I finished Wolverine, the long night podcast, and I enjoyed it the whole way. The series really had a lot going for it, but never felt too jumbled. The leads are secret agents that have a sort of Mulder/Scully relationship with one being more analytical and one more passionate. Their relationship plays out in the hunt for Wolverine, which goes parallel with the story of small town full of secrets, a wealthy family that owns half the town, and a mysterious death cult. Each character has a story and all are given due attention. In just 9 episodes, the show explores its themes and characters in depth, and ties up lose ends in a satisfactory manner.
The story takes place between Logan's time in Weapon X and joining the X-men. He's still very rough, conflicted and violent. Most of what you hear of him comes from testimonials from people in the town. Some hate Logan, some ally themselves with him, and everyone is at least a little bit afraid of him.
Wolverine is by far the most popular X-man, it is not surprising Marvel's first ever narrative podcast featured him. He appears in 9 different X-men movies, including 3 of his own. All of that can lead to a bit of Wolverine burnout. What starts to get to me is Wolverine's air of 'cool anti-hero.' He drops, fully formed into the X-men movies as a super-cool badass fan favorite.
But from a long view, Logan's story is compelling. He's been through a lot of Trauma, and struggles with guilt, pain and rage. Through the course of the countless stories about Wolverine, he develops and matures a great deal, to the point of actually being co-headmaster of the Xavier School for the gifted.
A few years ago, I got it into my head that I wanted to check on all the various X-men animated series that have been produced since the mid 90s. One of my favorite was called Wolverine and the X-men. When I first watched it, I rolled my eyes a bit. Of course they put Wolverine first, everyone loves Wolverine. And while that may be true, the show did a great job with his character. It takes place some time after the school has broken up, and Logan sets about trying to bring together the scattered former teammates and friends. He's much more mature than the wisecracking rage-aholic of other series.
Suffice it to say, I've been on a bit of an X-men kick. Since discovering Wolverine: the long night, I've listened to an independently produced, 2 season podcast called X-men: The Audio Drama. I'm not sure what I'll do next, but lately I've wondering if there any quality Novels set in the X-men universe.
-D
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