Havok and Wolvering: Meltdown #1-4
Published by: Marvel – 1988
Written by: Walter Simonson and Louise Simonson
Illustrated by: Jon J. Muth and Kent Williams
Havok and Wolverine: Meltdown—a four-issue 1988 Marvel/Epic miniseries written by Walter and Louise Simonson and illustrated by Jon J. Muth and Kent Williams—is a literary disappointment juxtaposed with an artistic success. The story is simple to the point of monotony, a conspiracy so simple and straightforward the question is less “what will happen next?” and more “when will the inevitable finally happen?”
The art is sometimes inconsistent, but often has moments of greatness with Muth painting the Havok sequences and Williams painting the Wolverine sections. It is tough to decide which painter comes out on top, but the uniqueness with which Williams renders the iconic appearance of Wolverine—both in costume and in street attire—gives him the edge over Muth’s looser, more naturalistic renderings of the more visually mundane Havok—whom is in street clothes for the vast majority of the series, but stands out more once he uses his powers and eventually dons his traditional black and white costume.
Some of the rather graphic violence renders this comic at least a “TV-14” by television rating standards—specifically, when Wolverine does what he does best: “popping” his claws through the back of a man’s skull, exiting out his eye-sockets, impaling a man on his clawed fists, etc.—besides that, there is no nudity, sexual references, or profanity to speak of, meaning the average adolescent will find little to object to, though their parents may find some of the violence—though engaged in on moral grounds or in self-defense—overly graphic.
The least appealing part of Meltdown is the plot. It is thin to begin with and riddled with holes. Havok is overly gullible, and Wolverine spends most of his time playing catch-up with Havok whom is always two steps ahead physically and two steps behind mentally. Their encounters with their adversaries are primarily obstacles, speed bumps in an effort to add excitement to a rather mundane chase that leads to an anticlimactic head-to-head denouement with the primary antagonist—named “Meltdown”—whom is simplistic and single-minded to a fault. Meltdown seeks to gain physical power for some ill-defined attempt to become unstoppable in order to carry out who knows what endgame—either to be a better pawn in someone else’s game or to be an unstoppable ruler by himself, both of which are pointless ambitions because rule in the modern world is really just overseeing a vast bureaucracy while living in opulent luxury. The pursuit of wealth by itself makes more sense than the pursuit of power and influence because it doesn’t come with the attendant obligations and responsibilities of world-rule. Such a desire for influence is only believable if there is a guiding ideology, which is vaguely hinted at by the antagonist’s communist beliefs and his occasional denigration of capitalism, but his ultimate goal appears to be power for power’s sake.
Likewise, the relationship that develops between Havok and his lady accomplice is even thinner than the one between Rachael and Deckard in Blade Runner, which—for those of you unfamiliar with the movie—was unrealistically thin. Upon meeting, Havok immediately loves her blindly and trusts her implicitly, without the reader being made privy to the interpersonal developments necessary to have forged such a strong bond in such a short amount of time. Manipulation may be at play, but Havok’s gullibility is still not believable for someone who has lived the life of a superhero, or even one whom has watched an average number of television shows or movies about conspiracies or espionage, real or fictional.
Recommendations:
Anyone whom likes—or was disappointed by—Meltdow should take a look at Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz’s Marvel/Epic miniseries Elektra: Assassin. It is a conspiracy story with depth, complexity, and nuance, as well as featuring painted artwork in a class all its own. Other works by Miller—specifically his run as writer on Marvel’s Daredevil—also share more complex, mature, and intricate webs of intrigue and seduction.
If you like the artwork in Meltdown—which you should—but don’t mind a departure from the type of story found therein, Moonshadow—a “fairy tale for grownups” illustrated by Muth—and Blood: A Tale—a vampire comic that avoids the traditional tropes and clichés of the genre illustrated by Williams—both written by J.M. DeMatteis, are worth investigating.
Fans of Wolverine in search of a better rendition of the character can debate forever which Wolverine story is the best, but the original four-issue Frank Miller Wolverine miniseries that directly preceded his eponymous ongoing-title, the first Old Man Logan story by Mark Millar (writer) and Steve McNiven (artist), and Barry Windsor Smith’s Weapon-X graphic novel are notable achievements in the character’s history.
Brian Bigelow
February 27, 2017
