Wolverine: The End finally drags itself kicking and screaming to a conclusion.  The book has been absolutely plagued by delays - the first issue shipped at the end of 2003, and issue #5 came out last September.  It's taken over a year to get through a six issue miniseries. 

Normally that leads to complaints.  Complainers haven't been so vocal about this book, which perhaps tells you something.  In fairness, reputedly the delays stem in large part from writer Paul Jenkins' terrible health problems.  Nonetheless, this has been a remarkably bad miniseries, missing the point to an astounding degree.  It's hard to know quite what to make of Wolverine: The End.  Papier mache, perhaps.

In this issue, Wolverine goes to confront his long-lost brother, never previously seen before this series.  The brother has an utterly pointless scheme to undermine the US economy by destroying Las Vegas.  Wolverine stops him.  He kills his brother and is a bit upset that he never does learn more about his history.  The end.  Quite how anyone thought this served to provide any sort of resolution to Wolverine's life is beyond me.  A Wolverine: The End book could feature many things, but a previously unknown villain trying to blow up Las Vegas for economic reasons is certainly not among them.

By the way, is it just me, or is the villain in this issue talking as though he's been scripted by Mark Millar?  Paul Jenkins characters don't generally go out of their way to mock the genre conventions with lines like "No more asylums, no more mutants registering with the authorities like some ridiculous holdover from a George Orwell novel."  Nor do they tend to waste time taunting their opponents about the never-before-mentioned son who grew up to be an accountant and therefore isn't manly enough.  This issue really does read like Millar came in and did a script doctor job on it.  Hmm.

And whatever happened to that subplot about Xavier's mind being in Wolverine's head, come to think of it?

It's an academic point, anyhow.  Paul Jenkins has written some very good stories in his time, which makes it all the more disappointing when something like this occurs.  A downright terrible miniseries, misconceived on every level, which should never have got past the pitch stage.  Don't allow it into your house.

Rating: D

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