Fear Itself: Wolverine #2

Cover by Jorge Molina

Fear Itself: Wolverine #2 (August 3, 2011)

Writer: Seth Peck

Penciller: Roland Boschi, Robbi Rodriguez

Colorist: Dan Brown

Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino

I’m happy to say that I’m still enjoying the Wolverine’s run in Marvel’s Fear Itself series. I was really worried to start reading Wolverine comics but based on my extremely limited experiences, I have been pleasantly surprised.

While Fear Itself: Wolverine #2 is definitely not groundbreaking or even particularly smart, it is a well-paced and decidedly entertaining read. I’m not learning anything by reading this or even being particularly challenged. It’s just fun to read without being embarrassing and sometimes, that’s all I want from a comic book.

Jumping straight into the action, this issue doesn’t waste any time with backstory or flashbacks. Instead, we see Wolverine battling S.T.R.I.K.E. agents in a stolen hellicarrier that is also, SURPRISE, a nuclear warhead heading straight for New York City. While Wolverine is out performing all the action, his trusty, journalist girlfriend, Melita, spends half of the issue basically performing the role of a secretary: she sits in an office and gathers information on S.T.R.I.K.E. and this stolen hellicarrier. While this function is important to the plot of the comic and will eventually prove helpful to Wolverine and the rest of the Avengers, I couldn’t help but sigh that it was the girlfriend doing the less dangerous, less exciting, less actiony job of researching. Women tend to do this a lot in comics (Oracle, I’m looking at you but I can’t even hate because I love you that much).

Anyway, Melita did manage to get out of that stuffy office but not before being patronized by Pete Wisdom, head of the British division of the Avengers. He was kind of a jerk. Handsome, but a jerk nonetheless. Afterwards, she is able to actually get outside and help panicking citizens to safety. Meanwhile, Wolverine is still fighting the bad guys. It was action-packed.

For a pretty thoughtless and uninspiring comic, Fear Itself: Wolverin #2 was still a lot of fun to read and worth checking out. I’m not crazy about it but it’s decidedly above mediocre, which is more than I can say about the majority of comics out there.