Wolverine: Firebreak looks suspiciously as though it started life as a Wolverine Annual.  Of course, we already had one of those earlier in the year.  But here's another one, labelled as a one-shot.

There are actually two stories here - Mike Carey and Scott Kolins' "Firebreak", and a ten-page back-up by Macon Blair and Vasilis Lolos called "Little White Lies."  Mike Carey has been doing great work on the X-books lately, and shows a better understanding of the characters than many of his contemporaries.  He's able to work with continuity and use it to his advantage, but he recognises that this is not what the characters are ultimately about.

Despite Marvel's evident conviction to the contrary, Wolverine is at his most interesting when he just goes out there and does Wolverine-type stuff.  He doesn't need big revelations or wonky flashbacks.  He just needs to be Wolverine.  It's as simple as that.

That's what we get with "Firebreak", a simple story in which Wolverine helps a family of well-meaning but clueless suburbanites to escape from a forest fire.  Thanks to some weird experiments by Hydra, the smoke has blinded Wolverine, and his eyes aren't healing the way they ought to.  So it's a story where his knowhow and alpha male status combines with their eyes, and together they overcome adversity. 

It really is that simple, and it's perfectly executed.  There's a well-handled subplot about the husband and wife's marriage, but basically, it's a story where Wolverine does Wolverine-type things, and is therefore cool.  It's all you need.

The back-up strip, "Little White Lies", isn't quite as successful.  It's one of those stories where Wolverine is called in to help by an old friend who we've never heard of before.  This one is called Chief Lacey, and his estranged son has been kidnapped by bad guys.  Wolverine isn't able to rescue the boy, but is able to report back that he died as a Proper Man (thus meaning that dad was wrong about him).

I can see what it's going for, but it's all a bit rushed, and it doesn't make especially good use of Wolverine.  Still, I've read a lot worse.

Overall, though, this is clearly the best X-book of the week.

Rating: A

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