| Kitty Pryde and Wolverine (1985); 6 issue limited series introducing Ogun | |
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| Topic Started: May 24 2009, 06:34 PM (2,384 Views) | |
| Gabriel Zero | May 24 2009, 06:34 PM Post #1 |
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 There is a reason Kitty Pryde's name goes first on this title, she is definitely the main focus of this decent sized mini series. We see Kitty chase her father to Japan, unknowing that her father got the business involved in the Yakuza. The story picks up after Uncanny X-Men #184 and coincides with the events in which Storm loses her mutant powers. It's pretty cool because later on while Logan is in Japan, he gets a telephone call notifying him of what happened to Storm and James Hudson. They just don't make comic books like this anymore. Anyway, Kitty gets herself into a lot of trouble and ends up attracting the attention of Ogun. She manages to call Wolverine before getting herself captured, Logan goes to Japan and spends the next few days looking for her. During that time Kitty mentally spends a "life time" believing she is raised and trained by Ogun herself. By the time the brainwashing is finished, she believes Ogun is her father and will faithfully do anything he says. They aren't kidding when they say Kitty is Claremont's love child, because this whole book supes her up to be "stronger" and "better" then Wolverine himself. Under Ogun's guidance she takes down Wolverine and has him on the ropes. Logan doesn't go down easy but he isn't able to land a blow thanks to having his own fighting style used against him. (Logan has changed since then, incorporating military and martial arts together depending on the writer. But back then apparently his fighting style originated from Ogun. The first time she poisons him and Logan has to retreat and spend several hours healing up. The second time Logan goes on the offense and chases her through the city. He ends up saving her from a bullet train, but then gets stabbed in the chest as a reward. This wound effects Logan for the rest of the six issue limited series, it's surprising to be reminded how weak Chris Claremont intended Logan's healing factor to be. Don't get me wrong, Logan doesn't use himself as a meat shield either, Claremont has Logan using various hand to hand combat moves. Kitty Pryde would of killed Logan at that moment, if Yukio didn't step in and knock Kitty unconscious. Through out the book we see many references to the Yashida Clan and Mariko Yashida. There is even some nice scenes with Amiko spending time with Mariko in their apartment. I guess Logan and Mariko really did call it quits, because even though he says he still has feelings for Mariko, he ends up sleeping with Yukio more then a few times. Not that I mind, if my wife called off the wedding and went to live in another country, I would not hesitate for a second to move on with my life. As far as Logan knows, there will never be a future for Mariko and him. The next few issues is spent with Wolverine teaching Kitty how to overcome the brainwashing. The lessons are anything but gentle, forcing her to realize that she needs to toughen up or die. And as I said before this is basically the story of how Kitty because the tough Kathrine Pryde that was represented in Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. The book is far from perfect though, especially with the constant repeating of itself in the beginning of every issue. I know that is how comics were back then, but my god does it make reading is back to back monotonous. Also I quickly got sick of reading how much of a dirt bag Kitty's father was, they really over did it with all the "threats" Mr. Pryde was given. (Off topic - X-Men Forever Rant) Don't get me wrong I have a lot of respect for Chris Claremont. I acknowledge without him we wouldn't have a Wolverine today. However with his recent treatment of his landmark character, I can't say I view his modern day work with much success. I have always agreed with him that the Wolverine from back then was a more likable character, despite the fact that I also disagree with some of his other viewpoints regarding the character. (like his dislike for his Weapon X origins and ongoing Solo series.) I always thought Wolverine was in good hands when it came to Claremont, and if he was going to do something like have the character "die" it would be a meaningful death and teach us something new about the character. Instead he portrays Logan as nothing more then a imbecile who thinks he's immortal and his stupidity gets him killed in the most ridiculous of ways. I can't help but view this as Claremont giving the middle fingers to the writers who "changed" Wolverine when he left the book. That doesn't seem funny to me but spiteful and I view that as a disappointment since he is basically the father of Wolverine's core character. Only in the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine mini series and all the other books Claremont worked on back then, he always portrayed Logan as a man who relied on his skills and not his healing factor. Logan was more then aware that his healing factor had it's limits, his first person monologues never failed to remind the reader of that. In fact in this old mini series we see Logan take a sword to the stomach and almost dies from it. No joke, our hero Logan ends up sweating beads and using a walking stick to move through the house. The new"X-Men Forever" book is not even accurate to the work he has done in the past. To call it a "continuation" of his original work is false advertising, since he is not portraying the Logan he created, but the Logan other writers created. It appears that even Claremont doesn't know what he is doing anymore. I know he wants to make his precious "Katherine Pryde" center of the stage, but at least go back and read your original work and give us what we all wanted. Meh  (End X-Men forever Rant) In the end this book wasn't fully what I was expecting, which doesn't mean I think it was bad. I am very happy this book exists, because it added extra dimensions that made Logan a more honorable character. It's true a lot of fanboys cling to the facade that "Wolverine is so kewl because he is the campy loner who isn't afraid of nothing."  However us more mature fans owe a lot to these types of books, that flesh out those annoyances and prove there is much more honorable aspects to Logan then meets the eye.I didn't read the final issue since I needed to take a break from the old school artwork. If my final scene changes my opinions tremendously I will come back and add some more opinions. However I thought it would be appropriate to end my review like this, In case you want to pick up this classic for yourself.   Ogun  One of the few people to teach Logan about honor and the way of the samurai. Logan believes him to be the father he never had and that is saying a lot coming from Logan. I wish there was more flashbacks seen from his time training under Ogun's sword, especially since Wolverine holds so much respect for him. Granted I haven't read the few appearances Ogun made late in the final issues of the first ongoing series. However I know I am not alone in wanting to see more of this time period in Logan's life. Yukio  I'm really glad they never killed her off in any of the horrible stories in the first ongoing series. I know they tried a few times, but thank god someone at Marvel stopped them. In my opinion once a minor character like this dies, they shouldn't come back at all. So I'm happy she was cheapened by some crap writer. Amiko Kobayashi  Another character who I wouldn't mind seeing more of. She is the adopted daughter of Wolverine, sadly we don't see enough of her in comics. While some disagree that Logan should play "adopted" dad, I think knowing that he is responsible for a daughter makes him easier to relate to. If he was all about "fighting off beserker rages" I would of probably lost interest in the character years ago. |
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| jrpbsp | May 26 2009, 10:24 AM Post #2 |
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This series was very good. I have been a fan of it since I first read it longer ago then I care to remember. Strong story, fun characters and great interactions especially between Kitty and Logan. I have always though that the best Logan stories were the ones in Japan. |
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| Gabriel Zero | Jun 9 2009, 12:26 PM Post #3 |
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I really enjoyed the ending despite all my wishy washy criticism. I think Logan was portrayed very accurately here and it's a shame we don't see him act this way in other comic books. Every writer has a different opinon of how Logan should be represented, even Claremont has a few different versions he portrays in comics these days. However this is the Logan that I value the most. At the end of this book Logan mourns Ogun's death even though Ogun almost killed both him and his pupil Katherine Pryde several times. He tried to spare Ogun's life more then once, Ogun forcing his hand at the very last moment and suffering another deadly wound for his mercy. Those who criticize Hugh Jackman for not be "feral" enough need to go back and read these source materials. Too many idiots think they are Wolverine experts just because they managed to catch the 90's cartoon on FOX. Even with his noble sacrifices to spare Kitty's life Logan still sees himself as a failure for resorting to his berserker side to defeat Ogun. The only saving grace is that Katherine admits how proud she is of Logan and reminds him that he is human representation of what every man strives to be. That day he reflected noble qualities such as heroism and was selfless in all that he accomplished. Logan accepts some truth in Katherine's words and the two walk away a little bit stronger. What is also really neat is at the end we are treated to a rare moment, where we get to see Logan as a happy family man. It is not everyday we catch a glimpse of Logan, Mariko, and Amiko having icecream together. Probably one of the sweetest and rewarding moments even seen in a Wolverine miniseries. Very grateful for Chris Claremont adding that in there. |
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1:18 PM May 22