Review by Frank Plowright

Revenge is a story of an alternate Wolverine operating in a world almost without electrical power. The only source is deep within Russia, and now controlled by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, this iteration led by the illusion-casting Mastermind. Several heroes are sent on a mission to retrieve the power source, but only Wolverine returns from a disaster.

Jonathan Hickman is known for cleverly plotted, but extremely convoluted epics, creations only revealing their secrets after multiple chapters. That’s not Revenge, possibly as great a relief to him as it may be to some readers. Instead a number of targets are established in the opening chapter, and the remainder is Wolverine dealing with them, which is about as straightforward as plots come. Hickman ensures it’s an even greater crowd-pleaser by ensuring those targets are the people we want to see Wolverine butting up against, although to avoid Revenge becoming too predictable, there are a couple of wild cards.

Greg Capullo is a superstar superhero artist on any number of projects, and he brings a long record of satisfaction to Wolverine’s quest. Whether scowling, slashing or stabbing, this is the type of Wolverine most want to see. However, he takes a curious approach when deciding how explicitly the violence should be shown. There’s subtlety employed when it comes to showing someone being hung, yet Wolverine’s arm being torn off is gruesomely depicted. That it’s used to show his healing abilities in on the next page is really no mitigation.

As for those healing and restoration powers, has the rapidity ever been quantified? Here we’re shown Wolverine re-attaching that arm, as if in Blade of the Immortal, and he earlier regenerates rapidly from exploded fragments. That, however, is possibly becoming too caught up in the detail, which is only a means to an end.

The first three chapters are straightforward, but Hickman completes that section with a loose end that goes unexplained. One would have thought Wolverine would be curious at the very least, but instead he just wanders away. As the entire readership can predict this to be a mistake, it’s slapdash writing, and sure enough it comes back to haunt Wolverine in the final chapter. The conclusion does have a surprise or two, but not enough to derail that feeling.

On the other hand Capullo’s art is great throughout, and the pace of Revenge never lets up. It’s not a masterpiece, but it delivers.