Wolverine V3 #15

Publisher
Marvel
Year
2004
Month
7
LastChanged
12/13/2004 8:31:00 PM
Return of the Native

Summary

  Wolverine continues "Return of the Native".

  This storyline is growing on me. It's a fairly slow-paced affair, but as usual with Greg Rucka's stories, it's all about the details. Rucka and Darick Robertson do a wonderful version of Sabretooth - he's so much better when he's not just a psycho, but a scheming bastard to boot. After all, he's meant to be a cat. He ought to enjoy playing games with his prey.

  The Native is still a rather underdeveloped character, which is an inevitable problem when she isn't allowed to talk. She's still really just a distaff version of Wolverine, immediately post-Weapon X. But then, that's not really a problem - her function in the story is to act as a mirror for Wolverine, rather than to be much of a character in her own right. Native is really more of a plot device than a person. Technically there's three people on the mountain, but really it's just two - Wolverine and Sabretooth.

  Robertson's art is typically excellent. His mountain landscapes are beautiful, and he's got the level of subtlety needed to carry a story which is light on dialogue. It's all in the body language, and that's one of the things that raises Robertson above the pack.

  Unfortunately, Marvel seem to be determinedly clinging to a policy that all blood has to be black. In this comic, that's utterly absurd. It opens with three pages of Sabretooth following what's clearly meant to be a trail of blood, but is rendered in muddy grey. The same happens whenever anyone's wounded. For god's sake, this is a Marvel Knights book. It's got a PSR+ rating. It's completely idiotic to have a comic which shows Native stabbing Sabretooth in the eye sockets, but doesn't allow him to bleed in red. The gore level is already way up past the point where anyone in their right mind would give a toss about the blood being red. Whoever came up with this idea needs a good slap.

  Still, there are no major problems with this book, and a lot of strengths in the art and details. It's paced on the slow side, and it'll doubtless read better in the trade paperback. But there's plenty to enjoy.

  Rating: B+

Summary

  Creed tracks Logan, tastes his blood on a rock, and realizes the Native cut him deep; he finds her hair on a slashed tree and realizes he fought back. Willoughby radios for a status, but Creed tells him not to call again.

  The Native wakes beside Logan and tickles his cheek; he wakes with a start and tells her he doesn't like to be touched when he can't see it coming. He knows Creed will be after them; she keeps trying to arouse him, but he pushes her off and points at the drawings of the Weapon X lab, saying they're coming for her. She goes to the cave mouth, turns, and collapses into his arms, shot in the back; he gets shot in the head.

  Creed gloats that it was too easy, picking them off with bullets to the spinal column, not killing them but giving him time to get the Native to the landing zone. He approaches Logan and prepares to blow his head off, for insurance, but the Native recovers and stabs his groin. He bends over in pain and she stabs his eyes; he staggers off in agony. The Native tries to get Logan up, but he needs a moment till he can walk again. He wants to finish Creed, or he'll come back, but the Native insists on running away, uphill.

  Creed curses till his eyes heal, while Willoughby on the radio berates him for letting them get away. He cancels the contract, saying the pros will take over now and saying Logan and Creed are the past, and the Native is the future. Creed rages, crushes the radio, and goes to kill the Native.

  The Native leads Logan ever upwards, to a cabin on the mountain. He half-remembers it, knows he's been there, that they've been there before, and he finds a copy of Walden. She says her first word, "home."