Savage Wolverine #5
The conclusion to Wolverine, Shanna, and Amadeus Cho’s adventure in the Savage Lands. Savage Wolverine #5 provides us with that classic match up with Wolverine and Hulk. Difference this time is that both are tossed into the same situation by chance and Hulk isn’t the raging Green Behemoth that he usually is. So it wasn’t too long ago that we learned that the Savage Lands was holding an alien called the Dark Walker. Something so powerful that they kept trapped in that mountain and protected it at all costs.
I’d say that there wasn’t much of a sense of urgency for them protecting that mountain from the Dark Walker’s release. Not to say that this is leading to something bigger, but that’s something that should’ve been felt as the Dark Walker was awakened. It just seemed like they went through all of this to face something that they stood no chance again, something that was basically a lost cause from the beginning. The main goal was to get off the island, which they did, but where what they discovered takes them next leaves more questions than what can be answered.
It was somewhat entertaining if only not for the action in this issue. Though Wolverine and Hulk didn’t actually fight,the confrontation between Hulk and the gorilla was brutal. You really see how dangerous the Savage Lands can be when a single animal can give him of all people a run for his money. Aside from this it was funny as Amadeus said himself how the Dark Walker took out the Hulk. Swatted him away, made him self detonate the bomb on himself, and by chance a giant fish engulfed him. Not only was it an entertaining chain of events, but nobody even really showed much concern for him after the Dark Walker was gone.
Despite the fact that this conclusion didn’t have too much of an impact on me, the art is one thing to recognize. From beginning to end of this story arc, it has been very consistent, especially for the fact that Frank Cho is both the writer and the artist. I’d point out how it is cool to see Wolverine go to hell and back fighting through the savages and see him lose about half of his costume in the process.
