dragonfire88's Full Review: Dk Publishing and Julia March - Wolverine: Inside ...
I've been enjoying movies, cartoons and television shows about superheroes for many years even though I have read very few of the comic books. I've also enjoyed learning more about the characters from some books about them that I've picked up over the years, like Ultimate X-Men. I recently picked up Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon by Matthew K. Manning.
Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon was published by Dorling Kindersley. That company also published the other similar books I have about other comic book characters. The book was released late in March of 2009, though I only found out about it a month later, just before the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The book is an oversized hardback like the other DK books that I have. This book stands out a bit from my other DK books because the edges of the pages are red. I think that fits for Wolverine.
Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon, like the other DK books I've read, doesn't have an actual plot. Instead, general information about Wolverine and the various characters he encountered is covered as well as some of the situations he has been in. Some of the import storylines that he has been involved in are included as well. This book is almost 200 pages and one of the longer DK books I have. Some of the information on Wolverine is more in depth, while some of the other information isn't as detailed.
Only a few of the more important storylines that Wolverine has been in are discussed throughout Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon. For the ones that are discussed, enough it mentioned to understand what is going on without a lot of in depth information being used for most of them. I haven't been following what has been going on in the comic books, but I have heard about a few of the more important story lines like The House of M and Civil War. Wolverine's part in those two events is discussed. I don't know for sure, but I think Secret Invasion and Messiah Complex are two of the more recent storylines, and both of them are discussed in the book.
The information in Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon is shared mostly two page spreads, with a few topics being confined to one page. The text is in fairly short paragraphs, so it isn't overly detailed. A few things end up being more detailed since they are talked about more than once. Every spread has several pictures as well that I think were pulled from the various comic books that Wolverine has appeared in. I couldn't find an illustrator listed for the book, so I don't think any new pictures were created just for the book. The illustrations used throughout the book go along with the text perfectly. Some of the illustrations are bright and vibrant while some others have darker and more subdued colors. Some of the pages are black as well, usually when something darker is being shared.
Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon is divided into six chapters. Each chapter focuses on something different and everything in a chapter would be connected in some way. Events and characters are discussed in each chapter. The book starts with a short foreword in which Chris Claremont talks about Wolverine. The chapters are different lengths, with a few of the later chapters being the shortest. The first two pages of each chapter have a picture on two pages that I think are originally from the comic books. Wolverine is in every picture and they are somehow connected to what each chapter will cover. Throughout every chapter, there is information about a specific comic book issues or two that are connected to the subject of the chapter. Information about the issue, like when it was published and who wrote and illustrated it, are shared. Some things about the issues are shared, like how the writers came up with the idea for the particular story or what had been going on in Wolverine's world before that point. The second page has a plot summary along with some illustrations pulled from the comic book. It is interesting to read about the important comic books for Wolverine, but the comic books aren't shared in chronological order, which does make things confusing at times.
The first chapter is focused on Wolverine, pointing out things about him. Some information about the three men involved in creating the character is also shared. Pages are devoted to his costume and powers, with some of the powers having their own two page spreads, like his healing ability. Two pages share some things that he's said over the years. His memory problem is addressed briefly here and will receive some more attention later in the book. Some of the women he's been involved with are mentioned, as well as his allies, enemies, and the different groups he's worked with over the years.
The second chapter, The Life of Wolverine, shares a lot of information about his life. The first four pages of this chapter have a timeline listing the important events from his life. There are some small illustrations that go along with some of the events. Only a few years are mentioned, but the timeline at least gives the order of the events of Wolverine's life. There isn't a timeline in the book that covers the different comic books he has been featured in like there has been in some of the other DK books I have. This chapter covers the origins of Wolverine, characters that were important during that time of his life, like Silver Fox and Sabertooth, as well as some of the events Wolverine was involved in. There is also a life brief life story for Sabertooth, though it isn't very detailed. The Weapon X experiment and how Wolverine came to have adamantium added to his body is covered. The chapter only goes over events up to the time that Wolverine joined the X-Men, so the title of it slightly misleading. It would have been more accurate to call the chapter Origins or something like that instead.
Wolverine and the X-Men covers Wolverine's time with the X-Men, discussing some of the X-Men he worked with and some of the enemies the team in general dealt with over the years. I think the illustrations of the characters are using the newer looks of the characters. The complex relationship that Wolverine has with Jean Grey is covered during this part, which also touches on the Phoenix. The rest of this chapter breaks things down by decade from the 1970's when Wolverine joined the X-Men up into the 2000's. Some general information about what was going in each decade is shared and three key issues of the comic book are mentioned. For each decade, a fourth comic book is talked about in more detail.
Chapter four, Wolverine Alone, is focused on events from the solo comic books that have featured Wolverine over the years. It discusses three solo series and briefly discusses the events and some of the characters from those series. There weren't any pages devoted to key issues in this chapter like there have been in the previous chapters. The Further Adventures of Wolverine shares information about more storylines that Wolverine has been involved in. With some of them, I'm not sure if those events happened in a solo comic book, one of the X-Men comics, or even another of the Marvel comic books. More important events and characters are introduced, though I couldn't keep the order of these events straight without referring back to the timeline earlier in the book.
The sixth and final chapter, Wolverine in the Future, is the shortest with only four pages. Alternate futures, like the Days of Future Past story from X-Men are mentioned without many details being shared. The Ultimate version of the character created for the Ultimate X-Men is discussed, along with explaining the Ultimate Universe in the Marvel comics. There is very little information about the Ultimate version of Wolverine. The next two pages are covered with images of various comic book covers involving Wolverine. That is followed by a short afterword by the author and the index.
I enjoyed all the information that is shared in Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon, but I think the organization could have been a little better. There isn't much sense for the order the events happened in while reading the book. I had to flip back to the timeline several times to keep track of the chronological order since the author jumps around in time when sharing some of the events. Things are shared in a chapter they sort of connect to instead of being in chronological order. Some things are mentioned several different times, so there is repetition to the information. It is probably harder to arrange things in chronological order with Wolverine because of the way the character has developed over the years. He started out as someone sent in to fight the Hulk and then he was involved in other comics before joining the X-Men. Even once he was a member of that team, there was still a lot of mystery to the character. He had been around in the comics for decades before Marvel finally decided to explore the origin of the character.
There isn't consistency with the way things are shared about the various characters that are talked about in Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon. For some of the characters, there is a small block of text near an illustration of the character. The box shares information on which comic book the character first appeared in, where their base is, which groups they are connected to and what their powers or abilities are and what type of weapons they use. If the character goes by a different name, their real name is shared if it is known. If the character has some sort of occupation, it is shared as well. There isn't a lot of detail to the information, but it is nice to know a little more about the characters. With other characters, they are just mentioned when discussing some event that Wolverine was involved in without sharing the extra information. Wolverine has met many other Marvel characters, so it would have made the book much longer if that type of information was shared about all of them, especially since some seem to be such minor characters. However, even some of the more important characters don't have that extra information which seems a little odd. Sometimes it didn't make the most sense to me when information about another character was shared. Wolverine has had several encounters with Mystique over the years, some of which are briefly mentioned throughout the book. There aren't any pages dedicated to Mystique until the end of chapter five. It seems a little odd to me that she wasn't brought up sooner in the book.
There isn't a lot of text on many of the pages throughout Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon. I did expect that because that is what has been done with the other DK books I have. Some of the pages, mostly the ones with the plot summaries for a few of the comic books have more text on them, making this book slightly more detailed than the other DK books I've read. Since there really isn't a lot of text in the book overall, it didn't take me that long to read. I learned of interesting things about Wolverine.
Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon only shares information about the various comic books that Wolverine has been in. He has also appeared in some cartoons and four movies, the most recent being X-Men Origins: Wolverine. There is absolutely no mention at all of the cartoons or movies, which was a little disappointing. I wasn't looking for a lot of in depth information about those things, but I think it would have been nice if they had at least been mentioned since the cartoons and especially the movies have been important for the characters. Ultimate X-Men and Ghost Rider Visual Guide both briefly touched on the movies without distracting from the information on the comic books, so I think it could have been done.
I really enjoyed Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon even though I felt like it had a few problems. The book has a lot of interesting information and I learned several things about the character. Fans of Wolverine may also enjoy the book.
Wolverine is one of Marvel Comics most popular characters. Fans can learn about his comic book debut in 1974, his alliance with the X-Men, and more. T...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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