Wolverine #17

Next up is the latest issue of Wolverine. This storyline should be Wolvie's final one in the Bay Area before heading back east. So far Jason Aaron hasn't disappointed me with this series, hopefully that trend continues here.

Wolverine #17:

Summary: So there are some murders taking place in Chinatown that seem to be gang related and directed at the supposed leader of the majority of Chinatown's gangs, the Black Dragon... Don't worry, this will all make sense(hopefully) in a few moments. From there Wolvie heads to his girlfriend Melita's apartment and pretty much says good-bye to her since he was moving cross country. Before Wolvie can give Melita a proper good-bye, a kid climbs in the window telling the Black Dragon there was trouble in Chinatown... Yep, Wolverine is the leader of the gangs of Chinatown... Of course he is... Anyway, Wolvie ditches Melita(who pretty much sets the stage for the end of this storyline by hinting that she may have moved out herself before Wolvie comes back) and goes to take care of this Chinatown trouble. He heads to the office/headquarters of the Black Dragon with the kid and finds his second in command, a sarcastic old man. Wolvie discovers that the rival gang members had stolen the money he had squirreled away to rebuild the school, and thus he was forced to kill him some Chinese gang members to get his cash back. After taking out some rival gang members, Wolverine is confronted by... Really? A goddamn talking monkey... Now, for those of you who don't know, my GREATEST pet peeve in ALL of comicdom is talking animals in general, but talking monkeys in particular... Anyway, this is Gorilla-Man(I get the “Gorilla” part, but the “Man” part escapes me...) from the Agents of Atlas and he was also on the trail of Wolvie's targets, a group called the Jade Claw. Wolvie and the monkey throw down for a while before the old guy and the kid tell the two that they'd discovered a secret door in the Jade Claw warehouse and the foursome enter it, heading downstairs where they find a massive tunnel(that literally seems to stretch back to China), lots of goons, and two dragons carrying crates of heroin on their backs... That's definitely different. Anyway, the dragons spot Wolvie and his group hiding in the shadows and Wolvie and his rag-tag crew are soon confronted by a mess of angry superpowered Jade Claw members.

Thoughts: You know, I SHOULD hate everything about this comic... I mean I've never liked Wolvie's Asian adventures(I hate the very thought of Madripoor) and I hate talking monkeys... I mean it SHOULD be a recipe for disaster! And yet, I enjoyed this comic... A LOT! Weird. It was just all SO over the top I found myself really getting into this one. I mean come on, there were DRAGONS, walking FROM China, WITH crates of heroin... On their BACKS! Plus the talking monkey was just the most random pick for a guest star I think Jason Aaron could have possibly chosen here... So yes, call me crazy, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Sure, dragons and a talking monkey in a Wolverine comic... Why not?