"Wolverine" #50
© Marvel

Mania Grade: C+
Issue: 50
Authors: Jeph Loeb, Simone Bianchi, Ed McGuinness
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $3.99

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"Wolverine" #50

This is it: the final Wolverine and Sabretooth fight, or so they say.  I really like Wolverine – the series and the character.  The image of Logan and Victor Creed fighting in the snow stands as one of the most iconic moments in Marvel history.  However, when Logan finally confronts his old nemesis resting comfortably at the X-Mansion, they have a talk-while-fighting that raises some annoying continuity issues.  Wolverine flashes back to Creed murdering Silver Fox – Logan’s lover, with whom he lived in a cabin in the Canadian wilderness.  Marvel has rearranged Silver Fox’s place in Wolverine’s history so many times that it’s nearly impossible to say what was real.  However, last time I checked, Creed didn’t kill her at that point.  She was a female Weapon X agents, a member of H.Y.D.R.A. and a whole bunch of other things (including Wolverine’s lover), but she didn’t die until much later.  If Logan regained his memories, I don’t see why this wouldn’t occur to him. 

Regardless, he replays the incident in his head.  The entire issue uses flashbacks and dream sequences quite a bit.  It opens with a foreshadowing dream in which a bunch of Wolverine-like creatures called Lupines attack and kill a saber-tooth tiger.  Logan uses the Silver Fox memory to fuel his rage as he fights Creed.  And, like most comic fights, they have an incredibly long chat while they beat each other.  At the end of it, Sabretooth drops a hint as to the big revelation set for next issue.  Supposedly, we’ll learn the true nature of their relationship – a story angle Marvel has hinted at and danced around for years.  The issue concludes with a second story that retells Wolverine’s first appearance in The Incredible Hulk #181, with Ed McGuiness’s art.  Dave McCaig’s coloring job helps ape the coloring style of that much older issue.   

I really can’t stand prolonged fights.  The dream sequence in the beginning and the flashback in the middle break things up a little bit but, given the static nature of comics, fisticuffs grow boring quickly.  Trading macho, action movie dialogue throughout doesn’t help things.  That said, I truly hope that Marvel finally reveals Sabretooth’s relationship to Wolverine and puts the matter to rest.  Both characters’ origins have been muddled beyond repair over the years.  Thus, any explanation will likely overlook some previously established bit of continuity.  Still, just as Marvel finally unwrapped the present of Wolverine’s past with Origin and Origins, the publisher is long overdue to reveal this bit of the character’s history.  Still, while this issue offers a few hints that the forthcoming revelation may be especially supernatural or bizarre, it doesn’t stand particularly well on its own.  Simone Bianchi’s art is certainly pretty enough, but it doesn’t compensate for the hugely decompressed storytelling.  The retelling of Hulk #181 feels more like filler than anything – an excuse to raise the page count and the cover price for the 50^th issue. 

I really hope this pays off next issue. 

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