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Rating: 
Summary: Essential Wolverine Volume #1 is a must read!
Review: Essential Wolverine Volume #1 is a must read! This paperback reprints Wolverine's 2nd series#1-23 in Black and White. Buy it! If you wanted to know how wolverine got his names Logan and Patch. I like having issues I missed while I was collecting the comic books. This book may not be in color, But you can still get sense of the story and artwork and understand happening. The Essential Wolverine series has no advertisement which makes it easier to read. Buy it. Highly Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: The stories are strong enough
Review: I know many have complained about the format this book is in (cheaper paper stock and the black/white issue) but I felt that my enjoyment of the stories inside wasn't troubled by the lack of colour at all. Even though the original books had been in colour, 'Essential's black and white gives it an almost 'Sin City' feel, making the gritty stories of Wolverines first issues in his own series all the more grittier. As for the paper stock, if getting all these issues in one book for less than 20 bucks means cheaper paper, then sign me up. All around, this book is a great read for Logan fans and a fantastic bargain for the collector.
Rating: 
Summary: good, not great--
Review: ok, first and foremost i dig wolverine much major..he's marvels coolest and most complex character (as batman is dc's), but having said that he can be great or bad depending on the writer( again, like batman). is he a trite hack and slash anti-hero or a fallen samurai trying to control his inner demons and discover his origins?..see what i mean?..anyhow this large book reprints in B&W on newsprint the first 23 issues of his solo book, kinda like the manga format japanese comics use. the 1st story arc is by claremont and buscema. the story is vintage claremont, placing mood over story whenever possible and involves wolvie's new home of madripoor and it's power struggles. buscemas art is great but the janson inks give it a crude-ity that ain't always pretty, though williamson inks some of it much better. theres a 2-part story with the hulk where claremont scores big-very funny. after a few filler issues, including a great one with sabertooth, peter david takes over the writing duty and pulls off a good 6 part arc, "the gehenna stone", about a mystical stone, vampires, globe-hopping, demons and lotsa well-placed humor, with fine art by buscema/sienkiewicz. after that there's an overlong tale by goodwin/byrne/janson that starts out ok, but goes too far out with a tale about cocaine tainted by a demon-thing from the eternals. sound corny?--it is..and byrnes art run through the janson inks looks really rough..anyhow, this is an okay intro to wolverine and a great value for the $, but wolvie's had better stories by better creators. worthwhile reading.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book Ever
Review: The only problem is that it is in black and white. However you will be surprised how little this matters. This book is about one of the best heros ever written. This book has everything Humor,Actionand some of the coolest plots ever.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book Ever
Review: The only problem is that it is in black and white. However you will be surprised how little this matters. This book is about one of the best heros ever written. This book has everything Humor,Actionand some of the coolest plots ever.
Rating: 
Summary: Great!!!!
Review: This book is great! It contains a lot of 'Patch' stuff including Mr. Fixit and the Gehenna Stone. The Essential Wolverine has all of the wry humor, passion, and straight out action that Wolverine is famous for. I highly recommend!
Rating:
Summary: Essential...but not perfect
Review: This large, black and white trade handily lives up to its name, at least for a while. With this, the reader is treated to the first 23 issues of the regular series, for a great price. The venerable Chris Claremont scribes the first third or so of the issues, and his are the best. You get Wolvie in top form, as he finds himself inside a web of intrigue in the seedy underworld of the fictional city of Madripoor. Claremont excels with the supporting cast, creating many memorable characters. Aging flyboy and reluctant adventurer Archie Corrigan is perhaps the best. He behaves the way any of us would if we were the ones playing sidekick to Logan, known in Madripoor as the mysterious "Patch". Former Spider-Woman Jessica Drew joins the cast as a tough P.I. protecting her flaky at times friend, Lindsay McCabe. After the first six-part story, Joe Fixit (the Gray Hulk) drops in for a painful and very humorous two-issue visit. After that, Claremont finishes his run with a couple filler issues, including the first (and possibly the best) encounter between Logan and Sabretooth. John Buscema provides excellent artwork throughout, aside from an Ernie Cowan fill-in. Worthy of mention is the Bill Sienckewicz inked Sabretooth issue, as it has some fantastic art from two of the masters, far better in black and white than in color. Peter David takes the reins for the following six issues, titled "The Gehenna Stone Affair". Not quite as good as Claremont's run, it's still a great story, full of action and humor. David also nails the supporting cast as totally faithful to Claremont's characters from the first story arc. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the quality of the pictures takes a slight dive. Instead of just black and white, there are grays, which takes a lot away from the amazing Buscema and Sienckiwicz linework. Other than that, everything is great. The final run of the volume is from Archie Goodwin and John Byrne, and frankly, it stinks to high-heaven. The story is contrived and weak in the first place, and only gets worse. And while John Byrne at his best produced some superb artwork, this is a far cry from his amazing X-Men and Fantastic Four runs. This is in no small part due to Klaus Jansen, whose inks just do not mix with Byrne's pencils. It's really not even worth reading, a stark contrast to the rest of the volume, which is classic. To sum it all up, the terrible ending story arc doesn't come close to keeping me from recommending this. The first 16 issues featured are some of the best Wolverine stories you'll ever read, even if he doesn't actually suit up as Wolverine until the tail end.
Rating:
Summary: Good... with one major flaw
Review: While the story, plotline and characterization are all impressive, I was incredibly disappointed when I received my copy of the Essential Wolverine to find it was all in BLACK AND WHITE. No color, no nothing. While this may not seem like a major gripe to many, those of us who enjoy the "4 color" world of comcis will find it annoying at best, and ludicrous at worst. I won't be buying any other "Essential" Marvel volumes because of this "cheap" route they went with their TPB's. They need to take a page from DC and release their Tpb's in a high quality format. In summary, good story, great characters, lousy presentation....
Rating:
Summary: Good... with one major flaw
Review: While the story, plotline and characterization are all impressive, I was incredibly disappointed when I received my copy of the Essential Wolverine to find it was all in BLACK AND WHITE. No color, no nothing. While this may not seem like a major gripe to many, those of us who enjoy the "4 color" world of comcis will find it annoying at best, and ludicrous at worst. I won't be buying any other "Essential" Marvel volumes because of this "cheap" route they went with their TPB's. They need to take a page from DC and release their Tpb's in a high quality format. In summary, good story, great characters, lousy presentation....
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