Writer: Larry Hana, Chris Claremont, Sam Kieth
Art Team: Scot Eaton, Sean Parsons, Matt Milla, Salvador Larroca, Val Staples, Sam Kieth, Ronda Pattison
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: June 26, 2019

The love Wolverine has been getting lately, as far as published titles go, is fine by me. Especially with him missing in the Marvel Universe for the last several years, I’ve just been more than okay with getting my fill where I can, and the variety is nothing to shake a stick at either. So with that said, lets discuss and lets check out the latest flavor of Logan stories, here in Wolverine: Exit Wounds.

The title begins with a throwback tale (Hanna, Eaton, Parsons, and Milla) to the time that Wolverine was recruited into the Weapon X program, dealing with some of the trials and tribulations he was put through, during this period of time in his life. If you’ve read the Weapon X trade, which collects the old Marvel Comics Presents titles recapping Wolverines time in the Weapon X program, this story echos a lot of those sentiments, dealing with what we learned in that now collected trade. Personally, although the story reads like its more a random collection of scenes, this is the area of this book I enjoyed the most, both in terms of art and story presented to the reader.

From there we move onto a much more personal tale (Chris Claremont, Salvador Larroca, and Val Staples) involving Wolverine, and a young Kitty Pride, centered around Wolverine and his visits to Japan. This story dives more into the personality of Logan the man, instead of his animal nature, and has a nice twist involved by the end that provides a bit of the feels to boot. If you are familiar with the characters present around Wolverine’s life, I think this story will mean more to you, but enough can be inferred from the relationships presented that you get the idea of the stories purpose. The art is a nice compliment to the ideas here as well.

As things wrap up we conclude with a Wolverine vs Venom fight, with the story and art done by Sam Keith (Ronda Pattison). Its a quick read, that really is just a giant fight between the two, in an undisclosed location, where your enjoyment will depend a lot on how much you enjoy Sam Keith’s take on characters. I personally enjoy the distorted take he brings to things, and have a Wolverine/Venom Marvel Comics Presents issue from when I was a kid, I would always revisit. This reminded me a lot of that so I had a good time with it but I understand if its not up your ally.

I think some of what you think of this issue, before you even begin, may hinge on your connections to Wolverine’s past a bit. I say that because for starters we’re presented with three stories, each that touch on a different period in Wolverines life, both in terms of art and story. I personally was able to identify which story was which without even looking at the credits of the book to begin with, so the fact that each writer remained true to the type of Wolverine stories they were known for, was a nice trip down memory lane for me. However if you’re new to the character and looking for a variety of tales, and a bit of the complexity behind Logan the man, this might work for you as well. It all depends on what you’re looking on getting out of this book going in, because while there is nothing truly deep going on that evolves the character, enough is presented to make it worthwhile.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, Wolverine: Exit Wounds, is a nice nostalgia trip, that brings creators and artists from Wolverines past together again. Growing up in the late 80’s and early 90’s these are the creative teams I was reading, so I personally had a nice time revisiting their takes on the character here. While I can see how some newer readers to the character might be put off a bit, I find enough here worth a purchase, for the trip down memory lane alone.