WOLVERINE EPIC COLLECTION: MADRIPOOR NIGHTS [NEW PRINTING] Paperback – April 27, 2021

I'm not a Wolverine guy. I started reading comics heavily in the nineties and by that point, Wolverine seemed like an overexposed parody of who he had been in the eighties. I read a lot of his books because they would frequently cross over with the other X-titles but it's notable that when crossover events went out of fashion and Wolverine's book became more self-contained, I easily ducked out, rarely looking back. He just wasn't the reason I read X-books.That said, I loved Hugh Jackman's portrayal of the character enough to name a cat Logan. I thought this version was an anomaly and that's mostly because that version of Logan was more based on an earlier version of the character that I hadn't really gotten to know too well. I would dig into back issues but my Wolverine issues never dipped back to THIS version of the character.And that's a damn shame because THIS. Is great.Chris Claremont, man. That man could make Wolverine work in ways that other writers very much struggle with. I'm a little upset with myself for never searching out the books in this particular collection but not only do you get a great version of Wolverine but you also get some first appearances of core Marvel places and characters that I never really got to see forming. This is the first appearance of the Island Principality of Madripoor which features heavily in X-books to this day and has recently entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Several Madripoor characters also get first appearances within and some characters get redefined from earlier showings.In short, you get a great Wolverine and great stories and learn about what are now classic locations and characters from the ground up. Almost all of it by classic X-Scribe Chris Claremont and legendary artist John Buscema. Inkers Klaus Jansen and Bill Sienkewicz are also amazing draws.The bad news is that it seems like this book was forced upon an already overwhelmed writer. Wolverine was a solo series that was going to happen whether or not Claremont was involved and since Chris Claremont wanted to maintain creative control of the characters he had developed since the mid-seventies, he did his damndest to fit this book (and the newly developed EXcalibur) into his schedule. That was never going to last and by the end of this volume, he's left the title and Peter David pens a six parter to cap off John Buscema's run on the book. Be that as it may, Claremont's work is gold and, including the story from Marvel Comics Presents that starts off this volume, it makes an impressive start for Wolverine's solo title.As a spin off from the main X-title, Wolverine's adventures are more self contained here. It's mostly taking place on Madripoor. Because the X-Men are all considered dead, Logan adopts another identity and wears another costume for most of the book. His other identity, Patch, is one of the most ridiculous attempts at a secret identity I've encountered (he wears an eye patch and... that's it) and when Peter David arrives, he doesn't take too long dismantling that identity (he still uses it occasionally but it's fun to know that everyone knows he's pretending and that no one is being fooled). The secondary costume gets pulled out occasionally but by Peter David's story arc, Logan is back in his traditional Wolverine costume.John Buscema is not a name I typically associate with the X-books and whenever I see him on various X-projects from the past, I'm surprised. But it keeps happening so maybe I should just be content with the fact that Buscema was a prolific artist who would lend his talents to a TON of work. Regardless of his X-bonafides, this is some really solid art. By Peter David's story, Big Jon is partnered with Bill Sienkewicz and the two are producing magic together, aside from a few story-telling hiccups.I keep mentioning Peter David's concluding story in this volume but I haven't mentioned his writing yet. That's because it wasn't very good. David will have his time to shine on the X-books (X-Factor) but this wasn't it for me. A lot of it is forcing a situation so that it'll lead to a witty one-liner or another and they aren't even that funny. His first issue is probably the best. The humor lands more often and it's subdued nature fits the title better. In all, it's a serviceable story that isn't Peter David at his best. The art is amazing, though.As far as extras are concerned, you get two Marvel Age features on Wolverine: one for his Marvel Comics Presents story and the next for the start of his ongoing. There's also a lot of line art by John Buscema from various issues, a house ad from Marvel Age for the ongoing, two Marvel Fanfare covers, an Amazing Heroes cover advertising Marvel Comics Presents, a Buscema cover of the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide featuring Wolverine and Punisher, an unused cover for Wolverine by Buscema, the reprint cover for Wolverine's story arc in MCP by Sam Kieth, and cover treatments from different versions of the first Wolverine Essential book. So there are some meaty extras!This is a great collection and I'm embarrassed that as big of an X-Fan as I claim to be, I have NEVER read it before. I'm hoping reading Wolverine books with this volume to color my perspective will strengthen my enjoyment of a character that has never really worked THIS well for me. It's a great, weird start to Wolverine's first ongoing solo book.Two final thoughts: Claremont brings in Jessica Drew (the original Spider-Woman) who was languishing in comic book limbo and she is great here. Fifteen years later, Drew would properly return to the role of Spider-Woman and Marvel Comics in a big way but it's nice to see Claremont, a former writer of her first ongoing, hadn't forgotten about her and found a good way to include Jessica in a book. It makes me with I could pick up some Spider-Woman Epic Collections. Maybe someday?Finally, the cover treatment on this version of the book is stupid flawed. The front and back are fine but the spine has the "WOLVERINE" title located in a different location than every other Wolverine Epic Collection or any other Epic Collection I own. It looks wrong on a shelf and bothers me quite a bit. Presentation is everything, people. Hopefully this problem is corrected in future versions of this collection. I think there's a new printing coming out soon. This guy gets rereleased a lot.OK! That's all I've got. It's a good book and you should read it!

So ordering any books online always runs the risk of being bent, cracked, etc. Mine arrived great. I'm a wolverine fan but never read the source material. The writing kept me wanting to read, personally not a huge fan of the artwork but there are some nice panels. I heard that any Epic Collection made after 2018 is not good quality (this is 2021). No idea where that came from. The binding is solid and the pages have a nice gloss to them. For comparison my Silver Surfer EC which is 2018 the pages feel close to newspaper. For 26 dollars happy with the purchase. There's references to other X Men but so far none, which is good because its a pure Wolverine story. I flipped through and saw Sabertooth so looking to get to that point. Will definitely be buying Vol. 2.

Epic art and storytelling as the "dead" Wolverine travels to Madripoor. Endless battles ensure, and he makes some unlikely allies.Featuring Hulk and Jessica Drew, and his first battle with Sabretooth!An excellent and necessary read. Solid artwork by John Buscema and fluid storytelling by Claremont, This is a can't miss collection.

Thanks for the book.

Art: Between 9/10 and 6/10 depending on the artist.Story: 8/10Reprint Q: 9/10The Wolverine comics has always had their ups and downs, but my favorites where the first ten issues in this monthly and the Claremont and Miller 4 part series when Wolverine wanted to hump the hell out of Mariko and whatever (not included in this collection). The Peter David stories were okay even though I hate that fat **** as a human being. The Marvel Comics Presents were good but the art was a little childish. Overall I enjoyed this collection.

Happy with my purchase

Won't go into too much detail, but it's great break from xmen as we find our hero in a different setting with a new cast of friends and foes.I personally loved the story although some hate the "patch" identity. The classic art style is something to behold as well. Although, probably my only grip is the one filler story planted in the middle. That aside its a must have

This book was beyond what I expected. The pages are of excellent quality. Thick pages with semi-gloss. The book was a lot thicker than I thought it was going to be. The stories are some of my favorites. Well drawn and scripted. Can't wait for Wolverine Epic Collection volume 2.

Bad condition of book

Excelente livro!!! Adorei

Great, this reprint is amazing!

Great condition as expected

...fand ich das ganze, leider Gottes. Als großer X-Men-Fan war mir die pseudo Film-Noire-Atmosphäre der Stories von Claremont nicht wirklich sympathisch, Wolverine die ganze Zeit ohne Maske (weil die X-Men zu der Zeit natürlich tot waren, was spätestens alle 4 Seiten wiederholt wird), dafür als Gossen-Schläger "Patch" (bwahaha!) mit u.a. Karma (aus New Mutants) und Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) sowie irgendeiner Schauspielerin als supporting cast. Nun gut.Silver Samurai taucht natürlich auf, weil Asien, irgendwann kommt der damals graue Hulk als Mafia-Schläger "Mr. Fixit" (bwahaha! again) und logischerweise Sabertooth, just because we couldn`t think of anything else (Wolvie endlich mal wieder mit Maske!).Die Zeichnungen von John Buscema und ein oder zwei Ausgaben von Gene Colan finde ich auch gruselig (im negativen Sinne) - ich weiß, Blasphemie - die Farben auch für die späten 80er ebenso gruselig.Abschließend bleibt noch der Fairness halber zu erwähnen, dass ich nach Claremont's story arc aufgehört habe zu lesen, weil es mir echt zu blöd wurde. Möglicherweise waren Peter David's letzte sechs Ausgaben völlig visionär und lebensverändernd, aber ich werde es nie erfahren.