkwardness on Hulk's.
Last issue ended with Hulk making an appearance, and I couldn't wait to see him cause havoc on the Savage Land. We didn't however get this, as Hulk really seemed to be just one big punchline in this issue, being shown as nothing more than a joke, which although funny, wasn't very respectful to the character. First of we have Hulk being attacked by one of the gorilla's that Wolverine fought last issue, with said gorilla trying to bite Hulk's head off. When Hulk actually started fighting the gorilla it wasn't too bad, but it just felt a bit of a joke, as although I know that Hulk has been compared to a gorilla in the past, there isn't any need to make him look the equal of a gorilla, even if it is from the Savage Land.
Now we did slightly get the thing that I was hoping most from the Hulk, and that was a fight between him, and Wolverine. Now I say it was a fight, but to be honest it wasn't much of one, being very one sided. Now I won't go into too much detail, as to avoid spoilers, but I was really hoping for a classic Wolverine/Hulk fight like we've seen in the past, with Hulk dominating Wolverine with his strength, and Wolverine coming back with his tactical edge, and his Adamantium claws, but we didn't get that, and it was really very disappointing. At the same time, I do understand not wanting to have a big fight between the two character's, considering they've to end the story this issue, but considering the ending we got that isn't much of an excuse, but I'll talk more about the ending later.
This issue also saw Amadeus' A.I. unit, Calvin go a little berserk, constantly trying to calculate what the best solution is. Now when Calvin was first introduced to this story I found him quite interesting, especially considering he came with Amadeus Cho, but in this issue his constant talking was a little annoying, and I wish it was less frequent. Now I understand that considering the position they were in it would be natural for Calvin to act like this, but it just took away from the mood of the issue for me. I did however once again like the humorous interaction Calvin had with Amadeus, which was once again quite funny.
I finally come to the thing that bugged me the most in this issue, the ending. Now I won't go into any vast details as to avoid spoilers, but this really took away from the issue, and in fact the story as a whole. It was very sudden, and abrupt, which also wasn't nice, and it really felt like it was the halfway point in a story. I will however be slightly less disappointed if this is latter developed more, preferably with Cho at the writing, and at least art helm, but it still won't make this issue better.
Final Verdict
After the marvellous issues that we've seen in this series, the opening story finished on a low, being the worst in the series so far. The Hulk was very badly used, and his presence was far from what I'd hoped it would be. It however wasn't the worst thing about this issue, as the ending was terrible, and made the story feel unfinished, which was disappointing. I would only recommend this to anyone who's been following the series so far, but otherwise I'd recommend leaving it alone, as even with the other amazing issues, it will disappoint.
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