Enemy of the State

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

Summary

  Last issue seemed to be taking things a little bit too seriously. Fortunately, we're back to the stupid violence this month. That's what makes this story work. I wouldn't want to see every Wolverine storyline like this, but after a couple of years of (let's face it) rather po-faced stories, the change of pace is welcome.

  Wolverine runs around. Wolverine fights things. Wolverine wins because he's fantastic. And. That's. It. What more do you want from a Wolverine comic? I think it was Grant Morrison who did a recent column arguing that the recent trend in superhero comics was the Definitive Take, where you just get the character to do all the old routines and go over the top with it. And then, he points out, you can't do it twice, so you have to come up with something new again. Which is true. You couldn't do two of these stories in a row. But you can do one, and if it isn't exactly Watchmen, who really cares? It's basically this sort of story that made Wolverine popular in the first place.

  Okay, technically there's a plot here as well. Wolverine fights his brainwashing. But not very hard, because that would detract from the fighting. Good move. Character-wise, the big idea is that the brainwashing works rather well with Wolverine, because there's a whole side of his personality which rather likes going around killing everyone. Not all that big an idea, then, but it's enough to give the story a very slight degree of depth, without detracting from the main event: the fighting.

  And it's good action, well paced, with Romita going happily over the top throughout. It's breakneck stuff with enough variation to stop it from being monotonous. If you're going to do this kind of story - and why not, with a Wolverine solo book? - this is a good example.

Summary

  Since the building is locked down, Johnny Storm works on his Ford Thunderbird while calling his various girlfriends to break dates and assure them he's not dating anyone else. Ben Grimm comes by to ask him to rub steroid cream on his back, to smooth out the lumps of his skin, but Johnny's uncomfortable about that. Logan has broken the Fantastic Four's security system; he observes and plans. Hydra monitors Logan; the Gorgon is impatient.

  Logan starts to question himself, and two voices play in his head. He knows the Hand killed him and resurrected him as an assassin, targeting other superhumans so they can repeat the process. Reed is the first target: they want his genius.

  Reed is balled up in his literal "think tank"; Sue wants him to tell the children a bedtime story, but he's programmed the intercom to do it for him, with his personality. They'll never know the difference. Sue wonders if she would, either. Logan observes; Sue is the only one who worries him, with her ability to create force fields.

  Reed's mind is disconnected from his body and in a top secret area of "non-space" with Henry Pym and Tony Stark. They're evaluating a terraformer Reed just invented; he's working with the UN to use it first to make Africa arable. Alarms go off: they're being hacked. Reed detects Logan and calls for the rest of his team to subdue him with maximum force.

  Ben, happy to comply, lifts Johnny's car and throws it through the wall, nearly missing Logan on the other side. Johnny, dismayed, flames on, flies over, and grabs Logan by the wrists. His flame sears Logan's flesh and nerves, preventing him from using his claws. Logan thought ahead, however, and he overrides the buildings systems and activates emergency fire procedure. Johnny falls, doused, and Logan heals quickly and is about to slice him when Ben pounds the floor out from under him. Logan realizes he's playing for keeps; Ben rips up giant cables and whips him with it. One voice in Logan's head suggests he give up; Hydra has programmed him just like Weapon X, undoing all Prof. X's good work; the other voice denies all, and Logan attacks Ben, impaling his shoulder.

  Sue programs the systems to shift her children into the future 20 minutes; SHIELD should be on site by then. Logan failed to program his DNA into the security systems, and robots attack him, ineffectively. A sheet of blue envelops him: Reed, who extends away from every slash, effectively trapping him. He mentally calls to Hydra for a teleport; they can only move him 60 feet, but it's enough to get free.

  More robots attack, and then he feels two rocks in his back. He switches his new implants to see infrared: it's Sue, who's put two force fields in his lungs. If he moves, she'll expand them: he's invaded her home and is fair game. She turns his optic nerves invisible, blinding him. (Note: nerves use chemical and electrical transmissions; more correct would be to make his retina invisible, unable to absorb light.)

  Logan calls for help, and the side of the building explodes: a Hydra air car has smashed in, and Logan grabs it as it flies out. His vision is slow to return, but he sees Johnny racing after him, so he jumps onto him, forcing him down into a gas station, which explodes.

  EMTs rescue a burn victim who says he's the Human Torch; wrapped in bandages, he's put into an ambulance, where he pops claws. Johnny walks out of the wreckage; a fireman realizes what's happened and calls the hospital, where the ambulance never arrived.

  Hydra has their objective: a disc with Reed's research. Strucker, their head, contacts AIM, to create weapons, and the Hand, to target 10 more superhumans to resurrect as assassins, starting with Tony Stark and the American banking industry. He wants things in place for when Hydra's bank-roller arrives.

  Notes: Logan mentions he took Ben down before, presumably FF I:374.