Review: Wolverine: The End #5

Wolverine: The End #5
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Artist: Claudio Castellini

Before I dig into this book, I just think I should say that because of all the delays with this title, I have trouble remembering everything that happened before in this story.

However, that said, this has to be one of the worst comics I've ever read.

I am a pretty big Wolverine fan. Why is this a bad comic? Because it pretty much doesn't make sense.

Right off the bat, this book suffers from several problems. First, my impression of "The End" stories were that they were supposed to be the real ending of the characters' lives. Hulk: The End and Punisher: The End were both single issue stories that sort of lived up to that concept. They sort of follow the character as he goes for "one last hurrah." Wolverine: The End is too long -- six issues to tell the end of a single character's plight is unncessary. Also, how does it tie-in with X-Men: The End, which also features Wolverine?

Put that aside. The thought was that somehow this story should bookend Origin. Not a terrible idea, hence the parallel six issue structure, but Origin was decent, this is not.

I've read four major titles by Jenkins: Inhumans, Sentry, Origin and Wolverine: The End. After a great story like Inhumans, and decent set-ups in Sentry and Origin, it's amazing how far he's fallen in writing this incomprehensible title. The delays don't help, but it's incredibly difficult to tell what is going on in this book.

The final problem with this book is that it doesn't really get to the core of the character. It seems to be a six issue gimmick to deal with the idea, "What happened to Wolverine's brother from Origin, who he hasn't seen all his life and is out to kill him?" Wolverine has always been about the man within the beast. This does nothing for that. The book is very disappointing and unclear. This was an ill-conceived idea.

I guess they don't all work out.