Joining him on this not-a-yarn/tale/rollercoaster-ride is Eduardo Risso (100 Bullets, Transmetropolitan). The artwork, from cover one onwards, brings back memories of the Claremont/Miller days of Wolverine. Risso and Dean White (the colourist) do a fantastic job of bringing this old school style to life. At times shadowy, at times in your face, but always good.

The story takes place in two time periods. The first being present day Japan, the second World War II Japan. Logan, a POW, meets up with a Lt. Warren and the two of them escape their POW camp. Violently. I don’t want to give too much story away so I’ll just say that they have differences of opinion and it soon gets even more violent. Classic Wolverine.

In issue two, something happens to Wolverine which made me wonder two things. Firstly, just how much damn punishment can this freak of nature take? It’s beginning to get ridiculous now, with what happens here and Morrison’s X-Men run having him heal up from being thrown into the sun. If Wolverine can survive these things, he shouldn’t really be selling any more. There’s no sense danger anymore. Wolverine has degenerated into being a comic about what will be done to him next and, as a result, a commentary on the sadistic nature of the comic book geek.

Secondly, when this thing happened to Wolverine, his mind healed over the memory to protect him from what it could do to him mentally. So when he got his memories back, he should have become a psychopathic killer. A bad guy. There’s no way you can see something like that, survive something like that, and not be a total fruit-cake when it’s over.

It was a cool moment though.

The story is well written, well drawn, with good characterization, and a cool addition to the Wolverine mythos. Reading this makes you wonder why Vaughn hasn’t been asked to write a Spidey story, or why Risso hasn’t really drawn anything but 100 Bullets for the last decade. In short, it’s good. Pick it up - even if you only get issue two to see that scene.