Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Review | Tagged: Domino, fantasy, felipe sobreiro, hunt for wolverine, hunt for wolverine: mystery in madripoor, jim zub, jubilee, kitty pryde, logan, magneto, Psylocke, Rogue, sci-fi, storm, thony silas, wolverine, x-men
Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1 Review – A Character-Focused Non-Gimmick
The X-Men believe that Magneto may be responsible for the disappearance of Wolverine, and a team of Kitty Pryde, Storm, Rogue, Psylocke, Domino, and Jubilee leave for Madripoor, the current base of operation for Magneto's X-Men. Things are fishy upon arrival, and the X-Men are left to wonder what Magneto is up to and if there are other factions involved.
Mystery in Madripoor #1 isn't much of a mystery story, considering we know who is behind the X-Men's woes by the end of the first issue.
That said, it's a solid character-driven comic where the stakes of each X-Men member involved is the focus. Much of the book consists of flashbacks to small moments between the present heroes and Logan in the past, particularly Storm, Rogue, and Psylocke.
Consequently, the main story doesn't advance very far, and the big revelation at the end isn't that shocking. It doesn't take long for the book to put our heroes in revealing dresses either, which makes you wonder the motivation behind this X-Men lineup. Plus, all the villains are women in similarly revealing costumes, which doesn't help that creeping feeling.
The main story isn't all that fascinating regardless, as the reason they suspect Magneto of anything boils down to "he's pulled this crap before." They just so happen to stumble into a criminal conspiracy while in Madripoor.
Thony Silas's artwork has an appealing similarity to Jim Lee's 1990s X-Men work. The linework drives the detailing, and the facial features are severe and pointed. It looks quite good, even if the aforementioned revealing dress is bothersome. Felipe Sobreiro's color work is paler and tends towards lighter, washed-out tones, and it plays off Silas's style well.
Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1 is a decent read. Its focus on character and motivation makes the story feel more important, even if the main plot is just a random digression into past X-Men villains. This is likely the weakest of the Hunt for Wolverine #1's, but I can still recommend it, though it's not required reading. Feel free to check it out though.