X-Men: Original Sin...
I'm continuing my reading of Dark Wolverine's history, again with a library book: the TPB of X-Men Original Sin, which reprints six early stories about Daken and his background.
Good stuff, on the whole. If I'd read these comics when they first came out, I'd have enjoyed them: it's the nice intense story of the rift between Wolverine and Professor X, when Wolverine learns that it was Xavier who erased his traumatic memories of his life and his past. Furious with Xavier, he uses him to try to find and help Daken - to do the same thing to his son.
Of course, none of it goes well.
If I'd read this when it first came out, I wouldn't have become any kind of a Daken fan. He comes across as a rather vacuous bully-boy, with none of the strength of character, intelligence, or charisma he shows now. The art by Scot Eaton on X-Men is serviceable but dull; the art by Mike Deodato is beautiful, and this includes some of the loveliest portraits of Daken that I've seen yet. Sadly, Deodato shows a penchant to have Daken lurking in shadows, with his face hidden.
Among many delicious panels, my favourite is this, the cover of X-Men: Original Sin #1, where Wolverine and Xavier face off over the symbolic jigsaw puzzle of Daken's shattered psyche:
Basically, the plot is this: Wolverine finds himself facing his only son, who hates him, but Daken has amnesia and doesn't remember who he is, or who Wolverine is. Wolverine goes to get Professor X, leaving Daken safe in a friend's dojo, but Daken is taken away by a female friend of Sebastian Shaw, Claudine Renko. They give him a beautiful mansion and try to probe his brain, but the 'trap' inside his mind is too powerful for them to succeed. Wolverine fights with Xavier, revisits many old memories - including a recap of his encounter with the Hulk in his first Marvel appearance - and eventually tracks down Daken. Fights ensue. Xavier shows Daken Wolverine's memories of Itsu, and Daken rejects the lies of Romulus. Daken and Wolverine walk off together to pursue vengeance on Romulus.
My comments:
- I loved this panel of Daken and Wolverine. It's by Mike Deodato, but has to my eyes some of the quality Barry Windsor-Smith had on Conan or Weapon X:
I wish Daken always looked this good.
- I was happy to see the Hellfire Club and getting their hands on Daken: they're my favourite X-Men villians. Nice to see them fostering Daken's taste for decadent and baroque luxury, though it doesn't seem to have quite taken. His dress sense in this story is rather appalling, tending to shapeless trousers, T-shirts, and a grey hoodie. Thank goodness he likes to go shirtless most of the time, showing off that lovely tattoo.
The only sartorial relief form the drab is the gorgeous but imaginary image of Daken in Hellfire Club togs, that was on one of the covers.
- Father-son moment:
I love the way this panel is so mundane - Logan driving, Daken sitting, no angst, no turmoil, no fighting. Just travelling.
- The same page shows a panel of Daken at his most open and vulnerable - and in a good way - when Logan shows him images of his mother, Itsu:
I found that quite moving, even knowing what comes later.
- Sinister tries to get Daken to chill, and doesn't quite succeed. He doesn't relax well - at least, not in relaxed circumstances. But she does manage to get him wearing the ugliest bathing suit I've seen in comics:
- In Wolverine Origins: Dark Reign, Daken wouldn't let Logan touch him. In this story, he doesn't mind:
- And with my love for troubled father/son stories, I loved this earlier sequence:
- And just to prove Daken can relax:
- Daken's sexual activity (and flirtation) is all with women here. He sleeps with Claudine Renko, who turns out to be Mr Sinister in female incarnation. Does this make Sinister Marvel's primary transsexual/bigendered/bisexual supervillain? Just for a little photo-reference:
Mr Sinister ----- Miss Sinister
- I was amused by the idea of Daken having this beautiful mansion on an island, given to him by Shaw and Sinister - complete with swimming pool and grand piano. I tried to track what happens to it in this story: nothing, as far as I can tell. The Hellfire Club gets blown up, but not Daken's place. Does he still have it? I'd like to think so. Couldn't see any clue as to exactly where it is - quite probably on an ocean.
- Some uses of overhead shots with shadows that I really liked:
- So when, I ask myself, did Daken change from being this rather tragic, simple man, to being the powerful self-actualized intelligence that attracted me? Though Mike Carey writes him well here, the character has risen to radically different new levels since then. Who was responsible for that? Marjorie Liu? Brian Michael Bendis, developing him for the Dark Avengers? As I continue to read, I'll no doubt find out.
Perhaps it is simply that so little of this story is from Daken's point of view. It's about him, but it isn't his story:
- Just to indulge myslef: a few Daken good hair moments.
