The major comic companies put out enough comics that sometimes it can leave your head spinning and eyes bleeding as you search the new titles each week for something worth reading. To aid in your Geeky endeavors, Speak Geeky To Me on occasion reviews new titles from the major companies to spotlight the best and worst of what’s available at your local comic shop. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a new Comic Review.

 

The Info Bit

Title: Savage Wolverine #1

Genre/s: Superhero/Adventure

Writer: Frank Cho (Ultimate New Ultimates, Shanna the She-Devil)

Artist: Frank Cho

Colorist: Jason Keith (Avengers, Ultimate New Ultimates)

Letterer: Cory Petit (Avengers, All New X-men)

Publisher: Marvel

Number of Issues: 1 (on-going)

Page Count: 20

Price: $3.99

 

The Review Bit

Because Marvel fans apparently just can’t have enough titles with Wolverine in them, Marvel Now’s newest offering is the Savage Wolverine. What makes Wolverine so Savage? Well, beyond the berserker rage, deadly tendencies, and utterly unkempt body hair, this Wolverine tale is Savage because of his current location: the Savage Land. Yes, Frank Cho takes Wolverine to a territory of the Marvel universe best suited for Cho’s amazing art style, the jungle like realm filled with prehistoric beasts sitting warmly at the center of Antarctica.

Savage Wolverine actually opens up without its titular character, instead featuring the always sexy jungle vixen, Shanna the She-Devil. In fact, Wolverine doesn’t even appear until page 5, a quarter of the way through the book. Instead we get Shanna and a group of SHIELD agents that are on a geological surveying mission in the Savage Land. Humorously, while the SHIELD agents are dressed in full SHIELD body suits, they had no problem leaving the one female in their group in just her casual leopard loincloth and bra. Apparently Maria Hill’s small time as head of SHIELD did little for women’s equality in the agency…or perhaps Shanna just isn’t a fan of blue, skin tight outfits. Either way, clothes did little to protect both the agents and Shanna when their SHIELD ship flew over the ‘Forbidden Island’, which found means to mess with the ship’s electronics and send it crashing down into the Savage Land quicker than a game of Words With Friends might crash an American Airlines flight. The story picks up with Wolverine, 8 months later, awakening on the jungle floor of the Forbidden Island, deep within the Western territory of the Savage Land. While he has no clue how he got there, Logan is quick to realize where he is as he has to fight one of the local prehistoric predators with just his bare adamantium claws. Of course, as this is a Wolverine book, that is not all Logan fights in this issue, quickly running into some local caveman-like warriors and later brawling with a few talking pterodactyls. Inbetween fights, while looking to get home, Wolverine finds one of the lost SHIELD agents, a dying Mike McSwiggin, and learns of the crash. When Wolverine goes to investigate he is attacked by Shanna, who stabs him through with her spear, before she realizes he is a friend. It appears Shanna is the last surviving member of the surveying group and the two of them must now find means off the island.

Frank Cho’s art is always brilliant and it is no different here on Savage Wolverine. Wolverine looks his usual badass self, all claws and fury as he fights the local threats in the Savage Lands. Cho is known for his dinosaurs, sexy women, apes, and cavemen, all of which he gets to draw to perfection here. The dinosaurs look great, the cavemen look muscular and cro-magnon, and Shanna? Well, she fills the book with some sexy cheesecake shots. Honestly, this book might as well be a Shanna the She-Devil title guest starring Wolverine, rather than the other way around. Sexy shots of Shanna fill the pages of Savage Wolverine as she wanders around the panels in her skimpy little jungle girl outfit, showing off that tall and muscular body. With Jason Keith’s wonderful colors, the art on Savage Wolverine is absolutely superb and a 10 out of 10 in itself.

Sadly, Cho’s writing is not on par with his art in this issue of Savage Wolverine. While the idea of a SHIELD geological surveying group is rather clever, as is using Shanna to help map the mysterious Savage Lands, many other parts come off as kind of a stretch. First off, how does an organization like SHIELD lose a team (especially with Shanna) for 8 entire months without sending any follow up? Secondly, with Wolverine in his very Wolverine yellow and blue costume…what was Shanna thinking sneaking up behind him and stabbing him with a spear? Was she afraid he was D-Man? No one else in the Marvel universe really pulls that off…except perhaps Wolverine’s recently deceased son. But the big problem I had with Cho’s writing in Savage Wolverine was the dialogue. He just doesn’t seem to have Wolverine’s voice down and it shows with lines like “Mama Logan didn’t raise no fool” and “Gimme. How does it work?” The dialogue can be funny at times, but it just doesn’t sync up with what we know of the characters involved, as opposed to something out of Cho’s Liberty Meadows. That said, at no point is the writing down right bad, but it certainly could have used a few tweaks to make it more enjoyable. Of course, with a book like Savage Wolverine, fans shouldn’t be expecting a new Watchmen, but should rather sit back and enjoy the cheesecake and violence.

 

The Rating Bit

For what it is, a Wolverine book in the Savage Land co-starring Shanna the She-devil, Savage Wolverine is a very enjoyable book. The art is simply amazing, with Frank Cho doing what he does best. The story, however, is somewhat lacking and not one of the most interesting comics to contain Wolverine. Furthermore the dialogue is just a bit above horrible. Still, with such beautiful art and visual storytelling, Savage Wolverine could be an amazing title without any captions or word bubbles at all. Therefore, the cheesecake factory of dinosaurs and violence that is Savage Wolverine #1 easily earns itself a 7 out of 10, being a must buy for any fan of Frank Cho artwork.