Mouse Guard: The Black Axe

David Petersen has crafted a rich & profound history for the Black Axe.  In this tale the reader discovers more about the world beyond the mouse territories.  Most of this story takes place in the past revolving around three characters Em, Celanawe & Conrad.  This is a great quest story about how Celanawe became the Black Axe & his lineage.  The greatest part of this story is the building of the legend that would make one hell of a bedtime story for any child.  Em introduces the reader to this history of the Axe which brings more depth to the world as a whole.  Celanawe like many of the guards mice in the previous two volumes goes through a life changing series of events to bring him to the place to were he is currently.  This story also sheds light on Conrad who dies in the Fall 1152.  Again like all of the previous books in this series David Petersen's art work speaks volumes & in most cases convey more than the text.  I really like the last page of were Lieam is reading Em's book which Celanawe has augmented to Kenzie & Saxon.  If David Petersen's tale of the mouse territories comes to an end here it would be a fulfilling & satisfying ending.  That being said the last page really could be the forward to whole new set of adventures with the guards mice.   

Mouse Guard: Winter 1152

This volume picks up shortly after the events of the previous volume, the guards mice are on a quest for Gwendolyn.  By the second chapter the story takes a new twist from quest to exploration & self discovery, David Petersen has done some great characterization in this title in making the reader care about these characters that have each had only a little screen time.  Again this title shows shades of Lord of the Rings with the Kenzie, Saxon & Sadie's discovery of Darkheather.  Meanwhile Celanawe & Lieam continue the journey back to Lockhaven during which they become mentor & student similar to the likes of Al'Lan Mandragoran & Rand Al'Thor from the Wheel of Time series, Henry Ducard & Bruce Wayne from Batman or even Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi of Star Wars fame.  I am really looking forward to a continuation of the story because the end of this volume feels like the calm before the storm like the worst is still to come. I am also interested to see how the revelations & the new status quo for the main characters affects the next entry into the series.   

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152

This is a cross between a comic book & a children's picture book.  On the one hand if you are a fan of Lord of the Rings or any other fantasy, medieval works this is a title for you. If you are wanting to introduce your children to that type of literary work then this is a great introduction.  Unlike many of the graphic novels put forth by the mainstream publishers like Marvel, DC, Darkhorse & Image this is an all ages title where as you can see that most titles by the others publishers are for teens & up.  Overall I thought this was a great read it reminded me of the Church Mice series by Graham Oakley that my parents read to me as a child.  I did feel that there were some time jumps in which the reader had to infer what happened in between chapters but overall it was still great.  I also kind of wished that the reveal of the traitor had taken longer to figure out, it would have built more suspense for the reader.     

Wolverine Vol. 8: Covenant

This is the final volume of this incarnation of Wolverine stories.  Cullen Bunn is back to write Logan into the sunset but this finale of a story is weak compared to Bunn's previous volume.  The Covenant is a cross between the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen & the Illuminati.  However they are just pitiful individually as villains & Wolverine moves through them rather quickly.  I would have liked to see this story fleshed out some more because it jumped around a lot there were more than a few parts that just didn't make any sense.  I would like to think that the dreaming maiden is a herald of Galactus but that doesn't make any sense either so overall this is a Wolverine story that can be skipped in the long run.  The only real high point of this story is that Seraph's Angels get a good chunk of panel time.

Wolverine Vol. 7: Sabretooth Reborn

This volume kind of disrupts Cullen Bunn's short run on the character.  It is however a chance for Jeph Loeb to tell a sequel to his previous Wolverine story. I have not read the previous Jeph Loeb story Wolverine: Evolution which came out in the previous Wolverine series shortly after Civil War.  Really the only thing you need to know from that story is that Wolverine finally killed Sabretooth.  Like much of Jeph Loeb's Marvel work this is a hit or miss story writing wise the art however is awesome.  Simone Bianchi art brings everything to life in this book & sets more of tone than the writing does.  There were parts of this series that were good like how did Sabretooth come back from the dead.  Which now that I think about it this title raises more questions about that than it answers.  For someone who is unfamiliar with Wolverine's villain Romulus this was a nice introduction.  He comes off as Wolverine if he embraced Magento's ideology with a little bit of Ras Al Ghul thrown in for good measure.  I frankly was just starting to like Bunn's work on Wolverine & this volume just broke that stride to tell a back story that is set prior to any of the events currently going on.  Frankly when it comes to Loeb's work the only time I've really been super impressed with him is when he collaborates with Tim Sale.  Their color series for Marvel is some of the best character work out there.  Another good series of titles by them is the Batman quartet starting with Batman: The Long Halloween.  

Wolverine Vol. 6: Rot

Well this is the next volume in this Wolverine series but its the debut of a new writer in Cullen Bunn.  I am not familiar with Dr. Rot so I really wasn't liking this book at first but by the end I came to realize that he is one of the deadliest villains that Wolverine has.  This title continues to mine Logan's past but changes in tone from fantastic in an exotic Asian setting to the a straight up horror story in the great American south.  This is not a book for kids by any means, this is probably the goriest Wolverine book that I have seen.  Bunn is a decent writer but you have to know what you are getting into ahead of time especially if you were used to Jason Aaron's style this was a bit jarring.  One of the great things about Wolverine's rogues gallery is that there is a balance between villains who focus on brute strength & villains that rely on there intelligence.  This provides Wolverine with a bunch of different challenges even though he tries to solve each of them the same way; stab it first then stab it again.  By the end of this story I was wanting more; I want to know where Dr. Rot will wind up next.  I like that Marvel has found a way to return the gaps to Logan's memory ever since he regained all of his memories post M-Day fans knew it was only a matter of time before that would be retconned.  

Wolverine Vol. 5: Back in Japan

This is the final volume of Jason Aaron's run but it it not the end of this current Wolverine series.  This was an OK volume the writing is awesome but the art in this book is so scattered that it distracts from the tone of the story.  I like that Jason Aaron wrapped up his run on Wolverine but that he also left some threads for the next writer to jump on with like who is Dr. Rot?  There were several things I liked about this volume one thing in particular that Lady Deathstrike & Lord Deathstrike are related I would like some more back story to that.  I like that Sabretooth & Mystique are back from the dead but it doesn't show or discuss how that happened.  I also like that Aaron has turned Creed into more of crime lord instead of just a mindless thug.  I am not a fan of Yukio in a wheelchair if she is to remain in one I hope she becomes a bigger character in some future Wolverine series that takes place solely in Asia.  Amiko has kinda picked up the torch & become the new Yukio like character, this is kinda cool but Yukio was the best part of The Wolverine.  The new Silver Samurai is going to have to prove himself, right now this was essentially just an origin story for him.  I really liked the way Mystique has started screwing with Wolverine by literally screwing him.  This is great foreshadowing for the future mutant from X-Men: Battle of the Atom.  I like the idea of Seraph's Angels & I would like to see a future story arc with them reviving Silver Fox or an espionage mini-series.    

Wolverine Vol. 4: Goodbye Chinatown

Wolverine post X-Men: Schism is a different animal due to the events in that book & the previous volumes of this series.  I like where he is at currently in the Marvel Universe it seems like the right & natural progression of his character over the last couple of years.  This volume was a fun read because it brings about a fantastical element that is usually missing in some of the comic titles today; this book had dragons, ninjas, a tunnel from the United States to China & an underground drug cartel.  If you aren't a Wolverine fan Jason Aaron will turn you into this series has been a riot & the big reveal in the final issue of this series brings a classic villain back to the center of Logan's world.  

Wolverine Vol. 3: Wolverine's Revenge

This is Wolverine doing what he does best,  this volume reads like like a typical Mark Millar story except its not written by Mark Millar.  Jason Aaron has done a great job in tearing away the layers of Wolverine's character to by turning his revenge against him.  On the surface the Red Right Hand is a pathetic group of people obsessed with revenge but unable to act on it.  But due to their mysterious benefactor they are able to exact a vengeance on Logan that is devastating on every level.  I particularly love seeing how Logan wronged all of these people which in some cases their loved ones might have deserved what happened to them.  Its the little boy though that brings everything home for me as a reader because his mothers death happened in Wolverine: Enemy of the State.  Finally when the Red Right Hand's revenge is taken it is the boy who is not reunited with his mother.  Ironic isn't it, while all of the other members are reunited with their loved ones in the afterlife.  This volume & the two previous ones are meant to bring Wolverine back to a base line & set him up for his new role post X-Men: Schism also by Jason Aaron.

Wolverine Vol. 2: Wolverine vs. The X-Men

The second volume of Jason Aaron's Wolverine series is even more entertaining than the first.  I really liked the final issue of where Logan finally hunts down Raven Darkholme fans have been waiting for that to happen for a long time.  However that hunt should have been dragged out several issues but it was still satisfying to see. I really liked the dark humor that ensued when the X-Girls join Logan in is mind to help fight the demons I felt that the it would have been even more interesting if Armor and X-23 were there, it's understandable that Laura is missing because she has her own solo series but Armor was probably on Utopia at the time.  I think this is the first time I have really been interested in reading a Wolverine series since Mark Millar's two part story Wolverine: Enemy of the State.  I really liked how Cyclops has built in all of these safe guards and precautions you can already see that he is closer to Magneto than he ever was to Charles Xavier.  It shows just how paranoid Scott Summers is of some of his teammates similar to that of Batman on the Justice League.