167. Marvel Comics Presents vol 1 (I think) #74 ... Marvel ... Wolverine ... Barry Windsor Smith ...

Back in the last boom days of comics, Marvel decided to launch an anthology style series (not their first and certainly not their last) and this series came out at a fast clip and lasted a decent run. However, as it is anthology, each issue has more than one story with some more than 10 pages while others merely a couple of page turns

To anchor the series, Marvel decided to use the mutants and primarily Wolverine which naturally makes good commercial sense because the mutants were ruling the sales charts and Wolvie is their number one fan fave member

Well, we started this series review with issue 74 instead of 1 because this issue is somewhere in the middle of the latest Wolverine arc ... one with Barry Windsor Smith doing the bulk of the work in his now-signature style ... and where the arc has become legendary!

It's the story of Wolverine's creation or rather the story of how he came to possess adamantium skeleton told in full rather a flash back scene here and there ... and it is surprising that Marvel allowed it to be done here instead of in a core X book or Wolvie's own solo series or his own limited series!

Well, if you want to ask whether it is good, heck, yes! They even had the X-Men movie based on this series. What to us really works besides the story and the awesome artwork is the overall feel of the story. It is executed with a focus on emotions ... we get to feel Wolverine going through the pain of his creation ... we see the drama of the men around him ... where even some of the "cold" and "uncaring" do have challenges of their own ...

And finally when Wolvie breaks out!?!?!? WOW!

And issue 74 is perfect to see all this ... the only problem is the 2nd half of the comic that is filled with some lame ass stories

Get the TPB where they have compiled the entire Weapon X series into one book


Ratings: 7/10