Guardian Year One

Not being particularly interested in Wolverine's early days aside from his interaction with James MacDonald Hudson, I was a little unsure as to how much I would enjoy this book.  Now that I've read it, I'm still not certain I do.

The book describes itself as a "contemporary retelling" of Wolverine's formative years, but since much of that period was spent with, and impacted by, the Hudsons, it is nearly inevitable that their history will be affected by any modification or modernization to Logan's.  That includes the sudden revelation of an early model of the Guardian armour.

Such "touch ups" don't have to be a bad thing.  For example, the "Hudson hunting honeymoon" has ceased to be.  The Hudsons don't shoot Wolverine in the wild and nurse him back to health, but rather recover him following his devastating battle against the Wendigo.  The hunting aspect is not specifically important to the scene so its  removal doesn't negatively affect it.  Really, it arguably improves it as the Hudsons have never shown an interest in hunting since, that I can recall.

What does seem out of place is Mac's dialogue throughout much of the book.  Many of his actions that appear to be out of character can be explained as the result of his patriotism being abused by his superiors.  That's historically consistent so not difficult to accept.

But his words towards Logan are often malicious and petty.  A lot of them are spoken after Wolverine has put Heather in harms way, so the anger is understandable at that moment, but it persists well beyond that point and is far worse than the trash-talking type of dialogue in X-Men 109.

The other inconsistency is in Mac's confidence.  Mac's reluctance to wear the battle suit is well documented.  In this story, not only does he do so without a second thought, he takes to it like a fish to water.  During a scrap with Wolverine in which he has the upper hand, he even states "I could do this all day".  He seems more comfortable with the suit in this book than he does in his next chronological appearance (again, X-Men 109).

While a lot of gaps in Wolverine's (and by association, Guardian's) background are filled in, because some of the story is inconsistent with other works, it feels like it's out of continuity.  But based on the pitch as a retelling (not re-imagining), it doesn't seem like that should be the case.

As a stand alone book, both the story and art are quite good.  If you're detail-oriented, those little inconsistencies may get on your nerves.  I found myself trying to consolidate parts of the book with what I know has gone on since that period in Wolverine's life until I realised that it's not my job to do that, it's the writers'.

To be fair, my focus was on Guardian.  Theirs was on Wolverine.  My criticism might be a touch more valid if this book had been "Alpha Flight: Season One" which, regardless of my opinion of this book, I would buy in a heartbeat.