When the cover of Wolverine #41 says it’s the “Most Violent Wolverine Story Ever Told,” I rolled my eyes. Then I read it and was pleasantly shocked by the gore. Then I read Wolverine #42 out today and was further shocked. This issue cements the fact that Marvel can’t be called overpromising or be caught committing false advertising. It’s the real deal, and it sure as heck makes Sabretooth the most violent villain Marvel may have ever created.
This issue opens where we left off in Part 1 of “Sabretooth War” as Logan, aka Wolverine, kneels in the cold snow, taking in the fact that his son is shredded into pieces. Soon, he’s facing off against an army of Sabretooth bodies, literally, as each one lacks a head. Points go to writers Benjamin Percy and Victor LaValle for making Sabretooth earn the capture of Wolverine before he commits heinous crimes against mutant kind.
For those confused, this story takes place after X-Force #50 and before the Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X. If Wolverine ever needed a reason to want to kill Sabretooth, this issue is it. The maniac villain does some truly grotesque things to innocent mutants, some of whom are children. Heads are ripped off, bodies are slashed, and Wolverine does some truly gross things to do whatever he can to help his friends. Cory Smith pencils the issue with inker Oren Junior, bringing an event-caliber quality to the art. A 13-panel spread of Wolverine cutting at his body will go down in the record books.
These headlines Sabretooth characters are pretty freaky!
Credit: Marvel
Regarding the plot, there are a few wins for the good guys and plenty of wins for Sabretooth. The issue is with Sabretooth entering the mutant haven at the North Pole and attacking with nothing holding him back. Along the way, we focus on Laura, aka Wolverine doing her damned best to show she’s possibly better than Logan, aka Wolverine. Fans of Laura are going to love this. Other heroes rise up and get extra focus, giving the book a rounded feel while Logan is tied up. The heroic acts are about as much character work as we get, though, with most of this being an action book.
There’s also some entertaining bits with multiverse Sabretooth characters. A few are familiar and popped up elsewhere, but a shape-changing one kicks off the fight. The design of these creatures is varied, yet the Sabretooth starting point is obvious.
As a no-holds-barred violent massacre, there’s enough here to satisfy comics fans looking for more than just gore. Just enough, I’d say, because it is a first strike from Sabretooth as the creators make a good case for Wolverine to put his arch-nemesis down.
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