Soooo much storytelling in one panel ... you make it look easy, the balance of the visual information vs that provided by dialog or narration/caption and having it all work in harmony.
I really like this. In the back of my mind, it seemed morally problematic that any government - much less the Canadian government (always assumed to be more anodyne compared to the Great Powers) - could have subjected someone to veritable human experimentation like replacing someone's bones with adamantium.
Now like many things in comics, very often you're not supposed to think too much of it. Just put that thought out of your mind and move on. But obviously I was not the only person to harbor some dark thoughts since it seems every time the Weapon X project was portrayed, it turned into a sinister cabal.
But here, it's more in the line of a last ditch medical experiment to save a life because nothing else has worked. Yes, there's an ulterior motive to this as well, but I think most people would approve of the decision to rescue someone in this state.
Agreed. While this situation is clearly ethically dubious, at least it's an experimental surgery with a chance to improve someone's quality of life. Sharp contrast with the Weapon X story where Logan was simply abducted off the street and treated like a wild animal.
The idea of generals and bigwigs making this choice on his behalf certainly sets the stage for when Alpha Flight first came along to collect the Canadian government's "property". I wonder how much of their willingness to do this without consent is due to Logan being a WWII veteran. (Does Canada have a system like the VA where vets get health care from the government?)
When I was in college, circa 1970, I heard for the first time the story that the big veterans hospital in downtown Calgary was still caring for horribly mutilated soldiers from the First World War. It disturbed me deeply, even tho I was not able to confirm it.
In some ways, this origin story is an attempt to exorcise those memories.
The perspective on this page is so good! I know it's an Achilles' heel for a lot of artists to draw the human form from that angle but for JB it looks effortless.
Anyone else hear playing Metallica's ONE in their head today?
Wolverine is a cool character and this origin story is totally suited to him-- improving him without changing him. If the character from Johnny Got His Gun could have become Wolverine, that would almost have been a happy-ending -- but Wolverine continues to be tortured by his past and he is a bit of a walking-warning of the horrors of violence and war.