Wolverine: Snikt!
Written and Illustrated by Tsutomu Nihei
136 pages
Release Date: June 13, 2023 by Viz Media
5/5 Stars
*An ARC of this title was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Receiving a copy in no way influenced my review*
A manga about Wolverine? So what? That was my honest reaction to hearing and seeing this. Now, let us first clear up a misconception. This is not a new book. This manga was originally released in 2003. This is a new edition with a new introduction and includes some of the original sketches done by Nehei for the books and the original covers without any of the print matter ruining them.
Now, on to the part that matters, the book. Nihei presents us with a Wolverine we have not really seen before. Young, alone, and not full of sarcastic comments and biting wit. He is full of fury, confusion and violence (you know, more about the Snikt!). Wolverine is confronted a girl who then whisks him away to the future without informing him what is happening. They are separated and immediately he is confronted by one of the creatures that are terrorizing and killing the people of this time. Wolverine soon finds out that most of the population has been killed, and this group of survivors need his help to save humanity. The story serves the purpose, is nothing completely original but finds reason and a little bit of commentary to give it some purpose, which is mainly for us to look at the beauty of Nihei’s artistry.
The artwork is magnificent, presenting us with a dystopian world caught between H.R. Giger alien creatures and the Terminator style cyborgs with guns while terrifying the reader with creatures that morph from the person next to. Nihei’s dripping artwork helps create the tension, horror and violence in the story by elongating actions, expressing the bleakness of the situations through black and white vistas of emptiness.
I have long been a fan of Wolverine (as I think anyone who is a male from my generation will say) and this serves as an excellent addition to his stories, with artwork that needs to be used as a model on how to create a comic/manga. Thank you, Nihei.