Wolverine #65 Review

WOLVERINE #65
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Ron Garney

Jason Aaron and Ron Garney delivered a great conclusion to one of the best Wolverine stories I've read in a long time and, while the Millar / McNivan, Old Man Logan, will probably sell better, I don't think it's going to measure up to the standard that's been set on this storyarc.

Mystique is done running and is making her final stand against Logan and it ain't pretty for the ol' Canucklehead. He's sniped, blown up, burnt, shot, chewed up and spit out and that's all before he even gets near Raven.

After the opening salvos, we get into the up close and personal stuff, with Wolverine being the best there is at what he does with various slicing and dicing antics while Mystique relies on good, old fashioned bullets to the brainpan. It's a pretty gruesome fight that features Mystique taking claws through arms, her stomach, and so on before the two end it with a double KO, leaving Logan temporarily braindead and Mystique bleeding out.

Meanwhile, this is intersperced with the typical flashbacks that have been running throughout Aaron's run. This time, we see the conclusion to the robbery Logan and Mystique had planned with their circus crew of a gang. It turns out that they were betrayed and the cops show up, killing everyone but Logan and Mystique. The catch? Logan sold them all out for money, not Raven. They meet up on a train later, as they both attempt to flee the city, and Logan claims he was just doing it because he knew she'd sell them out, so he did it first.

It added a nice touch to the book and, while a bit subtle, is also the reason Logan leaves Mystique to live, or die, bleeding out in the desert instead of finishing her off himself at the end. I'm usually torn on these cop out endings, but it just didn't feel like it here and it actually made sense given their relationship and how it's been established in the flashbacks and present day aspects of this story and leaves me a bit sad knowing we won't be seeing Aaron back on this for at least another year, if ever.

The art was great, as usual, but it seems like the naked Mystique aspect of this final battle was getting to Garney, as he was always trying to find creative ways to cover her up and I think it hurt the art a bit. He should have went with a movie version "naked" Mystique to allow him more creative freedom while keeping it PG friendly. Still, hardly a major complaint.

While I'm not a fan of invincible Wolverine, as these wounds should send him into shock or outright disable him for hours, it's still a lot of fun to watch the two tear into each other like this and there was enough story here to keep the action from becoming monotonous or just plain sensationlized.

Verdict - Must Read

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