Wolverine works best when he's got a villain who knows how to deal with his abilities. Warren Ellis works best with mainstream characters when he's channeling his mad ideas and dialogue into a short, contained story.Ellis' classic Wolverine story holds up very nicely upon re-read.
Starting with the mis-credited Wolverine #119, this only runs four issues. But Ellis has plenty of time to create an intriguing new villain, the White Ghost. The Ghost is a Scottish mercenary who boasted of his kills to Wolverine while the two spent some time in Hong Kong years ago. Eventually, the Ghost did his thing and killed someone close to Wolverine, sending Logan into revenge mode. Now, years later, it is the Ghost's turn for revenge.
Each issue has the Ghost setting up ambushes and traps for Wolvie as he guides him to a town North of NYC. The Ghost is a total bad guy here, and what makes him so interesting is that in his quest for revenge, he's abandoned all the "classy" things that he prided himself on in the past. After lecturing Logan about killing good men "quickly and painlessly" and boasting about how he only kills for money and in a professional way, he ends his life killing innocents to set up Wolverine. Wolvie gives him what he deserves, but not how you'd expect.
This takes place in that odd era of Wolverine where he was missing his bone claws and was rarely, if ever, killing people. There are constant dialogue balloons of Wolvie saying "I could have killed that guy" and similar sentiments. That would never fly in today's world, but I do like seeing it in this old book. He was trying to be a good guy for awhile, at least.
Leinil Francis Yu exhibits all the traits that make him a superstar artist today. This story is filled with great facial expressions, nice storytelling, and dramatic timing. This is a great self-contained Wolverine story that anyone could pick up, read, and enjoy.
Wolverine #119-122: KEEP
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