Chris Claremont stars in the annual X-Men series, and this week his Wolverine: Madrepoor Nights series hits paperback. Reminiscent of the classic Uncanny X-Men #268, Captain America and Black Widow live life to the fullest as they navigate Madripoor, one of the world’s crime havens. As Claremont exclusively told AIPT, the series hinges on the question, “What brought these heroes here?”
The answer involves the work of the Avengers, but before Claremont and artist Edgar Salazar can begin answering the questions, Psylocke, Jubilee, and Black Widow have to fight ninjas at the beginning of the book. Truth be told, Wolverine: Order of Madripoor is a pretty good action comic, with each hero doing their best to fight off the bad guys in their own way right from the start. It’s fun to watch Psylocke try to use the Psyblade on a corpse or Wolverine sink his claws straight into a bad guy’s head.
The book is by no means graphic, but Claremont understands a lot more today than he did back then. For example, consider the scene where Wolverine goes berserk against a bunch of ninjas. No heads spinning or geysers of blood gushing out. Still, Claremont shows us how violent it can be through Captain America, Black Widow, Jubilee, and Psylocke. They all think and think about what they witnessed.
This collection has a distinctly old-school vibe thanks to the speech bubbles. Speech bubbles fell out of favor over the years and were replaced by caption boxes. It’s nice to see the old ways coming back. You’ll also find that it works a little differently when you use a more casual and down-to-earth thought process, rather than captions that tend to get straight to the point.
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When it comes to character work, Wolverine and Jubilee reads like Claremont hasn’t missed a beat with either of them, and it’s fun to see the child-sister vibe between them. Captain America, on the other hand, is a no-nonsense, no-nonsense type who is as polite as can be. Fans of in-depth references will appreciate the inclusion of Bacchae.
Salazar does a great job in the action scenes, with characters jumping through windows and showing off lots of agile movements. The city of Madripoor is particularly well represented in the scene where the heroes are transported on ropes by an invisible flying vehicle. Early on, there’s a nice double-page layout where the heroes enter a fancy hotel, followed by a cool montage of panels. The relationship between Logan and Black Widow is detailed at the bottom. Overall, the story moves at a good pace thanks to the art.
The collection also includes Uncanny X-Men #268, which is great. You can’t go wrong with Jim Lee’s pencils, which feature dynamic, highly detailed art throughout.
Fans of Wolverine as Patch should pick up Wolverine: Madrepoor Knights. It’s a fun romp through Madripoor with in-depth references thanks to Claremont’s expert perspective on these characters. Come and enjoy the great battle. But stay for Madripoor’s intrigue.
“Wolverine: Order of Madripoor” TPB Review
Wolverine: Madripoor Nights TPB
Fans of Wolverine as Patch should pick up Wolverine: Madrepoor Knights. It’s a fun romp through Madripoor with in-depth references thanks to Claremont’s expert perspective on these characters. Come and enjoy the great battle. But stay for Madripoor’s intrigue.
Deep references and a nice reminder of how Wolverine feels about Cap and Black Widow.
A thoroughly fighting manga
A pretty run-of-the-mill team-up book if you’ve ever seen it.
