Soultakingly Lame

One who gazed upon the incredibly exciting cover done by Katsuya Terada of Wolverine Soultaker #1 might think that this was a comic worth checking out, but they would be wrong, terribly, terribly wrong. What do you get when you combine a rushed, unthought out plot with ridged, constantly changing characters? You get your soul taken, of course. I believe this is the message the book is trying to convey.

To be fair, the dialogue was not terrible, but neither was it good. The story Akira Yoshida features Wolverine’s friend finding a cursed necklace - already off to a great start. It includes such plot problems as Wolverine automatically being able to identify the make of the necklace and the era in which it was made. What is he, antique dealer now? (Also, I like the Harry Potter stuff myself, but enough with the Hogwarts references everyone. They are just getting stupid). The art by Shin Nagasawa features some very cool backgrounds, especially of Tokyo, but goes downhill from there. His character’s faces are constantly changing from cell to cell. (Notice Wolverine’s assortment of noses and chop-style sideburns, and the several times it looks like he has a full beard). They are also ridged, ill proportioned, and their movement is just strange. Not that I could do any better, but you know what they say, “Those who can’t do, critique.”

Soultaker #1 begins with Wolverine taking a trip to Japan to visit his adopted daughter, Amiko; when her adopted mother, the thief Yukio, asks Wolverine to have a private dinner so that she can talk to him… in private. The mannish Yukio then explains that she has been hearing voices in her head ever since she stole a valuable necklace from a monastery. The voice, it seems, spits out evil cliché’s about shadows, evil twins, and the end of the world. Logan seeing the necklace, reaches back into his archeological reservoir and identifies it as from the Maromachi Period some 600 years previous, giving us an interesting peak into either Logan’s nerdiness, or a gapping plot-hole. Either way, it’s off to see Logan’s convenient friend who deals with mystical stuff and is conveniently located not far away.

Kenichiro (the friend) apparently deals in spooky stuff, but takes one look at the necklace and freaks out shouting “That belongs deep inside a plot that is far too cliché and predictable! That makes one of you some kinda chosen one! And, that means that I, as the wise informer who might otherwise prevent the apocalypse, will have to die so as to suspend the mystery! NOOOOOO!” Just then some ninjas bust in and manage to shoot Wolverine with and arrow and chop his arm with an axe without ever drawing blood, because Wolverine apparently attacked Luke Cage and stole his power.

Ninjas, evil twins, apocalypse, chosen ones, a wise old guy that eats it, some old flames forced to work together while protecting their daughter, yep, this one is as original as it gets.

-Fumanchu