Wolverine #30 is the penultimate issue of "Agent of SHIELD" and, by extension, Mark Millar's year-long run on the title. 

You can probably guess what happens.  Wolverine and SHIELD strike back at HYDRA.  Big fight.  Set-up for the showdown against the Gorgon next month. 

Fundamentally, there's nothing wrong with that.  But it feels a bit anticlimactic.  The problem, I suspect, is that Mark Millar has shot his bolt too early.  We've already had the huge fights, the big set pieces, the ludicrous battles.  The volume knob has been turned up to eleven right from the word go.  And now that we reach the home straight, there's nowhere left to go for that final push.

When the HYDRA forces are getting slaughtered, and Elsbeth gets despatched in a couple of panels, you find yourself thinking - what, was that it?  No great plan, no innovative finale?  The good guys just run in and shoot everyone?  Is that all it takes?  Of course, it looks great.  John Romita Jr has been doing some excellent work on this arc, and delivering some spectacular widescreen action sequences.  There's no denying that the book looks great.

Issue #31 may well work better.  Millar has wisely kept Wolverine and Gorgon apart for almost a year now, and their showdown next issue could be the payoff this storyline needs.  But this issue, however great it looks, is ultimately just another fight - and one where HYDRA get beaten far, far too easily.

Rating: B-

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