Wolverine #29 // Revie
It’s not that he doesn’t knw how to act in an expensive hotel. Guy grew up in a mansion. Spent a lot of time in a mansion as an adult as well. But that was a different story altogether. The point is: he knows that he's not supposed to show up in the lobby of a hotel in full costume. Even if he's about to be an avenger. Even if there are people there probably consider him a hero or whatever. He really doesn't care about appearances. He's there on business in Wolverine #29. Writer Saladin Ahmed tells a story of Logan on the French Riviera that is brought to page and panel by artist Julius Ohta and colorist Jesus Aburtov,
This might be the French Riviera. But it is the French Riviera in the Marvel universe. So when Wolverine shows up in the lobby of a very expensive hotel, people aren't necessarily staring at him. But it's not like they're not taking notice. He's got to be there for some reason, right? And he isn't exactly the guy to take this kind of a vacation. So they're probably a little on edge if they really spend any time thinking about it at all. And there would be a good reason for that. He got a message from a stranger. Said guests would die if he didn't show up at the hotel alone.
Ahmed sets up a very simple premise and begins to work it in a very clever way. Logan has brought out of his usual meal you and into something that's considerably different. And yet the fundamental nuts and bolts of the adventure aren't all that different from what he's been dealing with over the course of the past several decades. So it's familiar too. And that's very important. Because though it may be in a different environment that he's normally found in, it's still fundamentally a Wolverine story.
The basic trappings of an expensive hotel are put to the page quite well by the art team. Ohta does a really good job of getting the proportions of the stout Canadian more or less perfect for the page. That's not something that's often executed with perfect clarity. And though the architectural aspect of a very expensive hotel isn't brought to the page with vivid clarity, it's still is clearly there. And there's quite a bit about it that feels very authentic hen the action really starts rolling onto the page..
It's nice to know that even a character who has had such a stern to focus for so many years is still able to occasionally find himself in an adventure that doesn't necessarily follow the standard sorts of things that would occupy him. It would be all too easy to find him beating the hell out of variance of himself that would be found in some weird top-secret government facility or whatever. That can be fun too. But it's always nice to see him dropped into a situation that he might not be entirely comfortable with.
