Wolverine Classic - Volume 1

Following his short anthology story in the first 10 issues of Marvel Comics Presents (also in TPB form as Marvel Comics Presents: Wolverine), we see Logan continue his adventures in Madripoor with his supporting cast of Lindsay McCabe and former Spider-Woman Jessica Drew. Unlike today's Wolverine stories, these aren't your "blood n' guts/grim n' gritty" stories. Dark, yes. But they maintain that the medium of a super hero comic. Collects Wolverine #1-5 by Chris Claremont & John Buscema. Cheap and affordable.

As the title suggests, this Wolverine graphic, reprinting Wolverine #1-5, from 1988 has a bit of everything. It's set in Madripoor back when Wolverine was using his Patch disguise, and like so many other stories set in that time, it has Logan neck deep in Lowtown corruption as he bumps into and saves people he knows from his X-Men days. The first story, reprinting #1-3 is about the Black Blade, a fabled sword created by Maramasa, a master swordsman. Any time you have a story about Samurai and fabled swords, the Silver Samurai can't be far behind and that is the case here. Not only does he appear, but Lindsay McCabe and Jessica Drew, better known as Spider Woman. The story wraps up with a slightly surprising end, and it's a good read. The next story, covering #4-5 showcases another power struggle between Madripoor crime lords, this time General Nguyen Ngoc Coy and Tyger Tiger. Two new badguys are introduced, Roughhouse a brawler, and Bloodsport, a vampire who's very touch causes people to bleed. Karma, formerly of the New Mutants also makes an appearance. However, just as the story builds up and gets interesting, the graphic is over, and the ending never supplied. This book could have been made much stronger had it included the next couple of books which wrap up the General Nguyen Ngoc Coy storyline. Overall, this is very typical of Logan's days as Patch and it's worth a look as long as you're forewarned it ends in an odd spot.