Wolverine 1: Prodigal Son

The gripping, all-new adventure of the x-men's greatest icon, comletely reimagined in the Manga style

This is not the Wolverine you know.

Logan is a teenage rebel with a real good reason for having a real bad attitude. Ever since being left in a nearby forest–with no memory of who he was or how he got there–Logan (or Wolverine, as his classmates sometimes call him) has been stuck in a martial arts school in the icy wilds of Canada. No wonder he’s bored, restless, yearning. There’s a whole world out there, and Logan can almost taste it. But he’s chained to a past he can’t remember and can’t escape. Now it just may destroy his future.

Grade 9 Up–Marvel Comics&' popular antihero gets a dramatic manga treatment in this, the first volume in a projected series. Johnston gives Logan&'s backstory, presenting him as a contemporary teen living in a martial-arts retreat for troubled youth. Having been found on the school&'s doorstep, the young and amnesiac Wolverine grows to be a formidable warrior while living in the relative isolation of the Canadian wilderness. Feeling unchallenged by his fellow students and confused by his secret mutant abilities, he asks his sensei for a true test of skill. After completing it with trademark style, Logan&'s reward is his first trip to a city, and not just any city, but the Big Bad Apple itself. Once there, Wolverine finds a conspiracy involving mutants, a disgraced childhood rival, and a mysterious doctor, leading to one big showdown and setting up several more. The narrative, combining standard coming-of-age material with high-voltage action, works to satisfactory effect. However, it is the hyperkinetic artwork that really makes the book shine; Tortosa imbues every spinning, leaping, skewering move with action and drama. Recommended more for fans of action-packed manga than for fans of Wolverine himself.–Douglas P. Davey, Halton Hills Public Library, Ontario, Canada
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In this alternate, mangafied vision of Wolverine's past, we find a teenage Logan living at the Quiet Earth School in Canada and studying martial arts. Bored, restless and channeling James Dean, the young rebel worries about his upcoming graduation as well as his missing past. A trip to New York complicates things by introducing Logan's first rival, a former student named Morgan. Johnston's characters are overdramatized and flamboyant; Logan is more like an angst-ridden teen than a future X-Man. Master Mr. Elliot and daughter Tamara are caring and yet one-sided. Hopefully, subsequent volumes will provide more character development and flesh out the personalities of the cast. Tortosa's art is an interesting blend of obvious manga influence with a fluidity of movement that makes the art easy to follow. The fight scenes look natural and are not overly posed or stylized. This will hold the most amount of appeal for fans who are more into manga than comics and are not familiar with the existing nuances of Wolverine's story. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The most popular mutant superhero has been reimagined as a teenage boy learning to come to grips with his abilities. Logan, nicknamed Wolverine, was left as a child at the door of a martial-arts school. Aided by his healing ability, enhanced senses, animal-like reflexes, and retractable claws, he quickly becomes one of the best fighters in the school. After winning a seemingly unbeatable challenge, he is rewarded with a trip to New York City with his mentor, Elliot. In the city, the duo is attacked, Elliot is captured, and Logan races back to the school only to find it burned to the ground. The first volume in this series is an obvious attempt to dress a popular superhero in a traditional manga-type story, but it works. Johnston delivers a story that will appeal to the fans of both Naruto and X-Men,and Tortosa's art is a unique blend of Eastern and Western styles that leaps off of the page. Teen readers will want the next volume, and librarians would do well to get it in time for the Wolverine movie, due out in May. Grades 9-12. --Kevin King