Chris Claremont’s concluding issue to his run on “Wolverine” series lacks the high stakes one might expect from a writer about to depart from a book he started. Yet the issue is no less cathartic as Claremont explores a pivotal moment from Wolverine’s past as “Patch” aimlessly wanders Madripoor and stops trouble wherever he finds it.
Written by Chris ClaremontCover by John Buscema
Illustrated by John Buscema and Bill Sienkiewicz
Colored by Mike Rockwitz
Lettered by Ken BruzenakAt a seedy bar in Madripoor’s lowtown, Logan spends time away from his regular friends in the area. As a fight breaks out in the bar, he thinks back to a time in the past, during his days living in Canada when Sabretooth raped and murdered his love Silverfox.
We are introduced to the story with a splash page depicting a barroom brawl between two locals of Madripoor which Wolverine puts a stop to much to the dismay of both the fighters and all of the locals who were all enjoying the violent spectacle. Mike Rockwitz manages to inject a great deal of variety into the colorscheme of the spectators of the fight, with the locals complementing and contrasting one another with outfits that are realistically plain in isolation, but pop when all put together.
In between the splash page on page one and Logan putting a stop to it, we see a Wolverine from Western times holding a Native American woman whom he loved at the time that was killed by Sabretooth. In a sharp contrast to the present day Wolverine, This angry and grieving Wolverine insists on settling things through a fight with Sabretooth. John Buscema and Bill Sienkiewics draw the Western Sabretooth as ambivalent and aloof to the situation he finds himself in, making him seem all the more callous given the circumstances.
What is truly tragic is the way in which the Wolverine of Madripoor narrates the story unfolding between the two men that are about to become lifelong enemies. After over a century of living, Wolverine doesn’t hold his feelings towards Silver Fox, the woman who died in very high regard. He has experienced too much since to genuinely know if he was in love or if he just thought he was. While the modern day Wolverine is jaded and prone to scowling, the Wolverine who introduced himself to Sabretooth through a fistfight is more emotive in how he expresses himself and how he carries himself in a fight. In Wolverine’s words, he “had no style.”
This is the story Claremont tells for the remainder of the issue. Reinforcing what Wolverine means when he says “I’m the best at what I do and what I do ain’t pretty.” Wolverine’s first fight against Sabretooth was humiliating and humbling for the character. Prior to that, he never experienced fear or a sense of helplessness. Since then he has felt an aversion to fighting despite it being what he is best at. His entire motivation is to fight in order to end fights. Every fight he puts himself through in Madripoor during this issue is one that resolves the conflict in a way where there is as little harm done as possible.
After the initial fight outside the tavern Wolverine starts to realise he is outmatched and runs for his life. While the internal monologue by Claremont explains how pivotal this experience was to Wolverine. Buscema is able to really cut loose and show a much wider spectrum of emotion that the stoic and reserved Wolverine in the other half of the issue rarely shows. The change from panel to panel between fear and anger by Wolverine is made all the more poignant with Sabretooth never looking anything more than amused by the slightly more challenging prey in front of him.
Claremont relinquishes the high stakes and grandiose spectacle for his last issue and instead provides the reader with phenomenal character study into the character of Wolverine. In the last issue Claremont offers us an origin story that helps us understand what makes Wolverine such a compelling character. We learn during the issue that this ordeal between him and Sabretooth took place on his birthday. While it is never outright stated, it seems that this is meant to be framed as a rebirth of sorts as it is so pivotal to who he is to this day.
