Wolverine:
Worst Day Ever

I am not a 10-year-old boy.

Yes, you knew this and I knew this. I mean, I do find delight in a lot of things aimed at children and pre-adolescents, but regardless, I am not a 10-year-old boy.

So maybe that’s why Barry Lyga’s Wolverine: Worst Day Ever missed its mark for me.

I liked Lyga’s The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, even if I had a few reservations about it. I could relate to the main character’s broken-hearted desperation to prove how awesome he was to the world and that his hero (in this case, Brian Michael Bendis) would recognize his greatness. Lyga captured the invisible kids living in the suburbs in this very heartfelt way.

Worst Day Ever, however, comes off feeling a little preachy. Told in a “blog” format (I think most modern epistolary novels don’t really work for me), our narrator is Eric, a young mutant attending Xavier’s School for Gifted Students. Eric’s mutant power is that no one realizes he’s around when he is — he’s not invisible, it’s just no one sees him. However, due to his heightened senses, Wolverine knows when he’s around.

Mostly, Eric is pretty whiny with a lot of “poor me” sorts of stuff. He’s not a character I particularly care about. The idea of being socially invisible could be resonant, but I don’t think I’d particularly want to hang out with Eric. While Eric eventually (and perhaps, predictably) realizes how to deal with his “power” and his own strength, he still basically annoyed me most of the time.

Lyga handles Wolverine pretty well — he understands this is a character who does have a tendency to become something of a father figure to younger mutants — and the action is fun. Sadly, there’s not enough of that, and while I know that this is a book for kids, Eric has a tendency to write around some of the more graphic parts of the story by saying it’s too “gross” to share gets annoying. It doesn’t feel like something an actual 13-year-old would do.

I like the design of the book — there are panels pulled from comics to illustrate the story, but I don’t buy that these are Eric’s “drawings.” (You mean, there’s a 13-year-old who can draw like John Cassady? Seriously?) I could believe these were Eric’s photos, but not drawings.

Included are three issues (out of four) of Wolverine & Power Pack by Marc Sumerak and Gurihiru, which I liked better than the rest of the book. They’re an odd bonus — other than Wolverine, there’s no connection to the story in terms of tone or content (they’re aimed at younger readers than the rest of the book) — but I was happy to have them there.

I still have hope for Lyga and I’d like to see him write more comic-related stories. But Wolverine: Worst Day Ever was a disappointment. Maybe if you’re a 10-year-old boy, you’d get something out of this, but even that I question.

And for no real reason, other than the obvious, here’s Glenn Danzig reading Wolverine:

X-Men Trilogy
3-DVD Box Set

I’m feeling a little too tired to attempt a double feature tonight. And since X-Men Origins: Wolverine is out next Friday, I figured this was as good of a time as any to re-watch the first X-Men movie.

This came out nine years ago. I find that incredible. I think a lot of comic book fans never thought it would happen, too. I don’t think I did. And I don’t think anyone thought it was going to be this good. X-Men definitely opened the door to superhero movies of quality and Bryan Singer made other “serious” directors think there was something to this whole thing.

In a bit of dream casting, we got Patrick Stewart as Professor X. We have have a knight as Oscar winners (even if one of them is in a bad wig). Of course, on the flip side, we have a couple of actors who aren’t really of note and, well, a supermodel and professional wrestler. But still, as far as the cast goes, this was pretty amazing.

After starting in an expected place — a concentration camp in Poland in 1944, the rest of the plot is probably too set-up as the X-Men assembles, but a lot of things are done right here. Wolverine’s relationship with Rogue is evocative of his relationships with characters like Kitty Pryde and Jubilee in the comic. He’s a troubled, somewhat unstable character, but he could also serve as the right sort of father-figure for Rogue. Wolverine’s sparring with Cyclops over Jean Grey is also fun stuff.

The friendship/rivalry between Professor X and Magneto is also gracefully handled. Their desires for mutants aren’t too far apart, but there are crucial differences that separate them. I like that this kept Magneto from being one-dimensionally evil. He was a villain to sympathize with.

The Senator Kelly stuff doesn’t quite work. Or at least, it doesn’t work as well as it could. Storm is also pretty useless. The effects look a little dated at this point, although still not terrible.

Nearly 10 years later, X-Men remains one of the more effective comic book superhero movies made. It’s true to the spirit of the comics and it’s still satisfying (the other two are … less so. The second one is still good. The third … well …). Watching it, I do feel excited for Wolverine. I think that’s a pretty cool thing, personally.

(Yes, I know the Amazon link is to the box set of all three, but I figured it was cheap enough. You can still find the first one and it seems to be under $10 at this point.)

Still, the cast is good and the actors seem to be taking this seriously (but not excessively so). It might actually end up being good.