Wolverine Wednesday #82

Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk #1

Writer: Frank Tieri | Artist: Michael Sta. Maria | Colourist: Dono Sanchez-Almara | Letters: Joe Sabino

With a backlog of comics for November and December this was actually the one I was most looking forward to digging into. I’m sure I have made it common knowledge that Frank Tieri wrote one of my favourite eras of Wolverine, if not the best of all. This run led to a Weapon X ongoing series and Sabretooth featured in both so he has previous on the character. All of which led me to believe this would be a good story. Upon reading this I found it came as a nice little bonus to pick up from the events of the 2020 one-shot Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth also by Tieri. The story kicks off with Wolverine in a bar, like I said Tieri has a good understanding of both characters and it was a nice treat to have the introduction with Wolverine. It is a good set-up that gets the reader into the flow rather quickly and it doesn’t matter if you read the previous one-shot or not this is easily accessible. I may be reading too much into the artistic choices but I am convinced the guy who starts telling the story the issue revolves around is meant to be John Byrne the co-creator of Sabretooth back in Iron Fist #14. I’m going to look stupid if he turns out to be someone central to the story as it unfolds, but for now, to me he is Byrne. As ever with a story that takes place in the past Tieri is free to be creative with all the details. In this issue, we get an origin of sorts to the gangster ancestors of Wilson Fisk. It is these little details that I feel will turn this story from good to great! And from what I have read in solicitations for future issues I am very excited. Wolverine Wednesday has always been about reviewing comics issue by issue rather than as a complete story arc. In that regard, I would have to call this issue mediocre. It has a good initial set-up, then taps into the dynamic between Sabretooth and Mr Sinister before delivering a bloody cliffhanger. As an opening chapter in a collected edition it does its job, it is just a little flat at times. I feel like because I trust Tieri that I gave it a free pass for being mediocre and I have complete faith it will pick up issue by issue. So am I right or wrong to be not be reviewing story arcs as a whole? As long as comics are a monthly medium I will continue to review issue by issue. They still have to deliver month to month in my opinion. They can’t get away with mediocrity just to deliver in the trade. Getting back to this story in my recent Top 50 Wolverine story countdown I made mention of a lack of good Sabretooth stories. 2024 saw an increase in Sabretooth output to varying degrees of success. So maybe as I was looking forward to this one so much there was the element of fatigue in place. Michael Sta. Maria is an artist I had no previous knowledge and I can report he does a very solid job. A Sabretooth out of costume is not easy to pull off. You have to keep his physique big and imposing but in normal clothes. He has a sketchiness that gives the characters’ faces the look of having lived a life. It is a style really suited to the pulp nature of the story but he is also equally at home doing the sci-fi stuff with Sinister. I think it would be best to call this a mixed start to the series, but that is all down to my personal preconceived notions. Sabretooth, Wolverine fans would definitely take something away from this and it may have wider appeal to fans of pulps.

Deadpool/Wolverine #1

Writer: Benjamin Percy | Artist: Joshua Cassara | Letters: Joe Sabino

This fell into the same trappings as the Sabretooth #1. We have a comic I was excited about, with a creative team I adour and featuring a duo that have perhaps been over-saturated in 2024. There was somewhat an air of inevitability to the Merc with a Mouth and The Best There is getting an ongoing team up. I’m really happy it has fallen on the shoulders of such a capable and exciting writer. Again like the Sabretooth #1 this acts as a very good set-up. In my head the potential for this series is limitless, I just felt it played this opening act a little safe. As you would expect from a Percy script it moves at quite a clip. In between an explosive start and a cliffhanger I don’t think anyone would have called in a million years we have Deadpool being Deadpool and Wolverine in a bar brawl. Once the two come together then things really get moving. The action increases and the mystery of the plot thickens. One element I really liked was that in the intros to Deadpool and Wolverine there is no monologue. Instead, it lets the action and dialogue move the scenes along. Then once they team up Wolverine takes control of narrating the story and, of course, Percy has a good hold on Wolverine’s voice. Another plus, well for me at least was the inclusion of Maverick, I loved the fact he as taken up a new job. The cover image is everything you would want and expect from these two teaming up. Cassara has gone up a level since I was first introduced to him in the pages of X-Force, it seems he has matured as an artist. In those issues his style was more sketchy and raw. Now, his faces carry more hatching, akin to what you would see in the 90s, but they are way more refined. Actually, with the plot and some costume choices, there is a ’90s undercurrent throughout the whole issue. The colouring style gives it a nice painted feel. The combination of the hatching and colours really show off best in close-ups of Wolverine and Deadpool. The painted feel provides some well-depicted backgrounds that have the two leads really popping off the page. Lastly, on the art one detail that stood out was some well-selected lighting selection. They really helped with the mode and pacing of action. This was a good start to a series like I said that has so much potential. Admittedly, on a personal level, I was expecting more from the launch, perhaps it fell a little short in terms of action.

Wolverine #3-#4

Writer: Saladin Ahmed | Artist: Martin Coccolo | Colourist: Bryan Valenza | Letters: Cory Petit

Saladin Ahmed is going for the slow-burn approach to this new era of Wolverine and staying on topic it would maybe benefit from reading the arc in one sitting. That being said with each issue that passes I am enjoying it more and more. With each issue Ahmed is playing the hits to personality traits that have shaped Wolverine over the years. In #3 as he continues to pick off the forces hunting him in the wilderness he protects the new, young Wendigo. A caption on the cover declares this group to be Department H. I found it a little funny that such a big group from Wolverine’s past have made a comeback with so little fanfare. I guess it is just a case of having to give a group of characters an identity. It will be interesting to see if they are a presence in the series moving forward. After saving Wendigo #4 hones in on Wolverine’s mentoring skills. This is something that was largely missing from the Krakoan era of Wolverine stories and in the past we have been used to Wolverine being the mentor to younger female characters. So this was a nice addition to proceedings. One element that both issues really tap into and again an element missing for some time is Wolverine’s sense of heroism. In #4 he answers a random distress call and this is a call back to the X-Men roots of ‘protecting a world that fears them.’ This is a perfect fit for the situation the X-Men are finding themselves in after ‘Fall of X’ and I think a Wolverine series is a perfect place to play to this tagline. In answering this call it puts Wolverine toe to toe with Constrictor. I believe this to be the first comic I have read with him in. What I liked was he wasn’t portrayed as a big bad, he wasn’t an equal match for Wolverine. In fact, he outwardly states he doesn’t want to fight him! His inclusion is a good injection to move the story along and carry on the Adamantium connection running through it. As I said Ahmed is moving things at a certain pace. There is a page epilogue to #3 that adds a lot of depth to the story, adding a new layer that plays into the conclusion of the next issue. Previously I had commented on not being fully convinced by the role of the antagonists in the arc, especially feeling Cyber was underused. At the end of #4 everything comes to a head. On a last page splash all the ideas Ahmed is trying to get across crystallize in a moment of understanding and it certainly makes for an interesting perspective going forward. It definitely pulled my into the story even more and leaves me wanting the next chapter. From a personal point of view the art on this series is to my own tastes but I still want to review it in the positive. There are moments where Coccolo really lands. I think the choreography of the fight between Wolverine and Constrictor is such an example, with the visual of the claws and coils colliding being really well orchestrated. There are also times when he could be doing more. Overall with the tone of the story being more heroic in these two issues it plays to his clean line style. And in combination with the colours Wolverine pops on the page. Whereas if the story was more gritty I would expect more hatching, more shadowing perhaps. You can use the appearance of Cyber as a good example. When he debuted under Sam Kieth his style was perfect for that story, but here Kieth’s style would take you out of the moment alongside the tone of the story. Without spoiling the story the turn of events our antagonists go through we will see a shared visual dynamic going forward. As I said this arc has grown me, as have elements of the art. I feel a lot of the pieces really came together here to set up the finale over the next two issues. When I get a new creative team on a book I look to how they can wrap up a story and then keep me entertained going into the next arc also. So the next few months are crucial times. I read recently that an upcoming issue of Wolverine will be the legacy 400th issue. However, I noted that both issues here carry a legacy number of #395. I hope Marvel haven’t miscounted and have to move everything back a month. Hopefully it is just a printing error on the cover.