The "new direction" - or new tone, if you prefer - of Wolverine continues with a second issue of mob stories.  It turns out that last month's story was in fact setting up an ongoing plot as well as just establishing the new tone.

I don't watch The Sopranos, and please rest assured that I do not wish to receive a deluge of e-mails telling me that I should or asking me why I don't.  However, Sopranos is the obvious touchstone here, in a story which sets up a series of internal conflicts in a mob family.  It seems the idea of the new direction is to turn Wolverine into a crime comic, and that's not a bad idea.  It's a good fit for the character.

The other obvious break from the past is that we've now had two straight issues where the mobsters, rather than Wolverine, provide the point of view.  Ever since the first Wolverine miniseries in 1982, his solo stories have almost invariably been told from his perspective and accompanied by the tough-guy first person narration which Garth Ennis was parodying last month in Punisher.  So it's a significant break from format, and one that helps move the character out of his rut.

The story itself is a bit of a mixed bag.  The two main characters in the mob - the totally unqualified but arrogant leader, and the long-suffering loyal deputy - are well established, and the basic idea of their relationship is a strong one.  On the other hand, the story is bending over backwards to sell us on the idea that Wolverine is a scary bad-ass type.  It overshoots badly, with scenes so contrived and melodramatic that they don't fit with the tone of the rest of the story.

Having Wolverine slice everyone's guns with his claws, and then for them not to fall apart until he blows on them two panels later, is silly for two reasons.  One, it's a cliche.  Two, it's a cliche from heightened-reality swordfighing stories, which at least have the excuse that they're dealing with extremely thin blades.  It just doesn't make sense with Logan's claws, and it seems out of place in this story.  The general impression is of the creators trying too hard.

These last two issues aren't quite there, but they're on the right track with a direction for the book, and it represents a quantum leap in quality for Frank Tieri.  In fact, with Tieri's writing much as it always was on Weapon X, and the tone of these two issues more reminiscent of editor Axel Alonso's back catalogue than Tieri's, Alonso would seem to deserve credit for bringing out a new side to Tieri's writing.  Which is what a good editor does, surely.

Rating: B

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