The Wolverine in Classic Brown Costume

The teaser poster for the new Wolverine movie has been making its rounds. Rumor has it that the new movie will be based on the classic miniseries by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller.  The two stories will at least share the same location, Japan, if anything.

To take advantage of the poster's display of Hugh Jackman's almost grotesque musculature, I photoshopped in a rendition of his brown and orange outfit, not that we'd ever see it onscreen.

Brown Costume Wolverine

Ron Lim is my favorite comic book artist, has been since the 1990s. I'm not Wolverine's biggest fan, but I've always liked his brown costume. Now, I would be embarrassed to ask Ron Lim to draw a pedestrian character such as Wolverine, but I've always wanted a drawing by him of Wolverine in his brown costume.

By hook or crook, I found a sketch Lim did of Wolverine in his newer X-Force outfit. (The design is very similar to the brown costume, except there's more grey. Lots more grey.) Armed with photoshop, I colored it as the classic brown costume and here it is:



(With apologies to the artist, etc.)

Blood Feud

Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Brown)

3-3/4" is the new 6". At least, according to Hasbro, a company that's already cornered the 3-3/4" market with their long standing Star Wars line and the newly revived G.I. Joe line. With the economy as it is, what better way to help cut costs than to create their new Marvel toy lines in the smaller 3-3/4" scale. And when I mean their new lines, I'm talking about the general Marvel Universe line and the specific X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie line.



For the first wave, all of the Wolverine figures are inspired by classic comic book counterparts instead of the upcoming movie. This may be to help warm up fans and collectors to the new line before unveiling the actual movie figures. The figure I'm reviewing tonight is Wolverine in his classic brown/orange costume. This is (or not) a variant of the Wolverine figure in the usual yellow and blue. (They share the same body type except for the head and boot sculps.)

The nice thing about the figure is that he has the same amount of articulation and detailing as some of his larger counterparts. This is something Hasbro's been really excelling at with their Star Wars figures. Good ol' Wolvie here has double jointed knees, ball hinged head, shoulders, elbows, and ankles. The one thing I'm not a fan of is the ball hinged hips. Didn't like 'em in the larger scale, still not a fan now.

I don't have any real complaints about the figure. It's nicely done, faithfully to the comic book costume. (It's actually brown and orange, not brown and yellow as it's mistakenly done in the past.) The paint ops stays inside the lines, though the brown on his chest doesn't quite match the rest of the figure. Two things I'd like to point out are his head and his claws.

I wasn't really thrilled when I first saw his face. I'm still not liking the tiny white dots for eyes, but the feral grin makes up for it. His claws, this time around, are a single piece of plastic with black stripes to give the illusion that they're separate. What's nice about this is no more bent or deformed claws. Unfortunately, it also come off a little cheap that they couldn't make them separately.



In a perfect world, the figure would come with alternate non-claw hands and an alternate head with no mask. Unfortunately, all Wolverine comes with is a samurai sword (the one from Wolverine Origins, of course) and that seems a bit redundant, considering that he's already got claws.

Overall, it's a solid figure for a costume that doesn't get the attention it deserves. I wonder what the movie figures will look like? B

Comics: The Good and the Bad

The Bad: Wolverine Origins #5

The problem with this series is that every issue's the same. It promises answers. All we get is a few hints, and it's been going on for five issues. The only real reason I still get this is that he's wearing the brown costume, but Dillion's simplistic art doesn't make even that worth the $2.99 this issue costs. Cap also seems uncharacteristically hostile in general, and Cyclops would not scream like a girl. That being said, the page afterwards is the only worth a peek at. C-



The Good: Buckaroo Banzai #2


This 80s icon cut through red tape and licensing problems to save the world once more from the threat of red lectroids. I don't even know where to begin when it comes to describing the plot and that's part of the beauty. The only problem I have is the sudden appearance of Happy Weiner, but the art's steady and overall pretty impressive. It may not be for everyone, but it's definately something good you're not reading. B+

Comic Review: Wolverine #20

Okay, so I pick up the latest issue of Wolverine with new series writer Mark Millar and super-cool artist John Romita Jr.

I don't want to ruin it for those of you who haven't read it, but what the heck. Apparently, Hydra's got control of Wolverine, and now he's loose in SHIELD HQ, and probably before this six-parter's over with, Wolvie's going to have to tangle with every super-hero in the Marvel Universe.

But this all seems so familar with me...

Let's see, a couple years ago, Erik Larsen (of Savage Dragon fame) started off his run on Wolverine, by having Wolvie's body possessed by some kind of alien and then he had to fight all sorts of super-heroes. Does that ring any bells?

Shame on you, Millar. The least you could do was wait a couple of years before reusing story ideas like Chris Claremont, who probably has it down to a fine art by now.

Oh, and the wrap-around cover and the last page splash? Super-cool. Keep up the good work, Romita!