And this book reads fast, yet again. Which people piss and moan about since comics cost 3 dollars. But really, if I had to choose between Claremont's verbose nonsense where each person says their thoughts outloud and each word balloon is more prominently placed than the character art, and a fast read by Daniel Way, I'd choose Way any day of the week.

Unless I just had brain surgery and needed to remember words.

Anyways, Wolverine has taken his wounded son to a place only he knows about, as it is part of his deep dark secret. In the 1940s, he was a soldier during WWII and it looks like a cleaner for the US government at one point or another. His job was to be the clean-up and security man for an experiment being tested on displaced Japanese during the internment years, and his job was to silence all who wished to leave, keep everyone inside, and make sure no one left. Pretty simple, as he did exactly that and killed them all with his hands, guns, and explosives.

So Wolverine takes Daken there to slowly heal, and we get brief mention of Daken's mother, Itsu (it means peace), and the birth of Daken. He was dropped off by an unknown person (I'm thinking Romulus) to a family that desperately wished for a baby, and was known as two names, Daken because of his heritage, and Akihiro while inside his home (basically Logan/Wolverine), and his hair was like that at birth and never changed. Which is weird, sure, but this is comics, right?

Anyways, Daken's history is laid out, just like him on the table, and we learn that his school chums mock his heritage and his blood, and because of that, he begins to take them out, with accidents galore. They start dropping like flies, and Daken's adoptive mother decides she wants him out. He hears about this, is shunned by his father and mother for the new baby growing in her belly, and promptly is threatened by death with WWII styled rifle. His claws pop, he kills his adoptive mother to protect himself, and then disappears into the wilderness. Just like his daddy all those years before.

And then it's back to Wolvie, carving the name of Romulus into his hand, and promptly whooped by his Japanese ghosts who recognize him. This will not end well.

On the actual story, as I mentioned, I dig what Daniel Way is doing. He is not making amends for Wolverine's past, he is showing all the glory and the horror that is Wolverine and what he did to survive all those long long years as an animal working for many different masters. Way has turned this book into something worthwhile, and has given the title character a real Origin. There are so many layers being opened, so many things being shown to us so slowly, he is really taking the time to show Wolverine as the true character he is. Not rushing and backtracking to the old stories. Yes, passing up on some small subplots, but that's why they're called subplots.

And the art side: Stephen Segovia is a very talented artist. His art looks a lot like Leinil Francis Yu and Mico Suayan and all three of the artists are from the Philippines. I think maybe they've all been taught or come from the same studio, but it doesn't matter. I consider Leinil Yu to be one of the best Wolverine artists of all time, and his Wolverine is still held up against all others since. So Stephen looks and feels like the right fit for this book.

So it's all good, right? It is all good. This is a strong entry in the Origins line. It gives us a look into the world of father and son, and they are both haunted by their ghosts. It should be awesome to see where this arc takes us next, and I can only hope that Mike Deodato coming in on art doesn't just throw things for a loop and sidetrack this awesome book, as it constantly stays as one of my top reads every week.