Wolverine Origins #38

Before I go any further, allow me to state that the cover on this issue is great! It's a tribute to X-Men #5, which was one of the earliest additions to my comic book collection. Ah memories... So, we know the cover is great, but what about the story??? Well, it's written by Daniel Way, and has an epic battle between Wolvie and Omega Red, so it should be good. Only one way to find out...

-This issue pretty much solely featured the battle between Wolvie and Omega Red. Romulus has tricked Wolvie into entering a Russian prison, and Red has the Carbonadium Synthesizer, which should finally cure him of the Carbonadium poisoning that eats away at his body. Oh yeah, Red is also draining the prisoners in the jail of their life forces, making himself WAY stronger than Wolvie!

-The early portion of the fight is all Red until Wolvie steals the C-Synthesizer from Red and manages to lure him into a secluded part of the prison, thus preventing Red from draining the prisoners. Before Red finds Wolvie, the Canucklehead hides the C-Synthesizer. Wolvie also manages to wrap some chains around his wrists so he can battle Red at a distance.

-The two resume their battle and once again Red gains the upper hand. Instead of finishing Wolvie off, Red looks for the C-Synthesizer and finds it laying on the ground. Red goes to retrieve it and when he bends over Wolvie hits a switch which brings a huge metal door crashing down onto Red pinning him to the floor... Ah, that Logan is a crafty one!

-Wolvie debates whether he should kill Red, but decides that if he tried, Red would probably kill every man in the prison to re-power himself. Instead, Wolvie takes the C-Synthesizer and leaves, figuring that when Red gets free he'll go after Wolvie to get the C-Synthesizer and leave the convicts alone.

-Wolvie walks away from the prison but doesn't get very far before the cold and the battle with Red causes Wolvie to pass out. This issue ends with Wildchild(who was sent by Romulus)standing above the prone Wolverine readying himself for the finishing blow.

-Other Developments: Some Russian agents get killed for some reason, I have no idea why... Romulus sneaks unseen onto a train in Russia(I think!)...

The majority of this comic was the all-out battle between Red and Logan, and it was actually pretty well done. Red was established as much stronger than Wolvie here, and Wolvie only "won" by stealing the C-Synthesizer and leaving. By not giving Wolvie a clear victory, Daniel has left the door open for future battles between these two heated foes.

While I did enjoy the action presented in this book, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of real storyline advancement. With the exception of Romulus sending Wildchild after Wolvie, nothing Romulus related really happened. I thought this storyline was finally going to give us the big Wolverine vs. Romulus showdown that we've been waiting forever for, but that is beginning to seem less and less likely. With this storyline halfway finished and Wolvie no closer to getting his claws into Romulus than he was at the start of this story it seems this Romulus business is going to continue to drag on for even longer. For a score, I'll give this comic an 8 out of 10. I enjoyed this issue, but I still wish something more happened.