Written by Tom Sniegoski and Christopher Golden
Art by Pat Lee, Alvin Lee, and Angelo Tsang
Trade Paperback, $14.95 from Marvel Comics
One of the things I enjoy about trade paperback collections of any comics series, whether it's a single mini-series or a cross-series storyline collected in one volume, is the sense of detachment I can apply reading the story. Reading *Wolverine/Punisher: Revelation*, for instance, I can detach the story from continuity and consider it by itself, as if this were the *only* Punisher, the *only* Wolverine.
And perhaps that's best, especially when it comes to the Punisher, who in *Revelation* is the Angel-powered mystic character of recent continuity, all of which is interesting but doesn't seem much like the Punisher to me. Personally I think re-tooling a character quite this much demands at least a name-- if not costume-- change. But all the Punisher got was a little glowing rune on his forehead that says, essentially, "I am no longer a soldier of fortune; now I am an X-File."
But come on, we know any Wolverine team-up is more to the benefit of the second half of that line-up, don't we? It's our runty mutant who holds up the show and the sales, and Wolverine here is the same wonderfully macho Wolverine-by-way-of-Mike-Hammer we've known since the original Claremont/Miller series brilliantly ruined comics writing forever. And I mean that as a fan; I loved *Wolverine*. But my God, sometimes I wish he'd never been so good at Wolverine's strangely *noir* narration, because since then, *everyone* does it. ("Sun's goin' down, droppin' like a rotten orange off a tree. Soon the vermin'll crawl, lookin' fer a scrap. Then I find my place.") Oh, Lord help us. That quotation is made up, but I've seen worse.
*Wolverine/Punisher: Revelation* is a wonderfully rompy little nightmare in which the Punisher and Wolverine end up the only two people aware of a problem that threatens to wipe out New York. It all starts with Logan's (Wolverine's) latest romance with a historian at the Museum of Cultural History, a perfectly smart and acceptable petite woman named Caley. Even Logan tells us Caley's days should be numbered. Of Logan prior romances, he only muses-- wisely to us, not his date-- "it ain't exactly healthy for them." Women who fall for Logan are rather like women who fell for little Joe on *Bonanza,* only to be presently stricken with leukemia. Caley, Logan's latest, is so cute and perfect she should have "sacrifice" stamped on her forehead.
Writers Sniegoski and Golden have come up with a wonderfully tight plot for *Revelation* that both ties in with under-utilized Marvel continuity *and* has a cosmic, ancient feeling to it. Deep in the tunnels below New York City, a creature lies trapped in suspended animation. Her name is Revelation (so christened by a highly religious scientist possessing either an advanced or a stunted sense of irony), and her mere presence causes virulent death to humans who come near her. When subway tunnel construction awakens Revelation, the only thing left to stop her as she makes her way to the surface are a team of malfunctioning androids and our two heroes, who find the dangerous robots to be little help. (The androids, called Failsafes, tend to shoot first and ask questions never.)
Wolverine learns that Revelation was a member of the Morlocks, a subterranean state of sports comprised of mutants who turned their back on the world of men. When the Morlocks were regulars in Chris Claremont's *Uncanny X-Men*, they were anything the writer wanted in the recesses of the X-Men's brains: they were uglier, sadder, more bitter, and at times wiser, than the X-Men could be. In a storyline I thought horribly cynical, the Morlocks were almost completely slaughtered. *Revelation* takes place now years after the slaughter of the Morlocks, and is a nice reminder that no powerful nation is ever erased completely. In the end, the most frightening aspect of *Revelation* is the idea that some deadly device discarded by a race or nation might turn up by accident because those who discarded it aren't around. It's a dangerous reminder of nuclear issues in today's shifting political environment.
The whole story becomes a race to keep Revelation from reaching the surface, where her presence will wipe out the city. But it's more complicated than that-- Frank Castle, the Punisher, wrestles with the question of whether or not Revelation should be killed, especially if she's not aware of what she's doing. (Recall this is the new, angelic Punisher.) Wolverine becomes more like a host and conscience to Punisher's decision, but thankfully, Golden and Sniegoski have provided lots of dark, tunnel-bound fights for the pair. The art by Pat and Alvin Lee is nicely weighty and Gigeresque, giving the whole story a more movie-like feel. And despite the political ramifications, in the end the story is a personal one, of an innocent who doesn't understand her own strength, and two men who understand it far too well.