WOLVERINE: JOURNEY OF TIME #1
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Marco Itri
Colourist: Valentina Taddeo
Letterer: Joe Sabrino

Now this – this is completist territory. It appeared on Marvel Unlimited this week, with a listed publication date of 15 August 2022, but as best as I can tell, the only physical edition is a giveaway available exclusively from Moto Guzzi dealerships. They’re an Italian motorcycle manufacturer, and their logo is on the cover. So is their bike. There is no credited editor, although there is a credit for the “project manager”, the “partnerships co-ordinator” and the “Director, Customs Solutions”. So you know it’s going to be class.

Still… let’s not jump to conclusions, right? Jody Houser is a proper writer, after all.

Jody Houser is also a professional. Jody Houser knows the remit and Jody Houser is going to deliver on the remit and Jody Houser is going to cash the cheque because Jody Houser has bills to pay. Logan has seen The Bike on page 1 and he has voiced his approval of The Bike by the start of page 2. The client is happy. This is good. After all, nobody else but me and the creative team will ever read this.

There’s a fight a few pages later. We never actually find out why there’s a fight. I suppose they might be trying to steal The Bike but it’s just a Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello S. You can buy one for £16K, which has to be cheaper than hiring a bunch of criminals. So maybe there’s just a fight, for reasons that aren’t important. One of the bad guys either steals The Bike or tries to escape on The Bike and that’s what matters. Bullseye shows up for two pages, which is nice of him. He needs a better agent. The art is perfectly acceptable. The Bike looks good. We’re all impressed.

There’s minimal dialogue, which I suspect is an internationalisation remit, but Houser tries to make it a style choice. There are flashbacks scattered through the issue in which we establish that The Bike’s owner is the granddaughter of a woman that Logan romanced decades ago. She had a Moto Guzzi bike too! Truly, we can trust such a well established brand. “It’s silly. But it meant so much for me to finally get a Moto Guzzi like my grandma Giulia.” Mmm.

I’ve seen more interesting advertorial on Unlimited. Fabian Nicieza’s Black Panther: Soul of a Machine, in which the plot hinges on the proposition that the most incredible machine ever designed is the Lexus LC 500, is an absurdist masterpiece of self-parody. Journey of Time is just a relatively straightforward fight scene with some half-hearted gestures in the direction of plot, which is the other way of playing this remit. But what do you expect if you actually choose to read one of these things?

There is no reason why this can’t be canon.