I've read the Wolverine mini and a handful of Claremont's issues of the ongoing, but I never checked out these first five (or any from the first year for that matter). For as much as I dislike Claremont's writing now, this was a, mostly, easy and exciting read. The stories of Logan in Madripoor are such a refreshing change of pace and there's a bit of fun (and probably some nostalgia on my part) with the whole "the world thinks the X-Men are dead" bit. Sure, the first four issues all have Claremont standard mind-control stories, but the monologue writing just isn't as horrific as it is in his work today. On the negative side of things, the art in this book is just bad. John Buscema teams up with Al Williamson and Klaus Janson and honestly, this is seem really ugly stuff, especially the Janson inked issue. Add to that one of the worst coloring jobs I've ever seen (wonder if that has more to do with the transfer to trade) and at times the art becomes incredibly distracting.