Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Adam Kubert
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Cover Artists: Adam Kubert & Frank Martin; Gabriele Dell’Otto; Inhyuk Lee; Rob Liefeld & Jay David Ramos; Todd Nauck & Rachelle Rosenberg
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $4.99
Release Date: May 1, 2024
Wolverine has a job. It's not one he wants, but it's necessary. A cop wants to end a killing spree. So she calls on Wolverine. Can he catch the superpowered villain that makes mincemeat of his victims? Or will someone else get in his way? Let’s extend our claws, leap into Deadpool & Wolverine WWIII #1, and find out!
Story
Superheroes deal with morality. Hunters kill. Wolverine's cop friend doesn't want anyone else to die. So, she calls on the human weapon with adamantium claws to put down a predator. Unfortunately, someone else has found him first.
Like the cop, Vancouver’s endangered citizens wanted to end the killing spree. So the victim’s families put up a bounty. Wolverine knows what Deadpool does is necessary, but that doesn't mean he likes it. Nor does Logan like how Deadpool finds humor in the killing. People shouldn't enjoy killing. They should never joke about taking another person’s life.
But what is life? Wolverine muses on that in Deadpool & Wolverine WWIII #1. Why even try to build anything significant? It’ll eventually end. Everything does. Dreams are just misfiring neurons, he concludes.
Joe Kelly portrays Wolverine and Deadpool as two brothers in arms. Their love/hate relationship binds them together and tears them apart. Yet in Kelly’s story, Wolverine does the tearing apart, while Deadpool tries to do a team-up.
Only after they take down their adversary and Deadpool slips away does Wolverine realize what Wade said. But then it’s too late. Wade's gone, just like a dream or another crumbled monument.
So, another hunt begins. Logan tells himself he’s doing it to kill whoever created the mincemeat monster. But in Deadpool & Wolverine WWIII #1, Logan’s also doing it because of what Wade said. And because he failed to respond before Deadpool slipped away.
Joe Kelly probes Wolverine’s conscience as Logan tracks “the world’s crappiest trail of breadcrumbs.” Wolverine may hate the jack@$$. Still, he’s got a responsibility to Deadpool, not to mention those Wade could endanger in his quest to become more like Wolverine.
Art
Wolverine leaps across the Vancouver skyline. He crouches beside a rooftop pool, gazing down at the street. After an explosion of concrete, water, and fire, he gazes up to see Deadpool trade his rocket launcher for a sword and a machine pistol. Wolverine ignores the torrent of bullets, leaping into the fray as Deadpool follows up with a flurry of throwing knives. Their opponent dissolves Deadpool's assault with a shield. Wolverine, he bats away.
Adam Kubert reveals Wolverine's competitive nature as he shoves Deadpool into harm's way while charging the City Of Glass slicer and dicer in Deadpool & Wolverine WWIII #1. Kubert enhances the humor with Deadpool’s gestures, birthday greetings decorating the rocket launcher, and the way Deadpool leaps and lands on Wolverine’s shoulders. Yet as the living weapons watch paramedics load their opponent into an ambulance, Deadpool glances up at Wolverine, who refuses to return his gaze. Later, Logan sits at a bar and frowns at his drink. No girl clad in a hoodie sits beside him.
The sinking sun casts an orange glow over Vansterdam as Wolverine’s silhouette bounds across pink fields. Despite Deadpool’s sudden dislike for his footwear, his opponent’s boots shine brighter than the yellow in Wolverine’s suit. Yet nothing outshines the crazed killer's purple hooded shirt or the purple energy shields and tendrils he wields.
Frank Martin adorns a bar mostly in yellow and brown, echoing Wolverine’s suit, even if Logan has changed into street clothes. Does the maple leaf on the wall and the bartender's long red beard remind Logan of Wade? Later, a red child's phone confirms Logan has found the right Skybnb, even if he didn’t arrive in time.
Joe Sabino casts Weapon X-worthy lowercase black letters into white and colored balloons and boxes. Whether it's lashes of sizzling electricity, barrages of gunfire, or the crash of shattered windows, Sabino enhances the energy propelling Deadpool & Wolverine WWIII #1 toward its heartrending conclusion. Yet the applause stretching like ribbons across the final pages reminds us why Logan has grown so disillusioned in Joe Kelly’s tragic tale.
Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Wolverine hunts monsters. But is Wolverine a hunter or a monster? It’s a question Logan can't avoid when Wade Wilson reminds him of the difference between them in Deadpool & Wolverine WWIII #1.
Rating 9.2/10
To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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