Wolverine: Origins #5 & Wolverine: Origins - Born in Blood
Writer: Daniel Way
Artist: Steve Dillon
$2.99

Here at KFR, we haven’t been too kind to Wolverine: Origins or writer Daniel Way, but we’ve definitely been rooting for them. Origins‘ prelude, Way’s Origins and Endings, was a decompressed, confusing disaster — it took five contrived issues to reveal that Bucky killed Wolverine’s previously unknown wife and unborn son (…yawn…) — but we held out hope for Origins. After all, it promised stunning revelations from Wolverine’s past, a return to the fan favorite brown costume, and art by the great Steve Dillon. In addition, Way had reportedly done scores of research on Wolverine, planning to unveil his complete history in a way that made sense and would tie him to events in the Marvel universe.

Unfortunately, no amount of hoping or rooting could change the disappointments and missteps of Origins‘ opening story, Born in Blood. Most noticeable is how poorly cast Steve Dillon is for this title; strangely enough, Origins has turned out to be a brightly colored, superhero spandex filled title, directly contrasting with Dillon’s strengths in dark, gritty atmospheres, and his fight scenes are seemingly devoid of any danger or energy.

But what is truly sad about this series is the wasted potential and inexplicable plot twists. Born in Blood begins with Wolverine hoping to exact revenge on those who did him wrong by using the Muramasa blade — a magical sword, and supposedly the only thing that can kill him — yet throughout the entire arc, he does little to nothing with it that he couldn’t do with his six adamantium claws. In fact, why does someone who has six unbreakable claws even need a sword? Maybe Wolverine finally came to the same realization, as in issue #5, he suddenly decides to give the weapon to Cyclops. Born in Blood does contain semi-interesting flashbacks detailing how Wolverine shaped Nuke into a living weapon, and Joe Quesada’s covers were emphatically beautiful, but overall, the story featured meaningless fights with Nuke, Captain America, and the X-Men, and revealed little of Wolverine’s past that will carry any actual ramifications for the character.

Issue #5 does feature one bona fide revelation (here’s your stupid spoiler warning) from Wolverine’s past: his supposedly dead unborn child, a son, is actually alive, and he hates him. It’s predictable and clichéd, and unfortunately for this title, Grant Morrison pulled off the same exact plot twist — only better — in this month’s Batman. And just who are the mystery bad guys that Wolverine wants to get revenge against? He and everyone else seem to know, as the pronoun game (”They’re probably gonna take me down…”, “They got me,” “They’ll use him against me…”, etc.) is maddeningly played throughout issue #5, but Way isn’t telling us for some reason. Yet with everything he’s given us thus far, there’s little reason to care.

While Origins is actually selling extremely well, it remains one of the biggest disappointments of the year. For a more rewarding take on Wolverine’s origin, try and find a copy of Barry Windsor Smith’s brilliant Weapon X. It’ll tell you more about how this character came to be than Origins ever will.
Wolverine: Origins #5: KFR Rating: C-
Wolverine: Origins - Born in Blood: KFR Rating: D

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