Dark Wolverine and the Fates...

[fajrdrako]

I continue my quest to read all appearances of Wolverine's son Daken, also known as Dark Wolverine, and my attempts to figure him out. Spine-chillingly sane, is he also as evil as he seems? What lies under his various masks? Is there anything to him but blade-sharp intelligence and cruelty? What does he want?

The Norns offered him Ragnarok, universal destruction, and he turned it down.

Yesterday I read (and talked about) Wolverine Origins #31 - 36, which were early stories about Daken and his relationship with his father. Those were from early 2009. Today I read Dark Wolverine #83, cover dated April 2010, which is about Daken and his view of himself. What a difference a couple of years makes. What a difference in sophistication and style. The writing (and storytelling) by Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu is dramatic, powerful, subtle, and original. It helps that the artist was good - Italian Giuseppe Camuncoli, impressively portraying the subtleties and strengths that make up Daken.



It helps too that here we get events through Daken's own point of view - and the Norn's assessment of him, a man potentially strong enough to become the god they need.

The story takes place during last year's Siege of Asgard, when Norman Osborn (Daken's boss) decided to destroy Asgard. In the middle of the battlefield, the Furies approach Daken psychically and offer him his heart's desire - if he can tell them what it is. Death and destruction? Power?

Nope. Independence. A theme we get back to in various ways and circumstances throughout the story, including his bitterness towards Osborn:





We glimpse Daken's philosophy of life:



and his essential dilemma, as stated by the Norns:



So Daken casts aside the munificence of the Fates to go it alone:



We don't get anything specific about Daken's sexuality, though he does manage to proposition the Norns - and we learn that necrophilia is a kink he hasn't tried (yet):



And we get some rather nice portraits of him:





And we get the theme (which I love so much) of Daken's self-apotheosis:



Link to information on this issue: Dark Wolverine, vol. 1, #83

Link to a list of all of Daken's appearances to date (I'm working on the quest of finding and reading these).


And here's Daken's reply to me, in my impatience to find and read all of his stories:



Best line of the comic is the first one: Everyone falls.