Dark Wolverine #85: Writers: Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu. Pencils: Stephen Segovia.
Last Issue: 9 out of 10.
Review: This comic doesn't take place in a linear fashion, so in order to help this review along, I'm going to try to tell the story in a more chronological manner. We get started with Wolverine telling his wayward son Daken that he intends on taking down Romulus once and for all, and that in order to do so he'll need Daken's assistance. Daken is dubious that any plan Wolvie can come up with can dethrone Romulus, but seems willing to hear Wolvie out, although Daken does warns Wolvie that once Romulus is out of the picture, the two of them still have some unfinished business to tend to. From there the scene shifts to Paris where Daken is confronted by Romulus, who demands to know exactly what Wolverine is planing against him, as well as why Daken had decided to join Wolvie's cause. Daken explains that the only reason he joined up with Wolvie is because he wants to take over Romulus's spot, telling Romulus that knocking him off is Daken's destiny. Romulus scoffs at that and tells Daken that if that was truly the case, Daken would have already made his move against him. From there, Daken spills the beans about Wolvie's anti-Romulus plan. A week later, Wolvie and Daken meet up and Daken tells Wolverine that he had seen Romulus and that he had told Romulus all of Wolverine's plans. Instead of being angry though, Wolvie explains that he fully expected Daken to betray him, and as such he only told Daken the same information he told Ruby Tuesday, who was also confronted by Romulus earlier. Wolvie explains that he knew Romulus would want Ruby's information verified, and that he suspected Romulus would go to Daken to get that information. With Romulus now suitably misinformed, Wolvie tells Daken that he can begin his true anti-Romulus plan, and this issue ends with Wolverine stabbing Daken through the chest, taking him out of the picture.
What I Thought: As always this was a good comic. However, it leaves me with a pretty big question, did Wolverine stab Daken with the Muramasa Blade... If so, then that would seem to be the end of Daken, since the Muramasa blade counters healing factors, meaning that Daken would not be able to heal from the wound. Two things, I think killing Daken would be a monstrous mistake by Marvel, because he is one of their more unique/interesting characters, and killing him just seems like a bad, wasteful move. However, I don't think Daken has met his fate here... I just don't think Wolvie would be able to go through with killing Daken, especially in an unprovoked manner. If it was a life or death struggle, then yes, I could see Wolvie doing Daken in, but I can't see Wolvie just simply stabbing and killing his son for little reason. No, I tend to think that Wolverine probably did stab Daken with the dreaded Muramasa blade, but in a non-fatal manner. That way Daken is out of Wolvie's hair, and he can concentrate solely on Romulus for the time being, while dealing with an angry Daken down the road after a prolonged recovery. Here's hoping I'm right...
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Heh heh, I love Daken...
It seems this is the only comic that actually makes Wolverine seem interesting. Wow...
ReplyDeleteOnly bits of Daken I've read are the Dark Avengers, eh, he's alright I suppose. Not got much character from the 8 issues I've read really...
Well Daken is more or less a fringe character in the DA comic(plus it WAS written by BENDIS!). To really get into the complexity of the Daken character, you've got to read Wolverine Origins or Dark Wolverine. Daniel Way has a MUCH better grasp of the character.
ReplyDeleteAs for Wolvie, he's actually shown as more then a one-dimensional killing machine in Origins/Dark Wolverine, which is a nice change of pace from most of his appearances.