Wolverine Infinity Watch # 1 Review

Wolverine Infinity Watch #1

Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Andy MacDonald
Color Artist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Review by Brendan Hykes

Wolverine is arguably Marvel’s most popular hero. The Infinity Gauntlet is currently enjoying an unprecedented degree of notoriety thanks to the Avengers movies, so it makes a certain kind of sense to mash the two together and hope for a peanut-butter-in-my-chocolate bit of magic. That seems to be the goal in the five-issue mini-series Wolverine Infinity Watch. So is the magic there? Read on to find out! (Spoiler: Not really, but read on anyway!).

The first issue of Wolverine Infinity Watch opens with a brief recap of Wolverine’s recent death. Then it jumps straight to Wolverine coming home to the Xavier Institute, where the trickster god Loki plays a trick on him. Pretty much the rest of the issue is a conversation between Loki, Wolverine, and another Phoenix-powered Wolverine that basically explains the last couple of Marvel events and how they relate to the series to come. That’s about it.

Honestly, it’s not a bad issue. The dialogue is good, Wolverine and Loki have an interesting dynamic together that will hopefully build as the series continues. Andy MacDonald’s art really carries the story, with some great face acting from all the characters. Jordie Bellaire’s colors pop, as always. And if you haven’t been keeping abreast of Marvel lately, you will need this level of recapping. Plus, it’s a lot more engaging than just putting a wall of text at the beginning of the issue. And it closes out with a set-up for what looks to be a promising second issue.

But the reality is that there’s not a whole lot of story here to speak of. It’s an issue of recaps and set-ups. I don’t envy the writer trying to start a series this closely tied to recent events, but Gerry Duggan handles the task as well as can be hoped.

Verdict: Wait and See.

This is the first of five issues, and it looks like it could be a fun series once it gets going. It’s certainly a concept worth exploring, so here’s hoping it lives up to the expectations it didn’t quite meet this first round.