Comic Review: Wolverine/Nick Fury: Scorpio Rising

Published: 1994
Written by: Howard Chaykin
Art by: Shawn McManus

Marvel Comics, 49 Pages

Review:

This graphic novel release in 1994 brought an end to the trilogy of stories that saw Wolverine and Nick Fury team up.

Fans started referring to it as The Scorpio Trilogy and I’m not sure if Marvel ever officially adopted that name. The reason it’s called that, though, is that the two bookends of this trilogy feature the character Scorpio, who has close, personal ties to Nick Fury.

Oddly enough, I think the middle story, which doesn’t feature Scorpio, is definitely the best of the trio.

With that, I’d say that this was my least favorite but I still liked it for the reasons why you should like a comic with Wolverine, Nick Fury and a style that’s not made for younger comic book readers.

This, like its two predecessors, has a much harder edge to it than a standard monthly Marvel comic and that’s one of the things that made me gravitate towards these one-off graphic novel releases.

Overall, this did a decent job of bringing the Scorpio stuff to a close and altering the character in a meaningful way. And while I wasn’t into the art in this chapter, this was still a short and action-packed tale that fits well with the other two Wolverine/Nick Fury team-ups.

Rating: 5.75/10

Comic Review: Wolverine: Bloody Choices

Published: 1991
Written by: Tom DeFalco
Art by: John Buscema, Joe Jusko (cover)

Marvel Comics, 65 Pages

Review:

This story happens after the Wolverine and Nick Fury team-up in The Scorpio Connection but also takes place before that story’s direct sequel Scorpio Rising. So this has become the second act in what fans now refer to as the Wolverine/Nick Fury Trilogy.

Like its predecessor, this was released as a trade paperback and was made for more mature audiences than the typical single issue, floppy comics Marvel was publishing at the time. As a middle school-aged kid, I loved releases like this. However, this is one that I had never read until now.

The story deals with Wolverine uncovering a large pedophile ring in Central America. A kid dies trying to save his brother from the pedo cartel and Wolverine decides that these scumfucks need to be ripped to shreds, literally.

However, Wolverine quickly discovers that Nick Fury is also trying to take these evil men down. Wolverine doesn’t want to go “by the book”, as he’s hell bent on making the leader suffer an agonizing death. However, Fury wants to take down the larger cartel that exceeds the main villain’s local reach.

We eventually get a legit fight between Fury and Wolverine and it is one of the most epic Marvel has ever published featuring two heroes at odds.

Beyond that, Wolverine has to question his rage and his personal mission and what we get is a really good and satisfying ending.

I thought that Tom DeFalco wrote one of the best stories he’s ever done with this. I also enjoyed John Buscema’s art immensely.

Man, this was just incredible and being only 65 pages, it accomplished a lot and far exceeded any expectations I had for it.

Rating: 9/10

Comic Review: Wolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection

Published: 1989
Written by: Archie Goodwin
Art by: Howard Chaykin

Marvel Comics, 66 Pages

Review:

I have loved the hell out of this graphic novel’s cover since I was a little kid hanging out in comic book shops with very limited funds. So I never actually bought this back in 1989 or the years that followed and I hadn’t actually read it until now.

While I enjoyed this it’s pretty average for what Marvel was putting out in their popular graphic novel series at the time. With a script by Archie Goodwin and art by Howard Chaykin, I went into it with pretty high hopes that this didn’t live up to.

Although, it’s still a pretty cool, action-packed book. I just felt like the story needed more pages to really be fleshed out and that things felt rushed and then it was over.

I did enjoy Chaykin’s art, as I usually do. I dig his character design and his patented style and it did a good job setting the tone for this story. But like the story, I wish there was more.

Still, this is beefier and a bit more adult than the standard single page comics of the era. I thought the villain was kind of neat but he barely got a chance to develop in any sort of meaningful way in just 66 pages.

Rating: 6/10