Enemy of the State

• Writer - Mark Millar
• Penciler - John Romita Jr.
• Inker - Klaus Janson
• Colorist - Paul Mounts
• Lettering - Virtual Calligraphy
• Lettering - Rus Wooton
• Editor - Jennifer Lee
• Executive Editor - Axel Alonso
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  Mark Millar and John Romita Jr take over Wolverine with issue #20, and as you might expect, there's a noticeable change of style.

  Greg Rucka and Darick Robertson's run was, unfortunately, notable mainly for being rather slow and underplayed. It certainly had its strengths, but it went too far in that direction, and didn't quite come off. So Marvel is trying something a little different, and going back to the straightforward action comic.

  Nothing wrong with that. Millar isn't what you'd call subtle, but the appeal of the character isn't exactly subtle either. Every so often, it makes a nice change to forget the angst, wind him up and set him loose for some carnage, and that's pretty much where we're going here. The idea is that Wolverine gets kidnapped by HYDRA, who give him some hypnotic programming and set him loose on a mission. Cue Wolverine versus the world, and Wolverine versus his own programming.

  It's a six-parter, and that's normally an unpromising sign these days. It usually heralds a slow and rather tiresome start. But Millar and Romita hit the ground running here - they'll struggle to keep up this pace for six issues, I'd have thought, but it's a pleasant surprise to see the book barrelling along right from the word go.

  It's not deep, it's not clever, and it does have that slight "ain't I cool" self-consciousness which crops up a little too often in Millar's writing. But it's fun. No denying it.

  Rating: A-

Summary

  Ichiro is chauffeur to a man who never talks to him, but they each have a 10-year-old son, who play baseball together. One day kidnappers grabbed the wrong one and demanded $10 million; the boss won't pay up for someone else's kid, and the police are no help. Logan wishes he called him right away.

  Logan carries the ransom to a cemetery in the pouring rain. He hates Japan; it reminds him of the only happiness he's had, only to have it ripped away. Ichiro is Mariko's cousin; they met at the wedding (almost, UXM 172) and the funeral (Wolverine II:57).

  The kidnapper notes that this Christian graveyard in Nagasaki is because of Spanish missionaries and wonders if their converts are in heaven with the saints. (Note: many of them were crucified in 1597 and made Catholic saints in 1862.) He thinks Logan is American and asks who he is; he says he's Canadian and thinks it's ridiculous he doesn't know about Wolverine.

  The kidnapper's men open the duffel bags and find T-shirts instead of money; they draw guns, but Logan guts them; they're dead before they hit the ground. The kidnapper yells, "Yachimae," and ninjas rise from all around the graveyard. Logan starts slashing and realizes they're already dead: zombies raised by the Hand, and this was all a trap for him. The Gorgon sits in a tree, watching Logan's style and waiting for him to tire. Logan kills the last of them and asks the kidnapper where Ichiro's kid is; before he can answer, he dies. Logan can't believe anyone was that fast, but the Gorgon has snuck up behind him and stuck a sword through Logan, the kidnapper, and a gravestone. He raises the sword to finish things, and he mentions he fed the boy to his pigs.

  A week later, Kitty talks to Ichiro and his wife; all they have left of their son is his collection of birds' eggs and a basket of cookies from Ichiro's boss. Logan is missing, but Kitty is confident the X-Men can find him. They have telepaths.

  Minneapolis: SHIELD investigates a ritual mass-murder in a church: thirteen victims, like always (note: for some reason, the lay victims are called "fanatics"). Elektra consults with Fury; they've found documents concerning a plot to kill 16 superhumans, including Reed Richards, Capt. America, and Xavier. Logan is top of the list. The Gorgon is a super-strong mutant and ninja-master from Kyoto, killed by the gangs and resurrected by the Hand as their zombie. His Dawn of the White Light has allied with the Hand and Hydra.

  Fury gets word Logan has been found; he and Elektra go to a SHIELD warship off Argentina, where Logan was found in a ditch, tortured and burned. He's in sick bay, healing; he was so bad even the doctors threw up.

  Logan wakes and realizes he's in a hospital. The attending doctor talks to him, but he's still under sedation and groggy. He hears a voice in his head telling him to kill her, but he tries to make it shut up; he can feel his body knitting together, like an autopsy in reverse. She met him before, during the Scorpio mission, and she's attracted to him. She chats, saying she likes that the X-Men are wearing costumes again; black leather made them look scary, like bikers. She leans over to give him a sip of water, and he impales her through the chest.

  The power goes out all over the ship; SHIELD realizes it's Logan. Elektra pulls out two sais and tells everyone to get down; Logan, in the infrastructure above the darkened room, says, "Hello, sweet-cheeks."