Aside from that, it's Peter Milligan week in the X-books.

Wolverine/Punisher #4 sees the miniseries building to its conclusion.  (Unusually, this is a five-issue story.)  The plot is pretty straightforward - the ruling council of Erewhon lured the Punisher to their village in order to kill him, something that ought to make the criminal inhabitants happy.  As you'd probably expect, things haven't worked out that way, and the mob is starting to turn on its rulers.

You may well be asking: if that's the plot, where's Wolverine?  Well, yes, that's a fairly good question.  There's plenty of Wolverine in this series, but I'm starting to get the distinct impression that he isn't needed.  In concept, this is a Punisher story.  Wolverine is there because he tagged along.  An assortment of blocks have then been put in his way to stop him... er, interfering in the main plot, really. 

If we're being honest, you could have done substantially the same story without Wolverine.  It would be interesting know whether he was actually in the story from the beginning, or alternatively whether he's been shoehorned in so as to get his name on the cover.

That said, Milligan has a good, if tongue-in-cheek, handle on both characters.  Most of the entertainment value here lies in the glorious irrationality of the Erewhon inhabitants and their fabulously contrived hang-ups.  But while it's funny, something doesn't quite click.  The comedy is a little too deadpan for its own good.  Lee Weeks, who would be a good choice of artist for either of these characters in principle, doesn't seem to work for Milligan's kind of story.  When the Nazis in lederhosen show up at the end, they look completely out of place, whereas in X-Statix they'd have worked as part of the general atmosphere of insanity.

More entertaining than not, but clearly not working on all the levels that it set out to.

Rating: B-

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