Storyline: Act Two of Three
Date: April 2, 2008
Price: $3.99 US
Writer: Brian K. Vaughn
Artist: Eduardo Risso and Dean White

Synopsis: Wolverine has returned to Japan, his memories intact, and has met with a familiar face from his past. But how is this supernatural creature tied to an untold story of Logan’s time in Japan during WW2? And just what was Logan doing in Hiroshima?

Opinion: Ok, I said I was going to do it - and here I am, eating my hat!  This issue was great!  I read up a bit about the actual point of the Marvel Knights imprint on Wikipedia, and the vein this story in makes a bit more sense.  I still think the first issue stunk, but this one redeems it for sure.  Read what I found out about Marvel Knights and my take on this book after the jump.

In this second issue, some things are revealed about the place and the timing and this whole thing starts to make a bit more sense.  I understand it is a business decision on Marvel’s part, but I stand by my critique that this should just be in the Origins storyline, and a limited series is unnecessary.

Now, if this is seperate from canon, please PLEASE someone set me straight.  I think marvel needs to be a lot clearer about what’s what with all of their many titles like this one.

Anyway, this is what Wikipedia had to say about Marvel Knights:

Marvel Knights is an imprint of Marvel Comics. Dealing with more mature themes than the regular imprint, it is not intended for children. However, it does not deal with the adult themes touched on by the MAX imprint. The imprint originated in 1998 when Marvel outsourced four titles (Black Panther, Daredevil, The Punisher and The Inhumans) to Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti’s company Event Comics; Event hired the creative teams for the Knights line while Marvel published them. The imprint has since been folded back into Marvel’s standard methods of publication and is used to single out Marvel’s “edgier” titles.

It then goes on to say that this is not part of the canon or continuity, which is strange considering the premise of the book is based on Wolverine getting his memories back, which I thought was part of the regular continuity of the Marvel Universe:

In early 2006, Quesada, who had since become Marvel’s editor-in-chief, announced that all ongoing titles under the Marvel Knights banner would move to the Marvel Universe imprint and that Marvel Knights would now contain high profile limited series that are set outside of Marvel continuity.  After this change, many of the series which had formerly carried the Marvel Knight’s banner had it removed, distinguishing them from the new, non-canon materials.

Either way - this issue was interesting for sure.  There was a lot more going on in this story and we got to see a glimpse into what makes Wolverine who he is and how he sometimes feels about himself.  We also see the consequences of his conditions - and his actions - played out as only Brian K. Vaughn can do.

I think overall this issue redeems the first, and I would recommend reading them both, but only after the third comes out and you can consume them all at once rather than in pieces.  This isn’t a story made to be broken up in my opinion.

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