Posted on: August 18th, 2010 Comically Challenged-Wolverine: Weapon X #16
“It doesn’t matter if you’re religious or not, does anything make you feel more uncomfortable than some stranger coming up to you and saying, ‘I’d like to talk to you about Jesus’?…You could say that to the Pope: ‘I’d like to talk to you about Jesus’, he’d be like ‘Easy, Freak. I keep work at work.’”-Jim Gaffigan
Hold on to your hats; this one is a delicate topic. One which I plan to tread on lightly. Why? Because I don’t make it a habit of caring how people feel about religion. Doesn’t bother me in the least what you believe. Keeping this in mind, this week’s pick is all about spreading the good word. That word is Wolverine: Weapon X. What? That’s two words and a letter? Go choke on your ability to count, Math Major.
Fact: I like Jason Aaron. The man has issues. I can get behind that. Scalped is amazing, his run on Punisher Max has been awesome and Wolverine: Weapon X hits right above par as well. Issue 16 has an uncharacteristically pleasant and, dare I say, optimistic spin on things. Fortunately for all you folks that haven’t picked up this book in the past, this issue is a fine one-and-done story.
Kurt Wagner (A.K.A. Nightcrawler) died. Got a hand through the chest. Not super pleasant. But, as most people know, where there is Kurt, there is faith. The man oozes Catholic. Well, Logan and he had developed a pretty strong friendship over the years. Kurt wants to teach Logan about Jesus, Logan doesn’t want any part of it. Hilarity ensues. I’m going to run down the entire story for you in the next paragraph. Plan accordingly.
Issue #16, entitled “The End of the Beginning”, we see Logan coping with the death of Kurt and remembering all the times that Nightcrawler tried to reach out to Wolverine with God. Upon their first encounter, Wolverine assures him that on the day Kurt dies, which he assumes will be via scrap metal, as he’s waiting for God to come gather up his soul, Logan will stand over his body and wait to see God arrive. Now…doesn’t that make you just hurt with awkward? Anyway, come back to now and Logan finds out that Kurt had a will and in it he said he’d like Logan to move a $20,000 grand piano to the top of a Venezuelan mountain. Seems there’s a church there. So, going along with the wishes of his dear friend, Wolverine carries a big-ass piano up a big-ass mountain. He gets it up there, and is promptly informed that no one on the mountain knows how to play piano. Just great. However, it seems that Kurt had given the priest on that there mountain a package to give to a man that would come by one day. He’d know him when he saw him. Guess what. You see a guy that carried a grand piano up a waterfall by holding the rope with his teeth, you know that’s the guy you give a package to. Let’s see the Old Spice guy try to do that. What’s the man give him? Scrap metal. End scene.
It doesn’t matter what your religious views are, this is just a damn good book. You get to see a flawless use of flashbacks in setting up the story. You see the development of the friendship in these flashbacks and the different ways Kurt relies on his faith. You hear the thought process of Wolverine change as he’s lugging the piano up the mountain and trying to dissect the motives of his dead friend. He’s obviously missing the guy but he’s pissed that he’s making this journey when he knows that it’s just one more attempt for Kurt to teach him a lesson about God. It’s pretty awesome.
Davide Gianfelice does the art on this one, departing from Ron Garney’s usual work on the run. Gianfelice’s work is much more angular versus Garney’s work with smooth contours. Overall, I think what stands out most in the art is Dave McCaig’s colors. He does a lot of bold hues but the man can do one helluva sunset. Which is a complete departure from the last time I talked about him when I reviewed Nemesis #1. Nice work, Sir. Gold star for you.
Want a story to replenish your faith? Want to read a touching tale of two friends separated by death but forever living on in memory? Surprisingly enough, it came from Jason Aaron this time around. If you aren’t into that, see a guy carry a giant piano up a mountain and slice robots with his claws. That’s more like it.