Coyote Crossing

• Writer - Greg Rucka
• Artist - Leandro Fernandez
• Colorist - Studio F
• Lettering - Virtual Calligraphy
• Lettering - Rus Wooton
• Ass't Editor - Axel Alonso
• Editor - Warren Simons
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  Logan swims across the Rio Grande river, and walks into a town. His presence catches the attention of three men playing poker in a dimly-lit room. One of the men, Sandro, gets up and follows Logan. He asks Logan whether he needed help since Logan looked lost. A slightly ajar doorway catches Logan's attention, and despite Sandro's warning, Logan enters the rundown shack. A burly man flies out, cursing. He reaches for a daggar and rushes back into the complex. The sound of Logan's claws being unsheathed and a blood curling scream is then momentarily heard. As Sandro peers in, the burly man runs out, screaming, his hands covering his bloodied eyes. Inside, Logan is seen standing over several heroin addicts, asking whether any of them could tell him where to find Rojas. Sandro tells Logan that they wouldn't be of much help since they were all so high on drugs. Logan asks Sandro for his name, and the two walks away while Logan asks Sandro where he could find Rojas.

  Back in El Paso, where Cassie Lathrop is doing some research about Logan. Her searching takes her to Garcia Nestor's bar, where she catches the attention of Nestor. Nestor tells her that he knew who she was, and why she was here. He tells Cassie that Logan told him everything about her: how she's been following him for the last six months, all the way from Oregon, and that she even charged into a burning building to find Logan. Nestor accuses her of either being crazy, or in love with Logan. Disgusted, Cassie demands for another bottle of beer.

  Meanwhile, Sandro and Logan heads back to the table where Sandro's fellow poker buddies were sitting. At the table, Logan asks the other two men about Rojas' whereabouts since Sandro had told Logan that the two helps to deliver mules to Rojas personally. Logan asks the two men to take him to meet Rojas. One laughs, while the other pulls the cock back on a rifle. At that moment, Logan uses his claws on the armed man's wrist, just as the rifle unloads a blast into Logan's face. As the man writhes in pain, the other two watches Logan's face as his healing factor kicks in. As he healed, Logan tells Sandro to go while he grabs Hector (the other man who was unhurt) to have Hector take him to Rojas. As they walk away, Ruben (the one who was hurt) makes a cell phone call.

  Somewhere else, in a heavily guarded mansion, two guards receive a phone call from Ruben, warning them about this "lunatic" who was forcing Hector to take him to them. They make a call to Rojas, who tells them that when Hector and his captor shows up to kill them both. An old rickity truck pulls up. Hector warns them about Logan hiding in the back. The two guardsmen open fire on the entire truck, killing Hector. They check the back, but did not find Logan there. Just then, a set of claws could be seen protruding out of the chest of one of the guards. Again, Logan asks to see Rojas. The other guard opens fire towards Logan, who manages to go around the truck and disarm the guard. From the walls of the mansion, several guards show up and opens fire at Logan. Logan manages to fight his way through the guards, yelling out Rojas' name as he charged into the mansion. Rojas' silhouette can be seen at the doorway of the mansion. As he approched the figure, Logan accuses Rojas of killing the nineteen innocent victims, and tells Rojas to "make your last words good ones." Her final words: "Life is cheap on this side of the border." As Logan approaches, Rojas' figure at the doorway, Rojas' figure becomes more apparent in the dim light: Rojas, in fact, was a woman who was pregnant.

Summary

  Since it's a heavy week, I'm going to skip quickly past Wolverine #9.

  This is part three of "Coyote Crossing", and you know the general idea of the Rucka issues by now. Wolverine has identified some baddies and is tracking them down. Obviously, they don't stand much of a chance. Meanwhile, Cassie is still trying to track Wolverine down, which provides a degree of variation.

  Frankly, it's a bit formulaic. That said, Rucka and artist Leandro Fernandez do the formula extremely well; the biggest problem is that, really, it's getting a bit predictable. As with the previous arc, there's no real suggestion that the coyotes are going to pose any threat to Wolverine. Rather, there's a sense of inevitability that he's going to slaughter them all. Again. I mean, I know it's a foregone conclusion that Wolverine always wins, because he's the hero, but it doesn't feel like he's getting much of a challenge here.

  As usual, Cassie's subplot provides more of the interest. And there's a slightly lame twist where it turns out the head of the trafficking ring is actually a pregnant woman. Granted, it's unexpected, but does it actually make much difference?

  All that said, I'm still enjoying the book; it may be basically an exercise in showing us how relentlessly cool Wolverine is, but it does make him look cool.

  Rating: B