The third issue of the four part mini-series is the weakest so far, highlighting the faults in previous issues while focusing less on the series’ strengths due to the emotional beats that need to be hit. Chris Claremont’s writing in particular shows its age at times while Frank Miller and the rest of the art team bring out the best of the set pieces offered through the script.
Written by Chris ClaremontCover by Frank Miller
Penciled by Frank Miller
Inked by Joe Rubinstein
Colored by Glynis Wein
Lettered by Tom OrzechowskiWolverine has a friend in Yukio – they’re both born rebels…thrill-seekers. But when the Hand strikes at Wolverine, he realizes he won’t be at peace until he finds the man responsible for his attack!
An example of the art helping to elevate the script is a dream sequence with an obvious allegory that still manages to carry a serious emotional weight to it. There is a bright red and yellow and orange color scheme that brings an intense energy that conveys the feeling of experiencing a nightmare. Miller and Runbenstein convey a variety of negative emotions through this narrow pallet, including anger, pain, horror, and a gleeful desire for violence depending on which panel you are looking at.
This minimalist coloring is also used later on and paired with Joe Rubinstein’s heavy inks. His work is very stylised and sparingly used, but is extremely effective in capturing the desired mood the art requires.
Yokio’s motivations are far more complicated when her romantic relationship with Logan develops a sense of conflict between her commitment to the Hand and loyalty towards Logan. The poisoned knives used by Yokio are used in various stages of the story to add layers upon layers of dramatic irony to the weapon. This reveal evokes the genre trope of discovering the murderer in a noir movie or novel. It is, unfortunately, also a little cliched that this character development stemmed from the femme fatale catching romantic feelings for the heroic male lead.
What is even more unforgivable is Claremont writing the phrase “She is poetry in motion. A tigress. But I am a tiger.” Claremont is a talented writer but his similes and metaphors are out of step with how Logan speaks and would sound cringey no matter who said them.
The chase scene that transpires during this mildly racist tigress metaphor is as stunning as many of the fight scenes are. The three pallet coloring comes into play once more with a neon pink that simulates the feeling of a billboard in the night, a cool nightime blue, and a bright yellow for the numerous indoor lights while everything else being silhouetted in black. Through this minimalist style, Glynis Wein really captures an atmosphere of a modern city as the dramatic epiphany Wolverine has had is sinking in.
Miller’s action scenes are no less stellar than they have been thus far. On page in particular between Wolverine and a bunch of Hand ninjas forecasts what is about to come and builds on what came before to great effect. Speaking of the Hand, they are effectively made to feel like a menacing presence early on and throughout despite losing every fight so far. This is due to the way Miller draws them in such fluid motions and making them act competent in every fight as well as the shimmering black and red ninja robes colored and inked by Wein and Rubenstein respectively.
The conclusion resolves the inner conflict established from the beginning in Wolverine’s character. While a little ham-fisted in its delivery through an internal monologue, it brings up some interesting points on the human condition and ties in well with the themes and provides a satisfactory resolution to his internal conflict. I’m looking forward to the final issue of the miniseries and see how this internal resolution will affect his external interactions with the various antagonists he will face in the final issue.
