I'll start by saying I enjoyed Rina's appearances in J2, written and penciled by Tom Defalco and Ron Lim. J2 was itself a lighthearted book and Wild Thing threw in another angle to play up. In her initial appearance, Wild Thing ends up in a battle with J2, not through any fault of her own. Rina then went on to appear in back-up tales where she was presented as not only a competent hero, but also a kind of 'daddy's girl' to her father, Logan (aka Wolverine); albeit one with psychic claws that resembled both her mother Elektra's sais and her godmother Psylocke's psychic blades. I like many things about her character-as originally presented-that didn't carry over to her own, short-lived series.
Here, I think is where the problem starts. The only MC2 title not authored by Tom Defalco, Wild Thing was written by another talented writer, Larry Hama. Mr Hama is probably best know for his work in G.I. Joe and Wolverine comics. I've read some of his Wolverine run, and I can do nothing but recommend it, it's good fun. However, when he was handed Wild Thing, I can only assume he got the wrong impression.
Understandably, you're handed a young teenage girl superhero title (not something all that common, in and of itself, anyway) and asked to write it in keeping with the rest of the fledgling universe, what are you going to model it on? The MC2 title all others owe their collective existence to, the one that also happens to have a female teen superhero which is doing well both in terms of sales and creatively speaking: Spider-Girl.So now, Rina attended school, she had a cast of (mostly forgettable) supporting characters, had crushes and generally seemed to become a different, more bland character.
Wild Thing's last major appearance was during Last Hero Standing where she was given equal billing with the likes of American Dream, J2, Spider-Girl and even Captain America. One last hurrah for Rina before she slipped into the background again, cameos not withstanding. It's telling, in my opinion, that instead of Wild Thing joining the Avengers (in the Avengers Next mini) as the wild card/dark horse, Sabreclaw, Rina's half-brother (they don't get along, to put it politely) takes this role on the team.
I honestly believe with a little more page-time and effort Rina could have stepped forward and taken the spotlight back. Maybe someday?
