Wolverine / Nick Fury The Scorpio Connection

Wolverine / Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection
by Archie Goodwin (story) and Howard Chaykin (art)
Marvel, 1989 

'Wolverine / Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection' (64 pages) was one of the 75 'Graphic Novels' Marvel issued from 1979 to 1993. It's a nicely produced hardbound volume, printed on glossy paper.

As 'Scorpio' opens, an unknown assailant attacks a SHIELD field team at a site in South America. Among the dead SHIELD staffers is David Nanjiwarra, who happens to once have saved Wolverine's life.

When news of the attack reaches Nick Fury, he is disturbed to learn that the attacker left behind a momento: the sigil of a scorpion. 

Fury once battled a villain named Scorpio, who turned out to be his estranged brother, Jake. And long ago, Jake committed suicide. Who now is posing as Scorpio, and why are they targeting SHIELD ?

As Fury tries to answer this question, he's obliged to work with Wolverine, who is intent of avenging the death of David Nanjiwarra. 

We learn that the 'new' Scorpio has ties to the late Jake Fury.

As the story unfolds, it become clear that the new Scorpio is motivated by longstanding rivalries and betrayed alliances. Ones Nick Fury prefers to forget, for he helped engineer some of the betrayals. But when Wolverine is your ally, there is little room for negotiations and niceties, because for him, it's slice first, ask questions later.......

For me, 'The Scorpio Connection' was a disappointment. Archie Goodwin's plotting has a rushed, haphazard quality, as if he addressed the project in fits and starts, his mind on other things. The melange of conspiracies and double-crosses that propel the story are poorly served by a gimmicky denouement.

Howard Chaykin was not the best artist for this graphic novel. His pencils have a rough, blocky quality and the the spectacularly ugly color scheme (by Richard Ory and Barb Rauch) give 'Scorpio' the visual stylings of an awkwardly reimagined 1960s Pop Art production, rather than a late 80s spy adventure. 

Summing up, I can't recommend 'The Scorpio Connection'. Goodwin and the Marvel editorial staff could have done something memorable, but what they came up with simply was pedestrian.