So the Priest walks into a Bar

• Writer - Greg Rucka
• Penciler - Darick Robertson
• Inker - Tom Palmer
• Colorist - Studio F
• Lettering - Virtual Calligraphy
• Lettering - Rus Wooton
• Editor - Axel Alonso
• Editor - Warren Simons
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

So, this priest walks into a bar

Summary

  In Portland, Oregon, where for the last 12 hours, Agent Cassie Lathrop is working with a police sketch artist to make a sketch of Logan. The artist, frustrated by Cassie's relentless criticism of her sketches, accuses Cassie of not having a clear picture of Logan in her mind due to her emotion clouding her judgement. The artist packs her sketchbooks away, and as she leaves, she tells Cassie she doesn't know whether Cassie is hoping to "arrest this 'mystery man' of yours ... or if you want to sleep with him."

  Meanwhile, back in New York City, Logan is having a drink inside a bar. As the waitress, Jo, is preparing a drink for Logan, a priest walks into the bar for a beer. Logan offers to pay for the priest's drink. As the priest thanks Logan, Logan tells the priest not to touch him unless he shows his true self, since Logan knew the priest was actually Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler is hesistant to review his true identity, but does so after Logan has the waitress show Nightcrawler her right hand, which revealed that she was a mutant. Nightcrawler finally gives in and deactivates his image inducer.

  As they have their drinks, Nightcrawler talks about how he had talked with Kitty Pryde recently and how she had mentioned she thought she saw Peter (aka Colossus). Logan interrupts, commenting how Peter was dead already. As Nightcrawler continued talking, Logan again interrupts, this time yelling for Jo to bring him another drink. Nightcrawler asks Logan what happened during his trip. Logan says nothing happened. Nightcrawler tells Logan how he seemed to be loathing, and that he smelled bad. After Jo brings Logan another drink and leaves, Nightcrawler tells Logan, after observing, that Jo liked Logan. More silence, then Nightcrawler asks Logan what the name of the victim that Logan had been trying to get revenge for. Logan tells him, and mentions that she was only seventeen, which catches Nightcrawler by surprise.

  Back in Oregon, where Cassie was sleeping. Her eyes crack open, as she senses the presence of someone watching her. A naked Logan, with claws extended, was standing over her bed. She reaches for her pistol as Logan crawls into her bed. As Logan reaches over to place a kiss on her shoulder, she quickly turns around and with her gun aimed at Logan's face, demands for some answers from him. Logan, with eyes red, swings a clawed fist at her face. At that moment, Cassie suddenly jerks awake, realizing that it was only a dream. She washes her face in the bathroom, and asks to herself why she is letting Logan get into her mind consistantly.

  Back in New York, in the mutant bar, where the last round of liquor was being served by Jo. Nightcrawler, watching how Logan was trying to drown himself in liquor, asks Logan whether it was worth punishing himself like that. He reminds Logan that they've been in many situations where the innocent had perished and the inhumanity of people treating other people, and questions what makes Lucy, even though she was only seventeen, so unique among these familiar circumstances. He reminds Logan that death is part of life, that even in his studies, murder was part of the Bible. Nightcrawler believes that actions always speaks louder than words, and that for Logan, "...your actions have always marked you, to me, as a good man..." A pause, and Logan tells Nightcrawler that he had killed twenty-seven men about three days ago. Nightcrawler is left speechless. He regathers himself, and asks Logan whether he was enraged, which Logan confirms. Nightcrawler asks whether these men had earned Logan's rage, because if they had not, Nightcrawler believed Logan would have to be stopped for he would be killing innocents, that he (Logan) was "...everything you have always feared yourself to be. And you would have to be stopped." Logan tells Nightcrawler about the cult and what this cult did to women and young girls.

  Logan, perhaps sarcastically, asks Nightcrawler to absolve him for his evilness. Nightcrawler reminds Logan that that had been tried before during the Middle Ages, where hollow forgiveness were customary. Nightcrawler poses the question to which Logan wanted to ask: since those men he killed were evil, does that make him evil for killing them in rage? He reminds Logan that he is unique, and poses this question to Logan: "Is the wolf evil when it culls the sickness from the herd?"

  Some more time passes, the two sitting in silence. As they leave the bar into the rainy night, Logan speaks up to Nightcrawler, telling Nightcrawler that he is not an animal. Nightcrawler replies, telling Logan that he knows he isn't one. Again, Logan repeats that he isn't an animal.

Summary

  Wolverine #6 acts as a coda to Greg Rucka and Darick Robertson's first storyline.

  It doesn't entirely solve the problems with that story, which stemmed mainly from the fact that there was never any real sense of threat from the low-rent villains. However, it does put a bit more flesh on how Logan and Cassie Lathrop were affected by that arc, which gives the storyline a bit more weight for both of them.

  Most of the issue is Logan talking in a bar with Kurt Wagner, making a rare guest starring appearance. Logan is deep in self-loathing, partly because he failed to save Lucy back in issue #1, but mainly because he's starting to worry about his humanity. He's keen to insist that he's human and not an animal, but it's fairly clear that he's convincing nobody. Meanwhile, because of his own recent crises of faith over in Uncanny X-Men, Nightcrawler's advice isn't entirely emphatic either.

  Over in her subplot, Cassie Lathrop is still obsessing about Logan, and having great difficulty describing to anyone else quite where he lies along the line from man to animal. So it's pretty clear that that's the main theme which Rucka's going to be looking at. Fine - it's a great theme for the character. I still think it's taken us too long to get to this point, but we're on the right track now.

  Rucka and Robertson provide understated but rounded and believable versions of Logan and Kurt. Purists will, perhaps understandably, be irritated that they repeat the whole debate of whether Kurt should disguise his appearance in public - Logan and Kurt had exactly this argument in a story published over twenty years ago, Logan won, and Kurt hasn't used his image inducer since. Perhaps Kurt's recidivism is meant to be somehow connected to his own problems, but I suspect it's just an error.

  Still, the series is heading into interesting territory for the character - albeit at a slow pace. Hopefully the next storyline will click a little better.

  Rating: B+