In ‘Enemy of the State’ it’s Wolverine taking on a shark, and in ‘Old Man Logan’ there’s a Venom-inhabited dinosaur.īetween them these two main courses occupy twenty chapters, and each is also available as a separate collection.

They’re matched, though, by the far lesser known, but equally accomplished Kaare Andrews, whose largely silhouetted Wolverine broods in haunting splendour.īoth main stories are packed with memorable moments and images, but each houses one superlative punch the air, visceral thrill. The setting and subject matter requires a subtlety not needed for the remainder of the book, where John Romita Jr and Steve McNiven run riot, each presenting iconic images by the dozen. This has a greater and greater effect on the camp commandant, pricking areas of a conscience otherwise untroubled by committing atrocities. He’s brutalised and seemingly killed, only to return alive the following day for a repeat performance. It’s Wolverine in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. In movie terms it’s the off-kilter mystery, providing the creeping tension of the unknown. They’re punctuated by an altogether different tale, although equally good, accounted for by Wolverine’s established longevity and rapid healing factor. ‘Enemy of the State’ is Die Hard on steroids with claws, and ‘Old Man Logan’ is the road trip buddy movie, eventually with claws. What we have here is two prolonged genre run-throughs.

Were it that easy a whole platoon of comic writers could deliver blockbusters in his style, and that’s not the case. It’s been pointed out many times that Mark Millar’s best scripts have a sense of cinematic scope, scale and pacing, hitting those template beats and pushing those response buttons, which is firstly no bad thing, and secondly not as contrived as it may sound.

Wolverine by Mark Millar