Wolverine #68

So Ashley turns out to be an evil badass. That's a nice twist. Though why she would want to kill her dad after he just busted her out, I can't figure. Also, we find out why Ultron was carrying groceries, but not why he's wearing clothes. Or why he's talking like C3-PO.

The easy thing would be to say that this issue was a let down. It went by really fast, and even though some stuff happened, I didn't feel like any of it was really central to the story. Or to the part of the story I care about. The Kingpin was gone before we even found out who he was, or what he was all about. Ashley's pals were also dispatched without a fight, without even an explanation for why one of Daredevils' eyes glows red. And the Spider-mobile can apparently drive on walls, which makes a kind of sense, actually.

So, from a storytelling standpoint, this seems to be kind of a filler issue, meant mainly to setup a good payoff in the next. But on further review, Millar is doing what he does best: making cool-looking stuff happen. And McNiven keeps delivering. I love the southwestern-desert-mountain setting. And seeing a town buried up to the rafters in dirt was awesome. (Though it does beg the question, do the Moloids simultaneously dig out under all the building foundations? That's quite an engineering feat.) If you want any further proof of McNiven's mastery, read through the book and then page back to the panel of Ashley when the guard is asking if she thought she was going to save everyone. You can actually feel her sneer coming off the page.

Overall, this issue was undeniable fun. It was beautiful. It was exciting. The fight scene with Hawkeye and Kingpin's goons was a gem of a page. And I can't wait for more. Nice work.