#wolverinev2n4

[gaknar]

Wolverine gets embroiled in a Madripoor crime feud, attempting to protect his friend turned crime lord Jessan Hoan, and oof, Roughouse absolutely kicks the shit out of him at the end of this comic. Look at ol’ Patch picking the chunks of concrete out of his teeth after getting his face punched into the sidewalk. And Karma has to drop in and save everyone’s asses, in her old New Mutants costume to boot. It’s not explained why she isn’t wearing her shitty looking “Graduation Costume” that she upgraded to before she left the team, but maybe she threw it away because it was hideous. (Wolverine Vol. 2 #4 – Feb 1989)

[gaknar]

Roughouse spends approximately 95% of his screen time drunkenly stumbling around and sexually assaulting or attempting to sexually assault all of the female characters, including, later on, his bosses niece (I read ahead). It’s depressing to think that when I read this as a kid I probably thought it was funny. (Wolverine Vol. 2 #4 – Feb 1989)

[gaknar]

Holy crap I have absolutely no memory of Karma being in this comic book. It’s probably because when I first read this as a kid, I had no idea who she was, and now that I’ve properly caught up on reading every single X-Men comic that came before this, she’s one of my favorite New Mutants. Shan has really been put through the wringer, more so than even our most troubled characters. She got completely mind fucked by the Shadow King for an extensive period of time, and completely abandoned by her teammates in the process, an experience that left her body violated and mutilated. When we last saw her, she was leaving the team again to go look for her missing siblings who I had assumed were kidnapped by Nanny and the Orphan Maker who had been abducting all kinds of mutant children. It turns out she’s still looking for them in this story, joining forces with her corrupt uncle to use his underworld connections in order to continue to search. I can’t believe after all these years she’s still looking for them!! They first disappeared during Mutant Massacre which I covered like 17 years ago. They’re probably dead, girl! Learn how to mourn! (Wolverine Vol. 2 #4 – Feb 1989)

[gaknar]

It is comical that Wolverine, known as “Patch” here whenever he’s in Madripoor, can just wander up to any old crime scene and start poking around giving advice to everyone in the area. Like, who is this shady looking weirdo and why's he contaminating our crime scene with his cigarette butts and chest dandruff. That's what I'd be asking if I was just trying to do my job and some asshole came up to me and started asking me a whole bunch of annoying questions. (Wolverine Vol. 2 #4 – Feb 1989)

[gaknar]

To extrapolate on the feelings of nostalgia I was talking about in my last post, I can freaking remember how the pages of this comic book FELT. This was the first comic series I ever read that had those premium glossy pages instead of the faded newspaper stock that was far more common at the time. These comics had a sheen and a pop to them that most other comic books lacked. Of course, it drove the price of this book up 50 whole cents from the common $1.00 price tag which was no trivial amount of money for a kid at that time, but it sure did get the point across. I remember this scene specifically was so much more profound because of how colorful the pages looked. Just look at how moody and dire the atmosphere is when they pull this guy’s emaciated corpse out of the sewer. I remember it looking even better in the original comic.

 (Wolverine Vol. 2 #4 – Feb 1989)

[gaknar]

Maaaaan I was so into this series as a kid. I can’t remember if I mentioned it yet but this was the first X-Men comic book series I ever collected starting from issue number 1. What an enthralling experience that was, to get all the chapters of the story straight from the beginning, and to have the whole thing in my possession available for reference. In this issue we get introduce to Roughouse and Bloodsport, who look like my grandparents, honestly. There’s just something about this series. Between the rock solid artwork of John Buscema and monologue driven script from Chris Claremont. It’s doesn’t stand out as one of the greater stories of the era, but it does have a certain appeal to it that stimulates my nostalgia something fierce, and it’s solidified in my mind as the benchmark for how a Wolverine story should be told. (Wolverine Vol. 2 #4 – Feb 1989)